Red Bellied Parrot

[Nick67]

Hello all, here is my Red Bellied Parrot, his name is Finchy.

He was more or less wild when I got him having spent most of his life in a pet shop and is coming up to 5 years old.

He is coming on well after several weeks of nurturing and clicker training. He has got touch and step up (with out biting) sussed, he lets me scratch his beak and rub his chest, but that's about as far as he is comfortable with at the moment.

He has started dancing and singing to music, but you have to bob up and down with him so you look really stupid

He likes his beak polished with my electric tooth brush for some reason? I guess this is ok? I obviously don't use the same head as to scrub my teeth, I use an old one and have boil washed it to make sure no tooth paste was left on it.

His character is starting to come out and has quickly become part of the family, I didn't think he would get accustomed so quickly as he was very wary and bitey to start with.

 

[DexMom]

He's gorgeous! I'm glad to hear he's starting to come around and become part of your family flock after languishing so long in a store. I'm sure he's loving life

 

[MyFlock]

Welcome! I have two red bellied parrots, they are awesome little birds and so intelligent!

Thanks for getting your little guy out of the Pet shop

 

[RavensGryf]

Finchy is gorgeous! Several Red Bellied owners here on the forum . I've had my old boy Robin for 21 years now. Looking forward to hearing more about Finchy!

The electric toothbrush sounds funny. It's fine if it's sanitized as you said. You just don't want human (or mammal) saliva in him since our gram negative bacteria can cause infection in them since it's not part of their normal gut bacteria.

 

[Nick67]

Thank you all. I actually got him from the animal shelter, he was in the pet shop for over 3 years, he was reduced in price and was then was bought by someone who posted on here last year, they didn't keep him very long and put him in the animal shelter, he was adopted by someone with other birds, he got out of his cage and had a play with a couple of the ladies finches, an experience that the finches didn't survive

Subsequently he was put back in the animal shelter and was there for a few months until I saw him and adopted him.

I renamed him Finchy as he seems to have a penchant for finches and his old name probably brings back negative memories.

He has settled in fine here and I guess must be enjoying his new found freedom, and the attention. He came from a really good breeder from Guernsey, funnily enough where I was born, but was unfortunate with the pet shop which isn't my favourite and are very expensive, they wanted $800 for a Green Cheeked Conure, so I don't know what price they had on him but he wasn't bought straight away and became nippy and wary of hands. He particularly didn't like gloves or tea towels, I guess I know how they got him back in his cage! He has overcome those fears now, he goes in his cage by himself when he has had enough fun, and I always make sure that he has some treat in there so it's worth his while.

I'll keep you updated on how he comes along but he's already a different parrot from when I got him :red:

 

[Nick67]

Every time I brushed my teeth at night he went crazy trying to get out of his cage, so I put the tooth brush near the cage and he put his beak through the bars, so I changed the head to an old one I had and put it closer and against his beak, he seems to love it, turning his beak to the other side so as to get both sides done, lol. Great as if he doesn't already take enough of my time, I have to scrub his beak for him every night now too !!!!

Our lives seem to mirror each others, we were both born in Guernsey, sent to Jersey when we were 3 months old and put in a cage, I have been put in a cage in Jersey several times when I was younger, probably my own fault, So I feel his pain!

Jersey and Guernsey are sister islands and the inhabitants don't really get on, similar to neighbouring states in America I guess?

 

[RavensGryf]

I do recall the story about coming from another member then back to the shelter before he finally found you. Sounds like you and Finchy are a true match . Happy that the training is working well too!