* Pet Bird Chat * NEW

[strawberryfrost]

I have a parrot

[Lexi.]

Good for you

[EliTheDinoKid]

Okay, so I've had my Parakeet for 5 months now, and he doesn't want to touch me. He'll eat millet I'm holding as long as I'm holding it out to him. I've put my hand in his cage almost every day and tried getting him to step up, but he almost never lets me touch him. Granted, there have been times where I didn't put my hand in his cage for a couple weeks. Also, a couple months ago, my mother was worried about his nails getting too long and tried speeding up the "bonding process" by chasing him around the cage with her hand. Before she did this, he was starting to warm up to me a little bit, but after he was back to the way he was when we got him. I'm fairly sure this made him more uncomfortable around me. But we got him a special perch that trims his nails and he loves it.

There was a time when I had food in my hand and he was trying everything he could to get the food, but not touch my hand. He would climb on the cage around my hand and right in front of my face, around my hand, and leaned as far as he could, but he still was not able to get the food. The other day, I was holding is food bowl and he was standing on the edge of the bowl. I moved up from under him and he let me touch his foot and stomach. Although he did fly away and come back a couple times when I touched him too much.

I'm wondering if there is anything I'm doing wrong or if there is anything I can do to increase our bond and get him to trust me. I'll try anything but taking him out of his cage. Also, I was planning on getting another parakeet soon. Is this a good idea? Or should I wait until Quinn (my bird) can step up? Could really use the help Thanks.

[Ranger of the North]

My zebra finch just passed away unexpectedly. He was young and had everything he needed, so I want to quarantine his mate. It has been about an hour and she is frantic. She is calling and searching for him. She has a mirror, a swing, and a bell, as well as a foraging box. Is there anything else I can do for the bird? Would she like being in a more active area? Right now she is in my bedroom and I just care for them and try to make sure they were happy, and that was what they liked. Me popping in and filling the food dish and drinking tube, cleaning the cage every other day, watching them quietly, and singing with the printer when it alerted us it was out of paper. Obviously I failed at keeping them in good health. But what can I do for her? She is quite sad, and I just got her to stop plucking her mate, so I am afraid if I do not do something she will pluck herself.

Oh no, that's so sad!! That must be so disappointing; don't worry, I'm sure you did your absolute best for them I've never had a zebra finch before, so I don't know what to do in regards to easing her grief! But I hope you can work something out for the poor birdie D:

[Momoko-Chan]

New user coming in!

Username: Momoko-Chan, Momo for short if you prefer
How many birds do you own? ( if applicable ): 4 budgies :3
How long have you had them?: I got two last summer and when the female passed away in January, I got the other three.
What brings you to the bird chat?: I'd love to hear from other bird owners :3 I love my budgies although I sometimes don't have as much time for them as I'd like. Maybe some advice for taming them as well

I have photos, too!
Here are Crash (the green one) and his first mate, Coco (the white): Click me!
And here are all four that are living with me now (from left to right: Crash/male, Cloud/male, Shy/female, Lemona/female): Click me!

Hi! How are you guys doing? :3

I'm so sorry for your loss Sparkfire

[Ranger of the North]

Welcome! Crash is honestly just the cutest name for a budgie

[Momoko-Chan]

Welcome! Crash is honestly just the cutest name for a budgie

Thank you! I came up with Crash after I decided I wanted to name the female Coco. I'm a huge fan of the Crash Bandicoot games

[Luzien]

My zebra finch just passed away unexpectedly. He was young and had everything he needed, so I want to quarantine his mate. It has been about an hour and she is frantic. She is calling and searching for him. She has a mirror, a swing, and a bell, as well as a foraging box. Is there anything else I can do for the bird? Would she like being in a more active area? Right now she is in my bedroom and I just care for them and try to make sure they were happy, and that was what they liked. Me popping in and filling the food dish and drinking tube, cleaning the cage every other day, watching them quietly, and singing with the printer when it alerted us it was out of paper. Obviously I failed at keeping them in good health. But what can I do for her? She is quite sad, and I just got her to stop plucking her mate, so I am afraid if I do not do something she will pluck herself.

did you take him to the vet for testing? you maybe want to get him to look at the girl too if something is in the blood, poison from the cage they are in( sadly still a lot of way to small cages you can buy in pet stores are bad and some even of poison for bird metal or with plastic around the bares......)...this can show in blood test and x-ray.

you can test the cage if it is healthy for the bird....also when it is not clearly made from bird safe metal (and those who build it say it) or it it is not from stainless steel ( most made of those are good for birds, when it is for animal made)..then maybe think about throwing it away.

clean the cage, the toys, the bowls for food and water, the perches and such real real well, hot water, bird safe cage cleaner or such...

dont use mirror !!! they are terrible, terrible for a bids mind, even more so now that she is alone.....when you health tested her and she is good and she shows no sign of sickness after some week and vet says it is alright...then look for a partner she likes

give her new differnt toys, make her cage more interesting....for bird healthy branches and twigs (with leaves) to chew on and such....maybe even get her a healthy way bigger cage to give her something new to do the think about being alone, like flying around and destroying rope and Wood toys^^

[Mothmanofficial]

@luzien
There are no vets within reasonable driving distance of me who take birds. I reasearched this and understood that if they got sick and I did not catch it early enough, they would probably die. The way he was acting was not typical of lead-poisoned animals. The cage also looks like stainless steel, not galvanized. The bars are very shiny, and in my exprience, only stainless steel stays that shiny. Galvanized metal (zinc covered lead), which is the only metal that would have lead in it, is very dull and it is quite easy to distinguish the two. I would prefer to not get it tested because it would cost me more than I want to pay. He also lived in it for a year and is not the species or bird that typically goes around chewing cage bars. I have cleaned the cage very thoroughly already, and sue is back in it now. As for the mirror, I took it out and she just became more frantic. She likes the bird in the mirror and always has, so for a month she and Mirror-bird will probably stay together. They are not really interested in playing. They only like bells and swings and mirrors, unlike parakeets who like things to chew on, and ring, and coimb on.

[sinensys]

@Sparkfire,
i've been in your place before. >.<
and that doesn't sound like lead poisoning, thankfully. some birds are just sickly while others bring in illness from the shop. it's not always in our control, unfortunately.

i've never dealt with finches so i don't know from experience, but i'd read that finches can go depressed if they are alone for more than a week. if you could get her a new buddy soon, that would help her some, i think.

there might also be some seed mixes for stress in your area. if you can access it, it could help as well.

i'm sorry this happened. :'c