# Trying to help them become less cage-bound



## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

One of the biggest problems with my tiels Elvis and Georgia is that they are both cage-aggressive (they get mad if I stick a hand into it) and cage-bound (they refuse to leave the cage if the door is open, refuse to leave the top of the cage if I put them on top of it, and instantly fly back to the cage if I take them out and they can still see it).

The exception is that they will sit on the top of my laptop, which for some reason they really really like. I'm trying to change their cage-bound instincts, but it's hard. 

Today I think we made some progress. I put a towel on the bed (which is about 5 feet away from their cage) and put some millet on it, and then got them over to the bed. Elvis noticed the millet at first but Georgia kept flying back over to the cage (and the air conditioner, and the top shelf of the closet) until finally I got her to stay put. See first pic for them eating...

I think we are making some progress. They are done eating now... Elvis looks like he is falling asleep, and Georgia is fluffed up andgrinding her beak (she has become quite the beak grinder recently). Neither one of them has attempted to go back to the cage even though they can see it. See second pic for this 

So that's good... I had been getting worried because after a few days of being super whistly and chatty as we work to tame them, Elvis had just gone back to screaming a lot, which was the big problem in the first place that meant were were going to have to consider rehoming the tiels, because when Elvis would scream, Georgia would scream, and together they would result in noise complaints from the neighbors 

Any other tips for helping birds stop being cage-bound?


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## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

An update... I unplugged a USB card from my laptop and the birds, who were sitting about 2 feet away from me on the bed, went BANANAS. Georgia flew out of the room and down to the basement, and Elvis tried to fly to the cage but crashed into a wall. I wonder why that noise in particular scared them so much???

I just put them back on the towel on the bed and they seem normal again, but SERIOUSLY THEY ARE SO WEIRD!!! They don't mind YouTube videos, outdoor noises, etc. but a USB card making a small clicking noise as it got removed from my laptop completely set them off.


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## ollieandme (Mar 25, 2013)

Hm can you cover their cage so they can't see it? Or have them out in a different room to start with?


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## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

ollieandme said:


> Hm can you cover their cage so they can't see it? Or have them out in a different room to start with?


Covered their cage and they STILL flew right to it!

Our apartment is super tiny so there just aren't a whole lot of places to take them


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## ollieandme (Mar 25, 2013)

how about sitting something on top of their cage? so they won't fly to it. so cover and it has something on top. just trying to be creative  it's such a pain when they're cage bound!!


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## thewandererw (Aug 22, 2011)

My tiel upside down did the same thing the other day my friend stoped by and called to me though the window and upside down freeked out and flew a round the bedroom twice before flying into the livingroom.as for being cage bound I don't mind it it makes it easyer for me to get upside down back into his cage when he is out.my budgie Bam-Bam started out being cage bound but now he flys back and forth between the two cages.


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## bobobubu (Dec 12, 2011)

You can never anticipate what noise will freak them out! My partner had to change his notification sound because they would ALL fly and scream every time it went off - it was a sound from the the tv show UFO, of all things! And they regularly yell at Boardwalk Empire's opening score :lol:
Maybe if you put some moving object on top of the cage they won't go near it, at least for a while. Something like a metronome, or a standing mobile? You can even make the mobile yourself, so that if it doesn't work you haven't wasted money on it.


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## ccollin13 (May 24, 2013)

bobobubu said:


> You can never anticipate what noise will freak them out! My partner had to change his notification sound because they would ALL fly and scream every time it went off - it was a sound from the the tv show UFO, of all things! And they regularly yell at Boardwalk Empire's opening score :lol:


Same here - the weirdest things set them off! Every time I accidentally drop something, no matter how quiet the noise, they both fly around the room. Weirdos!

If you don't have a lot of space, you could also try covering the cages with a towel so they don't recognize it, or putting the cages on the floor. Birds will rarely want to return to their cage if it's on the floor because they hate perching that far down - they want to be as high as possible!


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## Squawkz (Oct 7, 2012)

Donald doesn't have that problem, but once I had another species of bird who had the same problem as your birds do (and they are gorgeous, BTW).

I put a stuffed animal on the top of her cage, a dog, and she loathed it! She wouldn't go to her cage for any reason until that darned dawg was removed at bed time.

Not to worry, there was a communal supply of water and food. 


Hope this helps, and good luck! :cinnamon:


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## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

Squawkz said:


> Donald doesn't have that problem, but once I had another species of bird who had the same problem as your birds do (and they are gorgeous, BTW).
> 
> I put a stuffed animal on the top of her cage, a dog, and she loathed it! She wouldn't go to her cage for any reason until that darned dawg was removed at bed time.
> 
> ...


That's a really good idea. Putting a towel over the cage doesn't work since they fly back to it anyway.


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