My Parakeet Won't Move

User Question
I just got a new parakeet and She is pretty small. The cage is a little bigger than a computer. She has water and food and 2 perches for it to hop on. She hasnt really moved since i got her. She lets me pet her neck but wont really move. She got a little cut on her wing so i havent tried to pick her up. but its not really bad i dont think. Is there something wrong with her? what can I do?

Lisa's Answer
I'm having trouble imagining a cage the size of a computer. I'm looking at my computer and it's very "flat" - while it is maybe a foot and a quarter high, and a foot and a quarter long, it is only 7" deep. That isn't enough room for anything to move around in, never mind a creature that has wings and is meant to fly. A cage should always be big enough so that if the parakeet stretched its wings out fully, it can turn around without crashing into bars and perches and such. I'm not sure if your cage would do that, although again I just really can't visualize a cage of the shape you mentioned.

Parakeets are nervous when moving to new homes, just as people are. Think if you were a kid in 1st grade and just moved to a new school. When you go into your classroom you might sit quietly in your chair for the first week or so, not really sure if the teacher is nice or mean, not really sure if the kids around you are nice or mean. After a while you get used to it, but at first it is VERY scary to be in a new place with all new people around you.

If you're doing your finger training, your keet should at least be getting on and off your finger every once in a while, and going up and down to the food dishes. So that's enough to get going and as your keet settles in, she should become more active.

I'm concerned that your parakeet is injured - how did she get hurt? Parakeets are VERY good at hiding illness or injury because predators would always attack the weaker birds. So it could very well be that your parakeet is actually worse injured on the inside and is trying to hide it. Did you take her to a vet yet to look at the injury? If not I would do that ...

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