Adventures of Pascal the little rascal

[Skarila]

Loki is my middle name

Loki, the nordic god of mischief. This is what Pascal should've been named. such an adorable, yet mischievous little think. 52 grams of mischief. 1 gram of cuteness.

Yesterday I let Pascal and Csilli play together for the entire day, luckily things went okay. They were both very very happy and playful, Pascal was super calm. I did not get into his way, if he wanted to play with me, I let him, but he would get bored very quickly so I'd let him go and follow Csilli everywhere. They were such angels yesterday! However, today Csilli was very mean and was nipping him, so of course Pascal will go after Csilli and nip her back, to the point of chasing her off his cage. Csilli is a very small and fragile bird, but often a drama queen. If she feels even the tiniest bit threatened, she will shout like she is dying, which of course gets out attention, but we have no idea if the bird is truly hurt or not! So yeah, today they are being separated once again. Little moody brats.

Pascal is being mischievous in his own ways, going places he shouldn't like among our orchids and trying to munch them, or just hanging on/in our lamp because it seems to be the best playground, getting nippier, chewing on my old grandfather's clock, and so on. I see he is a very off hands bird, he is so reluctant of hands and is so jumpy even if you touch him. I see that he is becoming more independant, so he will sit on his cage alone to preen, which is fine, velcro birds are not too good either.

I see also that he started bobbing his head in a playful way, as if he is dancing! I realised he is mimicking me, lately I am listening to some good radio stations and I often start swaying my own head and jump around, so I guess he wants to be part of that party It was so funny how he was mimicking my headbanging and whistling (attempting to whistle, that is.) He definitely has his moments when he wants to, and when not to interact with us humans. Lately he is always trying to get his point across by nipping and biting, which I don't mind. I am more terrified of my budgie's nipping and biting as her beak is SHARP. She always breaks the skin, little blue feathery butt. and is always trying to make me a new septum piercing....

Now, on another note, not really regarding Pascal, my partner is keen on adopting a new non tame Meyers parrot from a guy who is serveral countries far. I am quite reluctant of the whole thing, I know my partner LOVES the whole poicephalus genus so he didn't really think twice. The story is that I was in touch with a guy from Germany who adopted a senegal parrot and was asking me for some advices, and we talked. I also know he has a Meyers parrot for 6 months, the bird is maybe around 1 year old. She is not tame, and he couldn't tame the bird in those 6 months. Now, I also know he is planning to give the bird back to the breeder, which i immediately know is a receipt for a disaster for the bird. Me and my partner are so crazy about parrots and are very familiar with the genus as we have a Senegal parrot ourselfves. (well, he and his mom, but LORD i love that bird. she is so cute.)
Now, my other issue would be the travel, it would be 2-3 countries across to get here, surely a 12h drive to here....

Meh, I will just make a new thread.

 

[Scott]

Must admit I've never been owned by a conure but getting a great education reading your narrative of Pascal!

Healthy skepticism invaluable when debating merits of new flock addition!

 

[Skarila]

Dangers of windows

Lord, I had such a fright yesterday. I am very careful about windows - we have curtains on every window and balcony door, and I make sure that everything is covered by those curtains. As much as Pascal is a really good pilot (hehe), if he gets very excited or scared, it is bound that he would bonk into the window. Unfortunately, this has already happened twice, but to huge luck he immediately recovered and it was more like a ricochet, so the impact wasn't as hard.

Our fostered cockatiel would smash into the window so often that he injured his beak and split open his cere, so I am aware of the dangers. That was when we moved freshly into our flat but did not have the curtains installed yet. I had to keep and X taped onto the windows to keep him from smashing into the windows.

However, my partner completely was an airhead that day and he didn't pull back the curtain after he was done going out to the balcony. We are very careful when going in and out, but it seems he has put this small detail off his mind. At one point, Pascal got into his zoomies minutes, flying here and there and eventually I heard a loud THUD and him just crashing to the floor. My heart stopped. In an instant before I could jump to him, he flew off onto his cage. I didn't see any missing feathers on his head of blood so I thought it was ok. But, few minutes later I have seen that his whole leg went limp. Cue hysteria. I had to chase and towel him (poor thing) to check his leg, if it is broken or hurts. I did feel that one leg is weaker than the other, he didn't grab as hard. I was ready to call the vet. However he did not show signs of pain which is good, otherwise I'd lose my finger by then or hear him screech, which he didn't do.

I gave him 30 minutes to get back to his senses. Put him back to the cage, and he went to rest. The crash, then the chase was very stressful for him. I was super worried. To our huge luck, after 15 minutes of rest, he was back to his old self, started to eat and vocalising, that he wants to get out. His leg became good again. I was 100% sure his leg was fine because he could eat his nutriberry - he is wild for those, in the beginning he had no idea how to hold it and eat it, he was simply too weak to hold and crunch it. Now he became a master of destroying his treat. Today he is him old self - little mischievous and playful butt. I bawled my eyes out yesterday, I wouldn't be able to get over losing my new friend. Thankfully everything had a happy end. My partner was extremely sorry, but he was calming me down that he is a fighter and that he will be fine.

Last night I had a cute moment with Pascal. We have a lamp set on a timer. In the early evening it goes on, and around 10 pm goes off. Before it went off, I came up to Pascal and started telling him that we're going nighty-nighty. He was silently chirping (complaining) and after 5 minutes he went into his little sleeping tube. He never did that! I covered him, wished him a good night, and the lights went off. It was a such a blissful moment, no stress, he understood it is time to go to sleep, and I let him go set himself to sleep while there's light. In general he waits for the lights to go off, and in very dim light he goes into his tube to sleep. Birds are so smart!

 

[Scott]

Love that pic, he is stunning!

Hard to know the physiology of Pascal's incident and quick recovery, but not all hard crashes end well. Not sure if this will help, but some members hold their birds and do complete "real estate" tour of the home, stopping at every possible hazard.

 

[Skarila]

Love that pic, he is stunning!

Hard to know the physiology of Pascal's incident and quick recovery, but not all hard crashes end well. Not sure if this will help, but some members hold their birds and do complete "real estate" tour of the home, stopping at every possible hazard.

I have seen that post once, that walls are walls, and windows are "hard air". Unfortunately I cannot move him around the house on my hand as he is a very nervous bird, so best I can do at the moment is keep the windows covered with curtains at all times. I remember this happened right when he got really excited about something and started zooming really fiercly around the room, hence the crash. I am super happy that he got really lucky and had no serious injuries.

 

[Skarila]

Strong, independent bird

At least Pascal loves to think of himself like that for last few days. He seems fed up with me even though I am not nagging him much. He doesn't want to do anything with me, unless I am eating something. I make sure that I share as I am aware it's a common thing in a flock to eat together. He suddenly got terrified of hands, very impatient with hands, so I gotta take a few steps back with him. Perhaps I spoilt him toooooo much, he always expects that I have food. Sorry to disapoint you, buddy!

Everyday I try to give him out time with Csilli, and alone with me (If I am home). I try to keep a balance so that Pascal sees and feels that he is a part of our flock, and that I am also a part of that flock. Csilli loves playing with me, perhaps shows some jealousy at times. I give my best to give them both attention, Csilli moreover as Pascal can just watch the interaction that this human is not evil. The two of the birds are so opposite, Pascal sees that the hand with food is good, not scary but will not interact with us so much, while Csilli always wants our attention and to play, but will attack the evil hand with the yum-yums (I was holding carrot leaves, Pascal was nibbling, Csilli wanted to nibble too but she attacked my hand instead, I told this expression to my partner and he died from laughter....)

Sadly Pascal doesn't even wish to sit nearby me on the playstand, instead he keeps a really far and safe distance from me. I believe that when he crashed to the window and when we wanted to get him to check his limp leg he freaked out and got this huge terror of hands again. That was such a big stepback for me.... Also he's not really interested into training that much, there's no living thing that will make him step up onto my hand again. I'm back to square one with him - boop the beak gently, praise, give a nibble of a millet or something. My aim is to keep the hand just next to him, no touching and not have him pull back and freak out. He just freaks out if he sees a hand coming his way. I have to build the trust back that the hand is not evil and will not grab him (99% of the time...). If my hand or finger is next to him for longer than 2 seconds, he just yips and flutters away, eventhough i was super calm. I guess next time I want to catch him I will have to towel him. This way he will know that towel will mean catching, hand will not mean catching anymore.

