# Acting Strange/Aggressive



## AnyaAndLyra (Aug 7, 2015)

Mazi has been going through a long baby molt. She's losing her bars! I'm not sure exactly how long its been so far but I'd estimate around two months. In the beginning, when she starting losing a few feathers, she seemed fine and acted completely normal. However, about last month, she started to get more agitated when I would handle her. She would often chirp at me like she wanted to be left alone. Sometimes I would just leave her but I like to check her feet and wings and everything on a daily basis to make sure everything is okay with them, so I would most often still take her out to look at her. Sometimes she was fine after a few minutes and she'd calm down, but sometimes she just struggled and went back to her cage. Whenever she went back to her cage, I'd leave the door open for at _least_ an hour. She would just sit in her cage and preen and play like she does when it's closed. She would still let me touch her and she'd step up without a problem.

Now, when I go to pet her or have her step up, she lunges at my finger and bites me! I switched to just checking her weekly and when she wants to be left alone, I leave her alone. She has been losing more feathers than in the beginning when it was just a few. Today I took her out and she seemed a little scared. I figured it was because I moved things around in my room so nothing is really in the same place. She flew around for a while, acting like she was panicking, so when she landed I picked her up and brought her closer to my chest where she climbed onto my shirt and sat on my shoulder against my neck. I don't know what else could have scared her or what could be wrong. At first I thought it was just because of her molt, but now I don't know.

Would she act like this if she was sick or could it be from the molt and just feeling agitated from it? I'm very worried right now. Should I take her to the vet? If she is just scared, I don't know what she could be scared of. She acts like she's afraid of me but when I held her close to me she seemed to calm down quite a bit.

The other thing is that when she plays with her toys, she attacks them. Most often her bell, which I thought was just because that's how she can make it make the sound, but now I'm second guessing that too. She has a few plastic toys (should I take them out?) as well as a coconut toy with ropes on it and I'm giving her a jute rope after I post this too, in case she's bored out of her mind.. I change her cage around every now and then and give her different toys quite often though so I'm not sure if it is boredom..

I'm sorry this is a lot to read. I just tried to put as much information as possible...

*After thought*: I was just thinking about it and I had gone and tried to play with her a little bit (in her cage). She didn't like it when my hand was near her, but when I wasn't, she watched but she didn't seem to mind too much. Then I touched one of the bells and she came running down her branch to it. She kind of stopped when she got close and just watched me and the bell pretty intensely. Then I brought it a bit closer to her and she started playing with it a bit and then looked at it and attacked it, as well as my finger. Could she be seeing her reflection in the bell and therefore being territorial or aggressive because of that? She also has a couple mirrors which I put in in hopes that she wouldn't feel so lonely being the only budgie. The mirrors do appear a little dirty (they have little smudges on them). I know she sometimes plays with the mirrors as well. One of them has little balls on it that she likes to play with. Now I'm thinking that sometimes when she's "playing" with "the balls" she's really trying to preen the mirror or feed it... I know this happens more often with male budgies, but could it be the same problem with Mazi?


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*It sounds as if Mazi is going into the "independent" teenage stage. You indicated she' been molting which does make budgies crankier and more aggressive. If she's also in the midst of a hormone rush because she's getting ready to come into condition, then the aggressive behavior will often intensify. I strongly recommend you remove the coconut toy from the cage as well as any other items that could be used as nesting sites.

Mazi views her cage as "her" space now and she wants to interact with you only on her terms when she chooses to do so.

Budgies "attacking" their toys is normal. That is one of the ways they play and nothing to be concerned about. I would remove any mirrors you have in her cage as budgies can quickly become obsessed with mirrors thinking it is another bird. That too can make her more aggressive.

Since Mazi likes bells so much, give her a couple of toys with bells but no mirrors. 
You should also give her shredding toys and wooden toys she can chew.*


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## AnyaAndLyra (Aug 7, 2015)

If she's getting ready to come into condition does that mean she can lay an egg or that she will lay an egg (if she doesn't mate)? And if she has some jute rope in her cage, is it fine to leave that in as long as she's not taking pieces off or should I take that out too?


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## Riovedo (Oct 22, 2015)

Hmmmmm, I swear I commented on this last night!  This is how my budgie acted when she went into condition....she was very sweet and then turned aggressive, shredding toys were helpful though! Thankfully Rio hasn't tried to lay any eggs but reading this is helpful! http://talkbudgies.com/budgie-breeding/90584-when-we-dont-want-eggs.html.

PS....they can lay eggs without a mate!


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## StarlingWings (Mar 15, 2013)

Not all budgies lay eggs when in condition (with or without a mate) If you take active steps to discourage laying, which is detailed in the post that Tammy provided above, it is very likely she will never lay eggs. 

Generally, unless they are stimulated to lay, extremely broody/hormonal, or chronic egg layers, female hens will not lay 

Deb's advice concerning your question was also spot on :thumbsup:


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