Should a mirror be removed from a budgie cage before socializing it with others?
Today we were gifted with a budgie from an elderly extended family member who is no longer able to care for her along with a cage containing a couple of mirrors. She seems quite transfixed on them and my understanding is they recognize the reflection as another bird instead of themselves. I did some further research and a few posts I've found such as Why should I put mirrors in my budgie's cage? seem to suggest that mirrors are sometimes not such a good idea.
At the moment she's in her original cage with mirrors and we thought we'd leave her that way a few days until she gets used to the new surroundings. But at some point we'd like to place her in a large cage with four other budgies and I'm wondering if maybe the mirrors should be removed for a week or so in advance so she's more likely to socialize with the other birds after being "alone" for a while or if that's likely to cause her any stress?
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Bye Bye Mirror!
There's a few reasons why most do not recommend mirrors, mainly because:
It can prevent obtaining a good relationship with your budgie.
The budgie can over bond with the mirror causing sexual frustration or reluctance to bond with other birds.
Aggression towards mirrored bird (though not your case)
It is recommended and safe to remove the mirror, budgies are fairly smart and should still have plenty of foraging activities to keep them busy and happy. They may go through a "grievance" period and that is OK.
Mirrors do have their place
It is a great technique to convert a bird from seed to pellets. By laying the mirror on the ground and sprinkling pellets on it, the bird will see his mirror companion as competition and will try to "out eat" the other.
I recommend to check out the related links to ensure a safe introduction.
Related:
What is an ideal age gap for between parrot friends?
Male and female budgies fighting
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