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Post by rdkntriker on Dec 9, 2013 20:57:13 GMT
Very pretty Budgie
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Post by boobaby on Dec 11, 2013 2:55:19 GMT
With the exception of my very small 12 year old daschund who sleeps in my bed (arthritic and doesn't do anything but waddle around) none of the other animals are allowed into my bedroom, which is where Boo lives. So unless they sneak in (which they have done once or twice) Boo never sees them. They aren't allowed outside when she is outside either. I'm sure she hears them though! The cat doesn't belong to me but he is a neutered 3 year old male who is VERY high energy and gets into everything- but as I said, he isn't allowed in my room and knows it. None of my animals (the two dogs) have ever lunged at the cage but she has probably seen them walking around occasionally. Maybe that has been enough to spook her at some point without me knowing and now she doesn't trust us? I bought her a new toy and some spray millet to try today, and rearranged her cage. She's giving me the stink eye at the moment but I'm not giving in she's been VERY cranky today but I'm sure she'll chill out in a day or two. Once she is a little better adapted to the new surroundings (and college finals are over) I'll start working on getting her out every day. What are the signs for her being too tired or stressed that I should be looking for?
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Post by Sarah on Dec 11, 2013 16:09:11 GMT
If she is puffed up all the time, or sitting for more than half an hour on the same place of the bottom of her cage - those are the big warning signs of real distress.
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Post by Sarah on Dec 13, 2013 5:47:18 GMT
How is Boo getting on? She is actually a dilute: She isn't just duller than other budgies by accident. Dilutes are bred for their soft pale colors and prized for it. She is also a clear-flight pied, which gives her those lovely white wing and tail feathers. She is no breeder's idea of a mistake. Traits like this are sought after and specialized in. While neither mutation is particularly rare, it is much harder to breed a dilute budgie like this than it is to breed a jewel tone one. My best guess is that she is an American/English budgie hybrid, and she probably escaped from wherever she used to live. It could also be that she was discarded for being somewhat difficult - we will never know where she came from, but we do know that she was lucky to find you This might be confusing, but there are tons of genetic codes that influence the colors of your budgie's feathers. There are genes that dictate the richness of the coloration in the feathers, from full coloration or 0% dilution - to a 50% dilution that leaves the bird looking pastel all the way to a 70% dilution that makes for subtle blushes of color on the feathers and no more. There are even genetic traits to only fade out the wing color and leave the body normal! The same goes for the raw color of your budgie - there are genes that dictate the darkness of the color as well as the richness of it. It is all highly technical and somewhat difficult to explain: but rest assured she wasn't disposed of because her color is 'bad.' Its very aesthetically pleasing, and someone took extreme care to breed either her or her recent or distant ancestors Mixed English and 'American' or Standard budgies are also the trendy thing in breeding for the past ten years or so. While these birds don't always do best in shows, they do make fantastic pets - they inherit some of the size and lower energy personality traits of the English budgie, but retain some of the lighter-hearted character and better health of the standard budgie. They make for particularly sweet pets, although Boo has some post traumatic stress problems, obviously.
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Post by boobaby on Dec 13, 2013 18:56:08 GMT
Wow, that is so neat! Thank you for explaining all of that to me...I always wondered what dictated a parakeet's coloration. I figure my dad came up with that theory based on the fact that if you want into, say, pets-mart- you really only see the brilliant blue and green budgies. I did see a pure white one for sale once, but she was three times as expensive as the others. No wonder! I'm really not sure whats up with Boo. As I said, I rearranged her cage and put the spray millet in...but she has gone absolutely bonkers! There are some good things, and some bad things. The good thing is, she has suddenly become incredibly active. I moved her perch (the mirror one) that she ALWAYS sits on to the other end of the cage and lower, and now she really doesn't sit on it. Instead she literally does acrobats, flipping and flopping around the cage, all day. So that's great! The bad things though, is that she has also become three times as aggressive. She isn't just scared of me now, she's seeking me out to attack me . Every time I go in my room, she starts screeching and head-butting/nipping at the cage. If I go up to the cage to say hello to her, she will follow me around her cage, screeching louder and biting the bars. She has bitten me twice for trying to clean her cage whereas she typically just gives me warning air-bites. She has also been knocking over her water dish and making a giant mess of her cage. Its ridiculous! On the other hand though...she is suddenly interested in new things. Just because I forced some change in her cage! She ate some broccoli and millet yesterday, and some pumpkin seeds (already deshelled) today. And then of course she is much more active. I haven't dared try to take her OUT of her cage yet though, because she is acting so aggressive. So...is this a good or a bad things? I love that she is playing and exercising, and she's been singing her head off every day all day! But goodness she hates me. My housemates think its hilarious. My poor hands and fingers do not.
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Post by Sarah on Dec 13, 2013 22:09:14 GMT
Well, I would start giving her the option to leave the cage and fly around. Her new found energy is great, but you need to give her the ability to use it in a healthy way. She is probably cranky about the changes to her cage because it hasn't been very long yet.
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Post by boobaby on Dec 13, 2013 22:25:53 GMT
Will do! I'll leave the top off of her cage this evening while I'm doing homework. Hopefully she'll realize I mean her no harm and not try to dive bomb me or anything
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Post by dianapalmer on Dec 13, 2013 23:37:32 GMT
Good luck and keep us posted.
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Post by Bluebirds on Dec 14, 2013 4:22:23 GMT
Glad to hear everythings going ok!
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Post by boobaby on Dec 16, 2013 19:17:51 GMT
I've been offering for her to come out of her cage twice a day, and up until today she has just sat there and screeched at me, but today she sat on the top of her cage and climbed around the outside of it, then walked around the stand that her cage is on and picked up stray pieces of millet that had fallen out. She seemed reculant to fly but I eventually convinced her to take a quick flight to perch on the Christmas lights in my room and I just let her sit up there until she decided she was done and flew back to her cage. She did bite me when I asked her to step up onto my finger so that I could put her back, but stepped up and I just ignored her so that she didn't think she got a reaction from biting. Is there something else I should do when she bites? I don't want to scare her or make her worse, but her bites are rather painful if she gets me on the more sensitive parts of my hands, and if she really gets upset she bites like a dog...chomps down and waves her head back and forth without letting go. Ouch!
On the plus side, I believe she is now in love with millet. She ate an entire stalk of it yesterday. Should I be limiting it?Between her carrots, broccoli, and millet she is hardly touching her seeds at the moment!
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Post by Sarah on Dec 16, 2013 20:14:02 GMT
Yes, you should limit millet quite a bit. Now that she is hooked on it, you should use it as a treat: she wants it, she has to come to you to get it. This is how you will build positive associations in her mind. It is fatty stuff, so if you still really want to give it to her in her cage from time to time as a nice little snack, try to limit it to a piece the length of your thumb every few weeks to a month.
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