New here, what did I get myself into? :)

[petah]

Hi everyone,

My name is Peter and I am new here. First time parrot owner but I've had 4 budgies when I was a kid . So much has changed for bird owners since my budgie days (20 years ago)!

I would like to introduce my new girl "Pickles". Pickles I believe is a Greater Jardine parrot and she is currently about 12 weeks old, weaned, and I just brought her home last night ahead of today's snow storm here in Toronto LOL. Pickles' hatch date was somewhere in the first week of 2011. To make it easier for me to remember I am going to celebrate her birthdays on New Year's day!

I was initially looking at smaller Pois and was considering a TAG (I started doing research about 5 months ago). Somehow I started looking into bigger Pois and was interested in either a Jardine or a Cape parrot. Since Cape parrot is still rare these days I decided I would like a Jardine parrot and got Pickles!

Pickles has been adjusting pretty well so far after less than 1 day of being in my house & her new cage. She started climbing the cage and really likes to stay on the top of the cage.

My girlfriend gave her a few pieces of pumpkin seeds, almonds, few pieces of grapes, and a very small piece of spinach(I've read not to give parrot too much spinach) this morning and she ate them! She is also drinking water pretty good so far so I am not too worried about her not able to adjust to the new environment.

I hope Pickles will be the right parrot for me as Jardine parrot is a little bit bigger than the other Pois. I will be doing lots of socialization so Pickles will get used to new people, kids, etc and be a friendly parrot!



Here is a pictures of Pickles from last night.

Cheers!

Peter

 

[Mondos Parents]

Pickles looks like a sweety!! She stepping up already?
Welcome to the forum!

 

[Spiritbird]

Sounds like you are off to a good start with a real cutie! Spinach is not too good for birds because it interfears with the absorption of calcium. Kale is much better, if you can get Pickles to eat it.
Have fun and socialization is so so important.

 

[suebee]

awww she looks so cute i call that look the tall skinny when my nut does it, means she's a little unsure or nervous

as she is eating and drinkin well no probs there

my trick with introducing my nut to children is, i tell the kids that they must DO AS I SAY! even the teenagers that visit, stress that they must never stroke down nuts back!
as with young children there excited, an make lots of noise, sudden movements and some jabber none stop like my step daughters little girl, asha, who stayed with us recently. nut was not so keen on her lol but would take to swooping low over little asha's head, why cos when she did asha shut up and froze for a little bit!

it was funny when nut landed on asha's head, an slide off, asha had her head down, nut was no where to be seen, till asha said in a very small voice, nana sue, nutsickles is hangin in my hair!
and she was! nut was hanging upside down, hanging onto asha's hair! looking rather pleased with herself!
but i never let asha pet her or attempt to touch her, as i could tell from nut's body language, nut won't have let her, nut was happy to beg food of her, perch on her briefly, but that was where the friendiness ended lol

i'd say introduce things steadily, and never push new things onto your bird no matter how common it is to you!

 

[petah]

Pickles looks like a sweety!! She stepping up already?
Welcome to the forum!

Thanks! Pickles is stepping up already. I had 2 prior visits to the breeder and had handled Pickles for about 15-20 minutes each time so I started asking her to step up and she is pretty happy to do so and I try to remember to praise her when she does it lol.

Sounds like you are off to a good start with a real cutie! Spinach is not too good for birds because it interfears with the absorption of calcium. Kale is much better, if you can get Pickles to eat it.
Have fun and socialization is so so important.

I will try Kale and see if she'll like it!

awww she looks so cute i call that look the tall skinny when my nut does it, means she's a little unsure or nervous

as she is eating and drinkin well no probs there

my trick with introducing my nut to children is, i tell the kids that they must DO AS I SAY! even the teenagers that visit, stress that they must never stroke down nuts back!
as with young children there excited, an make lots of noise, sudden movements and some jabber none stop like my step daughters little girl, asha, who stayed with us recently. nut was not so keen on her lol but would take to swooping low over little asha's head, why cos when she did asha shut up and froze for a little bit!

it was funny when nut landed on asha's head, an slide off, asha had her head down, nut was no where to be seen, till asha said in a very small voice, nana sue, nutsickles is hangin in my hair!
and she was! nut was hanging upside down, hanging onto asha's hair! looking rather pleased with herself!
but i never let asha pet her or attempt to touch her, as i could tell from nut's body language, nut won't have let her, nut was happy to beg food of her, perch on her briefly, but that was where the friendiness ended lol

i'd say introduce things steadily, and never push new things onto your bird no matter how common it is to you!

Thanks for the advice! Since Pickles is still relatively young I will try to introduce her to new things and see how she likes it. She started playing with one of the toys already but I need to get a few more perches for the cage.

 

[beachbirdhouse]

Awwwww how cute. Seems like a sweet parrot. Congradulations on your new family member.

 

[MikeyTN]

Good luck with ya! She's a beauty!!!!

 

[petah]

Thanks for the kind comments!

I have a question: The cage I have for Pickles is 32x24x36 inches(3ft) tall and Pickles is a bit clumsy climbing the side of the cage and sort of fell a few times. I am afraid of her getting hurt.

Did I get her too big of a cage to start? Anything else I can do to make sure she won't fall and hurt herself?

thanks!

 

[MikeyTN]

How thick are her perches??? Maybe get a rope perch for now so she have a better grip!

 

[petah]

How thick are her perches??? Maybe get a rope perch for now so she have a better grip!

Hi Mike,

The wood perch is pretty thick. I do have a rope perch for her as well, same thickness as the road perch.. She is very steady on her perch. But she just likes to climb the side of the cage and then ended up near the top of a cage.

Should I move the rope perch to near the top of the cage then so she'll perch there and keep the wood perch near the bottom of the cage?

thanks!

 

[MikeyTN]

Does she fall when she's asleep? IF you want to move something higher, get a concrete perch. She'll be sleep on that in no time! It helps to keep her nails and beak trimmed!!!

 

[petah]

nope she is steady on her perch. She would climb the sides and once a while miss a step and then flutter and falls to the bottom. No injuries that I can see though and I am taking her to an avian vet today for her initial check up.

 

[Baby]

Congratulations! What a cutie.