Why does my budgie do this??

Question

(1) Scooter is in her cage, and when i want to play with her, i put my finger in and slowly approach her and wait for her to get up on my finger. but she BITES ME!!! she ATTACKS me!!! WHY WHY? But when she is out of her cage, she is completely NORMAL! she won't bite or yelp or anything!? ???

(2) My budgie [Scooter again lol] is addicted to clothespins. And when she is near it she is protective. And what she does is she goes to it and makes funny chirping noises. Then i see [in her mouth] regergitated food in her mouth. but she never makes it fall out of her mouth---she keeps it in her mouth. And she gets kinda puffed up. and if i try to pet her, she bites my finger.

I have two questions yes.

If you can answer both, thank you very much!

If you can only answer one of the questions, plz put the # of the question in ur responce/answer.

Thank you!

Answer 1

1.  Your budgie is cage territorial.  All birds, especially those who spend a great deal of time in their cages are territorial from time to time.  Their cage is their home and sometimes their sanctuary.  She may view you as an intruder, especially since she's bonded with her clothespin!  They also like their personal space and since she's fine outside her cage you can bet she's protective of her own space.  Being outside of the cage puts her in neutral territory so the protective behavior stops.

2.  Regurgitating in the absence of babies is a mating behavior, not reserved for just feeding baby birds.  Having bonded with the clothespin, your budgie is now displaying mating behaviors that include being protective and feeding.  I have an IRN who will regurgitate for anything and everything because he's reached that age where he's becoming sexually mature.  You may want to "wean" her off the clothespin so she sees you as more of a friend than a threat to her happy love affair.

Answer 2

Many owners unintentionally reinforce their parakeets to bite.

Don’t make the mistake of rewarding your bird for this behavior. If biting becomes relentless because it has been unintentionally reinforced start removing yourself from the room as soon as you are bitten.

A bonded parakeet may decide to gently nibble or bite their owners. The best way to deal with this negative reinforcement is to completely ignore it. Again, do not say anything just stop what you are doing, place your bird down, and walk out of the room.

When the parrot bites them, they react with many loud verbal responses such as, “No bite!” If you ignore the biting and do not make a fuss, then your bird will eventually stop this behavior. If you consistently do this then your parakeet will start to associate biting with you leaving. Unfortunately, the bird does not see this as a punishment but a reward.

The bird perceives the situation as stimulating and rewarding and many budgies will seek to reenact this reward. If your bird bites you, move your hand back without saying a thing and continue with what you were doing.  It works wonders and many parakeets cannot cope with being left alone. From a bird’s viewpoint, he believes you like this biting so he is only giving you what he believes you want. Your parakeet will eventually understand you did not like this and will stop biting you.

Answer 3

1. The biting is a typical reponse to a strange object in his territory. You need to make sure you are not rewarding this behavior, and say NO when he does it. Also make sure you are entering his cage slowly and with no sudden jerks or loud movements.

2. My budgies LOVED clothespins. Its like a cheap treat for them rather than buying those expensive wooden chew toys. It helps to keep their beaks trimmed and they will knaw them til they are gone!

3. All budgies keep food in their mouths at times. They will eventually eat it, so dont worry.

Good luck

Answer 4

1. It is normal.

my budgie bites when i put my finger or hand inside the cage. It might think that you are trying to catch it or to touch her. She also may be thinking that you are trying to take things out of her cage.

However she is perfectly normal when she is out.

2. Every budgie have things that they "love".

They will go crazy with it and turn round and round, make sounds and regrugraite. They are in mating season. They would bite if you go near as they don't want you to touch the thing or they think you are trying to take it away. They are so called "protecting" it.

One of my budgie is crazy with toes and another is crazy with tables and chairs. Fingernails too! :D

Answer 5

1.well i have a baby parakeet mine did that but i wore a glove and when he bit me it did not hurt then next day he was nice he has not bit in 2 weeks

2. this one is harder when mine puffed up the internet said it was sick after a day of 2 it was not puffed up