Video suggested by: CoralWolfie Blog: www.flock-talk.tumblr.com If you have any comments, questions or concerns please shoot them my way! Intro music : www.freesound.org/people/alex@... www.freesound.org/people/ztree...
I have a tip for anyone wanting to buy the JW plastic toys that include a mirror in some form. (My parrotlet really loves them and often favours them over other more natural materials that I offer). I get a piece of coarse sandpaper and simply scuff up the surface of the mirror until it's no longer reflective. Then my bird can enjoy her favourite toys without getting stressed over her reflection. :)
Curious Creatures what if my parrot is obsessed with his reflection, how do i get him to forget about his mirror without sanding it or damaging it...i tried removing it but he would protest loudly until i wouldnt give it back
My cockatiel passed away after he kept chewing (and ingesting) the rope tassel off his favorite toy. He went in to surgery and didn't react well to the anesthetic. Wishing I'd seen this vid earlier, very helpful for my next feather-baby.
im very sorry for ur loss! my birds werw attackes by a cat. My budgie didnt get eaten but it flw away when the cat opend the cage door. Tbis was all sen on cctv cameras
Sophie Louise i think he means like bedding, basically the tray at the bottom of the cage, I don’t personally use sand but ye some do use sand rather than newspapers
Im new to owning a parrotlet so you basically saved me rn bc i was considering buying mirrors and the sand perches and everything! You channel is so helpful keep doin what your doin girl!
This really explained a lot about my budgie's behaviour lately. He does nothing but sit in front of his mirror, and doesn't show any desire to leave his cage or to interact with us. Thank you SO MUCH for talking about this, we will be sure to remove the mirror ASAP :)
Normally looking things up on the Internet can be a dangerous thing to anything related to health. But the way you stitch topic to topic together and delve deep into the details really shows you've took the time to really Study those facts instead of those "Bird RU-vidrs" that just regurgitate stuff they've read on wikihow once! More people should share information like you, makes the world smarter as a whole.
Flock-Talk i was wondering if you could make a video of how to potty train your bird. Because i peronally think that you are one of the best youtube channels to explain how to train your own bird.
Just gonna add that finches hull their seeds as well, many people don’t realize this and still give their finches grit. Great video, very important and informative! ♥️
Flock-Talk ok when I got my bird I got a cage at the same time and it had perches with it like the smooth wooden ones that r really bad for there feet and I just watched that vid that u shouldn't use them and I get him last year so after I watch that vid to check his feet and he has like little red scabs on both feet what should I do help?
I don't really know, we have an older conure and a baby one and they both love to sleep in the tunnel and the breeder said we should get one as conures do sleep in tree hollows in the wild too, even beside mating season.
we put a mirror in our new bird's cage a few days ago and in that short time spam, he's become very aggressive in comparison to his previously docile self, so thank you for providing information about the mirror, it was very helpful.
Good job for doing research! Make sure to actually do as much research as possible before getting the pet next time, but I'm sure your bird is very happy now.
I had a sandpaper perch well I cover so I took that off and a mirror for my bird and she plays with the bell that's attached to it so I didn't want to just take it out so I covered the mirrors
I've had a lot of birds in my aviaries for around 5 years maybe and already knew pretty much everything in this video. However I send it to people who ask me what to get for a bird or asking for advice so a big thanks to you for informing people :)
When I was adopting my first parakeet, my mom stopped me from getting one of those happy hut things (10:17) because she thought that they wouldn’t play with it. Neither of us knew that it was so dangerous.
Sleepy Pup of course I had thought about getting one before quarantine but never got to get one until now and my love for her won’t change because of it
Amburger Productionz have you tried mixing seed with some veggies? not sure how effective this may be with everyone but that's what i do with my lovebird!! you could also try giving your budgies little pieces of veggies by hand :>
I suggest using veggies that are less bitter and letting them "discover" it for themselves (put it out as a toy etc). I had one that would refuse to eat fruit so I put a pear right in his roosting spot. He flew up there and hit his head on it and went to bite it and glared at me and just flew away. The best I can say is keep offering it (it could be months) but they will venture to it at some point. I had really good luck with carrots.
