Tonifrax
Guest
Hi there,
My name is Toni, Im new to the forum and I currently own 2 Parrotlets, green male (Pan) and blue female (Leche). I think they are about 3 years old. In the past I have also owned an Indian Ringneck so have a good idea of what I am doing.
I bought my parrotlets a year ago. I got them from a guy who advertised them online. His teenage son wanted to breed birds but got bored and so decided to sell all of their birds. I wasn't 100% sure on them but when I saw them I caved. They were in terrible condition. The green one was bald on his head and they were in a tiny cage. The guy also told me they had bought several parrotlets and tried to breed them but they ended up killing each other and these were they only ones that survived. They housed some of their parrotlets in an aviary with other species and the parrotlets killed some of their other birds. They were fed a seed diet only, never had fruit or vegetables. Never had toys to play with either. I took them on because I knew I could provide them with a better home.
I immediately housed them in a larger cage. Improved their diet and provided them with plenty of toys to keep them entertained. They had never been handled before and they were terrified. I also noticed the blue one picking on the green one and figured that was why he was bald on his head. I separated them a couple of months ago and have been working with them every day to try to gain their trust. Due to the recent lockdown I've had much more time to spend with them.
The green male has been much more receptive. After managing to get him to take sunflower seeds - the only treat they seem to like - from my hand I started target training. He however wasn't very interested in touching the stick. I decided to try get him to step up onto a perch. I started training him to step up about a month ago and have worked on it every day. He now steps up onto my hand inside his cage. He takes the treat and immediately steps off again onto a perch. I have tried to do it outside of the cage and he just flies away. The female will sometimes take seeds from my hand but usually sneaks out of the cage door and flies away and out of reach.
They are housed in separate rooms now. I let them out separately but bring the other one into the room and leave it in the cage so they still see each other. They are more interested in getting to each other than in doing anything with me. It makes training them difficult because if I let one out it just calls to the other one in the other room and is not focussed on me. They also like to sit high up and usually fall asleep on top of my curtains where I cannot get to them.
I want to tame them but it has taken a month to get to where we are at now and I'm just not sure how to proceed. Should I just continue doing what I am doing? How do I get him from stepping up inside the cage to stepping up outside the cage instead of flying away? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Toni
My name is Toni, Im new to the forum and I currently own 2 Parrotlets, green male (Pan) and blue female (Leche). I think they are about 3 years old. In the past I have also owned an Indian Ringneck so have a good idea of what I am doing.
I bought my parrotlets a year ago. I got them from a guy who advertised them online. His teenage son wanted to breed birds but got bored and so decided to sell all of their birds. I wasn't 100% sure on them but when I saw them I caved. They were in terrible condition. The green one was bald on his head and they were in a tiny cage. The guy also told me they had bought several parrotlets and tried to breed them but they ended up killing each other and these were they only ones that survived. They housed some of their parrotlets in an aviary with other species and the parrotlets killed some of their other birds. They were fed a seed diet only, never had fruit or vegetables. Never had toys to play with either. I took them on because I knew I could provide them with a better home.
I immediately housed them in a larger cage. Improved their diet and provided them with plenty of toys to keep them entertained. They had never been handled before and they were terrified. I also noticed the blue one picking on the green one and figured that was why he was bald on his head. I separated them a couple of months ago and have been working with them every day to try to gain their trust. Due to the recent lockdown I've had much more time to spend with them.
The green male has been much more receptive. After managing to get him to take sunflower seeds - the only treat they seem to like - from my hand I started target training. He however wasn't very interested in touching the stick. I decided to try get him to step up onto a perch. I started training him to step up about a month ago and have worked on it every day. He now steps up onto my hand inside his cage. He takes the treat and immediately steps off again onto a perch. I have tried to do it outside of the cage and he just flies away. The female will sometimes take seeds from my hand but usually sneaks out of the cage door and flies away and out of reach.
They are housed in separate rooms now. I let them out separately but bring the other one into the room and leave it in the cage so they still see each other. They are more interested in getting to each other than in doing anything with me. It makes training them difficult because if I let one out it just calls to the other one in the other room and is not focussed on me. They also like to sit high up and usually fall asleep on top of my curtains where I cannot get to them.
I want to tame them but it has taken a month to get to where we are at now and I'm just not sure how to proceed. Should I just continue doing what I am doing? How do I get him from stepping up inside the cage to stepping up outside the cage instead of flying away? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Toni