# Trying to tame Pepe



## faeline

This is sort of a progress...

On 15 May Pepe flew into my house and was simply too starved to care about where the food was. She ate grains off my hand, I thought she was tame but turns out she was actually quite afraid of humans and hands. After she was no longer hungry she definitely panicked and because we had to bring her to the vet for checkups, we had to grab her into a portable cage.

We went from:
Panicked bird who is terrified every morning when I clean the cage
Still bird who is scared of any fast movements when I clean the cage
Curious bird who watches how I clean the cage
Playful bird who is unbothered by my hand in the cage

Yesterday, I tried to hand feed her with romaine lettuce, she actually nipped a bit at it. Tried millet (she doesn't recognize millet in the stalk form), she also nipped at it. I feel this is really a huge progress and all the chapters of Harry Potter I've read to her is well worth it. I'm actually going to try apples today because I think fruits are like treats more than vegetables.

I'm glad that Pepe is young enough to want to try all kinds of food. When she discovered fresh vegetables, she definitely became more trusting and playful.

She is still a very cautious bird, I think it's her nature, but she's also a very curious bird.

Obligatory acrobat budgie picture:









Edit: Apples worked, Pepe ate off my hand for the first time.


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## Cody

Great progress, she is such a beautiful girl, hope to see more of her in the future.


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## FaeryBee

*Pepe is adorable. Thank you for rescuing her and giving her a safe and loving home. 💜 *


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## faeline

Day 2 of apples, she came to eat the apples after around 10 seconds of hesitation, and found flinging apple bits more fun than eating. After feeding her, I ate one of the remaining slices and she actually flew to me to investigate what I was eating. More apple bits flinging after I hand fed her another slice.

Tried millet today as well, looks like she recognizes my hand as a food source, she also tried it and finally realized that it's food. I feel like there's more progress today, I'm going to see if she will come to my hand instead tomorrow, and if she would perch on my fingers.

Obligatory Pepe with her favorite swing:


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## FaeryBee

*Love the picture of Pepe on her swing!*


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## StarlingWings

She's so cute, I'm glad she's doing well!


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## faeline

Day 3, I tried melons (honeydew, rock melon and papaya), but she's not really interested in them, I guess I will go back to apples for her fruit needs. I tried fresh bok choy and she loved it, be it eating or simply shredding them. She is more receptive to my hand now, coming immediately to the vegetable when I offered her, she also pecked at my hand for the first time. 

I also tried a bit of millet spray, like around 1 1/2 inches was offered, she devoured it and even considered climbing to my finger to the rest that I held. A foot was placed there then she moved away.

She also started flying a lot more in the cage, coming to the front of the cage to investigate a new swing I added for her. There's two swings in the cage now, the older swing is hanging off a short branch, she found it fun to knock it off for attention. Her more playful side is coming out now and she does this chattering sound when she "attacks" the bells in the cage.

Obligatory bok choy munching budgie:


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## faeline

Day 4, more bok choy and she went through like 6 leaves in total, in fact, she loved it so much, she even ate from my husband's hand (as I am the primary caregiver, she's usually more afraid of his hands). When I spoke to her today, she flew to the front of the cage to look at me. Very playful bird today, knocked the swing off again twice today. To discourage the behavior, I did not reattach the swing immediately, but waited for around 1/2 an hour before doing so. 

Tried long beans today, she nipped at it (she's now very ready to try whatever I offer with my hands), but didn't seem to like it. Also offered around 1 1/2 inch of millet today again, this time round she's more assertive in making sure things don't move - she put her foot on the millet while she attacked it. 

I'm trying to keep this running for a week or so before I attempt to see if she would come onto my hand. Tomorrow, I'm trying blueberries!

Obligatory bok choy budgie:


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## Cody

Sounds like you are making great progress, 6 leaves of bok choy is a lot at one time, don't be surprised if the droppings become a bit loose.


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## faeline

Cody said:


> Sounds like you are making great progress, 6 leaves of bok choy is a lot at one time, don't be surprised if the droppings become a bit loose.


Thank you for the advice! I don't think she ate all of them though, she was shredding them as well.


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## FaeryBee

*Pepe is really doing great!*


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## faeline

Day 5, when necessity became the mother of ingenuity. 

There's this sound she makes after drinking water when water gets into her nose. Today, after eating a slice of asian pear, she did a series of that sound and I was like, what if we needed to bring her to the vet? I don't want to grab her. I am also concerned that she is having a cold or something, although I see no difference in her behavior, diet and activity. She still flew around in her cage, chattered with the music, knocked her swing off 3 times, preened herself, she still had good appetite, her tail was not moving oddly either. (Husband says I'm overly concerned.)

I will be observing her throughout today and tomorrow to make sure she's actually not sick. The avian vet will be available tomorrow if I do need to bring her there.

So anyway, in preparation for that, we tested to see if she would perch on our hands with millet spray (so that we can transfer her to the smaller transportation cage). My husband tried it first.

One foot down, moved away.
One foot down, eat, two feet down, eat, move away.
Then she would hop down onto his hand, eat one or two, and hop away.

So I decided to try myself.

One foot down, eat, two feet down, and she stayed to eat.
When I shifted the millet spray a bit, she flew back to her perch, saw the new side of the millet, she flew back to my hand and stayed there for a good minute cleaning up that side of the millet. 

So I guess this works out well? 

Obligatory budgie on hand eating millet spray:









Food hand fed today:
1 thin slice of asian pair
1/2 a blueberry (she didn't eat much of that, pecked at it and didn't want it anymore)
3 pieces of bok choy
2 1/2 inches of millet spray


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## faeline

Day 6, Pepe came willingly to test the sliced carrots I held today, but didn't seem to want to eat it. I left it next to her food bowl and she actually touched it after a while, so that's great. Just 1 inch of spray millet was tested, on my palm and not near her, to see if she would come over willingly. She hesitated then thought about how to get over, and hopped her way over. She ate it and picked until it fell, flew away when I reached in to pick it up, and flew back to it after it's placed on my palm. She finished the millet.

