My Birds unhealthy addiction to humping its plastic bird companion!!!! Advise!!!?

Question

Ok... Now as wierd as this sounds my two year old budgie has an unhealthy addiction to h*mping the little plastic bird friend in his cage.. He literally sh*ggs it all day... everyday... so much so that at times he has worn himself out completely and neary fallen off his perch!!! (bless his h*rny little heart)

My problem is i tried to remove said lady friend from his cage to give his ickle heart a rest but he went mad until i put her back in... needles to say he h*mped her frantically the rest of the night... I need to know
1) Is this normal for a male budgie.....
2) Is this a sign to buy a real friend for him!!!
3) How can i stop him h*mping so much!!! he makes a right noise when he's on the job!!!

Answer 1

hey bint, how would you like to be caged? birds have wings for a reason!

Answer 2

lol... um, well, it is sort of normal.

DO NOT get him a female companion unless you are prepared to have little baby birdies running around. You could try a male companion, either way, you don't know how your bird will respond to a new intruder and they might end up fighting and injuring eachother - possibly killing eachother.

When you get a new bird, you should put the bird in quarrantine for at least a month (birds are known to hide disease well). When a vet has checked him out and given him a clean bill of health and a month has passed, you could try introducing him to your current budgie. Sometime it takes some getting used to and they will eventually get along - but until then, keep them in seperate cages so they can get used to eachother.

Personally, I would not get another bird at all. I would take the plastic bird out of the cage and replace it with lots of other toys and natural branches. Also, play and interract with your bird for at least an hour a day.

Answer 3

Hello,
my male budgie decided he'd have fun with his plastic toy that was outside his cage, and i gathered he was lonely so i got him a female and he was happy ever after, but the only problem was the female didn't become very tame. Good luck and he just needs more attention and birds should be out of their cage for most of the day and should also have a bed time routine such as 9 o clock as in the wild they would go to sleep when it gets dark. Hope this helps. bye

Answer 4

LOL... I go through the exact same problem with my cockatiels. Well one of them, when her mate decided to pair up with another female I was keeping in the cage! It was noisy and annoying. Also very funny as she would do it ALL THE TIME. >.<

I wouldn't worry about your guy. It's perfectly normal for birds to do this, especially since we can't spay and neuter our bird companions. You can help training him to.. err... reduce his affections ... by removing the toy he loves so much and (if you've not already done it) putting in a mirror. He'll puke on the mirror, but his physical affections will be re-directed. I'd also not respond to him mating with the toy. He'll just do it more if you freak out every time he does the horizontal mambo. Ignore it, even leaving the room if you have to. If the mirror doesn't help, I'd remove that, too.

You could get another buddy, but if you do, I'd get another male so you don't end up with chicks. Budgies can be persistent little boogers, as you've noticed! Plus they're very easy to breed. They can breed almost non stop if you're not careful and the hen can wear herself out by laying too many eggs.

Another thing you may want to try is reducing the amount of protein you feed him and cut the lights down to 8 hours a day. Light is the biggest trigger of breeding behavior and the little guys can wear themselves out dead - as you've noticed. Don't give your guy more than 12 hours of light a day as it will shoot him back into breeding mode.

Good luck! Like I said - don't worry too much about it. It's natural as annoying as it is ^.^

Answer 5

It is not unhealthy I have recently been told. I was concerned for my love birds being both female. See them in action from the link under my pic. If you would like find him a mate. Spend more time with him if you can. Let him be during, he is not hurting anyone. just inspect the toy be sure no rough or shape edges result that will injure him as you can see once they gety started they prefer to keep going and may ignore small injuries during this practice I have an Amazon that just loves to masturbate and really that is all it is. Don't worry he is happy and healthy is not, he would not be doing it.

Answer 6

Budgies in the wild live in large flocks and are never away from dozens of others of their own kind. A budgie on its own in a cage will tend to get bad habits out of sheer loneliness and frustration. I don't know if getting another budgie would be advisable, because your current bird might attack it or pester it to the point of exhaustion, I don't know enough to advise you on that one. If you want him to stop the humping then you will have to remove the toy, but you need to give him something else to distract him. This is one very bored, frustrated and lonely little birdie you have.

Answer 7

Tee hee.

Sorry but .... tee hee.

My Granny had a budgie who used to do the same sort of thing. He'd also regurgitate seeds to feed to his little plastic friend. She used to put the cover over his cage when he got a bit too noisy & frisky & then get all embarassed when we asked Granny just what Joey was doing.

Tee hee.

I'm sorry not to be able to help ... being too busy remembering Joey & sniggering.

Answer 8

LOL it's normal for birds to ummmmmm relieve themselves also. I wouldn't take it out if it stresses him that much though. Try to put other toys in there for distraction. Try to interact with him more and further more just ignore him when he does this. Give him some privacy! I have a cockatiel and a cockatoo who do this to no end no matter what I have tried. They are hormonal also.

Answer 9

HE TAKES AFTER me i have 200 budgies at it all the time and it rubs off,i jumped out of the bedroom window because i had been on the nest that long i thought i could fly.
poor little sod buy him a mate .
ps
i make a noise on the job as well.

Answer 10

I would recommend visiting your local Pet Store and buying him a little friend, maybe the reason he does it so much is because there is no real gratification in doing so. Would be the opposite if he had a real lady friend though, if you know what I mean.

Answer 11

It's normal. Almost every male parakeet I've seen has had a similar obsession with its plastic friends. :-)

One you can do to stop him (temporarily) is to startle him for a moment. Clap your hands or tap something loudly to get him to look. Or better yet, walk up to his cage and talk to him. Maybe your presence will make plastic friend seem less appealing.