cindymlb
New member
- Jul 20, 2015
- 8
- 0
- Parrots
- 2 cockatiels - 1 cinnamon coloured and one pearl coloured - Birdy Girl and Noodle respectively
1 little corella called Turtle
Hi all! I would be delighted if anyone might be able to shed some light on a sudden behavioural change in my not-yet-1-year-old short billed Corella, Turtle, and perhaps give me some ideas on his rehabilitation. Every story has a bit of history, so here is Turtle's:
We bought Turtle Christmas eve last year from a trusted breeder of birds, through my local pet store. He was 12 weeks at that stage, and calculating from the date of purchase, husband and I guessed his hatching was sometime in October, making him currently about 9 months old.
Turtle was hand reared and so completely comfortable with being handled. He was fearless and walked up on anyone who happened to be nearby. He was also described as incredibly affectionate, which proved to be more than true, burrowing his head into your neck, down your top, up your sleeve, resting on your arm, and nuzzling like there's no tomorrow. He has started enunciating his name and our greetings to him, tapping on the floor with his beak, bobbing up and down, doing that funny little jump. He exhibited no preference between us and would happily jump between our shoulders, and definitely did not mind being passed from one to the other.
Saturday just been started like any other weekend - husband let all the birds out (we also have 2 cockatiels), made his breakfast (porridge this time), shared his breakfast with the birds, then went outside to soak up some sun (it's winter time here, and whatever sun we can get, we get!) As Turtle has his wings clipped, he took him outside too and the two of them sat happily basking.
Come the late afternoon and into evening, however, it became apparent Turtle was shying away from the husband. He backed away whenever he was approached, even trying to take flight in order to not be near him, and swapping shoulders on me when I sat next to the husband so as not to be in his eye line. When Turtle is in his cage and the husband crouches down to talk with him, Turtle backs himself into a corner as far away as he can, climbing down to the cage floor sometimes. He won't respond to the husband's calls, or to his hand. Me, on the flip side, is business as usual - he dos not hesitate in climbing on me if I offer my hand, he bends his head for scratched, he lets me touch every part of him - belly, feet, back, head. His behaviour to me has not changed in any way except for perhaps becoming a little clingy.
Now, both of us realise that birds can take offence to small things, but the both of us absolutely cannot figure out what the husband has done that would result in this reaction from Turtle - he positively cowers. I have done far more physical things in disciplining him in the past, with absolutely no repercussions. While we accept that there is something Turtle has taken offence to, what I want to try and achieve is the restoration of Turtle's relationship with the husband. Does anyone have any pointers? Is it a case of slow persistence? Does it sound like we will have to build the relationship from scratch or is Turtle going to miraculously remember the husband is a friend again? Is it hormones? Is this a little Corella being stroppy and showing preference for gender?
What baffles us is how quickly his behaviour changed - absolutely normal in the morning and then this complete aversion in the afternoon. I cannot fathom what happened, but it also makes me incredibly sad because between the both of us, husband is the more animal minded. Animals come to him like he's covered in their favourite food - I spent 2 weeks sitting by the cage talking to our first cockatiel to get him used to my voice and presence but he would still hiss at any movement of my hands; along comes the husband to change his seed one day, however, and the little blighter happily jumps on him and climbs onto his shoulder, completely ignoring my efforts! What I'm trying to say is: the husband is brilliant with animals, a real natural handler. To see Turtle like this makes me quite distressed!
So friends, do you think their friendship can be restored? Would love to hear your thoughts.
Cindy
We bought Turtle Christmas eve last year from a trusted breeder of birds, through my local pet store. He was 12 weeks at that stage, and calculating from the date of purchase, husband and I guessed his hatching was sometime in October, making him currently about 9 months old.
Turtle was hand reared and so completely comfortable with being handled. He was fearless and walked up on anyone who happened to be nearby. He was also described as incredibly affectionate, which proved to be more than true, burrowing his head into your neck, down your top, up your sleeve, resting on your arm, and nuzzling like there's no tomorrow. He has started enunciating his name and our greetings to him, tapping on the floor with his beak, bobbing up and down, doing that funny little jump. He exhibited no preference between us and would happily jump between our shoulders, and definitely did not mind being passed from one to the other.
Saturday just been started like any other weekend - husband let all the birds out (we also have 2 cockatiels), made his breakfast (porridge this time), shared his breakfast with the birds, then went outside to soak up some sun (it's winter time here, and whatever sun we can get, we get!) As Turtle has his wings clipped, he took him outside too and the two of them sat happily basking.
Come the late afternoon and into evening, however, it became apparent Turtle was shying away from the husband. He backed away whenever he was approached, even trying to take flight in order to not be near him, and swapping shoulders on me when I sat next to the husband so as not to be in his eye line. When Turtle is in his cage and the husband crouches down to talk with him, Turtle backs himself into a corner as far away as he can, climbing down to the cage floor sometimes. He won't respond to the husband's calls, or to his hand. Me, on the flip side, is business as usual - he dos not hesitate in climbing on me if I offer my hand, he bends his head for scratched, he lets me touch every part of him - belly, feet, back, head. His behaviour to me has not changed in any way except for perhaps becoming a little clingy.
Now, both of us realise that birds can take offence to small things, but the both of us absolutely cannot figure out what the husband has done that would result in this reaction from Turtle - he positively cowers. I have done far more physical things in disciplining him in the past, with absolutely no repercussions. While we accept that there is something Turtle has taken offence to, what I want to try and achieve is the restoration of Turtle's relationship with the husband. Does anyone have any pointers? Is it a case of slow persistence? Does it sound like we will have to build the relationship from scratch or is Turtle going to miraculously remember the husband is a friend again? Is it hormones? Is this a little Corella being stroppy and showing preference for gender?
What baffles us is how quickly his behaviour changed - absolutely normal in the morning and then this complete aversion in the afternoon. I cannot fathom what happened, but it also makes me incredibly sad because between the both of us, husband is the more animal minded. Animals come to him like he's covered in their favourite food - I spent 2 weeks sitting by the cage talking to our first cockatiel to get him used to my voice and presence but he would still hiss at any movement of my hands; along comes the husband to change his seed one day, however, and the little blighter happily jumps on him and climbs onto his shoulder, completely ignoring my efforts! What I'm trying to say is: the husband is brilliant with animals, a real natural handler. To see Turtle like this makes me quite distressed!
So friends, do you think their friendship can be restored? Would love to hear your thoughts.
Cindy
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