Need some advice on our new baby boy Angus

[Peppagirl]

Hi everyone,

Firstly I am going to apologise for this long thread!!

Hoping you can help. We brought our new baby home 3 weeks ago. When I picked him up from the pet store I got him from he tried to bite me. That's ok I expected that as he was probably so frightened. The guy said to me that they blow in his face to teach him not to bite. (Didn't like that idea) so I don't do it. Is he right??

Angus is about 18 weeks old I think, well that's what I was told. He happily steps up whenever asked, he is happy to sit on my lap and chew my clothes and getting my skin sometimes by accident haha but every time we go to touch him he lunges at us and growls. He does the same to our female eclectus Peppa. She is 18 months old and I think she wants him to feed her but he just screams at her and runs away. She is very curious about him and shows no sign of aggression towards him. So everytime she goes near him he jumps off the cage to get away from her. They sleep together at night and they are fine but come daytime he doesn't want anything to do with her. Will this change as he gets older.

I have contacted the guy I bought him off (I also got Peppa from him too) for more background on Angus, he said that Angus was the most placid out of the others and he can't understand why he is biting even though he advised me to blow in his face when he bites (figure that one out) he also told me that Peppa and Angus will eventually form a bond and I should be patient and not seperate them as Angus will mature and adore Peppa. He said if I did seperate them it will delay the process. Is this right? I'm so confused. He also said that Angus was in a cage by himself and not used to other birds.

Whenever I go and walk up to the cage he growls. Will this change over time. I've had him 3 weeks, I think I'm expecting too much as Peppa was so sweet when we brought her home. I just hope he didn't have a bad experience with the breeder or store owner. He seems so frightened. Is this normal. I'm feeling so disheartened.

 

[wrench13]

Hi, Welcome and be welcomed. Please take a few min a fill out your profile completely, it will aid in giving you any requested advice or help. In example , we don't know what kind of parrot you have ! Or where you are located.

No matter what, blowing in a parrots face as a response to biting, or screaming or anything is a bad idea. And therefore any other advice you receive from the who ever gave you this advice is susspect too.

SO tell us the kind of bird, size of his cage, if he is alone in this cage or with your other parrot, is he fully weaned? WHat is his current diet ? are you changing it?
Does he have any toys in the cage?
how much out of cage time does he get, daily?
Are you the only person who handles the parrot?
You have another parrot, right? Does the new one see you handling and playing with the old one? WHo gets taken out first? Are they out together?

Sounds like there was no quarantine period when yo brought Angus home. Is that correct?

All these are pretty important, and the answer to your posted questions lie within these answers.

 

[wrench13]

And dont be disheartened. Doing anything with a given individual parrot could take hours, or days , or weeks or months. They are each individuals. Example: I have been trying to put a flying harness on my Amazon parrot, Salty, for at least 2 months. We work every night on this, and we are still not there. Parrots are amazingly stubborn, sometimes.

But, you never want to FORCE them or apply negative action ( punishment)

 

[Peppagirl]

Hi, Welcome and be welcomed. Please take a few min a fill out your profile completely, it will aid in giving you any requested advice or help. In example , we don't know what kind of parrot you have ! Or where you are located.

No matter what, blowing in a parrots face as a response to biting, or screaming or anything is a bad idea. And therefore any other advice you receive from the who ever gave you this advice is susspect too.

SO tell us the kind of bird, size of his cage, if he is alone in this cage or with your other parrot, is he fully weaned? WHat is his current diet ? are you changing it?
Does he have any toys in the cage?
how much out of cage time does he get, daily?
Are you the only person who handles the parrot?
You have another parrot, right? Does the new one see you handling and playing with the old one? WHo gets taken out first? Are they out together?

Sounds like there was no quarantine period when yo brought Angus home. Is that correct?

All these are pretty important, and the answer to your posted questions lie within these answers.