Later on, she ate more bok choy off my hand and on her own accord.

I wanted to see if she would be afraid of my hand, so without holding any food, I placed 2 fingers on her favorite perch, while talking to her. She came over, curious and started pecking my fingers. When I removed my fingers off the perch, she did not seem to be afraid of the finger movement, and continued to peck at my knuckles. So I guess the hand's not that scary to her anymore?

No pictures today. She seemed to find knocking off the swing really fun because she would bob her head after she does it.

I would want to clarify one thing: Before I started the food on hands, I did around 3 weeks of daily Harry Potter chapters, 2 weeks of hand in cage while talking to her, and really did everything SLOWLY when she was afraid of my hand, and I don't do any fast movements with her still.


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## Cody

I love reading these updates, you two are becoming best buddies, she really flew into the right house, lucky bird.


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## faeline

Day 7, today is shower day, so I sprayed her with the spray bottle, which she seemed to enjoy. While drying, as per usual, I'll read her a chapter of Harry Potter. I don't think she has a cold but I will just be really watchful (I guess I'm just paranoid).

After I brought her into the study, the moment I took up the bok choy, she came readily over and was not even on her favorite perch when she attacked the vegetable. Cut up some asian pear for her and same thing, she was waiting (have I spoiled her??). 

I gave her less spray millet today, short of an inch, she hopped over immediately and started eating and playing with the millet as well as my fingers. She dropped it a twice, I picked it up and she came back immediately once it was in my palm. The last bit, she kicked it down (it was almost finished), but she lingered on my palm, checking what's left and checking my fingers out.

I kept my hand inside the cage for a long time, she was totally unbothered, drinking water and eating food right next to my hand. I decided to play a bit with her by putting my fingers near her, she actually investigated my fingers and even tried to pull my nails! She is not bothered when my fingers are moving, but instead got curious. Many times, she would put one foot onto the finger she's investigating. I hope she doesn't think my fingers are food. 

She would also fly close to the end of the cage where I'm at and look at me when I'm talking to her.

(I am so tempted to touch her.)

Obligatory wet budgie:


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## faeline

And now the finger exploration has gone to the point that she doesn't want to let my fingers go and she does play fighting with my thumb.


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## FaeryBee

*Such a sweetheart!! 💜 *


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## faeline

Day 8, I gave lesser millet today, around 3 mini bundles, and 2 pieces of bok choy. I tried shredded carrots mixed with seeds, I think she ate some of the carrots but she doesn't seem to really like it that much. She came readily to eat what I'm offering, except the carrots (which was why I mixed seeds inside).

When I place my hands in the cage, she eyes them with curiosity, and comes to play with them. Again, she's trying to pull my nails, nibbling my fingers, pulling them towards her. She got onto my hand on her own accord to explore my knuckles and to play with the fingers. She did not bite hard, just very playful very gentle. There was one particularly forceful pull and I told her, "Pepe those are my nails, no no no", she stepped off my hands and moved away. Then she came back to play again. I rubbed her belly a bit as well and she did not seem to mind.

She enjoyed the whole interaction a lot, a lot more happy chirping until it was around 3pm (which was her usual wind down napping time). 

I am still concerned about her because she does seem more tired today, so for a peace of mind, I've booked an avian vet tomorrow instead. To check on whether she's sick, check if the mites have fully gone away (which I think she has because she's not itchy anymore), and I also want to know if I need to do anything to her nails.

Obligatory budgie on my hand!!!!


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## faeline

Bringing Pepe to the vet is difficult because we don't want to grab her, so we tried luring her, coaxing her, and eventually we tried to move her on perch of sorts. Didn't go really well, she panicked and flew around the room, eventually, we took her into the transport cage using whatever she's on.

Turns out that my instincts was right, she does have a bit of bronchitis, but the good thing is she doesn't have other symptoms like running nose or breathlessness. So we just need to put her on a week of antibiotics course using the nebulizer. The vet said that the transport cage is of the right size for us to use it as a nebulizing chamber, so we'll use that.

I guess everyday will be a problem with us having to medicate her twice a day? 😞 

Taming put on hold until medication's finished.


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## faeline

So yesterday all the antibiotics was done and today we restart our relationship.

Many thanks to ChickWas, the relationship wasn't very damaged, and while she was confused why I didn't grab her in the morning, she did not seem fearful of my hand. I installed an in-cage heater today and replaced the heating lamp, because Singapore is really just too warm and humid for us to live without air-conditioning (we usually set to 80F), where temps can go up to 95F and humidity is always around 95%. She was frightened by the cables and all but was still willing to eat the millet and bok choy off my hand.

She spent half the time away from the heater and because it was in the way of the food I got worried. I fed her fresh corn on a cob (her favorite besides spray millet) and water - basically that side of the cage is now scary to her.

I managed to encourage her to go to her food bowl (just a lot of "Yes Pepe, brave Pepe, come come") and tapping on the food bowl. Then afterward I tried to lure her to the heater with a bell-toy, it worked, she's very cautious but also very curious, so she has now discovered the wonders of the warmer side of the cage. I gave her some millet as a reward.

Today, because I was encouraging her with a bell-toy, she not only played with the toy but also played with my thumb (tapping on the nail and then once again trying to pull my nail off).

All in all, it's a good restart. I'm quite glad to know that she trusts me enough to approach something new.

Obligatory Pepe during her 3pm nap:









Also, I forgot to mention, Pepe has stopped coughing


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## faeline

Today we had a great sunny weather in the early afternoon, so we brought Pepe to the balcony (not facing the sun and in the shade) for about 2 hours of good ol' vitamin D. Pepe was nervous having never been to the balcony, but still chirped a lot, being surround by people (we were having lunch and chatting). 

