Which pre-existing fears did your fid have?

[MomtoPercy]

Terry's comment about Xander being so scared of the spray bottle and my comment to her thread about Percy being terrified of anything that halfway resembles a stick, got me wondering.

I've had Percy around 8 months and he still won't go near a stick. It took him ages (more than a month) to accept his T-Stand because the T part looks like a stick. He's ok with it now but at first he was terrified. Which is particularly telling if you consider that normally, he takes to new things quite easily. I just know that he was punished with a stick somewhere in his previous life and it breaks my heart to think some bastard could have done that to him!

If you've adopted an older bird, which fears did the come with from previous owners that may have been bad or just ignorant? And were you able to overcome these fears?

 

[Kalidasa]

Spray bottles and balloons. I also found it odd that he knew exactly what beer was, and any time he hears a can being popped open, he expected some. His previous owners were 19 and 20, a young couple who fed him pizza scraps. I'm assuming they probably gave him beer as well. I'm not a beer drinker but my partner is, and Kumar demanded some as soon as he heard the pop the very night I brought him home. His request was and is, DENIED!

 

[Allee]

Our female quaker has been with us for nine months. She was confined to a tiny cage and loved her new big cage but pulling out the tray caused an awful reaction. I never remove it unless she is out of her cage and I pull it out slowly while talking to her. She cannot have her cage covered or she goes nuts. She has a blanket throw on top of her cage but we never cover the sides. The words, step up still makes her crazy so we don't use them. She will ride my shoulder and walk down my arms and explore my hands without biting most of the time but that's only if my hands are motionless. She gets frantic sometimes and I can hear the stress in her voice. Talking to her quietly usually calms her down. She bathes in her water dish and sucks on a favorite rope toy when she's really upset, it seems to be a self soothing method.

When my U2 is scared he fluffs all his feathers and rocks side to side or goes into what I call cockatoo vapor lock. Just about anything caused that reaction at first. My hair wrapped in a towel, not having my glasses on, a new person. His other problem was being out of his cage and being moved away from it. After five months I can usually talk him out of a vapor lock. He loves leaving the bird room now but we had to work for that, a foot or so away from the cage at a time.

Our male quaker seems to be starved for attention but he is so afraid of physical contact. I can pet him on his head after five months and he loves when I stand close and talk to him. He will fly to me and land on my head sometimes but not my shoulder yet.

The only thing of seen that that the parakeets are afraid of so far is an empty food dish. We try to avoid that. They are young and we are their first home after the pet store.

Like people, some birds come with a lot of baggage. Patience and persistence pays in most cases.

 

[Jayyj]

Alice was terrified of everything outside of her cage when she first came home,except for humans, who she's always approached enthusiastically and without fear. I wonder if her lengthy spell in a pet shop conditioned her to enjoy fleeting moments of attention from passing customers, although she always seemed quiet in the shop when I visited her. I'd always wait by her cage until she sidled up to the front, then she'd hold my finger through the bars whilst I talked quietly to her - it was love from the moment she first did that! Anyway, visitors are always given a warm welcome, and we've gradually got her used to one thing after another and she's much better than she was, but she still sees any objects she doesn't recognize as a potential threat.

 

[TessieB]

Barney doesn't like a cloth/towel/blanket in your hand. She's getting used to it though, as I clean daily with a rag in my hand.

 

[Freespin]

Barrys was hands! He isnt huge on them now but he copes. At the place i got him from he let me scratch him through the bars on his tummy and head then as soon as the people who worked there came near him he fled to the back of the cage screaming, even the guy who had raised him.

 

[Terry57]

Great thread, Michelle!
Phoe is a baby, but he is terrified of a certain wooden ladder we have. It is red and blue, and Talli loves it, but Phoe can't stand it when he see it, and he runs back into his cage. Maybe it is one of the colours, because he isn't afraid of other ladders he has IN his cage.

 

[snowghost]

First of all what does fid stand for? I just joined. Bugsy is my white front amazon and she is not hand tame at all. I've had her for 19 years. I was looking for training information when I came across this site.

 

[Terry57]

Fid = Feathered kID

 

[birdybabies]

Kai quaker is afraid of any human interaction and contact. Have had him over 2yrs and he is getting better but still cannot hold him but can stand quite close to him and talk (without him screaming, cowering, flying off in fear)
Rhyly tiel hates hands but he eill sit on my shoulder, talk and gives kisses - just no hands

 

[MamaFuzz]

Going down. Any more than a 3 inch drop in height and Indy starts flapping while death gripping my hand. She's fine being down low just not the trip to get there no matter how slow.

 

[hacatta]

Fury was very wary for hands when i got him.
When you moved your hand too quick he lunged at it immediately.
He also looked like someone took some scissors to his tail when i got him,and he was very dirty.
Also never take away him water or food bowl without expecting him to bite you,he will,he never bites anymore just then.
The fist thing he did in his new cage was take a bath for 20 minutes.
He was only 6 months when i got him ,to think what he had to go trough in that short span of time.

