# Tame but not bonded!



## Littoface (Apr 17, 2011)

Hi guys! I posted here way back about our keet Nana. She's been with us for a year now and she's not afraid at all -- but she's not bonded, either. Her cage is always open when we're home, she eats treats from our hands, steps up onto a perch and targets on command, and will play with the toys we interact with. But she will not perch on a finger, and will only step onto my hand with lots of millet bribing. In fact lately she has started to bite a bit and she's territorial inside her cage (makes warning lunges but doesn't actually bite).

I ignore the bites but my 4 year old can't do that. We are both respectful of her space and leave her alone when she's inside the cage. We don't chase her and wait for her to come to us. Generally it seems she's interested in interacting with us but is a bit bossy. Help me go on from here! What can I do to move on to the next step? I want to stop the biting before it becomes a problem, and I want to finger-tame her!


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Not all budgies are interested in bonding with humans.

Is Nana currently in condition or molting?
Both of these things have a tendency to make a bird more "bitey" than normal.*


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## Littoface (Apr 17, 2011)

FaeryBee said:


> *Not all budgies are interested in bonding with humans.
> 
> Is Nana currently in condition or molting?
> Both of these things have a tendency to make a bird more "bitey" than normal.*


She does have pin feathers.. that might be it then. I hope! I don't want this to become a bad habit.

Would her interest in everything I do mean that she's interested in my company, or not necessarily? I will keep interacting with her but I'll keep that in mind. >_<


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*


Littoface said:



She does have pin feathers.. that might be it then. I hope! I don't want this to become a bad habit.

Would her interest in everything I do mean that she's interested in my company, or not necessarily? I will keep interacting with her but I'll keep that in mind. >_<

Click to expand...

Sorry, I don't understand your question.
Could you reword it?*


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## Littoface (Apr 17, 2011)

FaeryBee said:


> *
> 
> 
> Littoface said:
> ...


Sorry! What I mean is, she's very interested in everything I do and she chooses to come over and interact with me when I show her a toy or a treat. Does this mean she is interested in bonding, or is there a chance she will stay like this, unbonded but unafraid?

I am fine with either, I just want to know if I should keep (gently) trying to get her on my finger or just accept her as she is


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*I have several budgies that are interested in me and what I'm doing. 
They will perch on the chair or on my laptop. 
Sometimes they choose to perch on top my head or on my shoulder. 
However, none of them are truly "bonded" and have no interest in being held. 
I'm perfectly fine with interacting with them on their terms.

I don't know if your little girl will want to be "finger tamed" or not.
There is no harm in trying. You can use millet or a favorite treat as an enticement.
http://talkbudgies.com/articles-budgie-training-bonding/315073-positive-reinforcement-training.html

You may also want to consider clicker training with her:
http://talkbudgies.com/articles-budgie-training-bonding/315065-basics-clicker-training.html

For myself, I've never seen any point in having my budgies perch on my finger and I simply use either the back of my hand or a small dowel perch if I want to move them into their cage.*


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## Littoface (Apr 17, 2011)

That sounds wonderful, I am fine with that too. As long as she's happy / not lonely. Thank you!


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## RavensGryf (May 8, 2015)

With the exception of one of my parrots, none of my birds are bonded to me. But some are 'friendly and tame'. They enjoy my company and want to hang out next to me when they feel like it, and maybe get an occasional neck scratch, kind of how Deborah mentioned her birds are. 

There is no harm in trying the methods in the links Deborah provided above, but not all birds are interested in having a close "bond" with a human no matter what we do, and you can't make them be if the individual doesn't want that. To our disappointment sometimes, birds just aren't like a domestic companion animal like a dog would be . The ones who are, are exceptionally special.


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