Being fed vegetables off our hand is completely normal to Pepe now, and she looks forward to it. When my hand is in the cage, she's always checking out what's on it. Today's menu: Fresh corn on a cob, a bit of apple, shredded carrots and bok choy. 

When I gave her 3 mini bunches of millet in the morning, she's already waiting and staring at my hand. I think she recognizes the container where the spray millet's stored. She didn't hop onto my hand for it, I didn't force her as well, I wanted her to trust my hand in the cage again. I spoke to her a great deal today with my hand in the cage, she played with my thumb a bit every time. 

Later on in the day, I gave her shredded carrots mixed with some seeds, she was ready to try whatever that's on my hand, but obviously the seeds had more of her attention. She stepped onto my hand again for the carrots then moved away again.

There's a ritual that we do every night before I cover her cage - I'll remove all the fresh food in her cage but ask her if she want any "last bite". Now she is very used to having her last bites and during this time she is also very willing to come onto my hands.

I'm waiting for the day she's willing to perch on my hand again like a week ago.

Obligatory budgie eating shredded carrots:


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## StarlingWings

Aww, that sounds lovely, and the photo is so cute! She's adorable  Glad things are going well with her!


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## faeline

Today, Pepe was willing to perch on my hand to eat the millet (gave her 3 mini bunches) and was generally very chirpy the whole time. When I put my hand into the cage, she came over and perched on top on it, playing with my thumb and fingers for quite sometime. She did not bite hard, except once, and it's quite interesting that she might know it's painful? Anyway, I said ouch (instinctively but not loud) and she immediately became gentler? 

She played for a long time on my hand and I moved her around the cage to different perches. I even turned my wrist to the back of my hand and she stayed on. I also rubbed her head for the first time, although I'm not sure if she just happened to move this way or it was intended. Usually my fingers would be quite still when she is perched on it, but today I tried to ruffle her feathers a bit.

I do notice that the feathers below her beak are turning brown - so I suppose she's going to be hormonal soon and her behavior might become unpredictable. 

No pictures today, photographer (my husband) is out.


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## faeline

I was out to office the whole of yesterday and my husband accompanied Pepe the whole day. Apart from eating millet and vegetables from his hand, he complains that Pepe nips him quite hard. After I came back, it was about bedtime for Pepe, so I cleared out the fresh food from her cage, and after I fed her "last bites", her body language was that she wanted my hands, so I put my hand in again.

She didn't nip me but instead climbed on and explored my fingers again. I spoke to her and rubbed her a bit, then bedtime.

Question: Is it normal for budgies to allow only 1 person to handle her? Should I encourage my husband to also interact with her more?

Today, she is very active, very chirpy, and she really really enjoyed perching on my hands now. Even bumps her beak against my nails. She bites hard once in a while but I always tell her not to do it and she will be more gentle, until of course she has too much fun and nips harder again. She was playing with bells while perched on my hands as well.

If I can get her used to being moved around while perched on my hands, does that mean there's a good chance for me to bring her out of the cage soon?

Video of Pepe checking my hands out:


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## Cody

Sweet video, she is so comfortable with you. Budgies and other birds as well can bond more to one person than another, this can really become problematic in larger parrots. Pepe may always favor you but it is a good thing if she can get comfortable with your husband as well. Will she step up onto a perch of some sort if held in front of her like she will step onto your hand? If not I would work on getting her to do that before letting her out of the cage, that way if she flies and lands on something where you cannot reach her you can get her down by getting her to step up onto the perch and bring her back to the cage.


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## faeline

Cody said:


> Sweet video, she is so comfortable with you. Budgies and other birds as well can bond more to one person than another, this can really become problematic in larger parrots. Pepe may always favor you but it is a good thing if she can get comfortable with your husband as well. Will she step up onto a perch of some sort if held in front of her like she will step onto your hand? If not I would work on getting her to do that before letting her out of the cage, that way if she flies and lands on something where you cannot reach her you can get her down by getting her to step up onto the perch and bring her back to the cage.


That is a good idea, we'll look into getting some sort of a perch and get her to try with treats.


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## faeline

I started a new job and things got a bit hectic, but budgie bonding continues!

Pepe is totally at ease with my hands now, even climbing on while I was wiping her perches. She flies to my hand as well, I am allowed to rub her as well. She no longer bites hard, or does testing nibbles before climbing on - she simply hops on. My husband joked that I'm her elevator perch now, I bring her around and show her corners of the cage she has not explored. She has also taken to grooming the hairs on my hand, I play with her using her bells, I get to bump my thumb on her beak too.

At the same time, I've finally gotten her to realize that her bathtub is in fact, a bathtub, and now Pepe enjoys bathing! 

We tried the perch idea, and it turns out that Pepe gets scared of anything that isn't in the cage for more than a day, so it didn't work well, but she does take to my hand very easily now, it's not really a "up" command, but when she sees my index finger in a hooked posture, she's usually willing to hop on.

What I'm trying now is to feed her some millet with the main cage door open, so that she can feel comfortable with looking at me without bars in between us. 

My in-laws have curry leaves (they are spicy) and after checking online it was safe for budgie consumption, we gave her a bit of it. The leaves are actually quite crispy so she did enjoy it but we didn't give her too much in case it was bad for digestion.

No pictures today, too many things happened while a camera was unavailable.


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## faeline

Today is our second try with broccoli, and Pepe absolutely loves it, which is good news for me because I've been worried about her monotonous diet of bok choy / corn / occasional apples. Now I can add broccoli to the list! It seems like it's not only delicious, it's also a lot of fun for her.

Singapore restarted our lockdown again, so I have to order in vegetables. I'm going to try curly kale and red capsicum next, and I also ordered cherry tomatoes (my favorite) to give her a bit, but not too much because I read about the acidity of it. 

