More ideas and places to ask for help....
Hello,
I love your web site and have learned a lot from it. I have a 5 month
old
male eclectus that I have had for about a month. The breeder advised me
to
leave him in his cage for the first couple of weeks to get settled and
then
start letting him out of his cage. I did this but had a hard time
getting
him out of his cage since he was lungeing at me and as I didn't want to
get
bitten, I pulled away from him. I now realize that I reinforced his
behavior
and just made it more difficult for both of us. It is now a battle to
get
him out and then he just sits on my hand and won't take treats or play
with
toys. He also screeches a lot. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Debbie
Dear Debbie,
I get mad at that breeder!! Telling you to leave him in his cage a
couple of
weeks is such a bad idea.
Any bird that has been handled and played with as a baby will not need
any
more than a day to settle down. Our babies are so used to going places
and
being played with that they go to anyone and I truly believe new buyers
should start with that foundation. "Annabelle" on our Eclectus page was
a
baby. She is the one flying to us in a flight suit. "Wilma" is the baby
Ekkie on the miniature horse. That baby was used to do anything. Then
there
was Pilgrim, the male baby who actually rode on horses with us. I am not
boasting about us, nor am I trying to sell you a baby. I don't have any
birds to sell. I am just trying to illustrate that babies need to see
the
world while they are at the breeders. Then, going home is not tramatic
to
them.
I love the Eclectus so much. It is a shame that the breeder advised
this. I
hope I don't put you on the spot by asking you this, but I would like to
know who the breeder is. My rational is not to bad mouth this person,
but
to make sure I don't send buyers to him/her. Breeder education is so
important, but is something we breeders need to do when we take on this
responsibility.
There are different approaches to biting depending on the bird and it is
so
hard for me to advise being that I don't know you or him.
Here is one approach given on the Land of Vos by Carolyn Swicegood.
http://www.landofvos.com/faqs/faqs4.html#faq5 Here at our home,
this has
actually worked really well, but I seem to be able to read birds. I
don't
know how in tune you are with them. I don't mean to criticize....I think
my
ability came from working with horses to tell you the truth. Both are
prey
animals and there are many similarities in communication.
A VERY opposite approach is presented in the PBAS material. I think
this is
the link to join;
ParrotBAS-subscribe@yahoogroups.com They advocate reading
your parrot's communication and respecting it. Not dominating. I do know
it
works too, but I seem to go a different route. I did send your email
onto a
lady named Nikki that is a member of this group. Here in a nutshell is
much
of their philosophy: Read your parrot's body language and respect it.
Don't
try to force yourself on him. Realize we teach parrots to bite Look at
the
situation from the bird's point of view: if a hand is presented for a
step
up and I bite, that hand stops bugging me. The bite serves a purpose.
All
biting serves a purpose. This group does an excellent job of asking many
questions to define what purposes the biting serves.
One thing that both of these approaches state is "don't allow yourself
to be
bitten!" I couldn't agree more and my flesh is right there with my mind.
Allowing him to bite you teaches him to bite and to bite harder and
harder
to make his communication to you very clear.
When I say we opt more for the intensive love approach, I don't know if
I am
being completely thorough, for we have spent hours reading out loud to
untrusting parrots to get them used to our voices. I also believe
strongly
in disrupting a territory by making your home bird friendly and by using
sleep cages. Here are links to those articles.
http://pamperedpeeps.com/homebirdfriendly.htm and
http://pamperedpeeps.com/sleepcages.htm
I love the Eclectus! Please also read up on their diet, for so many turn
into pluckers. Read on our "Belleek" who is still wearing "all of his
clothes."
http://pamperedpeeps.com/belleek.htm
Blessings,
Beth
"I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my
hands." Psalm 63:4
www.pamperedpeeps.com
