She wants to be in her cage 24/7?? What do I do???

[Cali&Pilot]

Hi guys I know it's been a while since Ive been on here, I have just had a lot going on but I had a question but I also wanted to give a small update on pilot as well.
So as some of you might know from when I used to post on here all the time, that when I got my budgie Pilot that she was terrified of hands, and she still kind of is, but she is overall doing a lot better, and is just overall picky about people, she will perch on my hands without the shirt sometimes, but not often, and she will also hop onto my shoulder now, she also still dosent play with her toys that much. But she does like playing with my earrings when I have them in (dangly ones) and also likes to preen my hair and sit in my hoodie hoods sometimes.

But she has recently figured out that she can fly up onto my bed and into her cage (when I leave the door open), well this has almost become an obsession at this point, everytime I let her out she tries to go back to her cage after like 10 minutes or so depending on what shes doing, and she has been crawling all over her cage, the sides, back, and even behind it trying to figure out how to get in there since all the doors are closed, I want her to have fun outside of her cage because when shes in it all she seems to do is sit on her bridge and eat, that's all she does in there, she quite litterly just sits there all day, she dosent play with her toys at all and I don't know why, we've tried all kinds of toys, I also got her a foraging box and she wanted nothing to do with it. So what do I do??

 

[bug_n_flock]

Lol you got a couch potato budgie so cute. Lazy butt

Is there some way you can put the cage out of sight, in another room a closet or cover it maybe?

 

[Vampiric_Conure]

My Vortex is a perch potato, too, except she plays with her toys like a wee dinosaur . I had to offer her treats to even leave her cage, and now that she knows she can go.... she prefers the treats and leaves the play area to sit in her cage. Rinse repeat. Sigh. Have you considered getting playstands that screw onto the top of the cage? That way, your fid is close to their cage but can sit outside it?

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Some budgies have no interest in playing with toys. I've found that female budgies can be very independent compared to males and don't really get lonely being alone like males do. My female budgies seem to ignore the other budgies most of the time, unlike my males who socialize with each other a lot. That can be a good thing because you don't have to worry about her being lonely. She's happy even though you wonder how she can be sitting there all day. You should give her some visual distraction like having the TV on where she can easily see it when she's in her cage. I wouldn't lock her out of her cage. Can you put her cage next to where you hang out in your room? Open her cage door and let her go in and out while still sharing the time and space with you.

Since Pilot is a female, she probably would have much more interest in toys that she can chew and destroy. My female budgies can spend hours chewing on things but never play with other toys. I would give her toys made of things like soft wood, Sola, and cardboard (egg cartons are great).

 

[Cali&Pilot]

Some budgies have no interest in playing with toys. I've found that female budgies can be very independent compared to males and don't really get lonely being alone like males do. My female budgies seem to ignore the other budgies most of the time, unlike my males who socialize with each other a lot. That can be a good thing because you don't have to worry about her being lonely. She's happy even though you wonder how she can be sitting there all day. You should give her some visual distraction like having the TV on where she can easily see it when she's in her cage. I wouldn't lock her out of her cage. Can you put her cage next to where you hang out in your room? Open her cage door and let her go in and out while still sharing the time and space with you.

Since Pilot is a female, she probably would have much more interest in toys that she can chew and destroy. My female budgies can spend hours chewing on things but never play with other toys. I would give her toys made of things like soft wood, Sola, and cardboard (egg cartons are great).

So I don't have a TV in my room, and she can't be taken out of my room because we have a dog. About putting her cage next to me in my room, I have noticed that like for example she will at times fly over to where I am in my room to check if I'm still there, but depending on what shes doing she will come to me or not, like last night she was perched by my marker basket (basically a basket full of markers), and I was sitting on the edge of my bed waiting for pilot to fly to go into her cage so I could get it on video, and she just wouldn't do it. She likes me, but she also really likes having personal space and is still a bit skittish, she does have toys she can destroy, but like I said she just ignores them like they aren't there, sometimes she will chew at the wood on her bridge but that's pretty much it. When I do have her cage open and shes out she just goes in it and will sit on her bridge, and then maybe eat but that's it. Is there anything you suggest??

 

[Cali&Pilot]

Also she is decently bonded with me, she just still likes her personal space, sometimes she'll sit on my shoulder and hang out there while I do things around my room, or sitting in my jacket hood, or preening the back of my hood where its shaved, or preening my shirt but she also likes to do her own thing aswell, as you can see in the attached photo, she also likes to sit on my head sometimes

 

[DonnaBudgie]

It sounds like she's her own girl and is just content sharing her space with you on her terms. Trying to change a bird's personality and way of Interacting is probably a waste of effort.

