# Escapee (indoors but still urgent)



## stephable (Jul 12, 2017)

So Piper is surprisingly crafty and the play pen I've been letting her out to exercise in wasn't as secure as I thought and she managed to get out. She's still in my house but I'd like to get her back into her cage without freaking her out or sending our bonding backwards.

At the moment she's still pretty uncomfortable with my hands and if I get too close or reach out to her she'll fly away. There's lots of high cupboards for her to perch on in the kitchen, ledges and beams in the living room and in the laundry and no doors between any of these rooms (hence using the pen in the first place. 

I've already put millet in her food bowl as a kind of treat and she's pretty comfortable just looking around the kitchen at the moment, she came down from up on the cupboard and is wandering around on the bench. there's no food out or anything dangerous to her so I'm not too concerned for her safety but I am meant to go out and get groceries with mum in a couple of hours so I can't just wait for her to decide to go back.

Any ideas or advice would be great! I have caught her in a towel before (she's so crafty omg) but she's quick and it stresses her out so I'd like to avoid it if possible.

I'll keep an eye on her in the meantime lol

UPDATE: She flew into my room which is much smaller and can be closed off so I shut the door and managed to catch her in a towel but any advice would be appreciated for next time because I bet she'll do it again (I don't have the heart to keep her locked in her cage when she's biting at the bars and jumping around like crazy)


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## Therm (Aug 2, 2015)

Steph, I'm glad you managed to get Piper into a cage before you had to leave. 

Is there any possibility that the out of cage time can be in the bedroom so that she's in a more contained room? 

If that's not workable, then I would work on a schedule for her. Try and establish a routine of when she gets to go out of the cage and feeding times and set it up so that she gets fed after she's been out of the cage for a while so that she will want to return to eat. You can establish a noise to associate with the food as well, like ringing a bell to help train her. 
Good luck.


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## stephable (Jul 12, 2017)

I can't really have her in the bedroom because even though it's better it isn't bird proofed and having a ledge around the room near the roof means she is way up out of reach. 

I certainly try to keep her to a routine but my schedule differs day to day so it can be difficult. I have wake up and bed times for her but her play times are at different times and for different lengths. I could make it more regular but it would be shorter and some days I'd have to skip it because of work or uni. I'm going to start clicker training her but I think it'll probably take a while. I've made her pen more secure for now so hopefully it's all good now and she doesn't get out again, I just don't want to make her afraid of me. I've been working really hard to bond with her and get her used to me.


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## Therm (Aug 2, 2015)

I would do my best to stick to a routine the best you can. Obviously, we all do things that change our day to day routines but wherever you can have a bit of normality for her, try and keep to that schedule so she gets used to it. Maybe it's a small thing like by 6 pm every day you're finished and can let her out for that specific amount of time. The odd day where that doesn't happen is fine, but it establishes some routine for her.


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## stephable (Jul 12, 2017)

Thanks, I will  Just finished my holidays so I should be one a bit more of a regular routine now and I'll start setting times for her play and food and everything


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*I have untamed budgies that go back in their cage because I've used positive reinforcement training to teach them they will get a reward when they do so.

Initially, when I was ready for them to go back in the cage I would first dim the lights and pull down the shades in the room. If the radio or TV was on, I turned it off.

Then I would stand by their cage and ringing the bell on one of their toys while telling them, "It's time to go in your cage now!"

Once they went back into the cage, they were given a small bit of millet.

This method worked well and they now go in the cage when asked to do so without the lights being dimmed or the blinds lowered and the TV or radio can stay on.

Getting the millet reward is the best part of "going back home"*


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## stephable (Jul 12, 2017)

I've started giving her a little bit of millet every time she goes back in her cage but if I'm near the cage she won't go over to it because she's still pretty nervous with me so I can't ring a bell on her toy or anything. It's been ok but she does take her time haha


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