A little help needed for a first time parront

bytriqz

Regular Member
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Ok so let me start this by saying, shes from a pet store and I was told she was 8 months old. I wasn't planning to buy her ( i think its a she) but she was being picked on by the other bird in there and after some eye contact from her and some interest she came home with me....(I was planning on buying a bird just a hand raised from a breeder as it is my first bird) I have had her about a month and well there isn't any progress besides her settling in shes the same with me day one as she is now. She is scared of hands which is fair, but she doesn't show interest in any other food (nuts,brocli,kayle,banana, apple) or millet as long as I'm holding it. I know what people have been saying with approaching slowly problem is she doesn't puff feathers down when she goes to the other side of her large cage. Im not sure if its due to having lots of perches or what but im at a loss right now she will happily eat near me and she will happily perch on the door and play and explore as long as I don't move and the hands are not near. Any advice? because right now I'm not sure if maybe she is just not a "human" bird in which case she will have to be with another bird or whether I am doing something wrong? but most positive reinforcement and training stuff isn't helping as she has such a big cage I can't slowly approach her pushing boundaries slowly. So should I change what I'm doing? or admit I'm not experienced enough and let her go to a home with more birds and a more experienced owner?
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:welcome: What lovely bird , what is her name please?
It will take time and patience for her to trust you,lets link in @Roz who always offers excellent advice.
Don't give up on her it really is still early days.
 
:welcome: What lovely bird , what is her name please?
It will take time and patience for her to trust you,lets link in @Roz who always offers excellent advice.
Don't give up on her it really is still early days.

Hey, her name is Tiki as she looks a bit like a flame and thinking about it a tiki torch is essentially a perching flame :p I know terrible xD but yeah here she is in all her FLOOF glory. And I am aware of time an patience Im just wondering if there is anything I can do to help as I feel not approaching her and helping her means she will stay like this for ever.
 

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Welcome, you’ve come to the right place folks here are really helpful.

I feel your pain being a first time bird owner myself only a few weeks ago, I can’t offer any great words of wisdom but time does really help and also don’t let anything he does or doesn’t do move you from your task.

Also never take anything personally, I think he likes me today yayyy, then oh he hates me again, then yay he likes me, so patience is right up there with persistence.
 
Welcome, you’ve come to the right place folks here are really helpful.

I feel your pain being a first time bird owner myself only a few weeks ago, I can’t offer any great words of wisdom but time does really help and also don’t let anything he does or doesn’t do move you from your task.

Also never take anything personally, I think he likes me today yayyy, then oh he hates me again, then yay he likes me, so patience is right up there with persistence.
yeah just I would of hoped to see some progress after a month of having her! oh well I guess.
 
Hello and welcome to you and your lovely pineapple conure. Love the name Tiki, well that's one amazing cage you have for her but that may also not help her in the initial times of bonding, ok it will take longer for her to trust you but when she dose its on her own grounds as she has full freedom to keep away from you. with a smaller cage you can get closer to her so she learns that you can be trusted. I will tag our lovely @Roz for her training expertise
 
It took a good 6 months for one of my Amazon's to settle in. Each bird takes a different amount of time.

You just need to take things slowly and at the birds pace.
Yeah, I guess thats going to be it I just wanted to check im doing the right thing is all :)
 
Hello and welcome to you and your lovely pineapple conure. Love the name Tiki, well that's one amazing cage you have for her but that may also not help her in the initial times of bonding, ok it will take longer for her to trust you but when she dose its on her own grounds as she has full freedom to keep away from you. with a smaller cage you can get closer to her so she learns that you can be trusted. I will tag our lovely @Roz for her training expertise
Thank you ! And yeah I shouldn't of removed the middle partition :( oh well at least shes happy :) she LOVES the room the cage gives her.
 
:welcome: to you and Tiki! She does look like a flame, doesn't she! :biggrin: That's a wonderful cage you have for her. Glad she loves it so much. Plus it is big enough for her to be able to get away from you if she isn't sure. With my used-to-be untame Amazon, Ollie, I got the biggest cage I could for exactly that reason.

You need to do everything you can to make her feel comfortable around you by pairing yourself with good experiences. So my first question is, how does she react when you approach her? If each time you approach to clean her cage, swap food bowls, put her back into the cage, or even just to say "hello", and her body language changes from relaxed to fearful and she tries to escape, you are actually pairing yourself with fearful experiences. If these outnumber the good experiences, she will remain fearful of you. So think about how you can change this. I know with Ollie he used to hyperventilate and hide behind toys at just eye contact. So I didn't make full eye contact and definitely none when I was close to him. We have two eyes on the front of our heads like predators - so a steady, "I'm going to eat you", gaze can be quite alarming to a prey animal like a parrot. Birds feel safer higher up where it is easier to spot predators so get down low when you have to clean her cage out or change the food and water bowls. I used to crawl to Ollie's cage. Sounds extreme, but it was the only way to keep his body language as relaxed as I could. At other times I would use negative reinforcement to approach him at full height. You can read about that in this thread:


Have you noticed what her favourite food stuffs are? What does she pick out of her food bowls first? These will tend to be her favourites. Remove her favourite things and pop one into her food bowl when you approach her cage. It's helpful if her food bowl is metal so that she can hear something being dropped in. Does she eat fruit and veggies? It may be easier to eventually entice her to come take a piece of food from you behind bars. Try wedging something big between bars like a piece of apple.

I would stay away as far as she is comfortable with in the beginning. You'll find over time you will be able to get closer and closer. It is no good sitting by her cage if she cowers in the far corner. Your aim always, and especially right now, is to keep her body language relaxed. It may mean you can't get close enough to offer a treat for some months. And that's ok. It will take as long as it takes. Keep a diary of her progress. It is hard to see progress from day to day, but if you read back, you will be amazed!
 
Hello and welcome - I wish I had found this site when we first had Dora - a similar story to yours only I only went to the garden centre area to have a regular breast screening done and came back with a parrot later that day!
Everyone here will give you a lot of virtual hugs and support you all the way. Time and patience is really the best way - as @Scott199 says one day is good then it feels like you are back to square one again.
 
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