Odinn's Recluse

[Enko_chan]

As you may recall, Odinn had a minor injury to his brow, which involved bleeding. Though he didn't bleed too much, I had to clean the area to find the source of the blood, to make sure it wasn't coming FROM his nares, and I had to clean and put ointment on the wound.

At this point, nearly two months later, Odinn is still terrified of me. We have truly moved back to square one. He is even less friendly with Chris over this. Freyja, on the other hand, is jollier, and more personable than ever. I spend time with Freyja every day. She is actually willing to leave her counterpart in the cage to come spend time with me. Odinn will come out with Chris, so long as Freyja is there too, but Chris has very little time to spend with them.

This is different from starting over, because in the beginning I was an unknown to Odinn. I had to gain trust from nothing. Right now, I am an object of fear, and I am not sure I can change that. I was adamant that I be the one to do the holding of him, and cleaning, because I did not want to damage the bond he had with Chris, and I stand by that decision. Regardless of Chris's busy schedule right now, the lovebirds are primarily bonded to Chris and I do not want to mess with that.

Odinn is a very nervous bird, even in the best of time, in spite of having an all-around top-notch happy life and upbringing, and converting him to enjoying life as a companion to people was not easy and did not happen quickly. Has anyone had an experience like this that they could share, or advice above and beyond the usual on how to bond? I know it takes time and patience, but the usual conditioning, treats, approaching gently isn't cutting it this time. I will do all that this time, but I did all that before, and in his eyes, I betrayed the trust I built. I will have to take extra steps, or perhaps, this will simply take extra time.

I care a great deal for Odinn, and I know he has a much happier life when he spends time out to play, explore and socialize. Lately he will not even leave his cage to explore with Freyja, even if I am nowhere near it. I do not want to regain his trust so much for my own enjoyment, as I do to keep him from living in fear.

[linda040899]

Kristi,
While Odinn was parent raised and not totally tame when he was here, he was familiar with hands in the cage and hands touching him. I'm not completely convinced that one incident is behind what's going on. Look beyond the incident and check for anything else that might be different. Is there a new picture on a wall, something else new that happened at the same time that might be scaring him? It's odd for him not to want to follow Freyja, as they've always been joined at the tail feathers, so to speak. It may be something very minor but to him it's very frightening.

[Enko_chan]

Maybe it is because Chris is around so seldom? Could it have something to do with Sayuri being here?

These are two big changes that have taken place around the time of this incident. The real switch really did seem to happen immediately following the examining and cleaning of the wound. Odinn really hates being grabbed and held. Still, you are right. I have caught and held him before. I have clipped his wings, without something like this happening. I will look into this. I do not want Odinn to be unhappy, and certainly do not want a happy-go-lucky little fellow like him to become cage-bound. This has been very upsetting to me, in the grand scheme of upsetting things going on lately!

[linda040899]

The change could very well be because Chris is not around as much. If Odinn really likes Chris, he may not want to come out of his cage unless Chris is there.

What kind of interaction has Odinn had with Sayuri? Is she aggressive to him? Parrotlets may be small but they can also be VERY fiesty! You're mixing birds from 2 different continents, Africa and South America. Sometimes the mixture is not always a good one.

However, if I had to bet the farm, it would be Chris' absence that's behind all this.

[Enko_chan]

Sayuri has had absolutely no aggressive interaction with the lovebirds whatsoever. She and they don't have much interest in being pals, but they also haven't fought. They have an air of indifference toward one another. Benny, on the other hand, is actively against the lovebirds, feels they are the enemy, guards his territory against them and will invade their own territory when he's feeling particularly aggressive.

Chris is making a concerted effort to spend more time with Odinn when he gets back from his trip this weekend. He does what he can to work them into his morning getting ready to go schedule and evening winding down, but he is going to make more time for the lovebirds every day. They mean a great deal to us. Hopefully this will bring them around. I think you are correct. This, in combination with the injury incident, has made Odinn feel less secure in his surroundings and we will do all we can to comfort him and help bring him 'round. Thank you again for the excellent advice. I will keep you updated.

[Enko_chan]

Update:

Guess who is on my arm happy as can be, as we speak?

You guessed it!

Odinn!!

This is a good start!!

[linda040899]

:) :) :) :)

While Odinn may not like being held, he knows that you won't hurt him so I don't see the trust as being broken. You were doing what was necessary to help him and I think he totally understood that. Odinn may find Benny intimidating, even though he's smaller, but I think Odinn is just missing Chris. Hopefully, more time with the lovebirds is just what the doctor ordered!

[Enko_chan]

I have a happy update.

I am so happy I brought this up. I had been so down in the dumps over it, and now that I'm feeling so much better things are working out very well!

Between Chris and I, we're giving Odinn a lot of TLC, and its come a long way. I made lots of toys yesterday. The swelling in my hands and everywhere went down so much in the past few days I took advantage, we've been spending a lot more time with them- well, mostly me, but the extra 30-45 mins a day Chris gives Odinn really makes a huge difference. Odi is back to his chipper self again after just a few days. I think he was just missing his daddy time. I am amazed.

Also- the sun came out, the rain stopped, and the air warmed up these past few days and everyone is feeling happy and alive around here, I wouldn't be surprised at all if that had something to do with the mood shift!

[wilkiecoco]

I just needed to post, cause this reminds me of what happened with kiwi when we first got him. He bonded very quickly with only my son initially, and i was so down about that. I was sooo stressed anytime i was near him, wanting so bad for him to like me, that i truly believe he was picking up on my nervous energy. My dear hubby told me to chill, relax, and let it happen on it's own. when i relaxed, so did kiwi, and from that moment on - 5 years ago - he's been the velcro birdie of the family!!! :happy: :happy:

I think Odinn knew you were stressed about it - by venting about it on this site, and getting some help, you relaxed, and so did odinn.

I'm so happy to hear your little one is his happy chipper self. YAY!!!!!!! :happy::happy:

[linda040899]

All creatures express things via body language and animals are experts at picking up on this. They sense when we like them and they also sense when we are afraid or stressed around them.

With birds, their body language may be very subtle or it may be very obvious to us. For instance, my Princess of Wales Parakeet is not hand tame but she loves to interact. She's not a bird to take a bath in her water dish but I discovered, quite by accident, that she LOVES to be misted with a water bottle, but only when she wants it. She has a certain toy in her cage and she's taught me that when she plays with it, she wants water added to play time!

I'm glad that both you and Odinn are getting what you both want. :)

[Enko_chan]

I agree with you both, Wilkiecoco and Linda. I think, that I was seeing a little stress from Odinn after his injury, which I suspect was very real. He was upset with me for grabbing and holding him down, there was certainly tension with Freyja around this time which is how I believe the injury came about, Chris started his crazy schedule and there was a new bird in the mix. On top of all of this I was sick, sicker than usual, and stressed out about that business and all that was feeding back between the birds and I.

Once we all calmed down a bit, Odinn has been perfectly willing to spend time out of his cage again, and with me. I've never been his favorite human pal around here, and that is fine. Things are pretty even, the way things are, with the bird to human being bond in this house. I was really upset that Odinn spent all of Freyja's out of the cage fun time cowering in the corner! I worried that I had done something to make this happen, something that would be very difficult to undo. For his sake, I am glad that a simple attitude adjustment all around was the answer!