# new budgie advice wanted



## huskamute88 (Sep 2, 2011)

Hello all 
We have a new budgie, his name is dave. Im a little scared of birds however my daughter has been asking for one for a very long time, he has been being handled (very bravely by myself) and my mum and my partner for a few weeks and to begin with he was fine. Now however he asks to come out the cage and steps up nicely but as soon as he is out of the cage he starts to bite and really pull at your fingers, its putting me off of handling him a bit but I do not want to be scared of him.
any idea on why he has started to do this and how I may get him to stop? 
He is a gorgeous little thing and I really want to continue handling him. Are we doing something wrong maybe? I have attached a picture 
From when we first got him, for you all to enjoy daves beauty 
Thanks in advance


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## Phoenix24 (Apr 6, 2013)

Hmmm well i'm sure a more experienced budgie keeper will be able to better answer you than I can, but I will hazard a few thoughts of my own. 

From what I remember of keeping cockatiels, and from what I have heard in general about parrot species it could be either finger nipping because he associates your fingers with food, and wants more (birds can be pretty demanding and single minded when they really want something), or maybe he is deciding who he does and doesn't like - for some reason many prefer women only, and many prefer men only, and everyone else in the household usually ends up getting ignored (at best) or attacked (at worst). Our cockatiels didn't like women, and attached themselves to my mum's partner. Or, perhaps your bird has become so confident and familiar with you it thinks it can get away with a bit of rough play. 

I'm not sure what the answer is, bird behaviour - particularly the parrot family - can be quite complex at first to understand. Once you know your bird a bit more you might recognise some of the signals he gives you and you will know if, say, he is biting because he wants to be left alone, or is bored, or hungry, or full of energy and wants to play. 

I also suspect your wily little bird knows you are nervous and is taking full advantage. I think they are intelligent enough to go under a little training in the sense that - if he bites you, even a little, put him back straight away and ignore him. If he behaves himself or does something you want, then you can offer him treats. Start off doing this inside the cage, so that he learns that biting a hand in the cage will get him nothing but being ignored, but letting someone stroke him or 'stepping up' onto a finger will earn him a reward. This reward can then be extended to being allowed out the cage to play. But then if he bites you you stick him back in and ignore him. He will soon learn that biting only means being ignored, and that's no fun. But try to lean more towards positive reinforcement of good behaviours, otherwise you will end up with a bird that thinks biting is a good thing - you want him to want your company, not shun it.

Err anyway hope that helps, and hopefully someone with more experience with budgies can offer something more.


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## lisa0307 (Aug 25, 2009)

Ask for advice on here...

LINK: Talk Budgies

And

LINK: Budgerigars


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