Tuesday, May 5, 2009

The Budgie Saga continues......

You can probably guess what that means if you have read my last post about Peter and Ava. Peter started to get aggressive again. Don't worry, Ava was not hurt, I removed her before it came to that. But he was definitely very aggressive; I came into the room to find her hiding in the back of the cage, only to be chased if she came to his attention. Not very nice!

I have moved Ava into my bedroom, where she seems to be doing fine without Peter, and is enjoying the extra spoiling, being the only bird to rule the room. She loves having her own playgym, and though she is happy to play in her cage during the day (she is never locked in it unless I will be gone for a while) she has decided that the only way to sleep is outside her cage. The first night, she got out of her cage, as the door was not locked securely, and slept on the playgym. Every night since, as soon as it is time for bed, she climbs out of her cage, if she was in it, to sleep on the playgym. I suppose I could lock the door to keep her in it at night, but it does not seem to necessary; she is very well behaved!

I moved Luna into the bird room next to Peter, so he would have budgie company. Remarkably, they have hit it off extremely well, possibly because they are both males. When Luna first came out of quarantine, I tried encouraging his taming by bringing Ava into the room and showing him how she trusted me. That did not work, as he hated the sight of her, and voiced this dislike with constant shouting of the budgie aggression call. Rather a strong reaction from a male, I thought! He immediately became inseparable form Peter, and they seem to be closer than Peter and Ava ever were. Just goes to show that birds really do chose their friends! They are still not sharing a cage, but have cages right next to each other, and spend much of the day in the same cage or on the playgym together. I want to make sure there is no aggression, though.

Having Peter with Luna has really helped, though, for he is not yelling for Ava or sitting quietly, lonely and depressed. I do not have to worry about him (too much) which makes separating them soo much easier. Luna was waiting to go to a large aviary with other budgies, but I have to figure that out now. For now, I am just going to leave things as they are, and figure it out as I go. About how I seem to do everything with these guys!

3 comments:

Susie Collins said...

I love that you let Luna sleep where she wants. Isn't it amazing how there are no set rules for behavior, it always comes down to personality and "chemistry" of the creatures.

Hope you are doing well. So many of "the flock" are struggling with housing issues. xoxo

Anonymous said...

I meant Ava. Lucky to be in bedroom with you!

Mary said...

I'm glad that you've found a way for Peter to have the company he desires without upsetting Ava. Sounds like she's got it good, now :)