ellaC
Registered
I need some advise and encouragements here. Sorry for the long post ahead.
My tiel, a female named Snow, is one that we found on a walk and willingly follow us home. She is obviously a pet that has escaped or abandoned and cannot find food for herself. We didn't bring her to a vet as she is eating and coping well. That was 2 years ago when I am still living with my ex.
He is the main caretaker for Snow as he work from home 3-4 days a week. I will try to interact with her after work and during weekends.
She is selectively aggressive towards me, she doesn't willingly step up and I need multiple tries. We let her out for 2-3hrs before he start working. It's the same routine for weekends. Only when he is not around during playtime, e.g he goes out to get breakfast, will she come to me - land on my head or flock call me.
If she is in good mood, I can scratch her, else she will be opening her beaks at me or warn whenever my hand is close.
I think I built up some trust during the time he was send to work overseas for 3 days and I managed to get few days off (it's lucky I have leave to clear). During that 3 days, I managed to get close to her. She willingly fly to me, step up and preen on me. She even asked for scratches and naps on me. I spent a lot more time with her outside her playtime by allowing her out of cage to watch TV with me.
When my ex was back, everything was back to normal. The friendly Snow (towards me) only lasted for 2 months (or 3months?) before she is back to being aggressive towards me. i feel she got even worst than before. It just happen I am required me to Ot a lot more and even on alternate Saturdays, covering for colleague who was hospitalised. I spent much lesser time with her.
Fast forward to 4 months ago, boyfriend and I broke up. It's not the kind of dramatic one, so we're not screaming at each other daily in front of Snow. But the atmosphere did get weird but I am not sure if Snow picked it up. Ex soon moved to work in another city.
Snow stayed with me. I struggle to handle her. My working hours is kind of 'flexible', as long as I work 7-8hrs between 9 to 6 and meet my dateline. So I opted to start later to clean her cage and feed her before work.
She is still that selective aggressive towards me. I did lose patience with her especially when she is not cooperative when I am running late. I tried to lure her out with food but it doesn't always work. So i ended up forcing her to step up multiple times. I know it's a big no-no to grab her so I never did that. She eventually stepped up after biting and warning me but I won't budge. She was doing her full wing spread when on my hand then flies in circles before landing on her play perch. Sometimes she scream when she landed. (Can anyone explain this behaviour? Never seen her doing that with my ex. She still doing this occasionally)
I try to give her an hour outside of the cage daily, and then more when I get back home from work after 6. I tired to talk to her and spend time trying to engage her with toys and snacks. She only comes to me for snacks. She sometimes make this soft flock-call like sound while eating, which puzzles me if she meant it as a warning to back off or is she happy?
Occasionally, she gets aggressive even when my finger get close to her cage, except when there is snacks on it.
During the weekends, I can take things slow. I let her out for at least 2hrs and we eat breakfast together sometimes, salad, plain cereal or bread. She does enjoy that but is still aggressive and kind of wary and jumpy. I feel like we're doing cha-cha - forward today then backwards another. I really wish to be able to handle her more easily - scratch her and get her to step up and be move into and out of cage easier.
In frustration, I texted my ex for advice and he told me to ignore her. If she doesn't react positively to interactions, then no interaction till I am free to entertain her. If she doesn't want to get out of cage, just change the seeds and water and the poop tray. No out of cage time till I am back from work. If she doesn't want to go back to her cage then leave her outside and close all doors and windows with food and drinks.
I have tried ignoring and no out of cage time, it kind of worked but she will scream randomly for attention and to get out. I just ignore as per instructed. I don't feel any improvement though. In fact I get feedback from a neighbour that she is screaming a tiny bit too much when I am not home. And she does gets more aggressive when I get home sometimes, more screaming and biting.
I am planning to send her for bird boarding before deciding on what to do next. If things doesn't improve, I might have to give her away.
Does anyone have any advices? Thanks
My tiel, a female named Snow, is one that we found on a walk and willingly follow us home. She is obviously a pet that has escaped or abandoned and cannot find food for herself. We didn't bring her to a vet as she is eating and coping well. That was 2 years ago when I am still living with my ex.
He is the main caretaker for Snow as he work from home 3-4 days a week. I will try to interact with her after work and during weekends.
She is selectively aggressive towards me, she doesn't willingly step up and I need multiple tries. We let her out for 2-3hrs before he start working. It's the same routine for weekends. Only when he is not around during playtime, e.g he goes out to get breakfast, will she come to me - land on my head or flock call me.
If she is in good mood, I can scratch her, else she will be opening her beaks at me or warn whenever my hand is close.
I think I built up some trust during the time he was send to work overseas for 3 days and I managed to get few days off (it's lucky I have leave to clear). During that 3 days, I managed to get close to her. She willingly fly to me, step up and preen on me. She even asked for scratches and naps on me. I spent a lot more time with her outside her playtime by allowing her out of cage to watch TV with me.
When my ex was back, everything was back to normal. The friendly Snow (towards me) only lasted for 2 months (or 3months?) before she is back to being aggressive towards me. i feel she got even worst than before. It just happen I am required me to Ot a lot more and even on alternate Saturdays, covering for colleague who was hospitalised. I spent much lesser time with her.
Fast forward to 4 months ago, boyfriend and I broke up. It's not the kind of dramatic one, so we're not screaming at each other daily in front of Snow. But the atmosphere did get weird but I am not sure if Snow picked it up. Ex soon moved to work in another city.
Snow stayed with me. I struggle to handle her. My working hours is kind of 'flexible', as long as I work 7-8hrs between 9 to 6 and meet my dateline. So I opted to start later to clean her cage and feed her before work.
She is still that selective aggressive towards me. I did lose patience with her especially when she is not cooperative when I am running late. I tried to lure her out with food but it doesn't always work. So i ended up forcing her to step up multiple times. I know it's a big no-no to grab her so I never did that. She eventually stepped up after biting and warning me but I won't budge. She was doing her full wing spread when on my hand then flies in circles before landing on her play perch. Sometimes she scream when she landed. (Can anyone explain this behaviour? Never seen her doing that with my ex. She still doing this occasionally)
I try to give her an hour outside of the cage daily, and then more when I get back home from work after 6. I tired to talk to her and spend time trying to engage her with toys and snacks. She only comes to me for snacks. She sometimes make this soft flock-call like sound while eating, which puzzles me if she meant it as a warning to back off or is she happy?
Occasionally, she gets aggressive even when my finger get close to her cage, except when there is snacks on it.
During the weekends, I can take things slow. I let her out for at least 2hrs and we eat breakfast together sometimes, salad, plain cereal or bread. She does enjoy that but is still aggressive and kind of wary and jumpy. I feel like we're doing cha-cha - forward today then backwards another. I really wish to be able to handle her more easily - scratch her and get her to step up and be move into and out of cage easier.
In frustration, I texted my ex for advice and he told me to ignore her. If she doesn't react positively to interactions, then no interaction till I am free to entertain her. If she doesn't want to get out of cage, just change the seeds and water and the poop tray. No out of cage time till I am back from work. If she doesn't want to go back to her cage then leave her outside and close all doors and windows with food and drinks.
I have tried ignoring and no out of cage time, it kind of worked but she will scream randomly for attention and to get out. I just ignore as per instructed. I don't feel any improvement though. In fact I get feedback from a neighbour that she is screaming a tiny bit too much when I am not home. And she does gets more aggressive when I get home sometimes, more screaming and biting.
I am planning to send her for bird boarding before deciding on what to do next. If things doesn't improve, I might have to give her away.
Does anyone have any advices? Thanks
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Thank you for giving us a detailed history of Snow.