In terms of taming, she is still very cautious when the main cage door is open, willing to come to the hand for millet but keeps a look out, so I'm taking it slow. Otherwise, she is fine with my hands in the cage, she has walked up to the wrist at this point. I play with her with my fingers, I get to rub her belly and her cheeks now. My husband also managed to give her get her to come onto his hand, with and without millet.

She's really, really chirpy everyday, and she also made it to the bottom of the cage (where there are toys as well), whereas previously she found it terrifying. 

No pictures today, took my 2nd Pfizer and now my left arm is aching like crazy.


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## faeline

On the progress of feeding her with the main cage door open, she is less worried and hops down quite willingly. She no longer stops eating when I look in and feels quite normal overall. In the evening, I tried to feed her broccoli with the main cage door open as well, she ate a bit, and then thereafter also played with my hands as I was clearing out her fresh food for the day (while the main cage door was opened).

Today we had great sunlight, and we brought her to the balcony again. This time round she was not afraid and was very, very active and chirpy. I think it would be a good idea to have her in the balcony in the mornings, but she would be alone as we have to work in our home office - would this be a problem? My apartment overlooks a park and there's always sounds of people and vehicles around.

Something I just want to know, how bad is a general budgie's sight in the shadows? Say I cover the top of my cage and 2 sides of it, will it be hard for the budgie to see my hand if it's inside?

Obligatory chirpy bird at the balcony:


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## Cody

If you are placing the cage outside on the balcony I would not do that and leave her unattended, because of predatory birds that may be around. Budgies do not see too well as it gets dark so if you cover the top and sides of the cage the amount of light in the room will determine if your hand can be seen.


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## faeline

Cody said:


> If you are placing the cage outside on the balcony I would not do that and leave her unattended, because of predatory birds that may be around. Budgies do not see too well as it gets dark so if you cover the top and sides of the cage the amount of light in the room will determine if your hand can be seen.


In that case we would bring her to the balcony on weekends I guess, because I will be able to watch over her the whole time.


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## Cody

If you open the door to the balcony is there a screen you can close and just have the door open, if so you could put her cage just in front of the screen on the inside space.


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## FaeryBee

*Please be very careful if you leave the bird's cage in front of a screened door or window.
I had a hawk that tried to come through my patio door (the glass one!) not one but three times trying to get to my budgies.
Personally, I'd be afraid to leave my birds in a cage in front of a window or door only protected by a screen. *


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## faeline

FaeryBee said:


> *Please be very careful if you leave the bird's cage in front of a screened door or window.
> I had a hawk that tried to come through my patio door (the glass one!) not one but three times trying to get to my budgies.
> Personally, I'd be afraid to leave my birds in a cage in front of a window or door only protected by a screen. *


Singapore doesn't have that much predator birds because the entire country is urbanized. We have general greenery in the sense of trees being grown along every road (or like in the video, it's actually a garden on top of an enclosed parking space). We have pockets of parks on top of buildings and beside metro stations, but these usually don't contain predatory birds. We have nature reserves but those are quite far from where I stay. But in any case, as long as Pepe is outside on the balcony, I will be watching her, not to worry.


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## faeline

After a week of open cage feeding, we tried to let her come out of her cage today. She panicked a bit when she came out and flew around the room, but we got her to land on her cage by ringing her toy and I spoke comforting words to her, and managed to calm her down to eat some millet. I showed her a twine ball and she actually played a bit with it. She also played with my fingers a bit. Later on, she wanted to get back to her cage, so we coaxed her to the gate, it was almost successful but I accidentally knocked into something so she panicked again. 

However, because she was not afraid of hands, we managed to retrieve her without much problems and she got back to her cage safely (she landed on one of the perches we randomly placed around). While it didn't go well, we will try again next week to show her that it's not that scary to come out and stretch her wings. 

She still allows me to pat her and rub her after that, still climbs onto my hands as as "elevator perch". 

Obligatory play time budgie:


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## faeline

A week of lots of work and personal things happening, today I opened the door to the cage again, but based on past experiences, I put up a lot more things outside of the cage for her to use.

After coming out by herself initially, she now feels safe enough to be transported out of the cage by my hand (if she wants to come out), and there is no longer any panic flying when she is outside. She also found out how to get back to the cage herself, so hopefully she will slowly extend her safe zone to the entire room and feel free to fly around. The opened cage door no longer frightens her, she eats as she wants as well. 

For now she still spends most of the her time in the cage, which is fine because it means she loves being in her cage.

At this point I'm thinking, this is a success?

Obligatory budgie hanging out:


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## Cody

I would say that is a success, she looks quite comfortable exploring outside her cage.


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## faeline

I would like to thank @ChickWas @Cody and @FaeryBee for your help in guiding me to getting Pepe comfortable.

Today, Pepe found her own way in and out of the cage, so she's been very busy, and she also started flying small circles around her cage. It's not really my aim to have a shoulder budgie, but more for her to be a happy budgie, everything else is just bonus. My short term goal was for her to be able to come in and out of the cage as she pleases and this has been achieved.

Starting from today, Pepe will be able to enjoy an open cage while she's in the study with us, and hopefully we can slowly progress to letting her go everywhere in the house.

Mods, if there's a need to close threads, this thread can be closed. Thank you so much.


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## Cody

She is a very lucky bird to have flown into your house, you have done a great job with her in just a few months. Please keep us updated on her future progress.


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## FaeryBee

*Pepe is indeed a very fortunate little budgie to have adopted you! 
If you'd like to continue posting in the thread, we can leave it open as long as you wish.
I love your updates and pictures of your little darling!*


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## faeline

A quick update on Pepe, she loves the fact that the cage is open, and I can see her being so happy and active. She's starting to climb up my arm, today she made it to the elbow while I was placing her food. Absolutely no inhibition, she'll be on my hand while I'm wiping her perches or screwing her outside perch on. I love her personality - slightly bossy, over-excitable, a little clumsy and very very playful. 

I bought more stands to place around the room, and hopefully that will encourage her to explore more as well!

