Progress after 12 days with Ruthie

[blackhawk007]

Things have been up an down for the last 12 days. Luckily its been mostly up days. Last weekend was a bit rough but things have been going smoother each day. I can now hold Ruthie with Jenna standing next to me, and she doesn't try to eat me. Really we have only had 2 days of aggressive type stances. Though we expect more we are really happy with that.

The biggest issue now is that Ruthie gets scared and fly's off her tree every time someone knocks on our door. Though its pretty safe here, we really need to get her past that.

Here are some rough videos of the past week. The fish tank lights limit my cameras ability to focus correctly, sorry for that and the news audio in the background.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyfF4pec7CM]Ruthie - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbY1LRalrcE]Ruthie the Ruby Macaw dancing - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWCNWCG0WRU]Ruthie the Ruby Macaw dancing 2 - YouTube[/ame]

 

[plax]

I'm glad to know you've been making progress with Ruthie. From your vid clips she appears somewhat in search of mental stimulation, but at the same time she seems fairly accepting/tolerant of her environment. It's very nice that she and you have been doing well

 

[blackhawk007]

I'm glad to know you've been making progress with Ruthie. From your vid clips she appears somewhat in search of mental stimulation, but at the same time she seems fairly accepting/tolerant of her environment. It's very nice that she and you have been doing well

Thanks Tony. She has done an excellent job destroying most of the toy material that we had on hand initially. Right now we are working to find out the best choices for setting the Java tree up for her. We initially though we would rotate her and Teka from each stand to the tree. But we have learned that is not very practical.

I took some 2x6 wood and make that temporary stand for Teka. Then I remembered we had 6 three foot sections of grape vine wood, so I screwed that to the make shift tree stand for him. He seems to enjoy that for now. That grape vine wood is the only wood he will chew on without me playing with him.

Ruthie is a whole different ball game. We kept Jenna away from her most of this past week so Ruthie would only see me when she would seek attention. That really worked out well. She got to see that I was not a threat again, and we use Jenna as a special attention treat. She is learning that if she is good with me, only then would Jenna walk into the room and the excitement would go through the roof. Doing it that way is actually really entertaining for all of us.

As far as stimulation. They do spend many hours a day with us, some of it is similar stuff to what you see in the video. If you have seen Jenna's toy post you know we are looking for more ways to make stuff for them. We actually have discounted access to most of the toys on the market. Our problem is picking the right macaw stuff for the Java tree. Her cage seems to be fine right now. When she is in there she is always playing with stuff. But none of that can be attached to the tree. Any suggestions or images of setups for the big tree? I don't want to just hang a toy here and there. I am looking to make a 6x3x8tall environment around and including that tree for her. Again we don't have an issue with the investment at all. We just want to do it the smartest and most effective way since we have a fresh start changing it over for just her. It also helps to make it aesthetically pleasing since its in our living room. We are just not as creative as we would like to be when it comes to making this up.

 

[plax]

Thanks Tony. She has done an excellent job destroying most of the toy material that we had on hand initially. Right now we are working to find out the best choices for setting the Java tree up for her. We initially though we would rotate her and Teka from each stand to the tree. But we have learned that is not very practical.

I took some 2x6 wood and make that temporary stand for Teka. Then I remembered we had 6 three foot sections of grape vine wood, so I screwed that to the make shift tree stand for him. He seems to enjoy that for now. That grape vine wood is the only wood he will chew on without me playing with him.

Ruthie is a whole different ball game. We kept Jenna away from her most of this past week so Ruthie would only see me when she would seek attention. That really worked out well. She got to see that I was not a threat again, and we use Jenna as a special attention treat. She is learning that if she is good with me, only then would Jenna walk into the room and the excitement would go through the roof. Doing it that way is actually really entertaining for all of us.

As far as stimulation. They do spend many hours a day with us, some of it is similar stuff to what you see in the video. If you have seen Jenna's toy post you know we are looking for more ways to make stuff for them. We actually have discounted access to most of the toys on the market. Our problem is picking the right macaw stuff for the Java tree. Her cage seems to be fine right now. When she is in there she is always playing with stuff. But none of that can be attached to the tree. Any suggestions or images of setups for the big tree? I don't want to just hang a toy here and there. I am looking to make a 6x3x8tall environment around and including that tree for her. Again we don't have an issue with the investment at all. We just want to do it the smartest and most effective way since we have a fresh start changing it over for just her. It also helps to make it aesthetically pleasing since its in our living room. We are just not as creative as we would like to be when it comes to making this up.

I'd say that's all pretty much on the positive side, Steve. And I think you're effectively using some parrot psychology there .

Have you seen the pictures and videos that JerseyWendy posted a while back of her java trees? She has them decked out with an extensive array of toys and doohickeys that look like great fun for her birds.

I think it's great that you're willing to devote the planning time necessary to best enrich the lives of your birds

 

[JerseyWendy]

AAAWWW!!! Ruthie is doing GREAT in such a short amount of time. Looks like she made herself right at home.

I bet she looks like she's smiling from ear to ear after you've spent a good amount of quality time with her, and then JMarie comes into view. That's a great idea doing it that way, Steve! AND it's working for you - so even better.

The toys on my Java Tree are constantly changing, especially since the wood vanishes in no time between Niko & Ripley turning them into toothpicks.

 

[blackhawk007]

Materials for updating our java tree are starting to arrive. We still have a ton of stuff to acquire. But at least we are able to finally get started now.

 

[JerseyWendy]

You should have told me BEFORE you placed that order, I would have quickly invested in Vetrap.

 

[blackhawk007]

No big deal Wendy. I just ordered it off Amazon. The red roll was a bit more expensive, so I only ordered 1 to check it out. If you order from here just make sure that you check what the shipping charge is. There are like 40 pages of the stuff on amazon. But here is the page that I ordered from.

CORRECTION***

This is a very good place to get the stuff.

https://www.probioticsmart.com/farm/vetrap.html

 

[blackhawk007]

Oh....They also sent a few free horse samples with that order. If anyone wants these things just let me know. Not to many of us have horses in Chicago.

 

[blackhawk007]

4 rolls down, many more to go. We just have to decide on more colors since the whole "natural" part of the tree is defeated with this stuff.