Hi, I have no idea how to start this off properly considering I'm not that great at asking for help. I have two budgies, a green parakeet and a mauve budgie. We'll be talking about my green parakeet, Mostyn.
I got Mostyn about 5 months ago, I'm unsure of how old he is now or how old he was when I got him. I want to assume maybe around 6-7 months old now; he still looks quite young. I originally got him for my mauve budgie, Skye, so she wouldn't be lonely after I had to return her previous "friend" for being aggressive. Luckily, Skye and Mostyn got along great and are currently still thriving together. I should also say that they're both clipped. No, it was not done by me, and no, I didn't ask for them to be clipped. They were already like that. They're rescues that I wanted to take in and care for.
Obviously, when I first got Mostyn, he was hesitant. He didn't trust me and was more than likely afraid of me. I understood that. As time went on, he slowly warmed up to me. We were making good progress! ...That was until I did something stupid. I brought the cage, that had Mostyn and Skye in it, outside so they could get their daily sunlight and such. Regrettably, I had not realized I didn't close the cage door all the way and it was loose. As you can guess, both Mostyn and Skye got out. I have not trained them for this type of stuff, hence why I kept them in their cage while I brought them outside. Skye didn't get far at all, she just ended up flying to the top of the cage. I quickly brought her back into the house and kept her in my room while I went back out to find Mostyn again. It took me a good 30 minutes to find him and the poor baby was terrified. Of course I understood that. Luckily for the both of us, he trusted me enough to walk back onto my hand before I brought him back inside. I gave him a quick bath (he enjoys those) to cool him off before putting him back inside the cage that was now in the house again.
It has been about a couple weeks since that situation and well... things have been different. Skye is fine, she still seems a bit skittish but that's how she always was. The progress I made with her didn't seem to change, but when it comes to Mostyn, it changed completely. He won't go anywhere near me. He screeches and flies to a different perch when I bring my hand near him. I covered up my hand with my sleeves to see if that would help, but it didn't. Not sure what I was thinking when I tried that. He'll chirp but when I'm near, he immediately goes silent. He used to love chilling on my head or on my shoulder. He liked to groom my hair and gave me nibbles on my ears. He also loved being scratched. Now I can't experience any of those things anymore.
Mostyn suffered trauma, I get that. He needs time and a lot of love, and I've been giving him that. I still am. But I feel like I'm making no progress and we're back to square one when I first got him. I feel like I'm doing something wrong. Am I? I think Skye is starting to notice something's off too.
What should I do? Does he need more time? Should I take him to the vet? Please, I need help. I want my Mostyn back.
I got Mostyn about 5 months ago, I'm unsure of how old he is now or how old he was when I got him. I want to assume maybe around 6-7 months old now; he still looks quite young. I originally got him for my mauve budgie, Skye, so she wouldn't be lonely after I had to return her previous "friend" for being aggressive. Luckily, Skye and Mostyn got along great and are currently still thriving together. I should also say that they're both clipped. No, it was not done by me, and no, I didn't ask for them to be clipped. They were already like that. They're rescues that I wanted to take in and care for.
Obviously, when I first got Mostyn, he was hesitant. He didn't trust me and was more than likely afraid of me. I understood that. As time went on, he slowly warmed up to me. We were making good progress! ...That was until I did something stupid. I brought the cage, that had Mostyn and Skye in it, outside so they could get their daily sunlight and such. Regrettably, I had not realized I didn't close the cage door all the way and it was loose. As you can guess, both Mostyn and Skye got out. I have not trained them for this type of stuff, hence why I kept them in their cage while I brought them outside. Skye didn't get far at all, she just ended up flying to the top of the cage. I quickly brought her back into the house and kept her in my room while I went back out to find Mostyn again. It took me a good 30 minutes to find him and the poor baby was terrified. Of course I understood that. Luckily for the both of us, he trusted me enough to walk back onto my hand before I brought him back inside. I gave him a quick bath (he enjoys those) to cool him off before putting him back inside the cage that was now in the house again.
It has been about a couple weeks since that situation and well... things have been different. Skye is fine, she still seems a bit skittish but that's how she always was. The progress I made with her didn't seem to change, but when it comes to Mostyn, it changed completely. He won't go anywhere near me. He screeches and flies to a different perch when I bring my hand near him. I covered up my hand with my sleeves to see if that would help, but it didn't. Not sure what I was thinking when I tried that. He'll chirp but when I'm near, he immediately goes silent. He used to love chilling on my head or on my shoulder. He liked to groom my hair and gave me nibbles on my ears. He also loved being scratched. Now I can't experience any of those things anymore.
Mostyn suffered trauma, I get that. He needs time and a lot of love, and I've been giving him that. I still am. But I feel like I'm making no progress and we're back to square one when I first got him. I feel like I'm doing something wrong. Am I? I think Skye is starting to notice something's off too.
What should I do? Does he need more time? Should I take him to the vet? Please, I need help. I want my Mostyn back.
