Valentino the RFM adjustment adventures

[noblemacaw]

Valentino eating sweet potato frys. These are freshly cut and baked with olive oil brushed on them and garlic powder sprinkled on them. Valentino loved them.

As you can see Valentino might need to learn some table manners. However I felt it has been going very well.

December 11, 2012
Valentino is getting more comfortable with me and Lupe. For now he mostly responds to me because I am the one home all day and I have been hand feeding him baby formula 3 times a day. He has been taking at least 20 cc’s at each feeding.
I think his Grandma Wendy gave Valentino a lot of freedom and liberties that I can’t really give him here at my home. Now that Valentino is getting more comfortable in my home he is starting to become more willful. This means, for me anyway, that he has confidence in himself and I really appreciate this aspect about him. However it is a double edge sword. I am still very much going through the bonding process but Valentino also needs to learn the rules of my home. This is a delicate time for us both. I do not want to ever break the trust building but I also don’t want Valentino to learn that he can take over my house either.
So today we clashed wills for a bit. He has learned that he can fly to his Java tree, his table perch, his cage or to me. When he flies to “forbidden” places I walk calmly up to him and tap the service he landed on and say no with a stern look on my face. I give him several moments to take in that information then I will change the expression on my face to friendly hold out my hand and tell him “step up” when he does step up I praise him verbally and bring him close to my chest to pet him. If I see him getting in the “I am going to take off” position I will stand by somewhere he is allowed to fly and land on and tap the surface and say “fly here” Most of the time he will fly to a Valentino approved place but this evening he was being rather defiant.
I have established that in the evenings he can be on his Java tree to play and roost. He will play then perch and preen himself. At times I will approach him to pet him and interact with him but the main purpose of the Java tree is that this is to be his place to relax and play outside his cage. He has even started flying to it after his morning hand feeding and clean up (does not like his face wiped but will tolerate it for me). However tonight he was flying to where ever he pleased and for the first time he took off from his Java tree and flew up to the second story of my house and landed on the bakers rack upstairs in my loft that has my plants. Since my asthma makes it harder for me to run up stairs he had several moments of being naughty and promptly began to tear up my aloe vera plant. I was in a panic because I could not remember if this plant was in the safe list so after I put Valentino back in cage I looked up real quick about the plant and was thankful it was okay. Then I thought “Doh…all my plants are safe they always have been” So yes I had a bit of a nervous mother moment.
Last night I started having him at the dinner table with us. I want him to feel part of our “flock” so I use the table perch I hand feed him on in the kitchen put it at a place on the table and perch him on it. Well you can see by these pictures that he does not stay on the table perch but will fly ever so gently off of it to park himself right between Lupe and I to join in our dinner. You can imagine the challenges this presents having the parrot walking on the table during dinner. It became very apparent we are going to have to work on table manners. He learned tonight very quickly not to put his foot on the plate. That is just gross and he has to learn that is not acceptable. When he first put his foot on my plate I gently pushed it back and said no then shoved food into his beak. The second time he slowly lifted his foot to set it on the plate and I said “no” and he put it back down on the table. I quickly made sure sweet potatoes pieces were with in reaching range for him to take and not have to step onto the plate to get at them. All in all Valentino did really well with being at the dinner table with us and will get the hang of “table manners”. I think the bonding and training process is going well.

 

[Aims]

Sounds like you are being just as firm as needed well done.

 

[Lintini]

I completely agree, well done.

So....when are you coming over to deal with Chloe being a turd and lunging at me when I stop giving her head scritches ?

 

[plax]

I love it! A "Valentino approved place" and "table manners" seem to be essential lessons for him within your home which he must learn . That's really cute . It's so neat to see little Valentino enjoying life with his new family . He looks beautiful in the pics, and look at the size of those feet!

 

[MaraWentz]

I would just let him sit at the table and give him his food in his bowl, and eventually switch it to the plate. If you're handfeeding him from your plate, then he is right to assume that that the food is his and he can walk on the plate to get it. I feed my RFM on my shoulder if she eats a snack with me, but she isn't a pig so I don't have to worry about that. However I feed my Mommom's Amazons at the table with me and they are PIGS. I used to feed them off my plate, but then they wanted to step on my plate, or throw ABC food on my plate, or just lick some of the food on my plate (but not take it off). OS they got their own plate to share and eat it contently and messy in their own section of the table.

 

[noblemacaw]

Thanks everyone for the well wishes.
Plax - OMG...YES. This boy has some big footies. The interesting part of such large feet is he does not grip as hard as my mini's did. His grip reminds me of my Eclectus's grips soft and light. When he loses balance he "flies" with hovering to right himself. It really is beautiful to watch and I cannot hear him flap his wing. He is a silent flyer.

Mara- as always I look forward to your comments and advise because you also have a RFM and have probably been down the roads I am taking now. Thank you for your post. I always read what you have to say in any posts because you have been with RFM for a while now. Giving him his own plate or bowl is a wonderful idea. When I do give him his own it never seems as interesting as to what is on my plate. I wonder if that is because he is watching me eat from my plate and maybe is thinking that food is safe and okay to eat and what is lying on "his" plate is suspicious? The first night we had him at the table he attacked Lupe's burrito and I could not help but chuckle. He then "attacked" my sub sandwich getting a huge chunk of wheat bread and then calmly ate it. I agree that he will not stay on the table perch but insists on standing on the table between us. That way he has choice of who's food he wants. LOL I have a question. Does or did any of your RFM eat flying insects that get into the house? My mini's would eat the flies, mosquitoes, spiders, or what ever insect would get close enough for them to snatch. I never use insecticide in my home EVER because of my parrots so they were ummm...safe to eat. (EWWWWW)

Valentino weighted in at 406 grams this morning before the "squirting" (hand feeding) and 426 grams after he was hand fed. Valentino is taking three feedings a day at about 20 grams each feeding. (okay, I am weird and I say to Valentino. "You want some squirties? You want some warm wet squirties?") I will leave him in his cage during the day for a little while and go upstairs to "leave him alone" so that he can learn how to be alone and get use to his cage. OMG. He seems NOT to like to roost on the branches but will instead roost on the grate. This is why he is sleeping in his crate in my bedroom for now until I know he will be safe at night in his cage. Poor parrot.

Valentino does love his java tree and he gets several hours a day on it. He can play and squack and make his baby noises all he wants. He can play and if he wants he can take the heads off the Stormtrooper "action" figures he likes to play with. Wendy said he liked soft plastic toys and figures. A neighbor gave me a bag of 6 inch star war figures when they moved. Valentino can play Star Wars if he wants but I find it kind of disconcerting that he likes to chew on the Stormtroopers heads and will fling the Jedi's out of his bucket. I also will interact with him and so some light training with him on his tree. I have never had a parrot with such soft feathers. I find myself always wanting to touch and pet this parrot.