 

[Birdman666]

Sally had been beaten with both a broom and a dowel perch. The sight of either of them triggered a two hour panic attack... [She has overcome those fears through de-sensitization training.]

Lila is hand shy. Despite my best efforts she does not like to be touched. Other than that she is very sweet.

I got sweepea as a baby, but she is afraid of bicycles... [She has also overcome those fears through de-sensitization training.]

The only thing Maggie seems to be afraid of are cage doors closing...

Tusk is an attitudinous CAG. He isn't afraid of anything, and at the same time spooks at the drop of a hat. He will instigate, then fly off... then instigate some more.

 

[Kiwibird]

The only thing I've ever seen truly scare Kiwi were the vertical blinds at our old apartment. We left the windows open in the summer and the wind made them clack together which terrified him beyond belief. Other than that, he hasn't shown fear towards anything, but he does have a vendetta against the little floor sweeper I use around his cage. He will seek it out when he's out and try to chew it up! I think that's just because it "takes away" the food he's flung everywhere (he was keeping that for later you know).

 

[MomtoPercy]

Some of these are such sad stories

 

[getwozzy]

With Jackie he was terrified of sticks and gloves...when he heard crying or if someone raised their voice- "don't cry... It's ok!! Don't cry! I'm sorry!!"....any time he heard knocking it would trigger his Amazon SCREAMS....

It's sad what some of these guys go through

 

[Birdman666]

Spray bottles and balloons. I also found it odd that he knew exactly what beer was, and any time he hears a can being popped open, he expected some. His previous owners were 19 and 20, a young couple who fed him pizza scraps. I'm assuming they probably gave him beer as well. I'm not a beer drinker but my partner is, and Kumar demanded some as soon as he heard the pop the very night I brought him home. His request was and is, DENIED!

NONE OF MY BIRDS LIKE BALLOONS EITHER.... even my greenwing.

And they weren't teased with them. There is just something about those big scarey things...

Actually, one of the funniest things I ever saw was going through one of those drive through car washes with Sally.... my red lored.

She went from freaking out and flying to the back seat cowering in the beginning, to sitting on my hand watching the water hit the windshield, but not get her wet (she ducked for no reason, then her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and she did her happy noises, complete with tail displays.)

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Rosie had phobias of men since she was abused by a man, and children still freak her out. She was abused and neglected, I do not know why she is afraid of children but even my own nieces scare her. If they come up to her to quickly she almost always flies. I sometimes wonder if her original abuse started after biting the families child and even now she may be fearful it will happen again. But since her past is a mystery I can only guess. Rosie is no longer afraid of men, and is a lot better with kids. It amazes me, when my friends first rescued her she would injure herself falling to the bottom of her cage if a man walked up.

Kenji on the other hand has a phobia of boxes, it's not as bad as it was at first. If I bring a box into my room I have to move very slowly, and he'll be skinny with his wings out twitching as he makes ear piercing alarm calls. Sometimes he may even fall to the bottom of his cage. When Kenji was 3 his original owner had a divorce with his wife, and she raged around the house throwing boxes all over the place. While panicking Kenji broke his wing between two cage bars, making the whole experience more traumatic. Kenji is 21 now, and even though I'm seeing a lot of fear I've been told it's nothing like how it used to be.

 

[Birdman666]

rosie didn't have major phobias, some things would startle her but i desensitized her quickly.

Kenji on the other hand has a phobia of boxes, it's not as bad as it was at first. If i bring a box into my room i have to move very slowly, and he'll be skinny with his wings out twitching as he makes ear piercing alarm calls. Sometimes he may even fall to the bottom of his cage. When kenji was 3 his original owner had a divorce with his wife, and she raged around the house throwing boxes all over the place. While panicking kenji broke his wing between two cage bars, making the whole experience more traumatic. Kenji is 21 now, and even though i'm seeing a lot of fear i've been told it's nothing like how it used to be.

how odd! Those are foraging toys in my household... Objects of delight. Ooohh... Let's see what dad put in it...

 

[Featheredsamurai]

rosie didn't have major phobias, some things would startle her but i desensitized her quickly.

Kenji on the other hand has a phobia of boxes, it's not as bad as it was at first. If i bring a box into my room i have to move very slowly, and he'll be skinny with his wings out twitching as he makes ear piercing alarm calls. Sometimes he may even fall to the bottom of his cage. When kenji was 3 his original owner had a divorce with his wife, and she raged around the house throwing boxes all over the place. While panicking kenji broke his wing between two cage bars, making the whole experience more traumatic. Kenji is 21 now, and even though i'm seeing a lot of fear i've been told it's nothing like how it used to be.

how odd! Those are foraging toys in my household... Objects of delight. Ooohh... Let's see what dad put in it...

many birds like boxes, including Rosie. But kenji had a very traumatic experience involving them as I explained. I expect he would have liked them if he never had that experience