Pionus check-in [many weird things]

Telken

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Jul 4, 2015
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Hey y'all~

So I recently got a beautiful 2 year old male Bronze Winged Pionus from an owner who decided he wasn't able to spend enough time with the little guy. I have stupid amounts of free time, so it seemed like a good fit. He came with the name "Finley", and so Finley he shall remain. Pictures will come in a bit.

Finley has a very strange personality. For one thing, he's a bit clumsy any time movement is involved. If he's on his cage or something else where he can climb about normally, he's just fine. However, while standing on my hand, he'll often either lose his balance and have to flap about wildly, or randomly decide he wants to be elsewhere and try to fly off (luckily I have a soft carpet). I find that if he's anywhere near his cage, I have to keep my body between him and it or he'll try to fly over to it, and just crash into something. I think his wings might be clipped slightly too short, and that his need for his cage is related to being new to the environment. Still, it strikes me as a bit... worth asking about?

Now the other thing is how he spends his time. I have no idea what he does when I'm not home, but I suspect that it's basically nap time. When I am around, if I'm not actively handling him but I'm in the office with his cage, I always leave his door open. Usually he'll immediately climb out and stand on top of his cage, just at the front, watching me or preening himself. He'll occasionally head back into his cage, either to poop or to get himself a quick pellet. What I have never seen him do is try to chew on things or play with his toys. He's got a whole bunch of different toys available to him, including a plastic bell/mirror toy, a big rope... thing, some wood with a bell, a boing, and a rope swing thing. The only one I've ever seen him show any interest in is the rope swing, which once in a while he'll attempt to navigate. Normally he'll only use it because it's set up to be used as a passage between two perches. I'm honestly kinda concerned that he's spending no time either playing or chewing... even on his cuttlebone. It's very odd.

On the subject of chewing, I dunno what I'm doing wrong but he's just not interested in veggies. He ate a little bit of carrot the other day, but for the most part he just ignores the veggie dish. I've tried broccoli, lettuce, carrot, grape, blackberry, etc... he just ignores it. The only thing he's eating is Zupreem pellets.

I think his dining issues may be somewhat related to his beak. The attached picture kinda shows it, but his beak is a bit of a mess. That's a large part of why I have the cuttlebone in there. It looks like he's had a bit of a calcium deficiency, or hasn't had enough sunlight to process it. Am I right, and is this likely to be related?

Finally, there's one last thing: Stepping up. When I first got him, he had no problem stepping up. Now, if he's on a perch, he really doesn't want to step up and will back away as best as he can. If he's on the floor or something, then he'll step up instantly. It's very strange. The only pattern I've found so far is that he always wants to be at the highest point possible.

Any wisdom for me? He's also scheduled for a vet check this week.
 

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Congratulations on Finley! My Raven waves hi :).
Sounds like he just needs a while to settle in and observe the environment. The Pionus are not extroverts. I think Finley is still warming up to the newness of everything. I believe he'll start opening up little by little. They're not normally super active and jumping everywhere like a conure for example. I believe he'll start chewing on his toys when he gets more settled in. Raven loves all sorts of toys, but he spends a lot of time just sitting too. In fact, Pionus are sometimes called "perch potatoes" because of this. Don't get me wrong, it's not like they're lethargic, it's just that the seem to move in slower more deliberate ways, unlike a more hyper species.

About the beak, no. At 2 years old I doubt he has any kind of deficiency bad enough to 'show' regardless of his diet. Most Pionus I've seen have a very flaky beak. Flakier than many other species I've noticed. Raven has a good diet, and his is like that.
 
Congrats on your new pi. I'm picking up our new Bronze Wing pionus on Friday. He's a "bit" older at 19 year's old, but still younger than our maxi. After calling/emailing every pionus listing in the US that is online, I cannot find anyone still breeding these guys, so I'm very grateful to be able to give this guy a home.
 
I'm with Raven on this. I don't have a pionus but I love the look of them (and have researched them in the past), and what you described sounds absolutely normal :)

He's in a new place and as you've guessed that's effecting him, cage = home and safe. New toys are new and scary (for now) and if he's not used to veg then it'll take time for him to try it (as far as he's concerned, it might not be food).

Goodluck! Bronze Wings are gorgeous and he sounds like he's doing fine so far.
 

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