Budgie Taming & Diet Advice?

[devin]

I've had my budgie, Kiddo, for around 2 months and so far I've been able to get him comfortable perching on my finger and shoulder. The issue is, he's very attached to his cage and it takes me a bit to get him out. When I get him out and away from the cage he's happy and walks around, but will eventually try to fly back to the cage again. Is there anything I'm doing wrong? How can I get him to trust me more, and come out of his more easily? Another issue is his diet. He refuses to eat anything other than seed, and I'm concerned about his health. I've tried showing him different fruits and veggies but he ignores tehm or throws them. I've also taken to grinding up his pellets into a powder and sprinkling them onto his seed just he'll eat something other than seed, but I don't know if this is the best thing to do. Any help is appreciated!!!!

[rivx]

Grinding the pellets up is a good conversion method -- you can start there and build up to crumble sized and see if he'll eat those, maybe. As for vegetables, do you have a food processor? Have you tried putting it through there since he seems to like smaller foods? My cockatiel has been loving sweet potato. We sprinkle millet on top to get her eating bits of it.

I'd also see if he eats sprouted seeds! My advice for the cage thing is very unhelpful, just that 1. try bribing him with millet 2. see if he'll branch out on his own. Since my girl will come sit in the doorway of her cage when it's open, I can sit by her there and do all the things we could do elsewhere, from scritches to target training. She has since branched out and is comfortable in other locations, though she's very specific about them. She likes her playstand the most.

[Casper's 2nd best friend]

Hello and welcome, I hope we can help you. My advice on the cage is to not rush the bird, hopefully it will spend more time away from the cage once it feels safe with you which, as River has suggested, can be helped with bribes
At the moment he regards the cage as safety and sanctuary and he is still learning about trust with humans.
As for the diet, I would try giving him a totally seed-free day, the pellets contain a good amount of seed anyway and hopefully he will realise that they are quite tasty. If it works, carry on, if not go back to giving him less seed everyday and more pellets
Casper was only given seed before he came to us "because that is all he will eat and giving him other stuff is just a waste". He was diagnosed as having a fatty liver so we cut out the seeds altogether and he realised he had to eat what we gave him and actually liked it. Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind.
It is still virtually impossible to get him to eat fresh veggies apart from peas and sweet potato but he will eat cooked veg so has a bit of what we are having. He will eat fruit (grapes, pear, apple, mango and of course banana) and gets all the moisture he needs from it, although we fill his water bowl with fresh filtered water every day he hardly ever drinks from it.

[Dragonlady2]

Welcome to the forum! Try cooking and cubing some sweet potato and sprinkling the seeds on top. Your budgie will hopefully get some of the sweet potato with the seeds. Watch him carefully to ensure he is eating and not avoiding the seeds because they are on the sweet potato. Keep trying different things. One day he may surprise you and begin eating other things. It’s hard to transition some birds to pellets and some birds just never transition. My Barrabands do not knowingly eat pellets, but they love their fresh fruits and vegetables and I sprinkle pellets on the top. Another pellet to try is TOPs (Totally Organic Pellets). They have a crumb size that your budgie may like. All of my birds like TOPs.
Slow and easy regarding the cage. Once he is comfortable, he may choose to spend more time outside of it.

[devin]

Thank you all for your advice! I'l be sure to try them out