I am a new owner to a three year old, female, Blue Fronted Amazon named Layla. Layla was my boyfriend's, Pete, parrot whom I moved in with in January. I have been doing research to try to become the expert to make sure she is getting properly cared for, so any feedback, advice, tips, etc. are greatly appreciated.
Background
Pete acquired the bird from an ex girlfriend who was not properly caring for her. When I first moved in, we were living with his two male roommates and she had visitors all day long. Her cage was located in the living room with her highest perch being just under eye level. In May, Pete and I, moved into a small apartment together where space is limited so her cage is now located on the floor with her highest perch being about 4 foot high. She is definitely more bonded to Pete than she is with me, but she shows some strange behaviors toward both of us. Pete is great at caring for her, but where he lacks is taking the time to research behaviors, what they mean, and how to train to prevent bad, and promote good. That is where I have stepped in, but still need some guidance.
Aggression
I read that Amazons have a tendency to show aggression and they the bond to one person. Aggression was not really an issue until recently. While we were living in the old apartment, she would sometimes show aggression towards me sensing that I was a new female presence who was very much a part of Pete's life, but it wasn't anything to bad. She still let me take her out of the cage and would sit on my lap or shoulder and just quietly hang out. Once we moved into the new apartment her aggression towards me increased significantly. If I walked by the cage or was anywhere within a foot of it she would loudly growl at me and snap her head back and forth attempting to bite me through the cage. I started to deal with this slowly, while desperately trying to remain calm because at times I wanted to ring her neck. I started by being the one to feed her and change her water. I then would sit on the ground next to the cage, with my head below her perch, to do daily activities such at watching tv, brushing my hair, putting my shoes on, etc. I then was able to pet her through the cage, which I rewarded her for. I was then able to put my hand inside the cage, coming from below her, to pet her, again rewarding her. I am now able to take her out of the top of the cage, and she'll sit on my lap and shoulder, coo, and preen me, but I CAN NOT pet her at all. She will let Pete clean her beak, preen her feathers, pet her head and neck, but she doesn't allow him to touch her back or stomach. I am trying to build up trust so I can be allowed to pet her belly, or head, but it's taking longer than the other progress has. Every time she achieves a new behavior, she is rewarded with treats, she LOVES popcorn. She still growls and lightly bites at both of us whenever we approach her with our hands though, even if she is willing to step up.
Noise
At the old apartment, she hardly vocalized. The two exceptions are when she was responding back to a cat call whistle Pete taught her, or when he was playing his guitar or loud music was playing, especially Metallica. Now, she is loud all the time, and vocalizes at very inconvenient times, which is not great because we are in an apartment complex with noise rules. The land lord did give us permission to have her in the apartment, but no other pets are allowed, so I'm sure it is annoying to the other neighbors. She gets loud when the tv is on, and when Pete and I are talking to one another. I read that it was probably a learned behavior because she was seeking attention and we reinforced the behavior by giving it to her. It said in order to fix the problem, we should shut off the lights and leave the room until she calms down and then reward her for being quiet. This is extremely difficult for us because we are in such a small apartment and we can't stop what we are doing to let her calm down. We both work a lot so when we are home it's while we are getting ready in the morning, or making diner late at night and trying to relax and spend time together. What we started doing instead is putting her blanket over the cage and waiting for her to quiet down. This does not seem to work. I'm sure it's because she can still hear whatever is going on, so shes responding to that, but we don't know what else to do.
Training to Talk
As I mentioned before, she will cat call whistle, and repeat back to cooing. We are desperately trying to get her to talk, and I have been working with her every day in an attempt to get a word from her. To begin, during our training sessions, If she repeats back to the cat call whistle, she gets a treat. Same with a coo. I talk to her daily. I say good morning when I take the blanket off the cage, and goodnight when I put it on. When I enter the apartment I tell her hello, how are you? Did you miss me? She will chirp back, but no words. She is extremely responsive to music so I started playing the Flo Rida song, "Whistle" daily, which has a short little whistle part, hoping she would pick it up because she already knows how to whistle. No luck, she responds by cat calling. Lately I have been singing the words I want her to learn, because she is very vocal when I sing, but no luck so far. Iv'e put on youtube videos of people saying words over and over hoping she would pick them up. No luck I'm just not sure where to go from here. I know that birds often wont talk unless they feel comfortable, and I know we are still working on the trusting relationship part, but she will preen both of us if shes sitting with us, so I can't imagine she fees to uncomfortable. We also want to teach her to fly to us when we call her over, but I don't even know where to begin on that.
I think at this point this addresses my main concerns and any feedback and advice you could offer would be much appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read this and reply, I know I wrote a book, but I wanted to try to give as much detail as I could think of so I could try to avoid getting to much info I have already read about. I am really putting in an effort to train Layla so that all of us can feel comfortable, and Pete and I won't have the frustration of bad behaviors as much.