Hi, thank you for responding, Angus is an eclectus parrot so is Peppa my female. I live in Australia. I was told by the seller to put them in together straight away as Angus will get used to my girl. After 2 days of him lunging and growling at her I separated them. After about 10 days I decided to put them back together, he's not as bad now but still very wary of her. It's a big cage takes up a fair bit of my living room. He has the cage door open all day as I work from home, he spends his time mostly out of the cage with Peppa, whenever she leaves him alone haha!! He has heaps of toys, he chats a lot which is good. His diet is the same as Peppas, for breakfast he has kiwi fruit, passion fruit, paw paw or papaya fruit, grapes sometimes, mainly he chucks them out of his bowl. For daytime a raw carrot and corn on the cob. For dinner he has chopped pumpkin, sweet potato. Broccoli, red and green chilli, capsicum, kale and peas and corn. He just seems very nervous whenever we go to touch him or if Peppa goes near him. Like I said he will step up and be quite happy to sit on my arm or lap, but the moment I go to touch him he freaks out. My husband also spends time with him which is very unusual for him, my husband said he feels sorry for him as he seems so scared. I didn't like the idea of blowing in his face either, I felt a pit in my stomach when he said that. What do you suggest? Thanks again for replying.

 

[Peppagirl]

And dont be disheartened. Doing anything with a given individual parrot could take hours, or days , or weeks or months. They are each individuals. Example: I have been trying to put a flying harness on my Amazon parrot, Salty, for at least 2 months. We work every night on this, and we are still not there. Parrots are amazingly stubborn, sometimes.

But, you never want to FORCE them or apply negative action ( punishment)

Thank you. I just him to feel safe and happy.

 

[wrench13]

For the biting, if he's really biting and not just a nip or testing you to see where his limits are; A firm , but not shouted "No Biting" and put him either on a T stand or back of couch or chair - just somewhere away from you but where he can see you - you will turn your back and ignore him for like 5 minutes. No looking at him at all. OK then to pick him up and hold. If he bites again, or anytime, same treatment. Parrots crave attention, yours, and by denying him your attention, he will get the message. Same treatment when bite pressure traiining. Only I say "Too Hard" and do the above.
Salty gets it , but needs refresher training every now and then.

 

[Peppagirl]

For the biting, if he's really biting and not just a nip or testing you to see where his limits are; A firm , but not shouted "No Biting" and put him either on a T stand or back of couch or chair - just somewhere away from you but where he can see you - you will turn your back and ignore him for like 5 minutes. No looking at him at all. OK then to pick him up and hold. If he bites again, or anytime, same treatment. Parrots crave attention, yours, and by denying him your attention, he will get the message. Same treatment when bite pressure traiining. Only I say "Too Hard" and do the above.
Salty gets it , but needs refresher training every now and then.

I'll try that. He drew blood on my little finger the other week. And he won't let my female anywhere near him.

 

[BIRDIGIRL]

Hi and Welcome to the forum. Im not an expert in this area and in particular with Eclectus parrots as Ive never had the privilidge of having one stay in my home but I would think that Angus is too young to be placed in a cage with a mature female who perhaps is interested in Angus as husband material and that could be scaring Angus. Personally I would have them in two seperate cages but as I say I am not an eclectus owner so I cannot speak with authority here. You have received some great advice about pressure bite training. I believe from the little I have read that male eclectus tend to have strong determined characters and you need to learn their body language and read them as to when they are about to bite and when they are chilled.
Almost forgot to add I dont think blowing at him is a good idea either

 

[Peppagirl]

Hi and Welcome to the forum. Im not an expert in this area and in particular with Eclectus parrots as Ive never had the privilidge of having one stay in my home but I would think that Angus is too young to be placed in a cage with a mature female who perhaps is interested in Angus as husband material and that could be scaring Angus. Personally I would have them in two seperate cages but as I say I am not an eclectus owner so I cannot speak with authority here. You have received some great advice about pressure bite training. I believe from the little I have read that male eclectus tend to have strong determined characters and you need to learn their body language and read them as to when they are about to bite and when they are chilled.
Almost forgot to add I dont think blowing at him is a good idea either

I think I may have too. He is very nervous around her. Do you think it's a problem that he will be in a different room as my lounge room is not big enough to house 2 cages. Do you think he will eventually like her?

