hi people!!
i have had my two parakeets for a month now.....(the training ain't going so well, we been stuck on perch training for a WHILE)

but i got one of the fuzzy, hanging, cave sorta thing for them to sleep in.....( it is a fuzzy triangle)
but the don't use it... the avoid it! WHY?????? is it because it smells like the store???

I can't help much on perch training but if you just put the new sleeper in the cage it is still new and scary to them and will take some time for them to get used to it. I just put in a new rope perch and it took a week for mine to us it.

Oh gosh a happy hut my Coco has one, she doesn't use either. She wouldn't leave it when I first gave it to her but she was young then and I think it was a safe place, but even then she would not sleep in it she like most budgies chose the highest perch.

Firstly, maybe your budgie simply doesn't like the toy you have selected, it happens, just keep guessing, or maybe they are not cold, so it is hot in there. Also it could be the location, I know if I move the happy hut next to Coco's sleeping spot she will sorta rub her face on it against it at night like a comfort thing.

Try a variety of toys, bells seem to be equally loved, I haven't noticed a post where a budgie hates bells. Have a chewy toy, and a climbing toy, a swing maybe, you get the idea, then rotate them every once in a while to keep their budgie brains stimulated.

As for the not playing, as long as they were not playing like crazy then suddenly stopped which would send up a red flag like they may be ill.

It is then a matter of time, and it is never what time we deem reasonable , I like to call it "budgie time" a mysterious time line that is different for all birds and no human has discovered.

For example my Coco, I bought her a mini kabob, basically a hanging string of soft woods to chew apart, when I hung it she moved to the furthest spot in the cage from it, kept one eye on it at all times. Later she would move about still avoiding the new kabob and after a week or maybe a week and a half even, she had finally come to some understanding, place of zen and was one with the kabob, decided it hadn't moved and wasn't a threat, then she proceeded to attack and destroy it.

Funny, silly birds. Just be patient you may just find that one day there is a tail hanging out of the hut, or not. But just because it isn't instant don't worry, new things are scary esp. when you total 5 inches in length.

Yep -- too true!

All I can add is that we'll never know why one budgie likes one toy and another doesn't --- smell? size? color? fluffiness? reflectiveness? full moon (lol)?

i've also found that a little millet goes a long way to introduce that new toy you found at the store sometimes i think bert just doesn't see things until i put some millet on it.

he still thinks the rings are for picking up and putting on the other side of the perch. who knows, maybe it is! makes the little bell jingle :P

edit: oh and it took him months to discover the cuttlebone. i had to throw away 2 full ones cause they had poop on them and then he finally started using the third!

Coco puts her round acrylics swing on the other side of the perch then proceeds to give the bells on the bottom what for and then some, she has never used the swing for swinging!

i like to put a string of millet in the rings as well.

bert loves to play with the bells on his swing! then he loves to swing swing swing! eat the bells, swing swing swing eat the bells!

then he does this weird balance act where one claw goes on the ring swing and the other goes on his rings, all the way at the top. i've tried to separate them, but he brings them back together. at night a couple times i've heard him fall, so i think he falls asleep like that :P

About the bells, my budgie hasn't touched his. In fact, he hasn't touched any of his toys--a swing with chewy things (never chewed), bungee with bell (never been rang) and a flippy mirror (only gets moved if he accidentally runs into it.) I've had them all over a month, and I think Aristotle is bored so there is no reason for him not to play with the toys!

well i remember when i had parakeets it was a while after i got them to play with toys... actually i just put toys in to let them play with them if they wanted and then they checked them out and figured what to do with them. their favorite toy was a swing with a mirror that two budgies could swing on. and then one liked flying through a hoop like thing. maybe they don't know about checking the toy out or something...

If your parakeet , is not showing any unusual behavior, that would signal a possible illness, then don't worry, it can take them a while to play, what you could do is show how to play.

I literally dinged the bell on Coco's play
gym with my nose, and she watched and I said whee in a high pitched voice, I looked like an idiot hitting this bell with my nose but she started to get curious and she now plays with bells, but it took a long time.

Each and every budgie is different,