Baby Green Cheek - Climbing Troubles?

[ttenani]

So I brought home my baby green cheek Homie yesterday - he (or she!) is weaned but only 3 months old or so.

I'm not planning to handle Homie for the first couple of days so he can get his bearings and get used to me, but he's been willing to come get treats from my hand through the bars (and even from inside the cage). Based on my experience with Homie's level of comfort being handled in the store we'll have a little work to do before he's suuuuper comfortable stepping up and being touched, but I'm not too worried about that since we have plenty of time.

He's pretty young and in the store he was in a plexiglass/plastic enclosure with a low-to-ground perch and shredded paper on the floor. Watching his behavior and interacting with him a little, it seems like he is more anxious about navigating/climbing around on the bars than he is about interacting with me, and I saw him take at least one fall that seemed to stun him when he was trying to make a hop from a wall to a perch. For now he is mostly sticking to climbing around on his rope perch and bowls.

I put down some paper towels on the grate floor of the cage so it's a little softer if he goes down there (or has another fall), but does anyone have any suggestions to make him more comfortable climbing around? Maybe another rope perch that goes from one section of the cage to another, since he seems to like that best? Or a ladder?

Maybe this is just new parrot anxiety and he just needs a little practice, but I want to make sure I take care of my Homie the best I can!

 

[IndySE]

Babies are very clumsy. It seems like mine took around a month after I took her home to really get comfortable. I kept her in a smaller cage for the first week or two until she got way too hyper to be contained in it (lol). She moved into her big-girl cage pretty fast. I can't recall if I adjusted her perches, but you can always move your babies stuff to the bottom half of the cage. As he gets more curious to climb higher, you can move it up.

Congrats

 

[MonicaMc]

1.) Babies tend to be clumsy

2.) Clipped birds even more clumsy and less confidence in themselves


Time and new perches or rearranging things can help.

 

[ttenani]

His climbing improved very fast!

Now he navigates the cage like a pro. Though, hilariously, he doesn't seem to like/be good at climbing down, so instead he hops, flutters his way to the cage floor, and then climbs back up.

I am glad I put the paper towels down, though, because he's taken to making himself paper towel teepees on the bottom of the cage.

 

[clark_conure]

I'd open the cage and leave your arm/hand by the door, on the door edge DON"T ENTER, He might just jump down onto you if he accepts treats and was hand reared.