Obligatory budgie with elevators:





(And the budgie strut is just so amusing)


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## FaeryBee

*I LOVE that video!! Pepe totally rocks 💙*


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## faeline

So Pepe is totally at ease with us, and I talk to her a lot when she's on my hand...

AND TODAY SHE TOTALLY REACHED IN TO PECK MY NOSE while I was talking to her.

I've just got to squee a bit. 

Obligatory random video of Pepe bobbing her head... which is something she does very frequently ever since the cage is open:


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## Cody

She is so adorable and such a happy little bird.


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## faeline

I play with her a lot on weekends, so these two days I've been encouraging her to expand her flying radius in the room. The first step was to get her to try to come to the shelf near her. Today, she finally made it there! And after that boost of confidence she started taking bigger flight radius as well!

Obligatory video:





We've managed a game that I'm more than a meter away from the cage and she'll fly to my hand and back to the top of the cage - every time. She also started getting really curious about my hair and my eyebrows, so I let her preen me while she's on a perch. 

I'm really seeing her use more of her wings now and she no longer gets into panic mode when she does a misstep outside of the cage. She just did a flying loop in the room as well, so I guess it's about time for us to budgie proof the room too!


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## Cody

The more loops she does the more comfortable she will get.


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## faeline

Pepe has claimed my forehead and eyebrows and will preen them as long as they are nearby. She lets me rub my nose on her tummy as well.

She has also started getting curious about all the tissue papers I've been using to clean up after her, and started following them around as I wipe up after her. I've started hiding bulbs of millet in her rattan balls and she is having a whole lot of fun digging them out. The shelf that she is now familiar with is right next to our work laptops, so she gets curious about what's on our screens as well, but still too afraid to walk beyond the shelf.

The game of "fly to me" has progressed that she will play that with my husband as well.

Obligatory "fly to me":





It feels like I've managed to train her a bit without actually doing anything deliberately.


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## Cody

I don't think it will be too long before you get some help on the computer.


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## faeline

I finally found a natural wood perch long enough for the width of the cage, and now all the perches in the cage are made of natural wood. This is actually the most important perch because the height is her favorite height, but it's hard to find a 45cm perch. My next project is to slowly find the right length of wood to the perch on the food bowl.

Obligatory budgie during afternoon rest with her new perch:









She has been having fun stripping the wood, and her grip is better on this as well. At the same time, Pepe's been having more confident flights, she now hovers outside of the cage, flies directly in and out of the cage as opposed to hopping out to the branch. I have a lot of fun time when putting up her open cage set up, and then at night taking them down (she's determined to know what I'm holding). 

She's also really interested in my face now, now I understand how it feels to have a face full of feathers and claws when she decides to climb on.

I bought apple cider vinegar with the mother after reading up in the forums. That is coming tomorrow, and I guess 1/4 teaspoon per 1/2 cup of water? How long do I set the water out, how often do I feed her with this? 

Also, how do I determine if the budgie is molting? I'm seeing quite a fair bit of feathers everyday but she still looks as fluffy as ever.


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## Cody

You can try the apple cider vinegar 2-3 times a week, watch her and see if she drinks it, she may not like the taste of it and you don't want to deprive her of water if she will not drink it. When a budgie molts some molts are more severe than others but you should not notice any bald areas on her body, although sometimes during a severe molt many of the feathers above the cere will be lost at once and you might see a slight bald spot before the pinfeathers start appearing. The feathers you are seeing lost indicates she is molting, sometimes it is mostly the smaller downy feathers, other times larger feathers. During a molt the bird may feel a bit grumpy and not be as active as usual, this is normal and will pass as the molt diminishes, it is also a time when the immune system is most vulnerable. It takes a lot of energy and nourishment to grow the new feathers and bit if extra protein will help, you can offer her small pieces of a hard boiled egg or you can purchase some commercially made egg food for birds like the one in this link Protein Egg Food — Higgins Premium Pet Foods


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## faeline

Cody said:


> You can try the apple cider vinegar 2-3 times a week, watch her and see if she drinks it, she may not like the taste of it and you don't want to deprive her of water if she will not drink it. When a budgie molts some molts are more severe than others but you should not notice any bald areas on her body, although sometimes during a severe molt many of the feathers above the cere will be lost at once and you might see a slight bald spot before the pinfeathers start appearing. The feathers you are seeing lost indicates she is molting, sometimes it is mostly the smaller downy feathers, other times larger feathers. During a molt the bird may feel a bit grumpy and not be as active as usual, this is normal and will pass as the molt diminishes, it is also a time when the immune system is most vulnerable. It takes a lot of energy and nourishment to grow the new feathers and bit if extra protein will help, you can offer her small pieces of a hard boiled egg or you can purchase some commercially made egg food for birds like the one in this link Protein Egg Food — Higgins Premium Pet Foods


I was already concerned that she was dropping a lot of feathers, so I did some hard boiled egg (minced to small bits) for her over the weekend, which she really really loves. She is a bit more tired recently as well, which is why I'm _thinking_ that she's molting but I'm just not sure, since it's really mostly the small feathers. How often should I offer her eggs if she's molting?


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## FaeryBee

*Budgies generally have a first light molt at around 3 - 4 months old and another at 6 -7 months old.
When a budgie reaches at 1 year old their molts adjust to the Seasons., After the adjustment the budgie will have its big molts in the Spring and Fall. Budgies may also have lighter molts throughout the year; triggered by stress, change in diet or change in environment.

You can supplement your budgie’s diet with egg food during a molt.
This helps your budgies replenish the energy lost during the time they lose and grow in the new feathers.
Additionally, egg food promotes good and healthy feather growth.

It is possible to buy ready-made egg food at any specialized pet store but just as easy to make your own by hard boiling an egg, mashing it up and mixing it with a bit of cooked quinoa and flax seed. You can also finely chop some veggies and add it to the egg food mix.

