Parrotlet Help

[thuzar928]

Hi there ... I've been reading posts and finally decided to ask some questions myself. We have a new(ish) parrotlet. He's about 6 months old. Hand-fed. Hand-reared. In all aspects he has been raised to be comfortable with people. With that said, he is so antisocial. He doesn't play. He comes out of his cage for treats (sunflower seeds and chia). He has no interest in any one of us. He'll come out of cage to hang out, but he does it independently. He just sits and watches. He has lots of opportunity to play inside his cage. Nothing. He has started tearing at his perches, which is totally fine. We have had a parrotlet in the past and she was so social and friendly. He preens outside of his cage and fluffs up, but he just has no interest in engaging with us at all. Is this a patience issue (with us?). Or is ours broken? LOL. (that's a JOKE). I've attached a picture of Zazu.

 

[foxgloveparrot]

What a cute bird Zazu is! You are so lucky to have each other.

As for your problem, keep trying! My parrotlet, Cricket, was similar when I first got him. Bribe Zazu onto your hand with food. Offer his favorite toy. Another thing that can help is target or touch training. Target training is when you train a bird (or any animal) to touch an object. For birds, this is normally a wooden chopstick. The reason this is helpful is because after the bird associates touching the target stick with getting treats, they will follow the stick wherever it goes. You can target him onto your hand and give him treats. Over time, he will become more social.

 

[Scott]

Six months is reasonable period to acclimate and develop social skills. That said, I don't know parrotlet personality but note vast temperament variability with any species.

Perhaps continued, concerted efforts to bond and develop trust might reach a breakthrough? Please check this thread for ideas: https://www.parrotforums.com/threads/tips-for-bonding-and-building-trust.49144/

 

[Kitekeeper]

Hi thuzar, welcome!

You have a beautiful Parrotlet there!!

Parrotlets are among the most independent parrot species I´ve ever met. They have wonderful confident personalities!

When I brought my Sam home, he already showed this in the first contact. Look at the video I´ve made below . He had just entered home, we had zero connection at that moment. The breeder is a friend of mine and he trusted me to handfeed Sam.

As you can see this baby was full of spirit to defend himself and he was just 17 days old! He is now almost five months old and is quite a character! He loves to spend time outside the cage, but don´t ask for attention when he is in the cage and accepts immediately when I have to put him back into the cage. He just lives quite happy with or without close interaction, but is always receptive to interact.

I have never see so much independence in a parrot, budgies and lovebird raised by hand were always eager to get attention when I was in their field of vision.

I guess you have one with a good amount of independence, that´s good! If you insist you will eventually strength your connection with him.

This is Sam just one week later:

 

[Flboy]

Welcome to you both!