Mirror in cage

Deano · Post by **Deano** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 8:15 pm

What are your opinions on putting a mirror in the cage with your irn, do you think it stops them from learning human talk by thinking they are talking to another bird in the mirror

or do you think it has no effect at all

SkyBaby · Post by **SkyBaby** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 8:33 pm

My experience with mirrors have been bad. Sometimes the bird will get very attached to the mirror and be aggressive towards me. If you try the mirror and take it away, the bird starts plucking cuz he thinks he lost his mate. Sometimes the bird reacts really aggressively to the mirror and this results in constant stress which then cause neurotic behaviors to surface cuz he can't get away from the "other bird". Some people have had no problems, but it's been my experience that they are bad.

Fah · Post by **Fah** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 9:11 pm

No offence to the simpler birds out there... but they work well with the more basic species.

Often mirrors, esp in my experience, cause anxiety and like Sky said, very mixed results.

This comes from confusion, annxiety, stress blah blah.

On the rare occasion it seems to work for parrots like IRN and larger, its just another distraction / toy for them. Rarely does it provide a real quality result in these situations.

Probably safer to spend the money / time on another toy to cycle though the cage etc.

Deano · Post by **Deano** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 11:15 pm

Thanks very much for the replies , i think it might be better to not worry about putting a mirror in there, not worth taking the risk to stress the bird etc

thanks

Amazonite · Post by **Amazonite** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 1:14 am

My boy doesnt have a mirror in his cage but he have time in front of a mirror some days, and he loves it. He also talks.

ryelle · Post by **ryelle** » Fri Nov 28, 2008 6:42 am

we are the same as Amazonite. we dont put a mirror in our fids cage but occasionally we let him have some time in front of a big mirror when hes out playing. only to an extent tho. since hes grew his ring in he now attacks his reflection when it dances back to his dance.

he had a sqare 'mirror' (metal thing) in his cage with a bell on the end and he got too agressive with us because it was his little love thing. we just avoid anything reflective now (he even gets funny with his metal feed bowls). although he likes noises. you should try giving your fid a bell or two to play with

laine · Post by **laine** » Sat Nov 29, 2008 2:32 am

Smokey doesn't have a mirror in his cage but he enjoys time in front of the mirror as a treat. I call the mirror "The pretty bird". I say to Smokey, "do you want to play with the pretty bird" - he gets really excited, nods his head and starts saying pretty bird. Sometimes I give him a hand mirror but other times I take him to the bathroom while I have a shower. He loves the pretty bird but doesn't like it when the pretty bird waves at him. He yells 'what you doing' when the pretty bird waves back LOL. What a silly bird I have :lol:

. One "friend" Smokey doesn't like is the one on the wall (his shadow). Every night he gets really angry at this rude bird moving in on his territory - it's hysterical but now we have to adjust the lighting so that not so much shadow casts round his cage and therefore reduces the shadow. Funnily, though, he is quite happy to play with the shadow of himself on the wall opposite his cage, probably because its not next to his cage and invading his territory - what do you think?

Dolphinheart · Post by **Dolphinheart** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 9:28 pm

Smokey sounds totally adorable - lol

bec · Post by **bec** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 6:31 pm

skeets scared of grey birds in the mirror & runs away from al mirrors but is fine with blue or green also hate grey birds on the computor silly little chicken :lol: