Advice for Building Confidence, Please

[Seagulls]

I pondered for a bit about making a thread for this, but decided "Why not? What do I have to lose?"

I have a 3 year old Blue-Fronted Amazon named Leon, I've had him since he was 6 months old. He is an extremely fearful bird. He has no confidence at all, and only ever feels safe on his playstand or in his cage. My bed may as well be made of crocodiles the way he acts when I set him down with foot toys. He's even afraid of spraying water!

His original owner was utterly terrified of him, and I think that left quite an emotional mark on him. To this day, everyone besides me is scared of him too, which I imagine does not help at all. (He gives a good male 'zon show but he's really a big baby, I never get bit by him.)

I was just wondering if any of you 'zon lovers had any advice for what I could do to make him less scared-to-death of everything. I've tried treat rewarding him in new situations, but he absolutely refuses to eat unless he's in his cage or on his stand.

 

[henpecked]

I don't have time right now, but i'll be back on here soon. I'd love to offer advice on this as i too have several fearful amazons and have learned alot from them.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Hi there Seagulls, and welcome to the forum.

Henpecked is by FAR our Amazon go-to person. His advice is truly invaluable and much treasured, appreciated and cherished.

 

[ShellyBorg]

I am working with a 5 year old that was afraid of even turning around on his perch. He still screams when stepping up, even though he does it with out pushing. He was afraid of the bed also. I have taken a bit of a hard nose stance and will put him in a situation that scares him. (with me right there not talking to reassure him it is scary) The bed I just placed him in the middle one day and started to read my book. ( well holding the book so I could watch him over the top of it) He would not move for 30 min. Then slowly he started to move towards me. once he reached me I let him get up on my knee , with out praising him. I treated it like he does this everyday. I did this everyday for about 2 weeks. We know play under the blankets and spend time hanging out with out fear. When we tell them "its ok" every min we are reinforcing that yes, this is scary. Now we are working on flapping his wings when on my hand. When I got him he would no more move his own wings the eat the scary stuff I put in his bowl that was not seed! Today for the first time I saw him stretch in his cage. It sounds like a small this but it is huge for him!

 

[henpecked]

I'm sorry i didn't get back here sooner. We have great members with great advice.I have learned a few things about "timid' zon although "fearful " is a better term. The rhome /rescue birds that i have that have this issue seem to have several things in common. Their are hens, they grew up with other birds that dominated them. I think the lack of human interaction is the root of the problem. They don't tend to "bond" with humans. I'm not suggesting they can't make good pets, it's they will never ( not a good word choice) ,,,It's hard for them to change. It's like they are "imprinted" not to people and have a natural fear of being a prey. They need a strong leader, they need direction. If left to their own , they are content to just exist. The more confident bird seem to have that "Gusto".The more friends that shy bird can make , the better. They seem to "blossom" when they can be confident. It's up to you to supply the opportunities by exposing them to new things. #1 they will develop a "trust" in you. Next in someone else. next thing you know their every bodies buddy. No , it doesn't always work out that way. But sometimes it does. Socialize,socialize,socialize.

 

[Seagulls]

The woman that originally owned him usually got her babies long before they were weaned. Being that she was terrified of my boy, I can't imagine the handrearing went well.

I frequently try to force Leon into new situations, I even got one of those Pak-O-Birds so I can walk around with him. He started out really, really hand shy, but now I can just grab his head and scratch him. He's been getting more affectionate every day. Thought it might just be breeding behavior at first, but he never does that spitting up thing to me anymore. When he would, I'd just drop silent and go back to my desk.

I've got disabilities, so I spend all day every day at home. Most of any given day I have Leon on his stand by my bed. Which helped immensely toward getting him to come out of his shell. Even then, he's only really started to open up the last few months.

*sigh* I just wish other people would give Leon a chance like I did. They see his huff and puff, or know his past, and they just give up any hope that he'll ever be "tame". If I'm not feeling good, and I'm in my bed, he comes down to the part of the stand closest to me and just hums, whistles, and jabbers til I put my head up and respond.

Really, it's a miracle to me that he's as good as he is. He was practically feral when I bought him. My mom's always pressuring me to sell him. Because he's "just not a good bird". I just want to help him, and sometimes it feels like I'm not doing enough.

Socializing is hard when I can't leave the house without assistance, and no one at home wants anything to do with Leon... ):

 

[ShellyBorg]

Just keep doing what your doing. Anything new you can expose him to is great. When folks tell you the bird is not right for you. Remember, some times its us who needs the bird who needs help. When we see them come out of there shell and do more everyday it makes us feel good that we are helping with that.