mirror lovers

[rones]

I placed a mirror in my budgie's cage today for about 5 minutes and he seemed to be very interested in it...but I felt sorry for him because he tried to play with his reflection and went behind the mirror to find the "other budgie"...when i took back the mirror he was very upset but he got over it 2-3 minutes later...he 's aboout 10 months old and I bought him alone because I wanted him to bond with me before I get him a female companion...what should I do???

now he's playing like nothing happened and i think he wants to get out of the cage...

[zazanomore]

You've got to be careful about putting a mirror in your birds cage. Sometimes it makes them upset. They think there's another bird in the cage, but will become distressed when the other bird doesn't show affection back. A reflection can't regurgitate, sing, and preen your budgie. This could stress out your budgie.

Also, if your trying to bond with him, then you should remove the mirror. Most of the time, birds will choose another bird to a human. You want to be his companion. Not a mirror.

[TheNzJessie]

i dont place mirrors in either of my birds cages because theres a good chance they will bond with the 'other' bird and become aggressive and overly possessive about the 'other' bird in the mirror

[Red Moppet]

Yeah, it's a tricky situation. I didn't give my budgie a mirror for the first few months. When I finally did he really liked it but wasn't overly involved with it. Then I put a different mirror toy in and he fell in love! Satisfying himself on it, regurgitating to it, spending all his time with it (even his out of cage time he'd rather play with it than with me) and being very aggressive over it. I finally took it out but I did it when he was in another room and couldn't see me take it out. He seemed a little lost for a few minutes when he saw it wasn't there but got over it. I put it back in after a while and he started acting the same as before so I just don't use that toy anymore. There are still shiny toys that would attract them but I have reservations about mirror toys. I think if they are just played with that's one thing, but when the bird starts acting possessive/aggressive or obsessed with any toy it's time to take it away. I will still sometimes use that toy as a last resort to entice him back in his cage though and do let him play with it now and again for short periods of time.

I also got a female budgie to be his friend because I was worried he was too lonely, but he prefers my company to hers and even prefers his shiny toys to her too!

[meowingaround]

Windy doesn't care, he walks over looks and moves along.

Willow is the mirror lover in my house, he serenades himself.. but he's never been aggressive he doesn't spend all day at the little mirror he just wanders over sings to it, and hopes, well I'm not sure what he hopes for. I think it's prolly dirty though cause it's the same song he sings on his wubby *cough*
I had a big mirror on my dresser upstairs I had to take down though because he couldn't get over his excitement/obsession with that one. He'd walk back and forth just a singing his heart out. Since that room is where I take each bird for quality alone time, no cats, just one bird and myself, it just got annoying for me really. He'd just keep flying back to it... he kept looking for it for awhile but seems to have forgotten it now.

If I ever thought it was upsetting to him, I'd take it out. I think having Windy with him helps keep him from going overboard.

He does "love on his wubby" though .

Not all the time. Just once in awhile.. I'll hear the same song he sings in the mirror and notice he's tail feathers are, well you can imagine.

I guess as long as he's not aggressive or upset about it though, just let him be. That's what I've read anyway.

[Red Moppet]

Meowingaround - "does love on his wubby"! Priceless! I love that phrase.

[rones]

thank you all for sharing these stuff with me!!!