Post by tam on Apr 6, 2014 13:48:01 GMT 10
I am new to bird ownership so bear with me as I will probably inundate you with a lot of silly questions now and in the near future.
Some background info:
About 3 months ago we rescued an adult Princess parrot. We think he (she?) is around a year old. We have had the bird vet checked (not by an avian specialty vet though) just to ascertain general health.
Smooch, as we have named it, has been prophylacticly treated for internal and external parasites, and is housed indoors in a large cage (suited for 3-4 small parrots comfortably)situated in our main living space. We have provided a healthy diet consisting of dark greens, small parrot seed diet, minimal sunflower (mostly used as treats) and pellets (although detests the pellets). We have attempted to feed a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables but he has rejected pretty much everything other than dark lettuce leaves and celery.
He/she? also dislikes both showers and water misting. (When the now moulting flight feathers grow back I will look for the third flight feather extension).
Okay, now behaviour.
I did a search through the forum posts to try and learn what I can.
Smooch can be quite sweet outside of the cage. He has even bowed for scratched a handful of times although not recently. He likes to shoulder perch most of the time but occasionally will bite an ear...repeatedly (ouch!). We have learned the hard way to avoid offering fingers and offer wrists or forearms for perching instead. Smooch will usually chatter happily, give kisses and "dance" happily when on your shoulder, too.
Smooch is highly cage aggressive. We have to protect our hands so that we can change is food and water dishes. Even offering treats in his cage can be risky (he is good if outside his cage). He is not eager to leave his cage and requires considerable coaxing with treats or by lifting him out on a perch. Again, once out he is quite sociable.
So...any helpful advice?
Some background info:
About 3 months ago we rescued an adult Princess parrot. We think he (she?) is around a year old. We have had the bird vet checked (not by an avian specialty vet though) just to ascertain general health.
Smooch, as we have named it, has been prophylacticly treated for internal and external parasites, and is housed indoors in a large cage (suited for 3-4 small parrots comfortably)situated in our main living space. We have provided a healthy diet consisting of dark greens, small parrot seed diet, minimal sunflower (mostly used as treats) and pellets (although detests the pellets). We have attempted to feed a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables but he has rejected pretty much everything other than dark lettuce leaves and celery.
He/she? also dislikes both showers and water misting. (When the now moulting flight feathers grow back I will look for the third flight feather extension).
Okay, now behaviour.
I did a search through the forum posts to try and learn what I can.
Smooch can be quite sweet outside of the cage. He has even bowed for scratched a handful of times although not recently. He likes to shoulder perch most of the time but occasionally will bite an ear...repeatedly (ouch!). We have learned the hard way to avoid offering fingers and offer wrists or forearms for perching instead. Smooch will usually chatter happily, give kisses and "dance" happily when on your shoulder, too.
Smooch is highly cage aggressive. We have to protect our hands so that we can change is food and water dishes. Even offering treats in his cage can be risky (he is good if outside his cage). He is not eager to leave his cage and requires considerable coaxing with treats or by lifting him out on a perch. Again, once out he is quite sociable.
So...any helpful advice?