At home I have a book about senegals - I've read an interesting thing about toweling, that to use the same colour as the bird (in this case it would have to be emerald green) to mimic mother's wings, and to avoid stripes, as birds for some reason are terrified of stripes. maybe something to try out next time, but first I gotta buy a green towel.

 

[Scott]

You are highly perceptive and motivated, love your forum "journal!" From what little I know, Pascal is typical conure.

Setbacks often require diligent work to restore trust. Good thing Pascal is food motivated. Do you have one or more super-special treats to help elevate his understanding of reward? Many parrots will kill for bits of walnut, almond, or pine nuts. Cautionary note for almonds: Some parts of the world have "bitter almonds" containing high level of cyanide. Unsure what choices you have in Hungary!

 

[Skarila]

You are highly perceptive and motivated, love your forum "journal!" From what little I know, Pascal is typical conure.

Setbacks often require diligent work to restore trust. Good thing Pascal is food motivated. Do you have one or more super-special treats to help elevate his understanding of reward? Many parrots will kill for bits of walnut, almond, or pine nuts. Cautionary note for almonds: Some parts of the world have "bitter almonds" containing high level of cyanide. Unsure what choices you have in Hungary!

Hi Scott,
Thank you for being so encouraging! I am glad you like my little journal! I started yo see a pattern where the bird has it's own biorhythm - mood up, mood down... Daily.

Yeah, I am being super careful around him. Respecting his boundaries. As for his ultimate treats, I've found only apple (i can dice them really fine so i can use as a training treat) and nutriberry is something he would kill for. However, he gets nutriberry only in 2 occasions - when he gets back in cage (or gets lured back) and when i was gone for more than a few hours. Otherwise he completely ignores nuts. He was very interested in cashews when I was eating them, but apparently he didn't like them.
Bitter almonds are actually pits from apricot, and it is usually very hard to find and buy, so it is highly unlikely that I would buy it next time i will try with some mixed nuts and see what he likes. I also started using Power treats from Harrison's - because they are a BIG. Pellet, i cut them up into tiny nibbles and I use that for training rather than millet. At least it is healthy and should help him with his flaky beak.

 

[Scott]

I'm amazed he isn't fond of nuts! Have you tried cooked cereals served plain and room temperature such as oatmeal or other whole grains?

 

[Skarila]

I'm amazed he isn't fond of nuts! Have you tried cooked cereals served plain and room temperature such as oatmeal or other whole grains?

I avoid giving him anything mushy because he's on the edge of becoming hormonal.. but he's not a fan of the oats either! Crazy picky bird. ...Not even pop corns!

 

[Skarila]

Hormonal Harmony

My baby boy is growing up :')

I've seen that Pascal is uhm, expressing some, uh, hormonal behaviour. Starting with his favourite toy. Thank god, it is nothing bad, just he likes to get his jiggy on every few days. Otherwise I don't see any super bad behaviour. He is a bit louder these days, but he's not agressive or biting (nipping always, but it's very gentle). He is already on a fat/sugar low diet, getting his 12h of undisturbed sleep, noone can pet him, nor does my budgie encourage any of his behaviour that might be hormonal. She just doesn't care, haha.

I was terrified because I had very very bad experience with my IRN who was hormonal for YEARS. Not fun. But getting their jiggy on or just needing to regurgitate to their toys shouldn't be too bad, it is completely natural so I uh, don't disturb him, but it was quite a shock for me since he's just 11 months old. Since he is a very small species, he will mature much quicker than your normal GCC might. He does seem to express some more mature behaviour, like preening, resting (he was SO restless last month), playing by himself. He likes to keep a balance between "me time" and "time with the weird human". He does seem more independent, which as I mentioned before, is not a bad thing. When he does want to be with me, it's not really to hang out next to me, but more like have an active time, he really wants some millet or any other treat and he will start doing the tricks he knows, which is cute. This is our quality time while he is outside, it seems! He is calmer now, back to not freaking out from the hand.

