Concerned New Amazon Owner

[PepesMama]

Pepe is almost 11 wks old and I am afraid he may be developmentally behind.

I admit I should have done more research before buying Pepe and should have bought him from a more reputable breeder. Nevertheless, He is now our Baby and I would not trade him for the world. Now All I want to do is to do right by him and give him all the best I can.

My worry is that all he really wants to do is hide in a corner under a cover in his box. This is where he sleeps because the person we bought him from said to keep him in the box with a warmer beneath half to keep him warm

He does get out and climb in his cage for an hour every night. He goes to work with me and sits in my lap. Also sits with Dad when he gets home from work in the afternoon. I get him out to walk during the day and in the evening too.

Should he be out more/less? He doesn’t stand well on a perch, is this normal? I am so paranoid about everything right now. Am I doing right/wrong?

I am taking him to the Vet on Friday and have 2 pages of questions and have documented all he is doing.

All suggestions are welcome.. Help a worried Momma please.

 

[MissyMe83]

Is he weaned and eating on his own? Are you handfeeding him? How often/how much and what is he eating? 11 weeks is pretty young yet. I'm not that experienced w young ones but my pionus was 3 and a half months old when I got him.... My YnA will be over 4 months old. I'm sure someone w much more experience in this will come along to help....

 

[henpecked]

At 11 wks, he should be perching well, if not check with the Avian Vet.He needs to get over the box (nest) ,he's fully feathered and doesn't need it, he should be out and exploring his world. I don't know how long he was parent raised but even parent raised babies are sleeping out side of the nest box since fledging (approx 7 wks). Lose the box and have him sleep in the cage, covered if it makes him happier.Did he come with a health guarantee ? It's very good to have him out and about doing things with you. He needs to meet over people and go do as much as possible, early socialization is the best thing you can do toward making him(and you) a happier bird later in life. Let us know what the Avian Vet says.

 

[WharfRat]

Box, what size box? I really don't see the need for a heater either, we never used one & ours (Halo) was brought home at exactly 2mos. from hatch date. You are still hand feeding him? What kind of formula do you use? Are you weighing him daily to know what to feed him? Halo was very active when when got him home, definitely need more info.

 

[henpecked]

Buy a set of digital kitchen scales and add a small perch so you can weigh him every AM before feeding. You should be weighing him while handfeeding. (Can;t believe your breeder didn't advise this). Is he eating on his own at all? you said abundance weaning so i assume he's weaning now. (feeding himself). Was he parent raised or hatched in an incubator? At what age pulled from the nest? what age did you get him?

 

[melissasparrots]

Its good that your getting him vetted. Mine at that age are usually obsessed with flying all over the house and are very active birds. They might still have a clumsy baby moment once in a while, but its more an issue of getting overly excited playing and not watching what they are doing rather than not being able to perch well. If your aren't weighing him on a gram scale every day you need to be. I'd definitely have some disease testing done at the vet and perhaps a blood chemistry depending on what the doc recommends.
Also, if you've been feeding Kaytee Exact, check to see if any of your batches were on the recalled list. Lots of people seeing major problems with babies fed Exact this year due to D3 toxicity.

 

[henpecked]

Is he flighted ? gonna keep him that way? start harness training NOW. Today, should have started before now.Even if you do plan on clipping you should harness train him so you can take him more places and do more things with him.

 

[PepesMama]

So many questions and answers. Thank you all.
He is still hand fed. 3x a day about an oz at a time. HIs crop is fully round but not tight. I am trying abundance weaning, but he isn't taking to it yet.
I am going to buy a scale to weigh him, but visually he is gaining weight.

I am not sure what fully feathered entails. He still has no feathers under his wings and not a lot on his belly.

He goes everywhere with me and sees lots of new people. he is sitting beside me at work right now.
HenPecked, I would love to know more about what flighted means and how to harness train.

He just started flapping his wings yesterday and making new noises. I am glad to hear that me getting him out of the box as much as possible is a good thing. I am only covering half the box for when he sleeps and then I take the cover off when we ride in the car and when he is hanging out so he can stretch.

 

[WharfRat]

When we brought ours home at 2 months he stayed in his cage, no box. We weighed him every morning & increased his feedings according to his weight gain (10 or 15%, don't recall right now) we also mixed in organic baby food into it as well, both fruit & veggies, you can use either the powdered or ready to eat type, we always used organic though. Please keep us posted.

 

[henpecked]

IMO you need to lose the box altogether. That might be his perching problem. You need a small travel cage to carry him about,something small and easy to carry that has a good perch and room for dishes. Look into aviator harnesses the better of the harnesses around. Many threads about how to intro them to your bird.Don;t know how good feel about it ,but at this point and time he needs to be flying. You could always clip at a later date ,but he needs to learn to fly and like Melissa said my babies are flying all over the house causing a lot of chaos at this stage of develoment. The best way to start weaning, use a small spoon to feed him, he'll see where the food comes from and start to learn to get it from the bowl himself when you aren't quick enough. Start mixing in things like bananas or carrots (Baby food) into his formula. Which brings up another question ,at what temp. are you serving his formula ? should be about 105 F. Too cold will cause slow crop and food will sour in crop. There's a whole book about these sort of things and it's called "Parrots, handfeeding and nursery management" by Howard Voren and Rick Jordan, you can find it cheap on amazon .com.

 

[WharfRat]

Thanks Hen, forgot about the temperature thing, it's just an automatic to me.

 

[henpecked]

I know ,there's so many things we just take for granted.

 

[PepesMama]

What does IMO mean? I am home now and Pepe is in his cage sitting on his perch. He isn't moving around yet but I think he is getting used to it. Thank you all for all the great . I am going out Friday to buy a bunch of things now. I will let you know what the vet says. I did find an avian vet.
I also was feeding him his food warm but i will check the temp going forward. We got him last Sunday when he was 10 weeks old.

 

[WharfRat]

IMO=In my opinion

 

[henpecked]

Thanks for being such a good birdie mama, we love to help people who take such an interest in their fid;s well being.

 

[SpringCottageParrot]

...I am taking him to the Vet on Friday and have 2 pages of questions and have documented all he is doing.

Hi PepesMama
I have just caught up on this thread and your comment above made me laugh, its exactly the same as my wife Margaret and our Casper. Casper is on a diet at the moment because we rescued him and he was overweight. Every single thing he eats is noted in a book and he is weighed daily. I made a perch for Casper that fits on the scales but if you haven't the facilities just can improvise with a box or something. Put the perch or box on the scales before switching them on so that they read zero with it on, this saves you from having to do the sums when you add Pepe.

IMG_4489 by DSdriver, on Flickr

 

[wenz2712]

IMO means.. In My Opinion! Let us know how you get on at the Vet s on Friday

 

[PepesMama]

Pepe did good in his cage for the night. He slept with Dad for a bit first.

 

[henpecked]

yeah Pepe, exercise those legs.

 

[PepesMama]

I am so excited I had to share. Pepe had some formula and mashed bananas this morning from a spoon!!!. YAY!! He even let me know when he was full too. I had him on the counter by a large water cup and he drank his first sip of water on his own. What a big boy..

Even more...He was just flapping his wings, I got excited for him and clapped telling him good boy. I said "Flap your wings Pepe" and made flapping gestures with my arm and he flapped some more. I did this several times and he did it every time. It may be a fluke, but I love it. I am so proud of Pepe, my Baby is growing up.!!