Quantumcat
New member
Scarlett, my female Eclectus, is my first bird, and I've had her about two months. She doesn't behave in any way like any birds I've ever known.
She doesn't like being patted in any way. She's fine to be touched - but doesn't take any pleasure in being patted. If I try, she'll first try to move away, then open her beak toward my hand, then growl, and if I keep going, bite me.
She's not interested in being with me just to be with me. She'll fly to me immediately if she suspects I have food, and stay with me as long as it seems likely I will continue to give her food (if I give her nothing for a while, she flies away). She'll always fly to the kitchen first thing in the morning when I let her out and gather her bowls to feed her, and try to eat her breakfasts while I carry her back.
She is very quiet. She never makes a sound except when the vacuum cleaner is on or she is in the bathroom while one of us is having a shower, when she will chatter incessantly. She has never screamed or shown any other sign of wanting attention.
She won't play with toys. I hung some cat balls on string in her cage, but she only uses them to wake me up if I'm late in letting her out in the morning, or if she's had to be put in her cage during the day because we were both leaving the house at the same time. She looks extremely angry and attacks them savagely, and makes the growling noise that means she's really angry. She's ignored everything else I've tried to get her to play with.
When in the right mood she is exellent at her tricks, but I don't think she feels she is playing or performing ... she is just desperate for sunflower seeds, and knows doing these things gets her lots of them. I have tried to wean her off needing a reward everytime she does a trick, but as soon as the sunflower seeds slack off she stops doing that particular trick reliably or at all.
All other birds I've known have wanted to be with their owners every opportunity they can, and scream if they are gone too long, squawk and chatter and squeak and whistle all the time, and eagerly play with any toys they are given. My boyfriend's sister's galah loves headscratches and asks for them constantly by dipping his head at you and fluffing up his crest. If you say, "Scratch scratch!" he will immediately dip his head eagerly, expecting a headscratch.
Are all eclectus females like this or do I have a weird bird? Am I treating her wrongly somehow to have her not really be friendly? Can I change anything I do?
She doesn't like being patted in any way. She's fine to be touched - but doesn't take any pleasure in being patted. If I try, she'll first try to move away, then open her beak toward my hand, then growl, and if I keep going, bite me.
She's not interested in being with me just to be with me. She'll fly to me immediately if she suspects I have food, and stay with me as long as it seems likely I will continue to give her food (if I give her nothing for a while, she flies away). She'll always fly to the kitchen first thing in the morning when I let her out and gather her bowls to feed her, and try to eat her breakfasts while I carry her back.
She is very quiet. She never makes a sound except when the vacuum cleaner is on or she is in the bathroom while one of us is having a shower, when she will chatter incessantly. She has never screamed or shown any other sign of wanting attention.
She won't play with toys. I hung some cat balls on string in her cage, but she only uses them to wake me up if I'm late in letting her out in the morning, or if she's had to be put in her cage during the day because we were both leaving the house at the same time. She looks extremely angry and attacks them savagely, and makes the growling noise that means she's really angry. She's ignored everything else I've tried to get her to play with.
When in the right mood she is exellent at her tricks, but I don't think she feels she is playing or performing ... she is just desperate for sunflower seeds, and knows doing these things gets her lots of them. I have tried to wean her off needing a reward everytime she does a trick, but as soon as the sunflower seeds slack off she stops doing that particular trick reliably or at all.
All other birds I've known have wanted to be with their owners every opportunity they can, and scream if they are gone too long, squawk and chatter and squeak and whistle all the time, and eagerly play with any toys they are given. My boyfriend's sister's galah loves headscratches and asks for them constantly by dipping his head at you and fluffing up his crest. If you say, "Scratch scratch!" he will immediately dip his head eagerly, expecting a headscratch.
Are all eclectus females like this or do I have a weird bird? Am I treating her wrongly somehow to have her not really be friendly? Can I change anything I do?