I gave my first bird a mirror because I thought it would make him less lonely when I was at school Goethe got very hormonal and aggressive and he was mean to everyone until he died
I honestly like sand perches as long as if they are safe. I do not buy the loose sand ones, and I buy chalk like ones. I barely buy them anyways, I either get natural or make my own perches.
My birds have a mirror in their cage, there’s 2 of them and they ignore it completely. If they ever start showing any kind of aggression/interest in the mirror, I’m removing it. (It’s a swing/mirror, they sit on it etc. if it were just a mirror it wouldn’t be in there.)
At least for zebra finches, they have both breeding nests AND roosting nests in the wild. My finches are brothers, so there is no chance for breeding. What I do is give them paper strips (like colored crinkled pieces) to build up their roost nest in a hollowed out coconut. They have two so they can choose which ones they want to be in, as well as multiple places to sleep if one doesn’t want to be with the other for a little bit.
Only feed the millet sprays as TREATS as eating too much can cause fatty liver disease and can actually harm your bird they love fresh fruits and veggies so if you feed them that they will be happy also cuttle bones are bomb and can stay in the cage for calcium. Do your research before you guys get any type of pet because the pet stores don’t know anything. (I had budgies parrots and have cockatiels so all of this applies to those too:)
Buying my first budgie this weekend, and your videos have been extremely helpful! Thank you for sharing all this information, it's so tempting to buy them all these toys and huts when I see them on the shelf, but I'm very happy to know the side effects. Your videos are helping me a lot with my research!
It's interesting how many things they sell in US stores :O Haven't seen the happy huts or yogurt covered 'treats' at all in Germany (thankfully!). Thanks for the mirror tips. I had no idea it was so serious. Removing the mirror straight away! Thankfully 3 of our 4 birds don't even care for it. But our male budgie has days where he talks to the mirror a lot. Might explain his behavioral problems.. Who knows, maybe thanks to this tip he'll start improving :D
Thank you so much for this video! I had no idea of the impact of nesting materials or how cozy type toys could make the birds start feeling like nesting and getting hormonal in a dangerous way. I was researching DIY toy ideas and was about to make a couple of cozy house kind of things and provide nesting materials for them to play with and I'm glad to learn the dangers before I did that!
I got my budgie second hand from a guy who recently passed away. My aunt had the bird for a while after that and upgraded her cage a bit. When we originally got her tho, she was in a too-small cage with a wood perch, a rope, one hanging toy with mirrors and a cheap mirror perch. I’ve upgraded her to an even bigger one, a 18” by 18” by 22” cage with lots of new toys and perches. She refuses to touch any forging toys (I bought her 2 ). So I’ve gotten her plastic ones and put a few treats in them so she has to work for a snack. I also noticed that her favorite thing in the world to do is rip apart sandpaper perch liners, I wouldn’t wanna ruin the only forging activity she enjoys. She has a happy hut, not made out of the fluffy material, but she only goes into it if I put treats inside. She also enjoys singing in the mirrors, I have three mirror perches in various places around the cage. She’s clearly grown up around mirrors and was never obsessed with them nor had any hormonal problems, training her is a little tricky but I doubt the mirrors have much to do with it. She doesn’t sit in front of the mirrors too often, she usally hangs out on a rope or branch when she’s just vibing out.
maria richards I've heard that Kaytee is not a good brand in the food sense, so I'd switch over (Harrison's and Zupreem is a good brand, but do more research to see what you think is best). If your budgie is on an all seed diet, please switch over to a pelleted diet. Not any immediate changes, just slowly add pellets to your birds diet. Also, remember the fruits and veggies :)
Hey! Question here! So first of all, thank you for the info on the paper sand. I got rid of it as soon as I saw this. But my question is: Is it okay that my bird sleeps in a Tupperware box covered and filled with a very small towel? It's soft and looks like a little bed. I've raised her from the point when she was 4 weeks and actually just stuck with her "bed". The reason why is that she was a real bad eater. At one point she was almost dying because she wouldn't eat. Because she was so weak, I kept her warm at night for a long time in that self-improvised bed. Love your vids!
