First Play Time!

[riddick07]

Well it started off badly... I'm not sure if he was upset I was gone yesterday and he had to deal with my stepfather or if he thought I was going to have a complete turn around and beat him up. Maybe he was protecting the only safe haven he has had so far in this house or he thought some one was dressed up as me....

He lunged at me when I asked him to step up in the cage and he was doing the whole puffy I'm a big bad bird act.. I had already gotten a towel out just in case because you never know with Folger. So I grabbed the towel and got him out with that and kept him in the towel for a minute to calm down. Then unwrapped him when I was sitting on the couch. (I know some people don't believe in toweling but if a bird was ever a poster child for this method it would be Folger...)

This part went much better! He started talking more but he still acted like he would eat my mother when she even got vaguely close to our vicinity. This was around 11am and I kept him out for about 40 minutes so we could end on a positive note since he was pretty sweet and calm. I figured I'd see if he wanted to come out again later. Well.... he didn't want to come out but he no longer acted aggressive! He came over when I was talking to him and when I put my hand in the cage saying step up he said it back and put his head down to be pet. He would also put one foot on my hand like he was thinking about maybe coming out but was nervous. So I just went with scratching his head and talking to him for about 10 minutes and then left him alone. So far he has been pretty good and today had two positive interactions for both of us

Videos from when he came out this morning

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jFt4CRY27c]Folger 3 - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiZsdw4ekOo]Folger 2 - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5eWoD-EogQ]Folger - YouTube[/ame]

Also, I haven't noticed any plucking or mutilation. I have noticed the massacre of his toy in the back of the cage

 

[jenphilly]

Awwww, what a cute little nut job... he actually did do great today... a day with no blood is how we define a good day now!!

 

[thekarens]

Awww, so sweet! Y'all are doing great!

 

[Terry57]

He so loves you, it is obvious. He looked like he was trying to burrow into your hair
You have beautiful hair, btw, no wonder he wants in it

 

[riddick07]

Thanks A lot of my animals have a weird obssesion with my hair... my cat Paige will clean it and play with it. My horse will snuffle in it and a bunch of the birds believe it needs constant cleaning because apparently I don't know how to care for it myself

 

[jenphilly]

Terry, all the animals love her hair... her cat Paige sits on her lap like a baby and plays with her hair, bats it with her paws, then cleans it... even her horse mouths her hair, he doesn't pull it, but its almost like he lips it and pulls it thru his mouth, but doesn't chew. That sounds kinda gross now that I read it, but its what he does! Joke that he thinks she is his little mare, he even used to beat up one of the guys who hung around the barn that had a crush on her. He would push the kid aside and away from her, was really funny to watch.

Sorry, mom babble....

 

[jenphilly]

too funny we're both sitting on the computer typing the same response and stories!

 

[Terry57]

Babble away, Mom, I do the same when talking about my baby girl
I can see a great opportunity for a shampoo commercial here...

 

[Kiwibird]

Glad he's settling in and warming up to you! Would I be correct in guessing jenphilly is your mom? I see you both have bare-eyed cockatoos, so I have to ask- did you choose to adopt Folger because you grew up around a bare-eyed? I'm also a second-generation parrot owner. Moved out and realized I couldn't live without one

 

[riddick07]

I actually started out as the bird nut. It took years to convince her to get me that first cockatiel. I convinced her of the burmese python before the bird....

I was actually looking at Folger before Ivory was brought home. He just caught my eye on petfinder but he was a cockatoo and I had no interest in them and thought cockatoo owners were crazy people. But for a year I kept looking and everytime I saw him I thought what a sad guy. The picture wasn't all that bad he was just sitting in a corner and there were other birds on petfinder who looked worse but he just stood out. Then Ivory demanded we take her home at a store we walked into and after dealing with her and falling in love with her.... I started looking at Folger online everyday and finally took the plunge and contacted the rescue. His story was so much worse then it seemed. The rescue owner actually called me and told me he was neurotic and psychotic and most likely it wouldn't work. But that I should come up and met him if I wanted. When we got there I was introduced to about six different adoptable birds but none of them clicked. So Folger was brought in and he sat with my mom at first since I still had two other birds on me but he wasn't totally interested in my mother. Then the birds were taken off me and Folger hopped on the table and looked at me and hopped into my lap. He has been attached since then and attacks anyone who dares to try to take him away from me or gets too close when I take him out. The owner of the rescue told us she really couldn't believe it actually worked out but she seemed happy that he finally chose someone. Whenever I had a visit a volunteer would walk in and ask if that was really Folger. I'm not sure how crazy he was before but overall he seems pretty sweet to me even if he is a bit of a nut job


I haven't actually moved out yet:54: The joke is I'm never leaving... The plan is actually for me to buy enough land to build three houses plus a barn and riding ring so that me, the parents, and my uncle can all live on the same land

 

[riddick07]

All the baskets I ordered came in today So after I put Folgers basket together I had to figure out how to get it in the cage either by myself or without pissing him off too much with my mothers presence. I accidentally dropped it the first time I was trying and he came over to see what I was doing. Then my mother came over to help and he got pissy so I had her go out of view and asked him to step up.... Up he went:11: We sat on my bed while she put the basket up. I tried to put him back in so he could see the basket but he wanted to stay out with me

So after another 10 minutes or so he went back in willingly but the basket kept moving so I asked him to step up and come out again and up he went again without any issues:2_smile:

The only issue we had was when my mother walked pass us and he got all pissy and almost bit my boob

So far so good:jumping40