Salty update

[wrench13]

12/29/15 Salty has been loving his table side hanging perch/play ring and enjoyed dinner with us for the first time, gobbing up blobs of sweet potato and even enjoyed munching on the skins, and some broccoli stalks.

His trick training is going well, he is learning to spin in a circle now, and does it occasionally with just the hand command, but usually needs to see the pine nut i am holding, leading him in a circle.

Ya'll talk about these here cuddle birds, but Salty will have nothing to do with that. If he is out of his cage, he is exploring and getting into trubble. He likes a rough cuddle for a minute or 2 but then a small nip lets me know that its time to let him go to find out just what is behind the couch or how many candies are really in that candy bowl. Speaking of the candy bowl, he used to play at just getting them out of the bowl, mouthing the wrappers a bit, throwing the candy off the table and move onto the next candy. Now, he is an expert at removing the paper wrapper, doing that in 15 seconds or less, so sadly we have to remove the candy bowl from his family play area ( our coffee table).

My shower perch idea is a failure - the vinyl adhesive didnt stick to the shower tiles, and came off. So this weekend its back to Home depot for a stronger glue or adhesive or something.

The wife is making progress with Salty too, taking advice from here and several books. She spends time every day, sitting next to the cage, reading aloud to him, giving him an occasional treat, and heaping verbal praise when he flaps or says anything. He let her give the UP command inside the cage and didnt lunge or even try to nip her. I gotta give the lady credit, she is trying like hell to make friends with Salty.

Seems he loves live music too - we ( me & 2 sons ) play in a band and the music room is downstairs. If we bring Salty down to hang out, he sings and whistles along with us ( but not in tune or pitch, naturally).

He has topped out weight wise at 268gr or so, and from what I read, thats about the max for yellow shoulder 'zons, who are one of the smallest true amazons.

All for now, Happy New Year to everyone.

 

[JerseyWendy]

What a sweet Salty update!! They sure LOOOVE their music, don't they? Mine get ready to Rock N' Roll the minute I crank up the radio. And no, mine don't necessarily sing along in tune either. :54:

Have you checked out this DIY shower perch? It's been a long time since I've made it, but it's held up beautifully: http://www.parrotforums.com/do-yourself/27017-diy-shower-perch-very-easy.html

 

[torrap]

...........He has topped out weight wise at 268gr or so, and from what I read, thats about the max for yellow shoulder 'zons, who are one of the smallest true amazons.

Well, FINALLY (!!!!) someone with YSA here!....
My YSA is 310-340g and she is a girl! But she is almost 10 years old.
She adopted me about 3 years ago at her terrible weight of 450g which is a serious overweight. I don't know what she was fed. Poor thing couldn't even take off and fly.
From what I was reading about YSA's their weight range is 250-350g, and yours is a baby, so it's pretty good, I think.

Nice to know someone has YSA. Pretty good looking birdy too.

 

[wrench13]

Hi Torrap. I really love Salty, I did a lot of reading before decidin to get a birdy to replace my lil Maxie RIP ( Canary wing parrot or BeeBee parrot). My wife wanted a smaller bird ( no DYHA !) and they are supposed to be fairly quiet, not prone to screaming, but yet have a talking ability. Looked for awhile and found 2 siblings, and we took the male.
When we got Salty he was around 240gr or so and has steadied at 268 for 2 months.
Does your Marley talk? Salty says Hello, Good Boy, and does the A-bomb thing ( decending whistle and BOOOM). Plus a lot of muttering to himself. Learning a few tricks too. He's not a real cuddley type bird, most days. He's so young , he gets into everything!

 

[torrap]

.............he gets into everything!

Yep, this is a problem for me lately. She chewed on an edge of my piano yesterday, and THAT is a huge no-no. I think mine is in a nesting mode right now, so she is looking for things to chew. Plus I think her upbringing was not the best, so she just doesn't know how to be a good birdy.
Also, because of her upbringing I think, she doesn't talk a lot. But she is learning from my DYHA. She has learned "tickle, tickle, tickle" and laughing just recently. Plus she came to me with just couple of other things she was saying, but not much, not even near to what my DYHA can say.
She is a much more cuddling birdy than my DYHA. Loves to kiss. Also she is VERY smart and learns tricks on a second or third try.
You can check my post with her doing some of her tricks: http://www.parrotforums.com/amazons/58710-my-ysa-doing-few-her-tricks.html