F...ing freked out

[Karen]

Best of luck with Bob and hope he gets out of his funk with you soon. *hugs*

[davewa]

Thanks for the advise, he has his own Hakea bushes in his house and shade cloth over the top so he is not seen from above, he also has multiple levels to explore when he is feeling himself. Time will heal all I guess its just a shame that all the work done has gone for now but as you all say it will return eventually!

[jusdeb]

Fingers crossed BOb gets his mojo back real soon.

[davewa]

Hi guys,

Thought I'd update you on Bob's progress.
His wing has healed very well and he has just finished moulting in that area and it looks as good as new, the last physical traces are now gone.
Emotionally he is up and down, he is happy and doing Galah things and has started to let me give him a scratch but will still jump and move away from me without warning or reason.
The last few days have been better but don't know if it will be ongoing. He is very wary when we put him outside and takes a long time to transfer from one cage to another and is very wary of me when I join him in the cage, I cannot do anything with him except give him a shower.
It may be the time of year that is causing this behaviour as he does go a bit strange during summer but who knows, time is helping but needs to continue it seems!
Will let you know if it improved.

[carlsandclan]

Poor baby! That kind of trauma isn't easy to get past. Can you maybe keep him inside for a while? The sights and sounds from his outside cage might be making him really nervous. AJ didn't want to go outside for over a month after her adventure - and she used to really enjoy 'helping' me hang washing on the line.

You are doing a great job with him - too many people would have given up by now. Your patience will pay off. Bob will get back to his old self.

I've been helping a friend train a horse who has obviously been traumatized at some point, and it's been really tough - but with love and patience, she is coming around. I've found that it's a longer, tougher road with highly intelligent animals, but SO worth the effort!

Scritches for Bob from me and AJ!

[vankarhi]

Even though it probably doesn't really make sense .......... you see yourself as the saviour.........but because events probably happened so quickly that day he got attacked, he probably got such a fright from being attacked by a bird of prey........that he associates the very next thing or person in your case to the actual event.

It can be fixed but it is going to take some time by the sounds of it.

[flossy]

My Major Mitchell was always our baby girl, biggest sook ever. My husband MADE her come out of her cage one day to meet some of his friends, from that day on, she changed. Something so simple. She screamed, lunged etc, it wasn't pretty, and very heartbreaking.

We tried to work with her for a few days afterwards, but nothing. She wouldn't let us near her, screaming and biting etc. I got in touch with a Bird Behaviouralist and he said what she needed now was space. He advised me to move her away from the house and give her some space. So we moved her into a spare petition in one of our aviaries. From then on, it was just daily talking, but not invading her space.
I would stand in her cage, and just sing lullabyes etc. Letting her know I wasn't there to hurt her etc. She became more accepting of that, and eventually some weeks later took a nut from my hand. That was a HUGE progression. So we kept going with her.....
To cut this very long story short now - Savannah is not the same now, some 6 months later, BUT! I can do almost anything with her. She comes for kisses, cuddles, scratches etc. She is still in her petition - as when we tried to move her back to her house cage, she was totally freaked out. So her permanent home now is down the back.
My husband can only give her the occassional scratch, and sometimes a kiss through the wire. She relates him to her threat. If she is with me, and on me - he can give her a nice little scratch, but as soon as he tries anything else - she freaks.

Sorry for rambling, but I wanted to let you know, there is hope. Just take your time and have patience.

I would take a seat into her cage also, so she was at the higher level. She eventually would come down and climb on my shoulder, but take off quickly etc.
I even made a cape that sits over your shoulders with lots of bling on it for her to admire......she was ok with it, but it didn't work the way I had hoped. So it just went back to gaining her trust by talking etc.

Sorry for going on and on. The thing is, we would have done the opposite. We thought putting her in a small cage would be better as we could access her more etc. However when Steve pointed out the facts, we thought it was worth a go, and she was definately worth it. So many people offload their birds after an incident like this, and then the bird is traumatised forever and what sort of life is that.