A new thing he started doing is trying to get on the ceiling lamp. it's flat and made out of glass, so I have NO idea how the heck he gets up there. He can only hang there, he cannot crawl in it or anything, just it's so funny. I also realised he does it when I am on the couch. If I am by the table, then he's on the wardrobe or my grandfather's old clock which is just above the table.

He's settling just right. Only now he's openly showing his real spunkiness, dancing and singing ( awful singing but adorable).

 

[Scott]

Pascal is so fortunate having an understanding and loving parront! Seems you're doing everything best way possible, particularly the variables of nutrition and sleep!

 

[LeaKP]

How have I not read of Pascal until now? What a character. Thank you for sharing!

 

[Skarila]

KEEKEEKEEKEEKEE

That is what I hear all day. Guess Pascal's hormones are raging. There ain't much I can do at this point but endure it. I try my best to train him much as possible, he is again very motivated to work for treats. Today I taught him to spin! Just silly bird doesn't know how to do it on a perch but rather just the cage opening/door where I usually train with him. He is stepping up more often, but only during our training sessions. I always have some treats with me, but if he is elsewhere but on his cage on the training spot, it is proven very very hard to make him step up! He totally freaks out and flies off. Weird bird.

But yeah, I am proud I taught him a new trick. Now currently he knows target training with h stick, with finger, to give kiss on demand, shake head, hang upside down and spin now. ...and well, step up or fly to me from a short distance.

Another adorable thing he did with me was he was preening my face... For some reason he was enjoying it... But why doesn't he let me preen him back :17:
And he also loves preening himself next to his toy, he is then just randomly leaning on it and rubbing his head on it, obviously wanting to be preened... I am still slowly trying to rub his head with my nose like I could do with a cockatiel before. But... Poor Pascal still is very nervous and afraid being touched. Perhaps soon, I mean.... Gosh, he was preening my face for good 10 minutes. So so gently. I just wanted to give him a kiss and leave After the training session, but he has other plans with me it seems. The door is in my head level, so the bird is in my head level too, where he feels the most secure. I guess I gotta trust him first before he can trust me? Either way, I forgive him for his shouting.

I am traveling back to my parents for the week and my partner will take care of Pascal while I am gone. Hopefully the little stinker won't forget me or get pissy when I get back!

And oh, he got a new nickname when he is misbehaving, kuka mad?r (trash bird in hungarian). It is so funny it just stuck with me.

 

[Scott]

Pascal guaranteed to notice your absence and may "punish" you for a day or so on return. Parrots are extremely visual, consider Skyping or Face-Timing with partner and Pascal while visiting parents. He will be captivated by your voice and image!

 

[wrench13]

Be aware that not all first mating seasons are the worst. Our lil Amazon Salty had a very mild puberty, hardly any noticeable changes, not even his second or third mating seasons were terrible, and the POW, his last 2 were like jekyl/hyde stuff. Just remember - this too shall pass. The trick is to not let bad behavior or your reaction to bad behavior become permanent, or his reaction to your reaction, become permanent.

 

[Skarila]

Be aware that not all first mating seasons are the worst. Our lil Amazon Salty had a very mild puberty, hardly any noticeable changes, not even his second or third mating seasons were terrible, and the POW, his last 2 were like jekyl/hyde stuff. Just remember - this too shall pass. The trick is to not let bad behavior or your reaction to bad behavior become permanent, or his reaction to your reaction, become permanent.

Oh wow, now I am even more scared :'D I really hope he won't be worse than this! My old IRN Zeleni was horribly hormonal last few years he was with me, I am suuuuper careful not to have it happen again. I learned that you cannot really stop a bird from being hormonal but rather prevent as much as possible...

 

[Skarila]

Oh good, you're back! Where's my millet?

I was gone for 5 days as I travelled back to my parent's to visit, while my partner took care of Pascal. Pascal's reaction was quite a sight when I arrived home.

