Scared Eclectus Need Help!

[humzasami]

Hi Guys

10 days ago i bought a new 1 year old Eclectus. He is very quiet and scared of us specially when we try to comfort him . Moreover he is afraid of any hand contact, even treat or food given by hand. He will stay on his perch for the whole day and at night will go inside the cage to sleep. He eats everything as long as the food is dropped in his feeding bowl

I need your expertise to resolve this. I have couple of ideas let me know if they will work

1- Right now we fill his feeding bowl with sunflower seeds overnight, so the idea is to not feed him at night so he can be hand fed in the morning ( which might reduce his hand phobia )

2 - Another way. i was thinking to put plastic hand mannequin with food on it in his cage so he can slowly get used to it

Let me know if you have any tips

Much appreciated

 

[Kentuckienne]

Welcome to the forum...I’m sure eclectus parronts will chime in soon, so will just say I don’t believe sunflower seeds are a good for eclectus. They have different digestive tracts from most parrots and need different food, and things like pellets and seeds are particularly bad for them. Their digestive systems are longer and more efficient. There is an eclectus forum and diet/health forums that will have more specific info, and you can use the search function to pull some of those posts up. Good luck!

 

[wrench13]

Sunflower seeds are like crack for most parrots - irresistible, easy to get hooked on, and not good for them. Use them as the treat. Let your new Ekkie take his time about opening up. THey are not noted for being hands on parrots BTW, so don;t be disappointed if he never likes getting scratched or petted. Most parrots just go to sleep when you cover them for the night, not known as nite-time foragers.

I think parrots are smart enough to know the difference between a live hand and a dummy hand. Offer the sunflower seed in your hand as a treat.

 

[EllenD]

I'll let the Electus experts comment on their diet, but I'm hoping that you are totally aware of their very special food requirements, and the fact that they cannot eat normal "parrot food" like most pellets, seeds, etc., right? They need very specific diets consisting mostly of fresh veggies, fruits, etc. in order to live. I hope you knew that going in when you brought him home.

As far as his behavior, do you know his past history? He's a year old, so still very young, but not a baby, and it doesn't sound like he had much human interaction or contact, nor was he hand-raised by his breeder. So this most likely means that you have to start out from scratch in hand-taming him, so I'd start in the "Training" section and read the stickies about "how to hand-tame a parent-raised parrot" and the like, as it is a SLOW process, a marathon, not a sprint. It will not simply "resolve itself" or be resolved quickly if the bird was not hand-raised by it's breeder, nor if he has had little to no human interaction in his first year of life, as it sounds.

No to the "hand-mannequin", first of all the bird will know it's not a living, human hand, they have the intelligence of a young, human toddler. Secondly, this is only going to either scare him more or anger him and make your relationship much, much worse. He needs to be "Hand-Tamed" by you, his person or people, not by a mannequin. Once you read-up on hand-taming a non-tame parrot, you'll see that this is going to take a large commitment from you, every single day, for at least a couple of hours a day, for months or even years, before he's comfortable stepping-up for you, letting you hand-feed him food, etc. (getting him to simply take food from your hand while he's sitting inside his cage is one of the first steps to hand-taming a bird, and this is a very slow, steady process that will take time). The bottom-line is this isn't likely just a little glitch or issue that is going to be resolved quickly, it's likely that your bird just hasn't been hand-raised or had much human interaction/touching/handling at all, and now at 1 year old he's basically not trusting of humans. That's step #1, EARNING HIS TRUST. That always comes first before handling/petting does.

That's why I asked if you truly know his history. Did you buy him from a private-party, a breeder, a shop, etc.? Do you have a hatch-certificate that states his actual age? HAS HE BEEN TO A CERTIFIED AVIAN VET YET FOR A WELLNESS EXAM? That should always be the very first thing you do when bringing home a new bird, quarantine him from any other birds in your home for 30 days and get him to a Certified Avian Vet for a "Wellness Exam" immediately to rule out and illness/infection.

And NOOOOOO to the sunflower seeds, that's only going to create a whole other issue for you, as he'll likely stop eating anything else and only want sunflower seeds, which are full of fat and horrible for any birds on a daily basis, BUT FOR AN EKKIE I'M NOT EVEN SURE IF THEY CAN EAT SUNFLOWER SEEDS...

Like I said, wait for the Ekkie experts to comment on the very specific diet they need, but I hope that you are already aware of this factor...

 

[MonicaMc]

Find out his favorite treats. Remove them from his diet.

Any time you walk by his cage, drop a treat inside his cup. Work on teaching him to come towards you for a reward. Over time, you can teach him to step up using those rewards. Make it on his terms, not yours. That is, don't force the behavior, teach it.

 

[chris-md]

Sunflower seeds are in in moderation. They get a bad wrap being the base of every unhealthy Walmart mix. Given that context it’s hard to shake the perception that they are bad. but they are a good source of nutrients, they are very healthy. They can can’t make up the bulk of the diet - too fatty.

So you’re treatment of the seeds in this case is not good.

To help bridge the gap, try offering treats from a spoon if he is hand phobic. You can slowly work from there.

 

[1oldparroter]

Have you developed trust with your bird and resolved issues? jh

 

[noodles123]

10 days is nothing--- you need to research the dietary restrictions and then take things slow.
Don't push physical contact so early---build trust first. It is best if you can allow your bird to come out of his cage (even if you can't touch him)---if you are afraid to do this, wait until he is hungry and then bribe him back in with food, BUT DON'T shut the cage every time he goes back in---the first few times, leave it open after the bribe or he will catch on.

 

[charmedbyekkie]

Just reminding folks that this thread is well over a year old and OP hasn't been online since that time (June last year). I doubt we'll have much interaction with OP....

 

[vsk101]

I recommend the Barbara Heidenrich videos for training. You can rent the online. My eclectus did not feel comfortable stepping up on me for over a month. It took me 1.5 years for him to feel comfortable in a different room, and he still prefers being close to the cage. Just slow your timeline way down. Ekkies should eat mostly fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains, beans and some nuts/seeds. However, a lowfat diet is recommended for ekkies. They need a high beta carotene (Vitamin A) diet so my guy gets orange sweet potatoes at every meal, but butternut squash, carrots, and pumpkin are also good. Also lots of leafy greens like kale, bok choy, mustard greens, dandelion greens, collards, and broccoli. Ekkies generally don't do well with anything with added vitamins or artificlal flavorings/colorings. No processed foods. Many ekkie owners do not believe in pellets. I give my guy only organic pellets (Tops brand) and it is just 10% of the diet. You can make him fresh food chop in a food processor with different veggies and fruits mixed in. A dehydrator is good too because it will allow him to forage for food, which is a natural & healthy behavior, and they spend much of their time in the wild doing this. Foraging keeps them mentally healthy. diets