Savannah comes out for walks with me now around the yard, she is clipped of course - and I sued to be able to use her harness, but since that day, that just isn't going to happen. And I don't want to go backwards with her, so for now, the harness is out! but in time, I will get her used to it again.

It really can be done! Just wanted to share
Goodluck!

[bleedinggreen]

Jan 21, 2011 7:43:25 GMT 10 flossy said:

Savannah comes out for walks with me now around the yard, she is clipped of course - and I sued to be able to use her harness, but since that day, that just isn't going to happen.

Who did you sue?

That's really sad, but so good that you haven't given up on her. Not sure how old she is but time maybe on your side I guess with the life span of these birds, so keep trying.
Btw, what part of Illawarra are you from?

[flossy]

Sorry....not sue....I meant USE! oops, was having a brain fart when I wrote that...hehehehe....
Savannah is just 12 months old, I raised her and her 2 brothers last year....all total babes too! I will never give up on her, ever. Even if worst case was that she couldn't be handled at all etc.......she wouldn't be going anywhere! She is with us for life

I live in Barrack Heights by the way..... what about you?

[davewa]

Thanks for the stories and thoughts, he is having a good day today and has been big on scratches from outside his inside cage. When he is in his outhouse and I need to bring him into his other cage he flies away but will go on my hand if I go underneath him. He flies off straight away but I continue to follow him around until he stays for a second then I gently place a hand on his wings so he stays until I put him into his cage. He does not bite at any stage and is not too different to his normal behaviour except that at present it is more urgent, I was trying to get him to fly to me when I raise my arm.
Do you think I should stop following him and putting my hand underneath him or persist until he gets use to it again?

[carlsandclan]

Just take it real slow. Try putting your hand on a perch and calling him over, then when he gets to you, ask him to step onto your hand. As soon as he does, reward him. Keep doing that until he is comfortable to stay on there, but don't move your hand yet. Just be still and talk to him, let him know he's safe.

When he is happy to stay there on your hand, start moving slowly away from the perch, but not too far. As he gets more comfortable, move a little further. You will eventually get to the stage that he trusts you to take him out.

Perhaps you could take the inside cage out to the outside one so he can go straight from one to the other? Or get a pet carrier to transport him between the two? There is a risk that by holding him in your hands, he is going to lose even more trust in you, because he may see it as you making him do what he doesn't want to do.

I'm no expert, but that is what I would do. I'm just a person who loves animals, and I trust my instincts with them - never met an animal I couldn't get to trust me. Yet. lol

[davewa]

Thanks for the advise, I already take his cage to the bigger cage and let him come out at his own pace. Tried years ago to get him out by hand and it was not worth the stress so I just let him decide when. Ironically that is why he got out in the first place cos I went inside for a minute while waiting for him and he did something he has never done before, he was a creature of habit!

[davewa]

Well I have been spending the last 4 weeks trying to fill Bobs trust account. I have not put him in his large cage for this amount of time and have spent the time just being close to him and giving him scratches and touching his feet and wings so he learns that I am not going to hurt him.

He is acting like his old self flapping and making noise and giving his lungs a good work out early in the morning just like he use to. did transfer him onto a perch Today we did the going outside tricki, I tried last week but it was way too hot and I did not transfer him just left him out for a while to get some fresh air. He was still jumpy but flew to his perch but stayed spooked for quite a while nd he realy enjoyed his shower. I spent an hour with my hand on his perch slowly moving closer but could not get closer than a foot before he moved.
I put my hand under him to make him fly and put my hand under him so he had to land on me several times and gave him lots of scratches and praise when he finally stayed put. The longest he stayed was probably 2 min but when I persisted I did put him on his perch to show that I was not trying to trap him but interact with him.
By the end of the day he was still not great but did go back into his cage easily with me prompting him to fly but not once did he bite or scream which was really good. It took an hour after that for him to not back away from me inside but after that it was back to head down for a scratch and I can rub his toes again which is an improvement.

So I wiill keep it going and hope it will get back to the way it was but also know that it may not get much better when it comes to being outside, all in all it is moving forward though.