 

[Cali&Pilot]

It sounds like she's her own girl and is just content sharing her space with you on her terms. Trying to change a bird's personality and way of Interacting is probably a waste of effort.

I did what you suggested and I sat her cage next to me while doing my homework, and I let her watch bluey on my computer for a bit and now shes just staring at me, but its not that I'm trying to change her personality, I just want her to get her exercise and be healthy tbh, her sitting in a specific spot all day concerns me so imma try differant things to see what she does and if maybe it'll make her less scared to do things outside of her cage, because she seems less confident out of her cage if that makes sense, also how do you bathe your budgies?

 

[DonnaBudgie]

The like to shower under the kitchen faucet spray. I hold a small plate under the spray and they fly over and take showers or just splash in the water on the plate. I give my budgies large open shallow bowls of water on top of their cages too every day but they aren't very interested in voting unless the water is moving.

 

[Cali&Pilot]

I want to know your opinion on if this is the riu=ght approach or not, but what I did the last time that I gave her a bath, is I filled up the bathroom sink a bit with water and then I lowered her down into it (she was perched on my hand) and then she would just perch back on my hand, she didn't exactly hate it but I didn't know If that was a good or bad approach, bc people have told me to put a bowl of water in her cage, she didn't like that, or to use a spray bottle, and she didn't like that at all, so was that an ok approach or should I refrain from it?

 

[Jcas]

A bird’s cage is “ home base” so it’s not surprising that Pilot likes to go back there; she probably feels safer and more comfortable in her “home.” My budgies’ cage is open all day ( I know that’s not an option for everyone) but although they fly around a lot, they also spend a bit of time on/ in their cage.

Does Pilot have good places to land in the room outside of her cage? My birds all have “ outside perches” attached to the outside of their cages. My budgies also like their rope boing ( spiral, springy rope) so I have another one of those hanging by a window. I also built a big swinging perch out of natural branches and hung it from the ceiling. They really like that one! Giving Pilot fun, safe places to perch on outside her cage might encourage her to spend more time out.

 

[nkrbkr]

Do you have any interest in training Pilot? It could be a great way to bond/build trust, make your hands less scary, and eventually get her some more exercise (recall training). If so, I would highly recommend starting with some target training. I’m happy to give some tips, if you’re interested!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I want to know your opinion on if this is the riu=ght approach or not, but what I did the last time that I gave her a bath, is I filled up the bathroom sink a bit with water and then I lowered her down into it (she was perched on my hand) and then she would just perch back on my hand, she didn't exactly hate it but I didn't know If that was a good or bad approach, bc people have told me to put a bowl of water in her cage, she didn't like that, or to use a spray bottle, and she didn't like that at all, so was that an ok approach or should I refrain from it?

Every budgie seems to like to bathe differently and some don't bathe at all. Birds that don't seem to want to bathe may suddenly become very interested if the water is shallow and moving. Don't try to force Pilot to bathe but keep trying different ways. Electric cat fountains can be a big hit.

 

[nkrbkr]

Every budgie seems to like to bathe differently and some don't bathe at all. Birds that don't seem to want to bathe may suddenly become very interested if the water is shallow and moving. Don't try to force Pilot to bathe but keep trying different ways. Electric cat fountains can be a big hit.

I second this. It took us almost a year to figure out how Button (our lovebird) prefers to bathe. It turns out he likes for us to hold a stainless steel food bowl under a light dribble in the kitchen sink. It has to be the kitchen sink, has to be the stainless steel bowl, we have to be holding it, and it has to be cold water. Very specific, and very particular. Lol. Keep trying different things, and you may find something she likes. That said, tiny birds typically don’t like spray bottle baths.

 

[Cali&Pilot]

I'm not trying to like mis-treat her or anything, and I hope that's not how it sounds Im just trying to figure out what works, I've also learned that she dosent like people, I'm not just saying that bc of the hand thing, I'm saying that also bc two of my close family members wanted to meet her and she flew off of them and onto my shoulder

 

[nkrbkr]

I'm not trying to like mis-treat her or anything, and I hope that's not how it sounds Im just trying to figure out what works, I've also learned that she dosent like people, I'm not just saying that bc of the hand thing, I'm saying that also bc two of my close family members wanted to meet her and she flew off of them and onto my shoulder

It doesn’t sound like that at all.

 

[Cali&Pilot]

okay just making sure

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Of course you aren’t!

 

[Vampiric_Conure]

You sound like an awesome bird herder! Plus, you're here, asking for information .

 

[Cali&Pilot]

You sound like an awesome bird herder! Plus, you're here, asking for information .

thank you