Skittys_Daddy
Well-known member
- Jan 6, 2014
- 2,173
- 65
- Parrots
- Neotropical Pigeon - "Skittles" (born 3/29/10)
Cockatiel - "Peaches" (1995-2015) R.I.P.
Budgie - "Sammy"
(1989-2000) R.I.P.
Budgie - "Sandy"
(1987-1989) R.I.P.
So, in two months Skittles will hit the big 1-0 and a few weeks later he and I will celebrate his 9th adoption day. You would think that by now, after all that time, I'd have learned my lesson. But the CCF (Conure Cuteness Factor) continues to rear its ugly head and send me into a de facto trance where I lose all common sense.
Case in point, as some of you know, Skittles is not only a cuddle monster but he's also a burrowing bandit. He never goes a single day without spending a significant amount of time trying to bury himself in my chest hair. The whole 'climbing in the shirt' act was originally meant as a deterrent. Once his 're-training' began to take hold and time-outs were less warranted, I opted instead for grabbing him and shoving him down my shirt to 'shut him up'. lol. It was better than caging him or timeouts and it was effective. However, he then decided (much like other things) to turn it to his advantage.
Now, while he normally will climb inside my shirt on his own when I am sitting down- if I happen to be laying down on my bed with my tablet on my chest, playing games, he will fly over to my stomach and try and lift my shirt up and 'pinch me', until I move my tablet out of the way and then lift my shirt up for him. As if this wasn't bad enough. He literally does a 'scope' of the bed before climbing in and sometimes climbs in backwards. He doesn't just climb in, he "runs in".
I'll admit this next CCF issue is my own fault. Skittles has a lot of 'food dishes' around the living room. One in his cage, one on the playtop above his cage and one on his playstand. Rather than fill them all up every day, I just fill his cage one up every day. He used to go into his cage for food and water, but that's changed. I wanted to train him to fly onto my finger on command a while back so I used treats to do so and it was successful. Then the vet told me to cut back on them and increase his regular food pellets (the big ones that are the same size as his power treats). He is used to getting these from me, so I would do the finger-flight routine. Now, when he is out of his cage during the day (he's free-flighted), he won't go to his cage for food but rather he expects me to hand feed him on-command.
Just thought I'd share this story in hopes that people realize that no matter how hard you try, the sun will always come out on top. We are just mere tokens to toy with and little things they like to wind up and watch go...crazy. They thrive on it.
Case in point, as some of you know, Skittles is not only a cuddle monster but he's also a burrowing bandit. He never goes a single day without spending a significant amount of time trying to bury himself in my chest hair. The whole 'climbing in the shirt' act was originally meant as a deterrent. Once his 're-training' began to take hold and time-outs were less warranted, I opted instead for grabbing him and shoving him down my shirt to 'shut him up'. lol. It was better than caging him or timeouts and it was effective. However, he then decided (much like other things) to turn it to his advantage.
Now, while he normally will climb inside my shirt on his own when I am sitting down- if I happen to be laying down on my bed with my tablet on my chest, playing games, he will fly over to my stomach and try and lift my shirt up and 'pinch me', until I move my tablet out of the way and then lift my shirt up for him. As if this wasn't bad enough. He literally does a 'scope' of the bed before climbing in and sometimes climbs in backwards. He doesn't just climb in, he "runs in".
I'll admit this next CCF issue is my own fault. Skittles has a lot of 'food dishes' around the living room. One in his cage, one on the playtop above his cage and one on his playstand. Rather than fill them all up every day, I just fill his cage one up every day. He used to go into his cage for food and water, but that's changed. I wanted to train him to fly onto my finger on command a while back so I used treats to do so and it was successful. Then the vet told me to cut back on them and increase his regular food pellets (the big ones that are the same size as his power treats). He is used to getting these from me, so I would do the finger-flight routine. Now, when he is out of his cage during the day (he's free-flighted), he won't go to his cage for food but rather he expects me to hand feed him on-command.
Just thought I'd share this story in hopes that people realize that no matter how hard you try, the sun will always come out on top. We are just mere tokens to toy with and little things they like to wind up and watch go...crazy. They thrive on it.