You are right about the sleep pouches. We never had one for our female parakeet, but because she injured her foot, our vet recommended getting one. Our bird is about 5 years old and never laid eggs, that is, until we bought that stupid sleep pouch. It's been a battle to get her to stop laying eggs. We changed her cage around, moved her cage, just to keep her from feeling comfortable enough to lay eggs. Your advice is always spot on.
Thank you really much fir doing a video like this! I had products that are supposed to be avoided, and now i know what to use and what to not. Please keep doing videos like this! It really helps 👍😁
When she said how bad the kaytee treats are for birds I immediately got up grabbed the treats and threw in the trash without regretting a single thing. It's a good thing my bird never liked them to begin with.
I am thinking of getting parakeets sometime in the future. I've been watching a lot of videos to get as much information as I can beforehand. I was at a pet store recently going through the bird aisle and saw the little huts and thought they were cute and helpful to keep the birds warm. Sure am glad I saw this video first. Thank you for all this info. you are sharing.
Thank you so much for uploading this video! I have been planning on getting a new bird and I need all the information I can get, and this helped me a lot. You are amazing and you look beautiful. And your birds are very beautiful as well.
You are the best youtuber ever thanks for thetips because my local bird shop uses all of the items that you listed and the birds arn't very healthy looking good thing that i havent used those products
We were told that a sand perch was absolutely needed for healthy nails. I will take your advice and going to remove it ASAP. Everything else, I have the same opinion. Very unfortunate all of those items are being promoted and distributed. Thank you for sharing about that specific food brand, I haven’t bought or considered any of their products, buts it’s good to know.
I knew that there was some debate about mirrors for birds but I didn't know there were so many negatives to it :( My budgie has a small mirror with a bell on it, Should I take it out of his cage? When it is in the cage it is his favourite toy but he does play with all the others, but when it is not in the cage he is still happy and playing with other toys. He still eats (and I assume drinks I've never seen him do it) normally and comes out and has normal interactions with my partner and I.
ThatsSoRavyn. Leave the mirror in if ur birds happy. My bird is fine with his mirror. He's not aggressive because of it. And none of my other birds I have or have previously had, have ever been aggressive because of a mirror, neither have they ever mated with it. I've had birds who don't like mirrors and birds who love to run around the cage and play bash the mirror as the do.
As a first time bird owner, i a lot did research and knew about most of these. What surprised me was the happy hut (or snuggle hut as they are sometimes called) I have a conure and everyone told me to get one. It dosent have the loose material on the outside but it does on the inside. My conure is a bit of an odd ball though, he (thankfully) only uses it at night but he sleeps squished between it and the cage. He really loves sleeping squished between things, he does it with one of his toys as well.
My conure has a happy hut, i got it for him before i knew they were bad. He was very skittish and to this day he seems to feel safest when in his happy hut. After finding out how bad they were, i took it off him but when he got really stressed about this i tried to replace it with alternatives like seagrass mat huts, pvc pipes and even made a hut out of paper. He didnt like any of them and was so stressed he became depressed and even started pulling out his own feathers so i gave him the hut back and watched how he interacted with it. During the day he seems to play with it like a toy but at night he sees it as a bed. Now he gets his hut back at night and i take it away in the morning to prevent chewing. Its not a perfect system, but i dont know what else to do. If anyone has suggestions, please let me know
I have a male senegal parrot that I haven't been able to let out of his cage for years. He will actively hunt me down and attack me. He also masturbates all the time. He isn't looking into a mirror or anything. He does it as soon as he sees me (and a couple other people). He was super sweet when he was young, but when he hit sexual maturity, a switch went off in him. Any of your videos address any of these or any ideas?
