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Dan and I have a little visitor to our house. My sister is out of town and has left her budgie Louie with me. I know some of you have tiels and budgies, so I was hoping y'all might be able to chime in here, especially since the last post in the budgie forum was back in June. Louie is historically known for being unbelievably neurotic and uptight. Usually the slightest change will upset him and send him into fits of feather pulling. He generally stays in one location in his cage with one foot clutching his mirror. Louie refuses to be handled. He's so stationary that his poop just piles up in a single little pyramid under him. I was worried about taking him since we thought such a drastic change to another house with another bird would put him in an early grave.

So fast forward to now, where Louie is sitting on my coffee table and acting like a completely different bird. He's hopping around his cage, chattering back and forth with Dan, and playing with his toys. He hasn't pulled out a single feather. I'm now wondering if Louie's neuroses may just be due to loneliness and his dislike of people is only because my sister never took the time to hand tame him. I'm thinking of pushing my sister to get Louie a companion when she returns. I also wonder if some of his skittishness is caused by living in a cylindrical cage. Thoughts?

I've read that cylindrical cages drive birds insane. I missed the explanation, if there was one, and I've never known anyone with a round cage to disprove the theory, but I would surely never put one of my birds in one.

Also, many birds react horribly to mirrors. You'll find a lot of mention of those bad reactions if you google "birds mirrors" or use the Up at Six search feature to find threads that mention "mirror." Whatever has saved Louie, HOORAY!!! How wonderful for him. Makes me teary to imagine the difference you're seeing. If it was lack of attention, that's unlikely to change when he returns home, so I do like your idea of a companion bird. Difficulties might be the critical need for a 30-90 day quarantine, a well-bird exam which is costly relative to the purchase price of a budgie, a second cage, and the worry that Louie and his new guy friend might not like each other after all the foregoing. It's not easy.

But you've done really well Maybe your sis will let Louie live with you

I had bought Rosie a toy that had a pretty good sized mirror. Once I put it up on her house she would just sit there day and night in front of the mirror all fluffed up not wanting to do anything she usually used to do. I was so worried about her and the change in her that I took her to the Dr. They found nothing wrong with her. A couple of days after taking her to the dr I remembered reading about how bad mirrors could be for birs and I started thinking that maybe she was attached to the "bird in the mirror" so I took that toy off of her house. And sure enough within a few hours she was back to her normal self running all over the place. I wonder if it could be the mirror.. If it is lack of attention maybe you could try to adopt the bird from your Sis . Whatever it is I am happy that Louie is happy and active.. Good job

I know he oughtn't have a mirror, but my sister insists on giving him one. (I realize I've made her sound like a bad bird owner and she really isn't. She just has a job that keeps her very busy.) Dan is only allowed to play with the mirror for a few minutes. On the other hand, if Louie is really lonely, I'd feel bad to take away his only friend, even if it is only a mirror bird.

Me taking Louie in permanently would be a no-go. My landlady barely agreed to let me have one bird (and she did so on the condition I never take the bird out of the cage, which I ignore, obviously. I don't understand what damage she thinks a bird could do to a house made entirely of plaster and tile. I lived in another one of her apartments last year and let Dan take pretty free reign and she gave me my full security deposit back on that one when I moved into the new one.) Two birds would probably get me evicted, plus I do think my sister would miss Louie terribly.

The explanation I heard against cylindrical cages is that they have no corners so the bird doesn't feel he has any place to retreat and feel snug in. Dan does like to sleep in the corner of his cage. Louie's cage also hangs from a stand, which I've heard is bad. Of course, at my house he's on a stable end table, so that could be making a difference, too.