# First-time Budgie Friend



## GreatMathias (Sep 24, 2016)

Hello all,

I just joined your forum because I'm a First-timer with a budgie or any bird for that matter. I had some questions that were a little more specific than Google could help me with, haha. I'm in week 3 with my little guy, who I have named Dr. Doom (my girlfriend and I have a thing about comic book villain names for our pets XD) and initially felt like he was breezing through the hand-taming process. Within a week he would let me stroke his tummy, he'd eat from my hand, and sometimes would get on my hand, and never fled from it. But in the past week he seems to have taken several steps back; he suddenly started fleeing my hand every time it is in the cage, won't let me touch him at all, and will generally only eat from it if he can reach the food from his perch without having to touch my hand (i.e. a full-length millet).

He otherwise shows no fear of me personally, he's talkative when I sit near him, squawks when I leave his sight, etc. It's just the hand. Have I potentially moved too fast, or is this normal? I believe him to be quite young, I attached a couple pictures in case that helps.


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Hi! :welcome: to Talk Budgies

Dr. Doom is adorable! 

Generally, it is best to allow your budgie to settle into its new environment for at least two weeks before you start trying to tame and bond with it.  Budgies are often submissive initially and then as they become more comfortable you will see them revert back to their true nature. I would advise you begin the taming and bonding process more slowly.

Taming and Bonding is all about helping your budgie learn to trust you and it takes a great deal of time and patience on your part. 
You should never grab your budgie or force him to be touched. 
To bond with your budgie, you need to build his trust in you.
He will have to learn over time that you will not hurt him, grab him and try to force him to allow you to hold him.

To build your budgie's trust, sit by his cage and read, talk or sing quietly to him for a period of at least 10-15 minutes, 3 or 4 times day. After the 2nd or 3rd day, rest your hand on the outside of the cage when you talk to him so he'll learn that your hand is safe and will not hurt him.

After a week, rest your hand inside the cage when you talk. 
Don't make sudden moves, don't try to touch him. 
Let his get used to the idea that the hand is now in his safe place and not harming him.

After 2 weeks, begin moving your hand slowly toward your budgie. If he becomes agitated, stop moving your hand and just hold very still until he calms down. When he's comfortable with your hand near him, you can offer him a bit of millet or a few seeds. In a few more days, you can begin your taming and bonding sessions.

Always work at your budgie's pace. 
Move slowly and talk reassuringly and calmly to him whenever you interact with him.

Most budgies once they pass the "baby" stage, do not like to be petted or touched. 
If your budgie does like to be petted, you should only ever pet his head, neck or chest area.
Stroking a budgie's back and/or tail stimulates its breeding instinct. Bonding means allowing them to choose to be with you.

Please take the time to read through all of the How To Guides, the FAQs and the stickies located at the top of each section of the forum.

You'll find most of your basic questions about budgies and caring for them will have been answered after you've read through all of them.

Site Guidelines
How-To Guides
FAQs Frequently Asked Questions
Budgie Articles
http://talkbudgies.com/general-budgie-talk/295001-list-stickies.html
http://talkbudgies.com/general-budgie-talk/333106-posting-forums.html
http://talkbudgies.com/general-budgie-talk/295033-prepared-veterinary-care-expense.html
Avian First Aid
Why Quarantine?

http://talkbudgies.com/articles-general-budgie-info/227841-50-common-budgie-dangers-watch-out.html

http://talkbudgies.com/budgie-breeding/327881-heartfelt-plea-forum-members-new-old.html

http://talkbudgies.com/housing-budgies/24411-cage-sizes.html
http://talkbudgies.com/housing-budgies/31719-essentials-great-cage.html
http://talkbudgies.com/general-budgie-talk/339826-resource-directory.html

When you upload pictures as thumbnail attachments directly from your computer, tablet or phone, the forum automatically defaults to landscape.

To upload full-sized pictures with the proper orientation, please use a photo-sharing service such as PhotoBucket and follow the steps in these instructions:
http://talkbudgies.com/how-guides/175818-how-post-pictures-photobucket.html

For gender and/or mutation help - Lighting and Angle DOES matter

By the way, all photos entered in any of our forum contests must be a full-size photo and not a thumbnail attachment so it's good to know how to upload them! 

If you have any questions after reading through everything, please be sure to ask!

Glad you decided to join us and looking forward to seeing you around the forums.

:wave:*


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## StarlingWings (Mar 15, 2013)

Hi there and :welcome: to the forums!

Your budgie is absolutely adorable and congratulations on bringing him into your heart and home arty: 

FaeryBee has given some wonderful advice; it's most likely his submissiveness that caused him to initially be so responsive to you and now that he's more settled in, he's beginning to establish boundaries and see his cage more as his "own space". 

Be sure to read through all the links provided to ensure that you're up to date on all the best practices for budgie care! If you have any questions afterwards, please do ask as we'd love to help 

Hope to see you around, and little Dr. Doom as well  

Cheers! :wave:


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## Tinks (Sep 16, 2016)

Hi and welcome  a newbie here too... this is a lovely friendly forum with lots of friendly advice x


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## shaz128blue (Feb 18, 2009)

Hi and welcome
You will get such super help here for anything budgie related. The stickies are so helpful too so worth spending a bit of time reading. I often re- read many of these because even after having a budgie for over 20 years I'm still learning stuff.
Looking forward to more photos x


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## GreatMathias (Sep 24, 2016)

Thank you all for the great advice and kind welcomes! So would it be best to kind of start over with the taming process, or simply slow down? And I will read all the stickies too, thank you!


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*


GreatMathias said:



Thank you all for the great advice and kind welcomes! So would it be best to kind of start over with the taming process, or simply slow down? And I will read all the stickies too, thank you!

Click to expand...

As I indicated in my previous post, I would recommend you go back to the beginning and work on regaining Dr. Doom's trust and work from there. *


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## GreatMathias (Sep 24, 2016)

Cheers, thank you for the advice. Been studying the posts on the forum for help too


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