Scared of .... well everything

[LoriBabies]

Hi There,

As I said in the intro's, I'm the very proud owner of 2 rainbow lorikeets. My oldest, Pistachio (who's a normal coloured rainbow) is a rascal, well behaved, fun and boisterous to say the least.

My concern is with my new Olive boy, Zazu. He is completely petrified of EVERYTHING, especially mine and my partners hands. He was fine when we first got him, however due to my being unwell, I wasn't able to get him out and play with him as much as I'd like the first week or so of having him home. Since then, he's only gotten worse.

If I'm home, hes out of the cage but he will rarely step up, runs away if I try to put my hand anywhere near him and was such a nightmare to put back in the cage (could take us anywhere up to an hour and eventually it was a catch him out of the air and force him into the cage) that we've had to, against my gut feeling, get his wings clipped (professionally and properly).

My question is - what can I do to make him the sweet, lovely, affectionate bird he was when we first got him?

Thanks so much in advance.

 

[weco]

While many birds start out all sweet & cuddly, once they get the lay of the land they often start testing their boundaries.....checking how far the can go & what they can get away with.....hopefully you got them caged separately.....if they are caged together they will bond with each other, preferring their own company to yours.....

Training needs to be started & will need to be done in a one-on-one situation, away from the other bird.....read up on clicker training and touch training & figure out which you might be interested in.....when training, take the bird to a room it is not familiar with.....you will have a better advantage, because you will be to only thing in there it is familiar with & will be able to hold its attention.....clipping is going to help with attitude & training.....

Good luck.....

 

[LoriBabies]

They're caged separately/together. As in they're in the same (large) cage with a partition down the middle. Pistachio (who I've had for over a year) hasn't got a whole lot of interest in Zazu apart from terrorizing him on top of the cage now and then. Pistachio is very much a person bird, I think he's of the opinion he in fact is human.

I will definitely try clicker training with Zazu, I've been doing some reading and it seems quite interesting.

What you say about testing boundaries does ring true, especially seeing his is *slightly* easier to handle when he's away from the cage - ie. hes managed to controlled crash to the floor, but getting near him when he's on/in his cage is completely impossible.

My perception of fear comes from 1. not allowing a hand near him in/on his cage and 2. if we take him away from his cage, all he wants to do is get back there...

I shall try the training and hope for the best.

Thanks so much for your response