Budgies get itchy during their molt, so they'll preen and scratch more often. Additionally, they may be sleepier and quieter as molting takes a lot of energy, and their poop could be a little runnier. To make them more comfortable, you can offer them baths either in a shallow dish of water at the bottom of their cage or by hanging wet greens (romaine lettuce or kale works best) in their cage so they can nibble on it and rub against them.

Molting FAQs
Miserable Molting

I suggest offering her egg three times a week if she's molting. Once a week only when she is not molting.*


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## obxdiva

Just found your post today and thoroughly enjoyed reading about your progress over time. She was meant to be your bird and you've done a marvelous job bonding with her. What a little sweetheart! Hope you have many happy years together.


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## faeline

So I've confirmed that Pepe is indeed molting, since her tail is now as short as a lovebird's. 

Little things are progressing with her - like she's started to explore my clothes, she lets me rub the top of her head, she has started walking closer to where we are seated etc. The molting has made her a little more bitey than usual, so we put her down every time she bites to discourage her from doing that - so this is in progress.

She didn't reject water with ACV and drank as per usual. I told my husband that besides the fact that Pepe is rather flighty still, she is a rather easygoing budgie when it comes to food, which makes it all the easier to feed her. I _might_ have spoiled her a little because she prefers to eat from my hand, sometimes waiting by the food area for me with the food bowl and she'll simply hop onto my hand to eat, before I place the food bowl down. 

She prefers to bath in a shallow pool of water with a whole kale leaf in it, and seriously, bathing budgies are the cutest thing ever. She also likes the spray bottle and recognizes the bottle in my hand.

Last night, she flew onto my chest on purpose as I was getting her ready for bed and climbed up to her toy that I was taking down. 

Obligatory egg meal:





So on the weekend, we have a family event and we have to head out for the whole day - what do I do to keep her occupied while we're away?


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## Cody

I would let her out for a bit before you leave and return her to her cage just before you leave, it looks like she has plenty of toys in her cage to keep her busy for the day, she should be fine.


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## FaeryBee

*Pepe is just as cute as button and is doing great! 
I agree with Cody about letting her out for a little while and then returning her to her cage before you leave.
You can play music or the TV for her while you are out.*


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## faeline

Being out the whole day turns out to be quite alright, except that Pepe was a little quieter than usual the next day. Either being uncovered made it hard for her to sleep (hence tired) or she didn't like being alone. But after that, we went back to our normal daily routine so she went back to her happy silly self. We (as in my husband and I) thought about having a companion for her, so we'll be thinking about re-configuring our study to accommodate a different cage, and we're thinking of a cage with a divider, since it allows us to separate them if they get into disagreements but otherwise it'll be a big flight cage.

If it works out, we'll be doing Pepe > New Cage (divider in), New bird > Old Cage (quarantine) > New Cage (the other side) > Remove the divider.

I was surfing around the site and noticed something about mineral perches, which was something I really want to get because she goes through her cuttlebone so fast, I can't keep up. So giving her something big, fixed and edible seems to be a good idea. After being afraid for half a day or so, she realized that it's edible and now she loves it.

She has since flown to my shoulder a few times - it seems possible to encourage her to come to my shoulder because she seems my open palm as a perch, and preened my hair and my face. I can also encourage her to go to some places by tapping on them, which is how we got her to come to our desks.

Obligatory desk budgie:


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## srirachaseahawk

Cute!


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## FaeryBee

*LOVE the desk budgie picture.
The mineral perches are great. I have a couple of different kinds. 
One looks like a large shell and the other more like a "regular" perch*


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## faeline

FaeryBee said:


> *LOVE the desk budgie picture.
> The mineral perches are great. I have a couple of different kinds.
> One looks like a large shell and the other more like a "regular" perch*
> 
> View attachment 258509
> 
> 
> View attachment 258510


I bought the ones that look similar to those at the bottom, she does enjoy biting and eating it.


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## Cody

She's so sweet. Keep in mind that if you decide to get another bird you may lose some of the closeness you currently have with Pepe and if you were to get a male you would then have to take precautions to prevent them from breeding.


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## faeline

These few days Pepe has been getting bolder and more comfortable with being outside of the cage, like falling asleep outside, preening on my hands. I've made a salad for her, which she ate a bit. Now that molting is over, she's very active everyday. I also bought her a new swing that hangs outside and she absolutely loves it, I think because this swing is not blocked by the cage or anything else, so it swings as much as she wants it to.

She is also now a shoulder budgie, she first flew here by chance and now she likes to come onto it to inspect my hair and ears. As well as a head budgie, and watching our monitors from it. I guess if she like us enough she will want to be near us.

Obligatory shoulder budgie:


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## faeline

I haven't been updating recently because work got really hectic and some things happened in the family as well. But now I have some time to update what's been happening.

Pepe has completed her first molting! So by all estimates she is only around 7-8 months old? The week after though, she became really irritable and bitey, and suddenly stopped wanting to interact with us, so either we've done something wrong, or because I didn't manage to spend enough time with her during this period of busy. She still eats and drinks as per normal, plays with her toys and flies around but she doesn't want to come to our hands.

I've also discovered that she loves herbs, and instead of playing with them (like shredding vegetables as she likes to do) she actually diligently eats them. So herbs wise, I've given her sweet basil and cilantro. When she eats them the room actually smells nice as well, so I kind it like it too!

I was whistling randomly one day and Pepe actually got really interested. I'm quite good at whistling, so I tried to do the budgie chirrup - looks like it works because suddenly she stopped being irritable and became really interested in talking to me. After a day of so of conversing with her in whistles, she's back to her playful, curious self. She perches on our heads and shoulders without coaxing, and I also get to give her a good preen on her head and cheeks, which was something she didn't let me do since I got busy.

I guess whistling works?

