Alliusis
Meeting neighbors
- Joined
- 12/9/18
- Messages
- 59
- Real Name
- Caitlin
Hi all!
I have two linnies, Joey and Jocy, and two budgies, Lemon and Baxter. I generally leave my birdcages open during the day. My budgies will sometimes go into the linnie's cage. Since the linnies have been a bit aggressive to the budgies around their cage, I generally had to go and grab them out (my budgies are used to being held, so I used my hands). Then, Joey figured out that the budgies were still getting seeds (the linnies are getting mostly pellet now, but Joey is still a seed junkie), and climbed into their cage. There was a bit of aggression going on, and I didn't want a bite to happen, so I had to towel him out of the budgie's cage as he wouldn't come otherwise.
Since then he's been highly aggressive towards my hands. If he sees my hands around his cage, he gets super fixated on them. He will run out and lunge and try to bite me, and chase my hands around. If I hold his food dish in my hand and he's eating from it and happens to spy my fingers, he'll go and bite them.
Previously, he wouldn't like my fingers if they went too close to him, but he'd tolerate and ignore them most of the time. If he ends up on the ground, he'll still step up on my fingers and run up my arm. But this aggressiveness makes me sad, as it's clear my hands trigger anger and distress in him. It also makes it difficult to change their food and water.
If I get some of his favourite treat in my hand, he will calm down after a while and eat it from my fingers. So I guess that's good news.
I feel miserable that I broke his trust and that it's so upsetting to him. How would you recommend toning down the hyper-focus and aggression surrounding my hands? I have stainless steel dishes for them so I have to reach into their cage to change their food and water (which he didn't like beforehand, but would tolerate it). They are Vision cages, so they have the non-intrusive plastic dishes on the bottom of the cage I could use instead. I don't like the birds going to the ground to eat which is why I've been hesitant to use them.
I figure he might also be a bit grumpy from the pellets (he will eat them, but strongly prefers seed). The first linnie I had would get hangry sometimes, so it might be worth stepping back a bit and transitioning slower.
Thank you for any help you can offer!
I have two linnies, Joey and Jocy, and two budgies, Lemon and Baxter. I generally leave my birdcages open during the day. My budgies will sometimes go into the linnie's cage. Since the linnies have been a bit aggressive to the budgies around their cage, I generally had to go and grab them out (my budgies are used to being held, so I used my hands). Then, Joey figured out that the budgies were still getting seeds (the linnies are getting mostly pellet now, but Joey is still a seed junkie), and climbed into their cage. There was a bit of aggression going on, and I didn't want a bite to happen, so I had to towel him out of the budgie's cage as he wouldn't come otherwise.
Since then he's been highly aggressive towards my hands. If he sees my hands around his cage, he gets super fixated on them. He will run out and lunge and try to bite me, and chase my hands around. If I hold his food dish in my hand and he's eating from it and happens to spy my fingers, he'll go and bite them.
Previously, he wouldn't like my fingers if they went too close to him, but he'd tolerate and ignore them most of the time. If he ends up on the ground, he'll still step up on my fingers and run up my arm. But this aggressiveness makes me sad, as it's clear my hands trigger anger and distress in him. It also makes it difficult to change their food and water.
If I get some of his favourite treat in my hand, he will calm down after a while and eat it from my fingers. So I guess that's good news.
I feel miserable that I broke his trust and that it's so upsetting to him. How would you recommend toning down the hyper-focus and aggression surrounding my hands? I have stainless steel dishes for them so I have to reach into their cage to change their food and water (which he didn't like beforehand, but would tolerate it). They are Vision cages, so they have the non-intrusive plastic dishes on the bottom of the cage I could use instead. I don't like the birds going to the ground to eat which is why I've been hesitant to use them.
I figure he might also be a bit grumpy from the pellets (he will eat them, but strongly prefers seed). The first linnie I had would get hangry sometimes, so it might be worth stepping back a bit and transitioning slower.
Thank you for any help you can offer!
Last edited: