Breakthough!

[TheBirdWhisperer]

Hey everyone, I thought I'd share a recent breakthough I had with my tiel today. I hope other fellow parrot lovers who have the same problem I had with my feathered friend can relate

Okay so I bought my 12 week old cockatiel Rhino from a pet store and he was fairly tame. He would hop onto my finger (but had a terrible habbit of nibbling my finger, not hard though) but wouldn't let me pet him--or touch him for that matter. It has been two weeks since and he has really warmed up to me. He now L-O-V-E-S my shoulder (to the point where I can't shake him off) and likes to preen my hair. Sometimes I even got lucky enough to scritch his head for a second and a half before he turned around to nip me. So today I figured I would give him his first shower being he was in a hyper mood. He wasn't really crazy about it but about five minutes into it he fell asleep (guess he liked the humidity? Lol). During the shower while he was half asleep, he actually let me scritch his head and under his wing without nipping at me . I litterally jumped for joy haha. So after his shower, he went back to normal and wouldn't let me pet him without nipping. And then, after he dried, I went up to his cage and he came over, bent his head, and put his beak to the cage bar. At first I was like "...what the heck is he doing?" and then I realized it. He wanted me to pet him. I actually let out a squeal and about had a heart attack. I never EVER thought Rhino would let me scritch him. :jumping40
So for those of you out there who have this problem, your feathered family member will warm up to you, you just gotta show them you love them and give them lots of attention

 

[MonicaMc]

No petting under the wings.... but it sounds like you are making some break throughs with him!


If you want to see a cockatiel *really* enjoy a bath, look up "cockatiel rain dance" videos!

 

[No_where1976]

I think that's wonderful!

 

[Featheredsamurai]

That's awesome! It's amazing when bird finally allows you to touch them

And as Monica said be careful about petting under the wing. I try to only pet Rosie above the shoulders, and her breast. I do pet her other places(under wings, feet/legs, side of wing, holding out a wing), but I never do it for long. I think it's important to have them used to being touched and handled encase of a emergency, during breeding season I don't touch Rosie anywhere else unless it's on accident, birds are just too sensitive and we can't give them the wrong impression. just be very careful that you aren't sexually stimulating Rhino.

 

[TheBirdWhisperer]

Oh I will try to avoid petting him under his wing, thank you all for letting me know . Rhino now wants to be pet all the time and does this whistle song when he wants me to pet him. Very cute