He seemed either excited or territorial, not sure which as he was doing his funny march. I asked him to come over and give me a kiss for a millet, as he usually does. I tell you, that was more like a kiss of pain He went right for the lower lip, twice! Thank lord as he doesn't bite hard, but it was not nice! (my budgie usually leaves me bloody.). He kept marching and then from the third he gave me a nice kiss and started doing his little tricks to get some millet. I get a feeling like "FOOD" is written on my forehead. I arrived in the evening, and when he had to go back in I put some millet in my hand for him to hop on and have a munch, he seems soooo much more comfortable on our hands now, at least when he is in his cage and munching on. I guess he learned that when I put my hand into the cage that it means food, so often he will hop right on in hope that he might get some yummy stuff. He was even rubbing his head against my finger by accident but he didn't freak out. He gives a gentle nip if he wants me to move it. So cute.

But lord, he loves shouting and yapping. I guess he wasn't in school when they taught that his species is supposed to be the quiet type xD We stopped separating him and Csilli, they can hang out most of the day together. Just I see that he isn't really the sharing type. Another interesting thing is that he just wants to follow Csilli everywhere but if she's on his cage or too close to him then he just... chases her off? Pascal, you're weird.

Pascal surely has Duracell batteries up his butt. 3 of them to be exact. So much energy... He wants to play all. The. Time. I created a new toy last week which was suposed to be for my partner's senegal but I realised that it's more suitable for Pascal as it's a soft toy with carton, coconut fibres, grass and bit of cork. I put the toy onto his open door and it was such a hit! He went right for the cork - he loves tearing it apart. I guess I should order some natural cork for wines so that he can keep tearing it apart. It kept him quite busy. Originaly I really wanted to get Sola balls or Mahogany pods but in eastern Europe it is impossible to get it.

Today Pascal also got some cherries for the first time - it was a hit! I am using this kabob thing and I like to hang his veggies there - he is much more prone to eat them rather than when i leave it in the bowl. Also it doesn't rot in the bowl... He usualy finishes the whole thing within a few hours. Even the stuff he wouldn't really eat, he loves tearing it apart so it's still like bit of foraging for him. I am happy that he likes it! It's good that it keeps him busy because he started being such a troublemaker!! He ALWAYS keeps chewing on Csilli's cage coating (UGHHH) and I have no idea how to discourage him. He KNOWS he is not allowed, if I even look at him, he will stop and then continue. If I walk right to him, he will move away and perch on one leg as if nothing happened. He always does that. Or when he is in Csilli's cage eating her food. I will just shout "PASCAL, OUT" and he will calmly go out and again, act as if nothing happened. He doesn't do it for my attention - he does it because he wants to do it. I just have to keep distracting him... I have ADD, but lord, this bird is 10x worse than me!! Easily distracted by... everything

I realised I had Pascal for bit less than 3 months, how time flies... he surely did improve, but he is certainly not fond of humans yet. Fond only when we have millet, hahah. I try to keep in mind that 3 months for him is a very short time. I keep bribing him with food, since it seems to be the only line that keeps us together. I need to keep building that trust! I must keep showing the little birdy that we mean no harm! He is quite silly, neither does he knows what he wants most of the time.

Next month we're going for a holiday at the seaside - I am soooo excited!!! We found a really nice place for Pascal to stay while we are away. At first I was planning at a "kennel" but my partner strongly disagreed. He found a guy who rescues birds, and is willing to take care of Pascal. For us it is important that Pascal can stretch his wings every day - he loves to fly, and he is an excellent flier. He is a very young bird and is very very active - he needs to use up that energy somehow!

 

[Scott]

Seems Pascal decided to quickly forgive you - after extracting just a bit of pain. So typically bird-like!

Fresh cherries are in season now, one of my favorite fruits. They do have fairly long shelf life when refrigerated!!

That's a beautiful family pic!!

 

[Skarila]

Seems Pascal decided to quickly forgive you - after extracting just a bit of pain. So typically bird-like!

Fresh cherries are in season now, one of my favorite fruits. They do have fairly long shelf life when refrigerated!!

That's a beautiful family pic!!

Very bird-like! Today he bit my finger a bit too hard, I yelped in pain, and then he just spinned around and looked me dead in the eye "I spinned, where's my treat". I seriously cannot stay mad at him at all, he doesn't let me!

I personally don't like cherries so he can have them all!! I studied phytopathology in school for 4 years and since then I have a certain dislike for cherries, but I do enjoy a nice yoghurt with cherries, though!