Obligatory head budgie (on my husband while he was having a meeting):


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## srirachaseahawk

Sounds great! She was probably grumpy about the molting. Whistling to her and getting her to respond is actually really good, it will only improve your "standing" as her flock


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## faeline

We've settled into a comfortable routine, and Pepe looks forward every morning to us opening the cage in the study. She now goes to my husband's keyboard very frequently, flies onto our heads, monitors, very chirpy and generally very happy. 

She's still a little bitey, which we're trying to put her out of the habit by taking her away from the toy that makes her bite (she bites when playing, so we think she thinks it's playing), basically interrupting that so that action so that she feels that biting causes interruptions to fun. 

She's still a rather quiet and flighty budgie, but really curious and clumsy as well. She has gotten used to my phone taking videos of her, and she keeps jumping onto the phone. Now in this routine, she comes to my hand and shoulders easily, I get to rub her cheeks and tummy, she preens me and my husband.

There's a question though, is it normal for budgies to want to break apart things? Pepe has been biting into my sleeves and she pulls apart rattan balls faster than I can replace them sometimes. Cuttlebones are like rendered down within a week etc. She seeks to pull out stems from the vegetables I give her as well. I'm thinking of recreational activities for her if that's something she likes to do. 

Obligatory curious budgie:


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## srirachaseahawk

She’s adorable, and it sounds like it’s going well!
To me, that just sounds like budgies gonna budgie 

She may also love a foraging box.
you can use a small cat litter pan or similar, and fill it with shredable toys, foot toys, and shredded paper. Then sprinkle in some seed for her to hunt for.


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## Cody

Pepe is looking great. It is normal, especially for a female that may be hormonal, to want to tear and shred everything, I have a hen that can go through a cuttlebone in a few hours. My birds love these kabobs see if you can get them where you are here is a link to show you what I am referring to https://www.mybirdstore.com/TOYS_BY...nd,and safe for your bird and the environment.


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## faeline

srirachaseahawk said:


> She may also love a foraging box.
> you can use a small cat litter pan or similar, and fill it with shredable toys, foot toys, and shredded paper. Then sprinkle in some seed for her to hunt for.


I have a primitive version now, because we're moving stuff around in the house so I can't get space for a bigger one, and she seems to like it, so I'll be putting up a bigger one when the space allows it.


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## Cody

By having this in a bowl she may be looking at this as a nesting site and start laying eggs, females will lay eggs sometimes even if there is no male around.


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## faeline

Cody said:


> By having this in a bowl she may be looking at this as a nesting site and start laying eggs, females will lay eggs sometimes even if there is no male around.


It's actually a plate, the wood grains makes it look like a bowl. Anyway I've repurposed a paper box now for this for a bigger foraging box that is still manageable.


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## vrabec

I just read through this entire thread, amazing! Gives me hope and lots of inspiration once mine is done with his antibiotics, thank you


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## Cody

vrabec said:


> I just read through this entire thread, amazing! Gives me hope and lots of inspiration once mine is done with his antibiotics, thank you


Lucky Bird!


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## FaeryBee

*Be VERY careful with any kind of "foraging box" with a bird! 
What you've pictured can easily be construed by a budgie as a nesting site and is going to encourage hormonal behavior and nesting.

You would be much better off using hanging shredding toys and toys where the budgie pull paper and or seeds from inside the toy rather than having a box with shredding toys and/or shredded paper for her.

If you want a box of toys then please make a bead box or only put plastic foot toys in the box.








*


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## faeline

FaeryBee said:


> *Be VERY careful with any kind of "foraging box" with a bird!
> What you've pictured can easily be construed by a budgie as a nesting site and is going to encourage hormonal behavior and nesting.
> 
> You would be much better off using hanging shredding toys and toys where the budgie pull paper and or seeds from inside the toy rather than having a box with shredding toys and/or shredded paper for her.
> 
> If you want a box of toys then please make a bead box or only put plastic foot toys in the box.
> 
> View attachment 259427
> *


How about putting kabobs inside with beads and rattan balls?


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## FaeryBee

*That would be better!*


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## faeline

Kabobs are like imports, so I'm waiting for my shipment...

It seems like Pepe is molting again (and I gave her eggs again yesterday because of that). She seems healthy, eating a lot, playful, flying, no puffy feathers, no heavy breathing, just a little more grumpy again. Is this something to be of concern?

Diet: Kale, broccoli, bok choy, occasional sweet basil and sweet corn, occasional apple and strawberries, occasional egg, seed + pellets mix, limited millet (like one bunch at a time, once or twice a week). Weekly ACV...

Obligatory shoulder budgie:


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## Cody

Very common for a budgie to be grumpy during a molt and also sometimes less active, takes a lot to grow in new feathers so the extra protein in the egg is helpful. If you can find an egg food product made for birds where you are you can offer that as well Protein Egg Food — Higgins Premium Pet Foods


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## FaeryBee

*Pepe is looking as beautiful as ever!*


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## faeline

So here is the foraging box V2.0, the kabobs are still on the way, but the beads are here (wood + plastic w/o paint). I poured the beads in and put out some seeds in the box to see how the effect was like.

I had also accidentally bought branches that are too long for the current cage (but would be good to use for my future planned cage anyway). 

So while I was holding those branches and thinking about what to do with them, Pepe flew over onto the branch and started exploring it. Then I slowly placed the branch on the box and apparently she's fine with it. I added another branch and she started using them as ladders to get in and out of the box. She used to be afraid of going in because the box was deep but now with an easy way in and out, she's having a pretty good time.

Obligatory foraging budgie:


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## srirachaseahawk

Looks like fun to me


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## faeline

It's half a year since Pepe came into my life and I'm really so happy to have her. At this point, I feel "bonded" with her, something that I've once thought not possible because of how afraid she was. (Just musing because I'm looking at my videos of her again.)

Obligatory budgie who wants to play:


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## Cody

I am sure she is just as happy to have you, you have done a great job with her.


