acro
New member
- Nov 30, 2021
- 5
- 11
- Parrots
- Bondi, lovebird
I took note of Emeral's advice on a new, strategic room, and here's how day one/two is going!
We decided the bathroom would be best, as the only high places are one shelf (though not too much taller than me) and the top of the shower, though he hasn't payed either any attention yet. I've put my laptop on the sink so I can spend plenty of time in here. We've been monitoring the temperature of the bathroom, as we are in the middle of summer and wanted to make sure that it wouldn't get to hot. I also have been away at various camps and such, so it was better to leave him in my bedroom to make feeding easier for parents and friends.
Quick note on the biting: if you were to put a finger into his cage not long ago, he would immediately bite, and bite quite hard. I've been working on this by saying "ow" or "no" and pulling my finger out, giving him a face, and trying again. We're now at the point where if I stick a finger (or two, or four, or a random finger and a thumb) in, he'll nibble, like he's feeling it, gently, and will step up. Even if I stick only the tip or bent joint in, he'll still try to put his foot on it. It's not exactly what I was aiming for, but I'd rather this than biting and we can fine tune it later
.
Yesterday, the 28th, I moved him in here around 4-5pm after I got home from what should be my last big activity of the holidays. He was quite nervous in here to begin. To help calm him down, i decided I'd cover half of his cage to block off one side of the room (the bath and shower) to reduce the amount of things to look at and spook at, if that makes sense. I sat in here with him, talking and humming to him, and keeping him company, and he settled down well enough. I fed him his dinner in the cage at about 6pm, and he was ready for bed at about 8. I sat in here (in the dark, lol) for just under an hour to make sure if he woke up he wouldn't freak out without me here, but he was sound asleep so I quietly exited and left him to sleep.
I set an alarm for 7am to try to wake him up before he started screaming and waking my parents up, but the neighbour's chickens were out and he was trying to chat to them just before my alarm went off. I uncovered his cage (leaving the small blanket covering half on) and got myself up and ready. There's a washing basket in here that is just slightly lower than the door to his bowl, so i put that there as an option for him to move onto. I gave him his breakfast out of my hand just in the door, and while deciding on coming out he jumped back to a perch inside a couple times. He was obviously nervous but I'd rather him take himself back in than flying out and freaking out, so I gave him a bite or two of millet each time. When he did come out and had finished eating he came out onto the basket. I offered him a toy, and he nibbled on it a bit but started looking around like he was going to fly, so I let him. He did, he took off and flew around the room a little in what sounded like a panic, but I sat there quietly and waited and after a few seconds he stopped on one of the window handles. I got up and spent the next half an hour slowly luring him to the top perch on his cage, down the ladder, and back in, and left him on his platform perch with a bit of millet. I didn't want to push him any further so I left it there and decided to go back to bed for an hour or two.
A couple hours later I got up again and made something to eat, and went back in. The first thing I did when I was ready to let him out was offered him more food, as he usually has access to his food bowl all day. He ate a couple of pellets but wasn't very interested. I let him do what he wanted and sat down at the sink to eat, and he flew over and started trying my breakfast. We spent maybe half an hour to 40 minutes hanging out, and he seemed to quite like the top of my head! while he was deciding where was safe to land he would go to the bars of the cage, decide it was too hard to hang on to, and back to the top of my head a few times. He realized what was safe to stand on and we hung out for a bit. He was a little grumpy when I finished my food without letting him inspect the final bites, but he was quite happy! The things he seemed to enjoy the most were my hoodie strings and my phone camera, and spent a while hanging and inspecting. He also discovered the towel rack was in line with my face, and had a good look at my eyes and the strange things poking out the top (eyelashes). My nose was a good place to put his foot while he was looking.
I got him on my hand and tested if I could get him back into the cage, and he went in no problem! I took a minute to take dirty dishes out and let him out again. We did the same thing for another 15-20 minutes, and I did some recall! I put him on the basket and called his name and though he preferred my sleeve over my fingers, he flew to me without a problem! I decided to end on a good note and put him back in with some millet.
As I've typed he's been grooming and grinding his beak, and I'm currently receiving an ear-full because he can't sleep with this noisy typing. I'll leave it here and let him have a nap and see if he wants to come out again later.
Here's some photos
We decided the bathroom would be best, as the only high places are one shelf (though not too much taller than me) and the top of the shower, though he hasn't payed either any attention yet. I've put my laptop on the sink so I can spend plenty of time in here. We've been monitoring the temperature of the bathroom, as we are in the middle of summer and wanted to make sure that it wouldn't get to hot. I also have been away at various camps and such, so it was better to leave him in my bedroom to make feeding easier for parents and friends.
Quick note on the biting: if you were to put a finger into his cage not long ago, he would immediately bite, and bite quite hard. I've been working on this by saying "ow" or "no" and pulling my finger out, giving him a face, and trying again. We're now at the point where if I stick a finger (or two, or four, or a random finger and a thumb) in, he'll nibble, like he's feeling it, gently, and will step up. Even if I stick only the tip or bent joint in, he'll still try to put his foot on it. It's not exactly what I was aiming for, but I'd rather this than biting and we can fine tune it later
.Yesterday, the 28th, I moved him in here around 4-5pm after I got home from what should be my last big activity of the holidays. He was quite nervous in here to begin. To help calm him down, i decided I'd cover half of his cage to block off one side of the room (the bath and shower) to reduce the amount of things to look at and spook at, if that makes sense. I sat in here with him, talking and humming to him, and keeping him company, and he settled down well enough. I fed him his dinner in the cage at about 6pm, and he was ready for bed at about 8. I sat in here (in the dark, lol) for just under an hour to make sure if he woke up he wouldn't freak out without me here, but he was sound asleep so I quietly exited and left him to sleep.
I set an alarm for 7am to try to wake him up before he started screaming and waking my parents up, but the neighbour's chickens were out and he was trying to chat to them just before my alarm went off. I uncovered his cage (leaving the small blanket covering half on) and got myself up and ready. There's a washing basket in here that is just slightly lower than the door to his bowl, so i put that there as an option for him to move onto. I gave him his breakfast out of my hand just in the door, and while deciding on coming out he jumped back to a perch inside a couple times. He was obviously nervous but I'd rather him take himself back in than flying out and freaking out, so I gave him a bite or two of millet each time. When he did come out and had finished eating he came out onto the basket. I offered him a toy, and he nibbled on it a bit but started looking around like he was going to fly, so I let him. He did, he took off and flew around the room a little in what sounded like a panic, but I sat there quietly and waited and after a few seconds he stopped on one of the window handles. I got up and spent the next half an hour slowly luring him to the top perch on his cage, down the ladder, and back in, and left him on his platform perch with a bit of millet. I didn't want to push him any further so I left it there and decided to go back to bed for an hour or two.
A couple hours later I got up again and made something to eat, and went back in. The first thing I did when I was ready to let him out was offered him more food, as he usually has access to his food bowl all day. He ate a couple of pellets but wasn't very interested. I let him do what he wanted and sat down at the sink to eat, and he flew over and started trying my breakfast. We spent maybe half an hour to 40 minutes hanging out, and he seemed to quite like the top of my head! while he was deciding where was safe to land he would go to the bars of the cage, decide it was too hard to hang on to, and back to the top of my head a few times. He realized what was safe to stand on and we hung out for a bit. He was a little grumpy when I finished my food without letting him inspect the final bites, but he was quite happy! The things he seemed to enjoy the most were my hoodie strings and my phone camera, and spent a while hanging and inspecting. He also discovered the towel rack was in line with my face, and had a good look at my eyes and the strange things poking out the top (eyelashes). My nose was a good place to put his foot while he was looking.
I got him on my hand and tested if I could get him back into the cage, and he went in no problem! I took a minute to take dirty dishes out and let him out again. We did the same thing for another 15-20 minutes, and I did some recall! I put him on the basket and called his name and though he preferred my sleeve over my fingers, he flew to me without a problem! I decided to end on a good note and put him back in with some millet.
As I've typed he's been grooming and grinding his beak, and I'm currently receiving an ear-full because he can't sleep with this noisy typing. I'll leave it here and let him have a nap and see if he wants to come out again later.
Here's some photos
