# Advice on Coaxing Tweets out of the Cage.



## tweetsandsarah (Mar 27, 2014)

Here we go again. So I use a "treat plate" which is really just a plate with seed on it, but he gets super excited and I leave the cage door open. I can tell he's very excited and frustrated that he can't get to it, but he's still so stubborn and won't come out. Am I stressing him out and being unfair with the plate? Could it be because he doesn't see a place to land? The plate is inside this shallow drawer right under his cage and I figured he would perch on the edge as I don't have a play gym yet. He's super cage bound and I wish he would come out of the cage. Any new ideas that I haven't tried? 

Right now he's pacing and crawling all around his cage and sort of testing the opening while giving the plate and me the stink eye.


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## dianne (Nov 27, 2013)

Sounds like he's having trouble making the transition. Here is a photo of a perch I put just outside the cage door for my tiel, which helped her to make the transition through the door. You could also clip a spray of millet to the outside of the cage right near the door.


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## tweetsandsarah (Mar 27, 2014)

Well I have an update. I fell asleep here (on accident, don't judge me) and he was actually clinging to the open door when I woke up, but when he realized I was looking he went back in and sadly I have to leave here soon so I'm not gonna push him anymore right now. He got fresh seed with lots of sunflower seeds in his bowl though. This means he was halfway out of the cage though!

On the outside perch, I tried that but it totally freaked him out to have something new there and he doesn't go for millet yet, but thank you very very much for the encouragement. I may try an outside perch that doesn't attach to the cage... like a very small playgym made up of a little perch.


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## dianne (Nov 27, 2013)

It's great that he was halfway out! Maybe pretending to go to sleep again would encourage him to try it again.

Keep us posted on what happens next. I'm rooting for you!


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## Janalee (Jul 25, 2012)

*Tweets*

Does Tweets perch on your finger if you put it in the cage, or does that freak him out? Maybe you could try holding a piece of spray millet in your fingers and getting him to nibble it. If he steps up, slowly bring him out. Don't force it, though. If he seems scared, try just holding him on your finger in the cage until he seems comfortable. That may help.


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## tweetsandsarah (Mar 27, 2014)

Well Tweets was a neglected/mistreated cockatiel in his previous home so I am working with him as a skittish bird which means never pushing myself on him. He is territorial and therefore he has nothing positive to say about my hand in his cage. I am trying to work on getting him out of the cage onto neutral territory and working on hand taming there, but he won't try millet spray as he has never had it.

I have had some success with getting him to take sunflower seeds from my hand if I use two fingers stuck through the bars. If I go any farther he won't take it and hisses. I tried leading him to the cage opening with sunflower seeds, but it's a very slow process.


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## dianne (Nov 27, 2013)

I'm pulling for you, Sarah.


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## Sunnyvmx (Feb 8, 2013)

I cut off a piece of the spray millet and put it in the seed bowl for a couple of days. This introduction usually does the trick and they become eager for it after that. I then stick it through the bars on a perch and leave it. After that I offer it held between my fingers and wait patiently for them to approach it maybe inching it closer to them, but backing off if they run away. Wait a minute and try again.


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## dianne (Nov 27, 2013)

Hi, Sarah.
Thinking about your advice about Emma got me wondering about how things are going with Tweets.
You talked about giving seeds between the bars with two fingers. That is how I started with all of my birds. I remember that stage so well!
Now three of my birds eagerly come onto my finger or my forearm to get treats. They even compete for them!
Emma is still more difficult. She was better at it before the clipping. Now, we are slowly, slowly working our way back to where we were before. It's been about a month since she was clipped and I would say we are only 10% of the way back to where we were.
The reason I bring this up is to say that the process with some birds can be incredibly slow. You need to have a lot of patience and faith that some sort of trust is happening. I think you do, though.
Have you tried clipping a seed cup to the outside of the cage right outside the door? The thing about the drawer is, Tweets may be reluctant to go lower when he first comes out, but might go to something the same height as the door and right next to it. I do know what you mean about things scaring him, though. So, I'm not sure. 
How do you manage with changing seed and water and cleaning the cage? Does this scare Tweets?
I also want to compliment you on how good you are at analyzing the problems many of us are having. You have been such a welcome addition to our forum.


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## tweetsandsarah (Mar 27, 2014)

Thank you for your kind words, Diane. Sometimes I can't help but feel a little hypocritical giving advice or tips when 1. I am so inexperienced and 2. I never feel like I know how to handle my Tweets. It's easy to examine someone else's situation and give advice, but it's easy to feel lost when it comes to my own. I guess I'm just one of those people who need a lot of encouragement, and you and so many others have been so patient and supportive of me.

I have so many thoughts when it comes to Tweets. I think he needs a bigger cage, but I dunno how to get him a whole new home without completely destroying him mentally. A bigger cage would make physically accessing him easier and allow me to work on desensitizing him more. It would also allow me to introduce new things, better perches, etc. Right now his cage is high enough that I am always below and my arm gets tired holding it up so high, but he's high enough the dogs can't get to him. A bigger cage would put me on the same level. I do want to put a perch near the door, but he loses it any time I put a foreign object near his cage. I know I've told other people to be brave and let their fids learn, but Tweets had it pretty bad before and I just want the rest of his life to be nice and as stress free as possible so I guess I'm a little bit of a weenie when it comes to pushing him. I know that if he was a youngin' from a pet shop or a breeder I would take a completely different approach.

The only thing I can say that is for sure is that we are friends. We spend time and he is engaged when we do. I think he likes me too, but he doesn't trust me yet so yes that is a ton of progress in the last couple of months. It's kind of funny because he's been pretty hyper the last few days with the pacing and not wanting to go to bed, and I think he's been giving me weird looks if that makes sense. I turns his head to the side, tips it so that he's looking at me very intently and it's very funny.


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## tweetsandsarah (Mar 27, 2014)

I forgot to answer your questions. Whups. He gets kinda annoyed when I change his dishes, but he's used to that and so he doesn't completely wig out. He does freak when I change the lining in his cage, and I don't push it much farther than that. He has a grate on the bottom that I try to make sure is clean, but this is another reason I want him to come out of the cage/or get a new one because this one needs a good scrubbing. I wish I could remove the grating, but then he might never venture to the bottom ever again. We are talking this is all he has known for at least 15 years. Maybe more. A prison inmate probably has led a better life.


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## dianne (Nov 27, 2013)

I was browsing around on talkbudgies a little while ago and found this thread. I think you might find it interesting and encouraging:
http://talkbudgies.com/showthread.php?t=206674


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## tweetsandsarah (Mar 27, 2014)

Well... I took the plunge and put a treat cup in his cage with lots of sunflower seeds and some of his regular seed. He's pretty freaked out, but he hasn't had a heart attack. I'm not sure he's going to even check it out, let alone eat out of it. We will see.


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