He's been in this stage for over 10 years. It started when he was 2 or 2 1/2. I just did a quick search and read a few articles that say to just continue to handle/socialize. But I can't. He literally takes chunks out of me, and has tried to kill my parrotlet twice when he got out (the smaller bird sees him and excitedly runs to the side of her cage and sticks her beak out to groom him, and he grabs her beak and starts trying to crush her. Broke part of her beak off last time). It's sad to me because he used to be so sweet. A snuggle bug. He still acts really sweet while in his cage, and will let me pet him through the cage bars, but if my hand enters his cage (to get food dish, or pick up a fallen toy) he attacks.
I pet - sat a seni who got like this. Near as I could tell it was linked to the proximity of two other birds in the same room and after awhile a lack of interaction with the people. I had some luck with getting him to stop biting as much using towel training. You should probably keep him in another area of your home than other birds.
Thank you so much for making this! I just found your channel and this video especially was very helpful. I didn’t know you should not have sandpaper perches and mirrors! Thank you again :)
I bought a happy hut when we adopted older birds because I was trying to make my cage as close to the cage that they came from especially because one was 70% blind. I was mostly trying to lessen the shock of too much "new" in their world. However, after adjusting to us and our household, I removed it from their cage, washed it, and it became a Barbie tent for my kid instead. Those happy huts also encourage aggression and egg laying. BTW, be careful of the gauge of wire that cages and toys have... My blue crown conures (medium parrots) could snap budgie cage bars like they were twigs. So, even "travel" cages need to be the right size bars.
Waiting for my baby budgies to be ready in a couple of weeks - thank you for another hugely helpful and informative video! I will be setting my partner right about sandpaper and mirrors! (He had a budgie as a child back in the 70s - thank goodness information is more easily accessible now)
Thank you so much for making this video! I had no idea mirrors were bad for birds! I have tons of them crammed into my little babies' cages! I'm taking them out and going to make some toys for now. Thanks!
My female parakeet is obsessed with mirrors I didn't know that they were so bad, but I have a closet that has two sliding mirrors as the doors so I can't really stop her from seeing it or going over to it I also have many toys with mirrors on them because she loves it so much, she also is the only other bird in the room so she is either with me or the mirrors how can I ween her off of the mirrors or how can I incorporate mirrors without them being dangerous?
Rachel K Vids If you want to get rid of them full time then start taking away the mirrors and replacing them with foraging toys, then your bird will have fun and get used to no mirrors. As for the mirrors on your closet doors try covering them up with something, if you can't then I would suggest to remove them completely.
@@angeryemergencyfood4631 you can look on Amazon for steam cleaners on Amazon, you can find some but the ore over $100. The handheld ones get very hot in your hand. Look for one with a water reservoir that sits on the flour hand has a long hose with a variety of nozzles. They are worth the investment. And I bought a 1,000 foot roll of brown paper, 24” wide and I cut lengths out to cover the grills. The grills don’t get filthy any more, and clean up is fast and easy.
Thank you for this. I'm currently dealing with my budgie getting aggressive with any toy he can see his reflection in. I've removed all those toys but now I'm having to get some new toys together. It's frustrating as so many toys in stores and online have reflective surfaces. Videos like this are super helpful as it's ok to be told something is no good for your bird but you also need to know why.
Thanks so much for your videos...I'm binge watching them here on Superbowl Sunday and learning so much about my little Roxy! She's been lifting up her right for a lots lately and not a active...we're concerned something is wrong...otherwise she's eating normally, but I think she got hurt by some of these items like the smooth perches that came with her "house" some of the toys (bells, mirrors, etc) and the grit/sandpaper perches...I had two in there! We'll be taking her to the birdie doctor this week to see if her foot is hurt ...from our own examination, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong...but concerned she possibly has a sprained or broken foot. Back to your videos! 😎🎸🐦
I had to remove the mirrors from my parrots cage, he got super aggressive and just wanted to kill the mirror I also tried to breed my finches. They seem to have been brother and sister . One had splayed feet and her legs were locked so she couldn't move. The others feathers never grew properly. Obviously the parents kicked them out them I would put them back. I done this at least 7 times and the parents would feed them then kick them out. Once the baby's were old enough to eat them self if I put food in front of them I took them out and started feeding them seed with water, a small amount of apple and a small amount of banana. All blended together and they would eat that quite happily, all snuggled up in some coconut fibre nest I made. They were in a aquarium in front of a heat lamp. I then had to go on holiday and left it up to my aunt. I told her what to do and wrote it out. I also specifically told her not to feed them anything other than that unless you tell me and I make sure it's safe ( I said this because she believed baby birds should be fed bread and milk). I'm unsure if they died simply because of their deformities or because my aunt done something wrong. But yeah after I left the next day they died. Luckily I didn't name them, I would have struggled a lot more if I did. Needless to say I removed the nest from the parents cage and will only get a nest again when I finish building my aviary and get more finches. I hope that the pair choose to split and not mate again.