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## FaeryBee

*Excellent! You Rock Pepe!*


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## faeline

So yesterday we let Pepe out in the living room (as opposed to the study) because we had some shift in our living habits due to some family situation. She's been sleeping almost everyday in the living room since we've had her, so it was not unfamiliar territory. Initially she was alright, but then she decided to fly loops in the living room (I suppose to test the dimensions of the space) and hit the window. 

She probably got spooked by this and perched on top of a wall mounted cabinet, but it was really easy to retrieve her this time, I just called to her and she immediately recognized me. Then I noticed her having a bit of bloodied cere. After calling her for a while, she started chirping and hopped onto my hand. She got spooked again while I was stepping down the chair but flew back to my hand after I called her a few times. Back into the cage and I just spoke comforting words to her, after a while she was playing with her toys and beaking my fingers again (I left my hand inside the cage the whole time).

Cage transfer to the travel carrier was so much easier than the previous time we had to get her checked for coughing... millet on hand, and tada, done!

She has seen the avian vet for a scraped cere and prescribed antibiotics spray + medicine to be ingested in water for 2 weeks. She didn't like the color of the water but I was able to coax her to drink it. Now she's resting and all is fine.

The vet told us he thinks she's male, because of a narrow pelvic structure, so now I'm confused over the gender again. Otherwise, Pepe is 35g now, very healthy with strong chest muscles, no parasites or mites. We have to put her back to the study for now and we'll try to live around this arrangement until she's recovered.

Obligatory injured budgie:


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## Cody

Poor girl, glad she is ok, it does not look like it is bothering her at all.


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## FaeryBee

*Pepe looks happy in the latest video and doesn't seem bothered by her scraped cere.
She hasn't changed gender -- she's still a female!*


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## faeline

I thought it was my imagination, but my husband made the same observation - that Pepe became a lot more affectionate after her injury. Yesterday she finally made it to my side of the room (where she wouldn't be able to see her cage) and played for a bit, and today she came over boldly without the usual "test flight". 

I'm not sure if it's healthy because she spent like almost all of her out of cage time with me, I have to bring her back to the cage to get her to eat/drink/sleep myself. She seems totally obsessed with my earphones (that I'm using during teleconferences) and wouldn't stop playing with it, even hanging from it upside down if I held it out. I tend to sit cross legged on and she was all over my pants, sometimes she'd do this cute little butt wiggle and I'm not sure what that means.

She got so tired from playing that she napped for a whole hour after I took her back to her cage.

Obligatory earphones attacking budgie:


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## FaeryBee

*Make sure she spends time in her cage off and on throughout the day, even if you have to put her in it.
Otherwise, she is going to become "too" bonded to you and will suffer abandonment issues if you aren't around.
She need periods of time each day where she is required to entertain herself. *


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## faeline

It has been a while since I last updated, but certain things are progressing with Pepe. I have succeeded in giving her neck scritches and she loves them to the point she almost fell off her perch (when she lets me touch her). Biting is reduced now, we play chase the finger/finger chase the budgie once in a while, she lets me "harass her" while playing her toys, beaking me while playing. She also started going to the floor this week, where previously she had always been afraid to go low.

I've also moved her to a new cage - Vision L01 because of its horizontal grills, and after a few days of being scared, she's starting to get used to the new cage and enjoys climbing around. I'm just thinking that it would be a good time to get a new friend for her before she gets too territorial in the cage, so I'm preparing to adopt a second budgie quite soon (I've identified a female English budgie from someone else, whose budgie isn't a good companion to her existing cockatiel).

I think a bird friend for her is essential, since she's still calling out to birds whenever she hears them, which makes me a little sad for her.

Obligatory new cage setup:


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## srirachaseahawk

She’s so cute


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## Cody

She is looking great. Please keep in mind that you should quarantine the new budgie for at least 30 days and that there is no guarantee that the two of them will get along, and you need to be prepared should that be the case, which means you have to be prepared to house them separately if any problems arise. Pepe has come such a long way and you have done a terrific job with her you may find that she will become less interested in interacting with you once she has a bird friend.


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## FaeryBee

*Is the cage large enough for two budgies? What are the dimensions? Length, Width, Height

Please ensure you get a same gender friend if you are getting another budgie so you do not have to be concerned about discouraging breeding.*
*Differences and Dynamics in Flocks*
*Your Harmonious Flock*

*Quarantine your new bird!*
*Yes - Quarantine IS necessary*

*After the quarantine period, please make sure you introduce the two budgies in neutral territory.*
*Introducing Two Budgies*

*Rearrange the cage that the two will be in together before allowing them to enter that cage.
That will help reduce territorial and/or aggressive behavior.

Are you ready, willing and able to house the new budgie separately on a permanent basis if it does not get along with your current bird after quarantine?*
*Be Prepared for Veterinary Expense*


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## faeline

FaeryBee said:


> *Is the cage large enough for two budgies? What are the dimensions? Length, Width, Height
> 
> Please ensure you get a same gender friend if you are getting another budgie so you do not have to be concerned about discouraging breeding.*
> *Differences and Dynamics in Flocks*
> *Your Harmonious Flock*
> 
> *Quarantine your new bird!*
> *Yes - Quarantine IS necessary*
> 
> *After the quarantine period, please make sure you introduce the two budgies in neutral territory.*
> *Introducing Two Budgies*
> 
> *Rearrange the cage that the two will be in together before allowing them to enter that cage.
> That will help reduce territorial and/or aggressive behavior.
> 
> Are you ready, willing and able to house the new budgie separately on a permanent basis if it does not get along with your current bird after quarantine?*
> *Be Prepared for Veterinary Expense*


The cage size is 17 inches long x 31 inches wide x 22 inches high; Wire spacing: 0.81 inches, and yes going for another girl.


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## FaeryBee

*Excellent! Glad to hear the cage is the correct size and that you will be getting another female.
Looking forward to meeting her when she arrives and is all settled into her quarantine cage.
Best wishes!*


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