Taming Ripley

[helenut]

I was going to make an online blog for Ripley, and I still might but I thought I might share my experiences with her so far on here.

I got Ripley (named because I went to the Ripley's believe it or not museum the day after I picked her up) 2 weeks ago from the pet shop. She had been returned to them as she killed the bird she was sold with. The person in the shop told me she's around 6 months old and wasn't eating anything, and from the look of her she was obviously distressed.

When I got her home she was clearly terrified, I set up her cage and left her there to settle down a bit and get used to things. I left her be for about 4 days to settle, just giving her food and water and trying not to scare her as much as possible! As it turns out she only eats sunflower seeds, I offer her a mix of just about everything but at the moment she's only picking out the sunflower seeds which I suppose is fine - at least she is eating something!

For just over a week now I've been spending as much time as possible with her, her cage is next to my PC and she sits all day and watches me. Here's a rough guide of what we've been doing (considering I am a self employed web designer I spend about 90% of my time next to my PC almost all of her waking time is with me).

Day 1 - Can't go closer than approx. a 4ft radius around her cage without her flipping out, so today I have just been sat in the room talking to her. She tweets back but I think that's to the birds downstairs that she can hear. Gave her some millet and just talked to her from a distance, don't want to stress her too much!

Day 2 - My PC desk is around 2ft from her cage, so I sat at it talking to her. She's on the furthest perch away from me but does not seem unhappy.

Day 5 - She moves around freely in her cage now when I'm sat at my PC, although if I look in her direction she goes and hides.

Day 6 - Offered my hand in the cage holding some millet, but she was not too happy. I stayed still and patiently for about 20 mins but she constantly screeched at me. I feel I tried to rush her, so instead I put the millet in her cage and sat about 1 foot away. After about another 30 mins she came over and had a few mouthfuls.

Day 8 - Put millet in cage with me sat directly next to it and she hesitantly ate it, but if I even moved a muscle though she would run and hide.

Day 10 - Had a major argument with someone close to me and I was sat here crying (not audibly sobbing - I didn't think!) But as soon as I started crying Ripley was tweeting at me so loudly, making sounds I didn't think she could make! She was squaking, banging on the bars, screeching, clicking, just going crazy really! Then she got as close as she could and started regurgitating through the bars at me. I think she was trying to help :) and she actually really cheered me up. As soon as I stopped crying, she calmed down and started beak grinding.

(today) Day 11 - I think me and Ripley bonded a lot yesterday - who would have thought crying would help! She is not as fearful when I change her food and water bowls now, she just sits and watches me instead of running and hiding. Still wont take millet out of my hand yet but there is still tomorrow. I can hear her calling for me as soon as I leave the room to go somewhere else in the house. She comes as close as she can to me in her cage and clings onto the bars, which to me is a definite improvement!



She seems like such a sweetie :) Hoping to let her fly around within a week or so. Which is why I should make a blog or something for weekly updates!

Obviously it's very very early days but I already feel close to her. Anyway, sorry for the really long post!
Just wanted to share her with you guys :)

I will put up pics as soon as I can take a non-blurry one of her :rofl:

[Enko_chan]

It sounds like you and Ripley are beginning the bonding process. Wonderful! Many of us have noticed that our birds are sensitive to our emotions and try to comfort us when we're down.

I recommend trying to feed her millet when she is outside of the cage, and not on her own turf. Lovie hens are territorial, and she is still very new to her new surroundings. By all means, offer treats to her while she is in the cage, but it may be better not to try and get her to eat from your hand while she's in there, at least not right away. She is likely to view any prolonged exposure of your hand to her cage as an intrusion!

[OOwl]

I hope you keep a running blog about the taming process with Ripley. I think she's a very lucky little hen to have found someone to live with that would be so understanding to and respectful of her emotions. She sounds like she endured some sort of trauma in her previous home to be so frightened initially. I have never had an untame lovebird, so I really don't know what it's like to tame one from day one forward (other than the pieces of stories I've read on here, which are inspiriting all the same). I can see where the practiced patience would be very beneficial to other areas of a person's life. Perhaps I should try an untame parrot next time so that I could grow that area of my life. Anyway, I look forward to the next installment of "Taming Ripley."

[michael]

Helen .. I can't add much else, except to say, i'm sure wherever your relationship goes with Ripley, it will always be a very special place. .. Thanks for sharing her with us! ...............:)