Mirrors; yay or nay?

[IsaDa18]

Where do you stand on the mirror controversy? What have you observed?

I am unsure of whether or not to remove my mirror toys, my little ones seem to love to peck at them but I have never seen a bird become "obsessed" or obviously hormonal towards them.

 

[Donna turner]

It's different with different birds. I had a tiel that became cage aggressive after I gave him a mirror. He quit after I removed it. I have a gcc now that couldn't care less about mirrors

 

[javi]

I will put them in cages on rotation. Luckily none of my birds react adversely to them.

 

[alshgs]

I've always said no because I'm scared mine will break it and ingest it

 

[MeganC]

I would agree it depends on the bird. I have one by my Jenday's pellet bowl and she isn't overly obsessed with it or anything. The only thing she does is she likes to chew her pellets while looking in the mirror.

 

[Birdlovesme]

I also agree.
I usually don't use them, because my cockatiel and parakeets don't relize it's their reflection, and it stresses them out..

 

[Monica]

Nay.


Mirrors can cause aggression, unhealthy fixations, abnormal behavior, socially bad behavior....


If you have one bird for 5 or 10 years, keep it by itself, and it always has a toy mirror, then one day you decide to get another bird, that second bird will not look, nor act, like the mirror buddy will. This may cause the first bird to attack the second bird, but the second bird isn't "right".

I met one cockatiel that had such an unhealthy fixation to his mirror, that he only moved to eat and drink... he was fed a horrible diet, in a tiny cage that was probably never cleaned and he never received any baths. He felt like he was living next to a stove for 10+ years.... you know that grime that builds up around stoves if you don't keep them clean? A thick, greasy grime? Ya... that's what he felt like...


And mirrors in a flock situation? Not necessarily any better! It can cause birds to pay more attention to their mirror buddy than to their flock mates!



I've told several people of the possible dangers to mirrors. I've had several people disregard my advice and provide their birds with mirrors... and then those people had issues and had to remove the mirrors. These people then came back to me and said "Monica, you were right". I don't ever want to tell someone "I told you so"....


I do not put mirrors in cages. I don't keep the birds away from mirrors 100%, but I don't make it a point to have them in front of a mirror, either... The only places that have mirrors are the bathrooms, and if I have a bird with me in the bathroom, I might show them the mirror, point it out, tap on it, see what their reaction is, and they generally could care less! Most of the time, I don't even acknowledge the mirror if I have a bird with me.


I don't feel as if mirrors are good for birds, not mentally, nor physically. Not with what I've seen and read from others.

 

[Tanya]

I would agree it depends on the bird. I have one by my Jenday's pellet bowl and she isn't overly obsessed with it or anything. The only thing she does is she likes to chew her pellets while looking in the mirror.

That makes a lot of sense! My birds tend to eat at the same time as me... safety in numbers and taking turns as lookout and all that built in flock security that is being approximated by her reflection.

 

[Mabel]

Nay!

When I was a first-time owner and got my budgies, I gave them a toy mirror because I didn't know the dangers for small birds. I had heard positive things about mirrors and decided it would be a cute play-thing.
After several months, one of my birds began plucking. Interestingly enough, it was the one most attached to the mirror. This was right around the time I began seeing people preaching against mirrors, & I eventually decided to take the mirror out. She screamed for a few days, but seemed to forget about the mirror & stopped plucking. Within a few weeks her feathers were thankfully growing back, and she never had a problem again.
Odd.

 

[Brianna]

Never ever

They cause too many problems is rather just socialize my bird and give her lots of toys XD

 

[LovieLuvr]

I haven't had good experiences with mirrors. I've only had 2 fids I adopted come with a mirror and I noticed many negative behaviors such as cage aggression, biting and anxiety/stress being away from the mirror.

It was a process, but when I was able to completely remove the mirrors all the negative behaviors disappeared. I prefer foraging toys and interaction with my fids over mirrors.

 

[AvianCrew]

I gave one to Yukio. He liked playing with it. But then it somehow got stuck together.

 

[Lady Jane]

With all the birds in my care there have been mirrors in the cage. Never has there been any negative result. Males seem to especially enjoy talking to the image in the glass. Budgies especially benefit

 

[greys4u]

NAY

When Valentine had to be qurantine??? the only place to put the cage was in a spare bedroom in front of a dresser with a large mirror. One night I was in the living room and heard a growling like noise coming from the spare room. I peeked in and Valentine was looking at herself and getting ready to fight. After that I covered the mirror.

 

[fluffypoptarts]

No mirrors - I have also experienced birds having the issues others have spoken of.

 

[karen256]

I've never really had any issues with mirrors, with one exception.

The exception was my first budgie, Pippin, when he first discovered there were big mirrors in the bathrooms. He'd fly to the bathrooms, hover in front of the mirror for as long as he could (maybe 30s) and then fly back out. If he thought someone was headed to the bathroom, he'd fly to their shoulder for a ride. It was not a problem other than we had to close the bathroom door carefully if he wasn't already on our shoulder, so he didnt get shut in the door. And we had to be obessively careful about keeping toilet lids down. I think all that extra flying and hovering was good exercise for him, though.

All of my birds, Pippin included, had a variety of toys including some with mirrors, and played with them all. Pippin was the most mirror-oriented of all my birds, but also spent lots of time playing with non-mirror toys, playing with and preening my GCC, interacting with people, ect. - he liked mirrors a lot but was basically a well adjusted bird.
My current budgie, Sammy, has some mirror toys he plays with, but his favorite toys don't have mirrors at all.
Kiwi the linnie does enjoy being shown the bathroom mirror, but doesn't try to fly to it and has no interest in mirror toys.

Cheeky GCC, interestingly enough, appears to be smart enough to recognize herself in the mirror. When she is shown a mirror, she will usually twist and turn her head and it really looks like she's trying to see the back of her head in the mirror. She never treats her reflection like another bird. Other than her appearing to enjoy the novelty of seeing the back of her head, she doesn't care about mirrors at all.

 

[Just-passn-thru]

My grass parakeets get stressed and obsessed with mirrors . Took them away because it made them nuts. Nay...

 

[theocnoob]

When George was a baby and I would have him on my shoulder while I combed my hair or something he would be noticeably interested in his reflection but now that he's a grown-up he gets very angry at his reflection. I don't think it's a good idea to give birds mirrors. What benefit does it offer? None as far as I can see. It can frighten the bird or cause aggression. I've never given George a mirror but if I have him on my shoulder while I'm looking in my mirror he gets miffed.