BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Birds Budgie advise

We recently bought a male budgie from a breeder. He`s a great bird, fun and always wanting attention.

The breeder sold him to us in one of those small round type cages. We got ourselves a large 36" flight cage. He loves it in there, flapping about and chirping.

He is extremely cautious about coming out, in fact we can`t get him out of the cage. We leave the door open for hours but he doesn`t seem interested.

Also, we have tried to get him to bath but with no success. The only time he went in was when we held a dish to the door (in the small round cage) and we splashed him with water, then he loved it. Since moving him to the larger cage he doesn`t seem interested in bathing. He won`t go on the bottom of the cage.

Any ideas and help would be appreciated, Thanks.

Hi Polarlow

Congratulations on your new budgie.

His he hand tame? If so the only thing I could advise about him being relutant to come out of his cage would be to physically remove him. Of course this wouldn't me a good idea if he's a wild budgie as you're likely to be bitten.

As with bathing have you tried misting him lightly with a plant mister? Some birds prefer to bath this way rather then in a dish of water.

I hope the others have more advice for you

His previous owners (breeder) had him out of the cage on a regular basis. He is a lovely bird but he loves to peck/bite fingers particularly if you go near his plastic baby bird!!

I did consider getting one of those plant misters as he loves being splashed with water. It`s just when we put the bath at the bottom of the cage he`s not interested. It`s like he doesn`t want to go near the bottom of the cage.

Congratulations on the new addition to your family. What is the little guy's name?

How long have you had him. It isn't unusual for a bird to take a few days up to a week to settle into a new home & become comfortable enough to explore the surroundings.

I'm certainly happy to hear that you moved him into a larger cage, as those small round cages are really not great for birds.

Budgies often prefer a spray or a dripping fawcett for their bath, but if he enjoyed water in a dish at the door, perhaps you could get one of those dishes that hook onto an open cage door for him to bathe in.