 

[Anansi]

A few things. They came from the same pet store, which likely means the same breeder. Which conceivably means that they could be siblings. Same cage is a bad idea.

Also, so many birds pass through pet stores that the potential for disease transmission is actually relatively high. So, as Wrench13 alluded, your two birds should be quarantined at this point. QT integrity has already been broken, but since the chances of disease transmission only increase with duration and degree of physical contact, separating them for quarantine at this point would still be a good idea. And a vet check for both, if you haven't done so already.

As for whether or not Angus will ever warm up to Peppa, there's really no way to know. Some birds never take to one another. Depends on their individual personalities. Once QT is over, you can work on it by having them out at the same time and allowing them limited, supervised contact. As they grow more comfortable with each other, you can increase their contact time. But always supervised, if even loosely.

If they bond well, and the cage you have for them is HUGE (like double macaw huge, IMO) then yeah, you could try housing them together. But this would always be an initial risk. If shared housing goes badly, one could be maimed or even killed. Worst case scenario, of course, but it can happen. Personally, my ekkies will always be kept in separate cages. (Short of my winning the Lottery and buying them an aviary sized enclosure, of course. Lol!)

You haven't had Angus for very long, so he might still be warming up to you. Try not to pressure him straight off. Earn his trust bit by bit. Bribe him with some treats. Spend time near his cage without pressuring him to come out. Oh! And you may want to try spending time with him on a play stand out of sight of his cage. Because some of his aggression might prove to be territorial in nature.

Check out this thread by Birdigirl. He's not an ekkie, but the thread serves as an excellent example of gradually earning the trust of a bird who starts out wary of you: http://www.parrotforums.com/amazons/59572-new-white-fronted-amazon-owner.html

 

[Peppagirl]

A few things. They came from the same pet store, which likely means the same breeder. Which conceivably means that they could be siblings. Same cage is a bad idea.

Also, so many birds pass through pet stores that the potential for disease transmission is actually relatively high. So, as Wrench13 alluded, your two birds should be quarantined at this point. QT integrity has already been broken, but since the chances of disease transmission only increase with duration and degree of physical contact, separating them for quarantine at this point would still be a good idea. And a vet check for both, if you haven't done so already.

As for whether or not Angus will ever warm up to Peppa, there's really no way to know. Some birds never take to one another. Depends on their individual personalities. Once QT is over, you can work on it by having them out at the same time and allowing them limited, supervised contact. As they grow more comfortable with each other, you can increase their contact time. But always supervised, if even loosely.

If they bond well, and the cage you have for them is HUGE (like double macaw huge, IMO) then yeah, you could try housing them together. But this would always be an initial risk. If shared housing goes badly, one could be maimed or even killed. Worst case scenario, of course, but it can happen. Personally, my ekkies will always be kept in separate cages. (Short of my winning the Lottery and buying them an aviary sized enclosure, of course. Lol!)

You haven't had Angus for very long, so he might still be warming up to you. Try not to pressure him straight off. Earn his trust bit by bit. Bribe him with some treats. Spend time near his cage without pressuring him to come out. Oh! And you may want to try spending time with him on a play stand out of sight of his cage. Because some of his aggression might prove to be territorial in nature.

Check out this thread by Birdigirl. He's not an ekkie, but the thread serves as an excellent example of gradually earning the trust of a bird who starts out wary of you: http://www.parrotforums.com/amazons/59572-new-white-fronted-amazon-owner.html

Thank you for your wonderful advice, I have decided to not house them together, it's too much stress on me and Angus. He wants to get away from Peppa all the time and it's just agitating him too much. Since separating him he has come out of his shell, steps up very good, talking and actually let me at him. I think Peppa had him on edge. I went out and bought him a bigger cage today also. He seems to love it. I don't want to breed them, i just wanted Peppa to have a play mate. As I am typing they are next to each other on the play stand. He is tolerating her being there Lol!! I think I'll keep them separated. Thanks again for your advice x

 

[Anansi]

You're very welcome, and I'm so glad it all worked out. Please keep the pics and updates coming.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk