Lisa Shea Forums Parakeets General Parakeet Chat Strange behavior?

Hi all!

This is my second week with my new budgie Hollis and so far I think we're doing pretty well, but recently Hollis has been acting kind of strange.

He'll dive headfirst into his food dish and wedge himself upside down to kick all of his food out - He'll repeat this all day every so often, even when the dish is empty, he'll keep diving into it completely upside down.

Also, he's suddenly not okay with eating millet out of my hand like he was at the end of last week - Has anyone else experienced a sudden regression in taming like this?

My Luna used to do that ALL the time and she'd make a mess...that's partially where the "Looney" part of her name came from. The only way she stopped was after I got a food dish that had a cover on it..you can see it by clicking the link below

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754614

And if she' in the other cage where there is no kind of cover on it, she takes a dive..so, the cover is about the only way I know of in order to get them to stop them from taking a seed bath. Also, in the beginning, most keets are so scared and timid that they don't freak when your hand is in the cage..but then, it's like a lightbulb goes off in there little brains and they realize where they are and that you might just grab them, so they panick. The most important thing to remember is, if you just keep putting your hand in the cage, as much as possible(don't try to touch Hollis), Hollis will eventually start to trust your hand, then you can move to the next step(see the hand training pages Lisa Shea offers) but Hollis will catch on pretty quickly if you do it consistantly.

My Rominabird does that too!!! Then she bangs the dish around till it's feeding time! Headfirst! It's crazy. She used to do it with the grit also, but I started putting only a little at a time in the grit dish, and I guess it's not as much fun.

Mayby I should get a covered food dish, like you did!

I've always been told that grit is not good for keets. The pet stores do sell it...but they don't need it.

Kathy

What?! Wow. I thought it was something that they HAD to have. They eat it. Usually I mix oystershell with it. What about that? If it's really not good for them, I'd better stop giving it to them.

Lisa has a page on grit on this forum. It has been a matter of debate. But parakeets don't need it. Grit is for birds who eat their seed whole, parakeets hull their seed. According to this page its actually small rocks...and they don't need it.

I'm not claiming to be an expert and I know there is more than one way to do things. I just know what I read. I've never given it to Emily...I save the $ for toys!

I'm sure someone with more expertise will give us their insight.

Kathy

Thank you so much for this info, Kathy.

I 'm gonna stop giving it to them.

I will say it again: I learn something new on this forum almost every time I log in.

Thank you Universe, and Kathy.

This forum is great! I've learn a lot here too. I believe the oystershell is a source of calcium.

Kathy

So Kathy, do you think that I should just give them the oystershells, or can they get too much calcium? Do you know?

I'm definately stopping the grit.

i think it's normal behavior
although i've never seen my birds do it...