Amanda
Background
Pete acquired the bird from an ex girlfriend who was not properly caring for her. When I first moved in, we were living with his two male roommates and she had visitors all day long. Her cage was located in the living room with her highest perch being just under eye level. In May, Pete and I, moved into a small apartment together where space is limited so her cage is now located on the floor with her highest perch being about 4 foot high. She is definitely more bonded to Pete than she is with me, but she shows some strange behaviors toward both of us. Pete is great at caring for her, but where he lacks is taking the time to research behaviors, what they mean, and how to train to prevent bad, and promote good. That is where I have stepped in, but still need some guidance.
Aggression
I read that Amazons have a tendency to show aggression and they the bond to one person. Aggression was not really an issue until recently. While we were living in the old apartment, she would sometimes show aggression towards me sensing that I was a new female presence who was very much a part of Pete's life, but it wasn't anything to bad. She still let me take her out of the cage and would sit on my lap or shoulder and just quietly hang out. Once we moved into the new apartment her aggression towards me increased significantly. If I walked by the cage or was anywhere within a foot of it she would loudly growl at me and snap her head back and forth attempting to bite me through the cage. I started to deal with this slowly, while desperately trying to remain calm because at times I wanted to ring her neck. I started by being the one to feed her and change her water. I then would sit on the ground next to the cage, with my head below her perch, to do daily activities such at watching tv, brushing my hair, putting my shoes on, etc. I then was able to pet her through the cage, which I rewarded her for. I was then able to put my hand inside the cage, coming from below her, to pet her, again rewarding her. I am now able to take her out of the top of the cage, and she'll sit on my lap and shoulder, coo, and preen me, but I CAN NOT pet her at all. She will let Pete clean her beak, preen her feathers, pet her head and neck, but she doesn't allow him to touch her back or stomach. I am trying to build up trust so I can be allowed to pet her belly, or head, but it's taking longer than the other progress has. Every time she achieves a new behavior, she is rewarded with treats, she LOVES popcorn. She still growls and lightly bites at both of us whenever we approach her with our hands though, even if she is willing to step up.
Noise
At the old apartment, she hardly vocalized. The two exceptions are when she was responding back to a cat call whistle Pete taught her, or when he was playing his guitar or loud music was playing, especially Metallica. Now, she is loud all the time, and vocalizes at very inconvenient times, which is not great because we are in an apartment complex with noise rules. The land lord did give us permission to have her in the apartment, but no other pets are allowed, so I'm sure it is annoying to the other neighbors. She gets loud when the tv is on, and when Pete and I are talking to one another. I read that it was probably a learned behavior because she was seeking attention and we reinforced the behavior by giving it to her. It said in order to fix the problem, we should shut off the lights and leave the room until she calms down and then reward her for being quiet. This is extremely difficult for us because we are in such a small apartment and we can't stop what we are doing to let her calm down. We both work a lot so when we are home it's while we are getting ready in the morning, or making diner late at night and trying to relax and spend time together. What we started doing instead is putting her blanket over the cage and waiting for her to quiet down. This does not seem to work. I'm sure it's because she can still hear whatever is going on, so shes responding to that, but we don't know what else to do.
Training to Talk
As I mentioned before, she will cat call whistle, and repeat back to cooing. We are desperately trying to get her to talk, and I have been working with her every day in an attempt to get a word from her. To begin, during our training sessions, If she repeats back to the cat call whistle, she gets a treat. Same with a coo. I talk to her daily. I say good morning when I take the blanket off the cage, and goodnight when I put it on. When I enter the apartment I tell her hello, how are you? Did you miss me? She will chirp back, but no words. She is extremely responsive to music so I started playing the Flo Rida song, "Whistle" daily, which has a short little whistle part, hoping she would pick it up because she already knows how to whistle. No luck, she responds by cat calling. Lately I have been singing the words I want her to learn, because she is very vocal when I sing, but no luck so far. Iv'e put on youtube videos of people saying words over and over hoping she would pick them up. No luck I'm just not sure where to go from here. I know that birds often wont talk unless they feel comfortable, and I know we are still working on the trusting relationship part, but she will preen both of us if shes sitting with us, so I can't imagine she fees to uncomfortable. We also want to teach her to fly to us when we call her over, but I don't even know where to begin on that.
I think at this point this addresses my main concerns and any feedback and advice you could offer would be much appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read this and reply, I know I wrote a book, but I wanted to try to give as much detail as I could think of so I could try to avoid getting to much info I have already read about. I am really putting in an effort to train Layla so that all of us can feel comfortable, and Pete and I won't have the frustration of bad behaviors as much.
Amanda
