Seeking advice and opinions please

[aaronhome27]

I may have found myself in a little mess here and am looking for some friendly advice. As many of you know I got Charlie (our macaw) not long ago for my companion. I really felt that we would have no problems with our new baby on the way soon. I have plenty of time for my pets and family as I am always home due to a disability. My problems came up this weekend when we had a friend bring her baby over. Charlie does NOT like babies!! Of course he would never be close enough to hurt it but he was extremely jealous. He would not settle down both days the baby was there, even when it was in another room. He KNEW it was there. I do not think that he will deal with a baby at all now. I know over time he might but he was very upset over that thing being in the house. I do not want to give up having a bird as I really enjoy having a feather friend as a companion while at home. I am thinking of one of two options hear.
1) sell charlie and buy a young parrot to raise with the baby together
2) consider getting Charlie a room mate or friend.

I am really leaning towards 1) or just trading for a baby as that I feel is the best possible solution. I dont think the added room mate will solve the problem but that is why I am posting here to get the advice.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Aaron

 

[Allan Gibbs]

Could Charlie be trained to deal with a baby? Perhaps start off with a baby doll that you carry around. Maybe after a few days or weeks, he will adjust well before your child is born.

 

[Spiritbird]

Advise rubbing down the baby doll subsitute with the smells from the new baby. It may take a while as the baby will be a new member of the flock so to speak and must be approved by the resident bird. Charlie must feel that he is alpha bird. Also make a recording of baby crying to play around Charlie. Parrots and children are often difficult to mix but not impossible. Ask Tex. cause he has birds and young ones.

 

[Gos]

Interesting responce.
I was not aware that parrots have any sense of smell.

 

[Auggie's Dad]

Most birds have significantly more olfactory receptor types than humans.

There are very few animals that smell worse than humans... and if you doubt that you should swing by my apartment on laundry day!

(Sorry couldn't resist)

 

[Allan Gibbs]

If you need some soiled diapers from my two year old son, let me know.

 

[aaronhome27]

LOL that is great guys!! I am thinking I will wait on the soiled diapers. It would be to expensive to ship due to the hazardous materials requirements.

Thank for the information and ideas so far guys. I will toy around with some of these ideas.

 

[TexDot33]

Speaking from experience here (I have two conures and a 4 month-old human) it was VERY EASY for the "Feathered Ones" to adjust to the new "Non-feathered one" ... there was no real jealousy with them (even though they were used to being the center of our attention for like almost 3 years now).

I think you have several issues going on with Charlie and if you are willing to work through them, you just might be able to keep him.

1) Charlie is in a brand new enviornment and is already stressed out as it is, give him a chance to settle in before you stress him out any more.

2) you have time (8 months or so) to deal with this, and I think that the BABY DOLL is a GREAT idea, we considered going with it here at my place ...

Give Charlie a few months to settle in, then carry the baby doll around ... if you are willing to work on this you won't have to re-home Charlie again.

 

[KasloConure]

I think that getting rid of a pet should be a last resort. After all, you are Charlie's only family. While Charlie may have been upset for when your friend brought her baby to your house, you have not yet seen how Charlie will react to your own baby. If Charlie is jealous when you bring your baby home, will that be a big problem? My dog was jealous when our baby was born. My son is now two years old and the dog isn't crazy about him, but I still think that it is far better for my dog to live with us and experience a little jealousy than to have to adapt to leaving his family behind and learning to live with someone new.

By the way, we brought our conure home when my son was six months old. We keep the two of them apart for safety reasons and everyone gets along very well. The conure's cage is too high for our son to reach, as is his perch. However, the bird is my son's favourite family member! Whenever we say "bird," my son squeals with delight and points to our conure. He loves watching our conure play and claps his hands and giggles whenever the conure hangs upside down. It's adorable!

 

[KasloConure]

Also, keep in mind that parrots react to moving from home to home much the same as foster children. It sounds like Charlie has had at least two homes already. If this is for Charlie's own good, you may consider helping him to work through his feelings of jealousy, rather than moving him to a new home. It sounds like you want to have a parrot in your family, and Charlie has bonded to you.

Good luck!

 

[Quantumcat]

I don't know if this will help or even be relevant, but...

When my parents bought their first house they got a Briard from the RSPCA (a big, black, wooly dog bred as shepherds and wolf guards). At first he was terrified of dad. His past experiences made him afraid of men. After a year or two he settled down and became a great dog. Then my mother became pregnant with me. They had friends over who had babies, and Collier hated every one of them, and was quite upset having them in the house. But then I was born. Collier reacted completely differently. He knew this creature was something loved by his masters, and seemed to dedicate himself to looking after it. He slept by my cot, would come running over if I cried and would sniff and lick me to see if I was ok, and was extremely gentle, knowing he could play-wrestle and bite and jump on my parents, but could only gently touch his nose to or lick the baby. My parents couldn't have babysitters with the dog in the house, because he would stand guard at the door to the nursery and growl menacingly if they dared approach. He especially didn't like one of my grandmothers and would growl and look unhappy if I was passed to her to hold.

I know parrots are not dogs, but just because he doesn't like other people's babies doesn't mean he won't like yours. I'm sure he will realise that this little wriggling thing is new member of his family and not a stranger invading his territory.