My Guess?? Your idiotic aunt went ahead and fed your birds bread & milk right shortly after you left.... even though you *specifically* told her *NOT* to do that.... simply because that's what *SHE* wanted to do and actually believed in her complete ignorance was "best for baby birds". Tell the heifer that she owes you TWO NEW BABY BIRDS because of what she deliberately and intentionally did to kill your's, even though you very specifically told her *NOT* to. And that you *KNOW* she did it anyway- otherwise they wouldn't have died SO dang quickly & suddenly just over the *one* night you were away from them...... considering the fact that they had *already* lived for so long *with* the birth defects they had!!
thank you so much for the informative video! i've removed the sandpaper perch immediately after hearing about it, looking forward to watching your other vids! :-)
I totally agree with everything you said 100%! It's all so accurate and great, except maybe the happy hut thing.... I understand what you say about it and the materials that are used but I have a more natural version of it and it is open enough on both sides that I don't believe it is a problem for my bird. Wonderful video, I learned a lot! Especially about the sand perches, I'd heard the whole claw helping thing but never the negatives. Thank you!! ☺
One of my birds hates Cuttle Bones to I use sand paper perch covers on a few bars in the cage to play with. I also have one sandpaper-like swing that my bird absolutely loves, so after finding out how terrible it is for their feet I will be grinding it down so it won't hurt them
Thank you for making this video, very enjoyable and enlightening. I agree with what your saying on many of these topics. I have a 26 year old CAG. Got him when he was 2 weeks old. I was a breeder then, but not now. I bread finches, cockatiel, parakeets. I messed up & ordered some yogurt covered treats, & he got nearly obsessed with them! Not good. I do use Katee Species Specific African. This is an extruded food, I also give seeds, vegetables, & fruits. Thanks 😊
I have two male budgies that live together and get along very well, but one of them, Pearl, loves mirrors. He isn't obsessed with them, but he really like anything and everything shinny. His favorite are bells, and he loves to wear them as hats. My other budgie, Cirrus, loves to chew on anything, but especially wood.
Ohhh man, I did NOT know about the mirror thing before coming across your videos/blog, but it does make a lot of sense now that you explain it. So avoid reflective surfaces as much as possible when going for bird toys, and opt for things they can chew, shred, destroy, or otherwise promote foraging behaviors instead? A lot of the 'destroyable' toys seem like relatively simple DIY projects, which probably end up being cheaper than buying foraging toys from a pet store!
Thank you SO much. I had the sandpaper perch cover, and 2 medium sized mirrors. So I immediately took them out, and covered the mirror surface so it wasn’t reflective.
I have four parakeets. One of them is named Julio, and he loves this mirror ladder I have. He doesn't care about the mirror part, but there are beads and he likes to shake it around with his beak. Should I take it out? And my other mirrors? The Birds haven't shown any sign of obsession and don't spend a lot of time around mirrors either. Should I take them out?
I used to have a happy hut for my conure, but inside didn’t have any fluff or loose material on the outside. And also as soon as I noticed the smallest nibble I took it out and didn’t put it back.
I'm loving your vids! Are you/did you go to school for veterinarian care? You're so knowledgeable! I have purchased the happy huts in the past, but I'll stay away from them now. ☺️ Can you recommend something else for the bird to hide/feel safe when they need to? Do you think I could rig a small square of fleece to hang by a perch?
