losing hope- should I rehome?

[ghostlybanquo]

I hate to post this here, but I have a red-rumped parrot who I've had for nearly a year. I love her so much, but she is incredibly skittish and fearful. I got her fully expecting to put in work to tame her and bond with her, but she cannot even go out of her cage and it has been almost a year. I am really concerned for her mental health like this, but she barely lets me hold her on my finger when I have millet, and with every tiny, slow improvement she seems to make, she always goes back to bolting at the slightest movement. I work full time, have chronic pain, and just didn't expect to go almost a YEAR without being able to let her out of her cage. I'm so worried about her.
Any advice would help!

 

[Rozalka]

Do you know her past? Are you her first owner? Maybe she has some "bad" experience from the past or she was with another parrot which didn't want to leave the cage neither. I don't think rehoming would change her mind about leaving the cage, it may be just stressful

 

[ghostlybanquo]

Do you know her past? Are you her first owner? Maybe she has some "bad" experience from the past or she was with another parrot which didn't want to leave the cage neither. I don't think rehoming would change her mind about leaving the cage, it may be just stressful

She was a supposedly hand-raised baby I got from a parrot store, I don't think they knew the breeder but they had warned me that she and her sibling were very fearful and they didn't know why. I didn't think it would be this bad, though.
I just didn't know if I would end up having to find someone better equipped to take care of her somehow :'(

 

[wrench13]

THis poor baby! SHe is stressed out, and I think rehoming her now will only make it worse. Try using a different treat, I always rely on small pieces of pine nuts. She IS making progress, as you say. Always remember that parrots rate of acceptance to change is GLACIAL and to be expected in a prey animal, especially when compared to our quick monkey, apex predator brains. We have seen on here parrots showing the same fearfullness and it took a year or more before they opened up like a flower.

 

[ghostlybanquo]

THis poor baby! SHe is stressed out, and I think rehoming her now will only make it worse. Try using a different treat, I always rely on small pieces of pine nuts. She IS making progress, as you say. Always remember that parrots rate of acceptance to change is GLACIAL and to be expected in a prey animal, especially when compared to our quick monkey, apex predator brains. We have seen on here parrots showing the same fearfullness and it took a year or more before they opened up like a flower.

That's good to know... I thought it seemed unheard of or hopeless for something to take this long I could try using different treats! I really hope she'll be able to be more comfortable, I love her a lot...

 

[wrench13]

Good on ya! THe main thing to remember is they are all about trust. Everything must be measured on the trust-o-meter - will this build trust or break it? The fact that you love her is going to see you thru breaking her trust barrier, I can tell !!