Expert: Kyle Lohr - 6/26/2009

Question
Hello, I've had my budgie for 8 years now. when i first got her she was so lively and happy. She loved to play with me, and lovely people. after about 2 years of having her i thought she needed a friend. Sadly, I seemed to have gone to a very poor pet store :(, the new budgie bullied and beat my pervious budgie, i thought it was just to set up a dominance thing, but when it didn't stop i removed the new budgie and got rid of her, and now my original budgie is scared of me and everything, i cant handle her anymore, and i have tried everything for the past couple years to get her to be happy and friendly again. is there anything you can suggest I do? would another budgie help? (if i got a sweet natured one just like her) Or is there nothing i really can do?
Thank you for your help.
Erin

Answer
Hello Arin.
You made the mistake that a lot of good natured humans do for their pet parakeets.
They feel they're keet is lonely and so they buy them a friend.
Well, little do most people know, that once another parakeet is exposed to another parakeet, he or she no longer thinks of you as his or her flock mate. Once another parakeet has been introduced they realize "Oh. Im not a human after all, Im a parakeet," therefore they look at humans as threatening creatures.

The only advice I can give you is to keep trying to handle her and she may go back to her old ways. But if you ever want any hope of her becoming tame again, adding another budgie is not the answer. She will just become more distant.

Like I said, just keep handling her. Everyday, even if its just for 10 minutes its better than nothing. She may come around, but there are no guarrantees.

Thanks!
Kyle