yay!!!!!!

[bookworm0550]

i'm so happy :) Pan walked up onto my finger and stayed there for about a minute. he even preened himself while on it. I couldn't take a photo cuz that was the hand that was holding the camera :( I tried it again a few minutes later to have him step up, but he bit me. that's ok. so i gave him some millet and he sat on my hands while eating. woo hoo. Baby steps!!!!!!

[LovelySydney]

Thats great news!! How long did this take??? You're right - baby steps and more baby steps. The learning to trust is the hardest part! (& the patience of the parront:))

[bookworm0550]

i've had pan since January so like 7 months. it got better when i moved into my new place where it was no bird's territory and got really better when Pan and evolet started to really like one another cuz if she was on me, he wanted to be next to her so he had to hop on. and now he does whether or not she's on me. but he's just never walked up to my finger and perched there. i told him what a good boy he was the whole time he was eating millet.

[bookworm0550]

hehe, i called up my boyfriend right after that. he didn't believe me. He keeps telling me that Pan will never come around and will never like me, etc... But i refuse to give up on Pan. he doesn't have to bond w/ me like Joey, but he's gonna learn to trust me sooner or later. it'll take time and patience. i have his whole life w/ him.

oh and another yay: joey and Pan ate all their TOP pellets :) I didn't think they would like it cuz it looks like rabbit food. and i ate one and it was nasty. so i got them lafeber's pellets w/ a teaspoon of the TOP and I have been noticing that it's been disappearing from joey and Pan's food bowls. turns out they have been eating it. all of it!!!!! that's all i gave the boys today to eat while i was at work and i came home and their bowls are empty!!!! their bowls are never empty, especially when pellets are involved. jada likes the lafeber and that's fine w/ me. and evie is just evie, picky as ever, but i've seen her eat it though she does not look like she's enjoying it. hehe, oh well. whew, i thought i blew 30 bucks on nothing too.

[CompassionAk]

I used to have a cockatiel who was about 2 years old and had never been handled when I brought him home.It took me about a year before he'd trust me enough to eat out of my hand and about a year and a half before he would step up.He was never fond of hands but whenever I would open his cage he would fly over to where I was and hang out and whistle to me.It took me probably 8 years before he let me scratch his head.I probably could have pushed things and put more time into getting him used to hands and what not but I just let him decide how things progressed and while he was never a snuggle monster like my lovebird is I wouldn't trade the relationship we had for anything =) Just keep up the sweet talk and he'll come around !

[Enko_chan]

oh and another yay: joey and Pan ate all their TOP pellets :) I didn't think they would like it cuz it looks like rabbit food. and i ate one and it was nasty.

Ever feel like this board is a group therapy session during which many times a day you think to yourself "phew! I'm not the only one who does things like that?" :blush:

None of my birds will touch the TOP pellets. I tried adding them bit by bit and eventually replacing the other pellets and they aren't going for it. It surprises me with the lovies, as they are much more like in composition, size, taste, and texture to the ones Linda fed them the first 10 months of their lives... I got a huge bag of it. Its in the freezer for the time being, I'll see if the quaker likes it.

but the only pellets I've tried since Linda's were almost gone that they'll touch are roudybush minis. I prefer the TOP ones in terms of their ingredients, but the roudybush ones are acceptable.

Here and there I take out a little and add a bit to their birdie bread or to a breakfast grain mush I prepare some mornings. One way or another, it won't go to waste!

[bookworm0550]

yeah, enko chan, when i first opened that TOP brand bag, i was a bit disappointed in the way it looked cuz all I thought was, "yuck, this looks like rabbit food, they are so not gonna eat this." and they didn't. they didn't touch it at all. i just dropped a few in their bowls hoping they'd eat at least one. but eventually i noticed joey and pan were consuming more and more of it. and that's the only pellet they'll eat now. they don't touch the lafeber's at all. i do like the ingredients in the TOP better as well. i like how they explain what each ingredient does.

[Pips mom]

I also ordered those pellets, but so far they haven't been much of a hit here. I mostly wanted them for Ivy because the other pellets have soy and I was told that too much soy is not good.....considering she eats just about everything, I gave these a try and they just sit in her dish....I even tried mixing them with the lafebers and it didn't help. I wonder.....do these pellets come in different sizes? because the ones I got are quite big, which is fine for Ivy, but they seem way too big for a lovie.....I suppose I could crush them up or break them up and see if Pip will eat them......so he hasn't been a very big pellet eater though.

[bookworm0550]

yeah, i break up the bigger pieces for them cuz they can be too big for a small bird.