bird-brain
10-25-2016, 02:32 PM
Wow, I was totally unprepared for how [I]different[I] this bird is compare to every other species I've owned or had regular contact with. There are things I like, there are things I could do without. First things, I changed his name to Remy as a simple spelling change will make it work for either gender and Remy LeBeau is my favorite x-man. (Yes I'm a comic book geek). Secondly, I decided to forego quarantine as I know the bird had a clean vet check just a week before and other factors.
The likes include ease of handling. He's so far not cage or food protective and it's nice not to draw back a nub when I have to clean the poop out of the water (Skyy, I'm talking to you here.....).
His noises. His little sounds beat all I've ever heard. There are times during the day that I swear R2D2 has come for a visit! He also has sounds that remind me very much of what I call Skyy's "goblin speak". She used to do this a lot before she started talking and it's actually kind of scary sounding if you pay attention because it can sound like many voices at once. I always thought it was her imitating the drone of voices in the store she was in for long. I think this sound is normal for a princess parrot though? (Linda chime in anytime). At any rate, after hearing this "goblin speak" from Remy, Skyy broke into hers and they have seemingly complete conversations that I'm not sure anyone understands. Skyy has however informed me (with much excitement) that "he talks".
His volume. He gets nowhere near the volume of conures or lovebirds and I'm good with that. :happy:
He's a Velcro birdie. He seeks you out and just wants to be on his people. That's great. I like it but there's a caveat that will appear in the don't like section.
He has very limited beak strength compared to my conure or my lovies. No way that is a bad thing.
He's not aggressive at all, and avoids conflict gracefully. Doesn't flip out and fly and get dramatic, just steps away and finds something else to do.
He does attempt to be near the other birds and is making a genuine effort to be part of the flock. I had read conflicting opinions on their opinions of other species so I am glad that this is happening.
Things I'm indifferent about.... he doesn't like to be petted. I can do beak rubs and sort of pet his chest but they dont preen each other so don't understand that type of contact. I knew this going in so no biggie. Cabo hates fingers, Kenya eats fingers and with Skyy it's day to day.
Now the don't likes.
There's really only one thing about the bird and it's the caveat to the Velcro bird situation. He is beaky as the dickens and chews like a puppy :omg: Fingers, ears, cheeks, lips arms, shoulders. He is infatuated with pulling and tugging bare skin. It's not aggression, it's not exploration it's not attention seeking. I'm not sure what exactly it is because I've never experience it with any other bird. He grabs your skin, pulls it up and tries to shake it like a puppy would a sock! I thank my stars he doesn't have the beak strength of Skyy or the lovies. I would have 50 stitches by now if he did. :x. That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. He's drawn blood from all of us. The day he met Wayne he almost immediately flew to his shoulder, grabbed his ear and started trying to pull it off Wayne's head. :omg:
Another dislike is that he is very conditioned to sit on your shoulder. Not his fault. His previous owners also tried to do trick training with treats so he is quite demanding about wanting you to feed him, constantly. Again not his fault. This species does feed its mate so I wonder if some of the biting is stemming from this. In any event, because I see problems with later aggression when he sexually matures, I'd rather not encourage him to believe that I'm a mate by feeding him from my fingers. :roll:
I have a lot to learn about this species so much is going to be trial and error. Thoughts and advice are welcomed.
Regards,
Jamie
The likes include ease of handling. He's so far not cage or food protective and it's nice not to draw back a nub when I have to clean the poop out of the water (Skyy, I'm talking to you here.....).
His noises. His little sounds beat all I've ever heard. There are times during the day that I swear R2D2 has come for a visit! He also has sounds that remind me very much of what I call Skyy's "goblin speak". She used to do this a lot before she started talking and it's actually kind of scary sounding if you pay attention because it can sound like many voices at once. I always thought it was her imitating the drone of voices in the store she was in for long. I think this sound is normal for a princess parrot though? (Linda chime in anytime). At any rate, after hearing this "goblin speak" from Remy, Skyy broke into hers and they have seemingly complete conversations that I'm not sure anyone understands. Skyy has however informed me (with much excitement) that "he talks".
His volume. He gets nowhere near the volume of conures or lovebirds and I'm good with that. :happy:
He's a Velcro birdie. He seeks you out and just wants to be on his people. That's great. I like it but there's a caveat that will appear in the don't like section.
He has very limited beak strength compared to my conure or my lovies. No way that is a bad thing.
He's not aggressive at all, and avoids conflict gracefully. Doesn't flip out and fly and get dramatic, just steps away and finds something else to do.
He does attempt to be near the other birds and is making a genuine effort to be part of the flock. I had read conflicting opinions on their opinions of other species so I am glad that this is happening.
Things I'm indifferent about.... he doesn't like to be petted. I can do beak rubs and sort of pet his chest but they dont preen each other so don't understand that type of contact. I knew this going in so no biggie. Cabo hates fingers, Kenya eats fingers and with Skyy it's day to day.
Now the don't likes.
There's really only one thing about the bird and it's the caveat to the Velcro bird situation. He is beaky as the dickens and chews like a puppy :omg: Fingers, ears, cheeks, lips arms, shoulders. He is infatuated with pulling and tugging bare skin. It's not aggression, it's not exploration it's not attention seeking. I'm not sure what exactly it is because I've never experience it with any other bird. He grabs your skin, pulls it up and tries to shake it like a puppy would a sock! I thank my stars he doesn't have the beak strength of Skyy or the lovies. I would have 50 stitches by now if he did. :x. That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. He's drawn blood from all of us. The day he met Wayne he almost immediately flew to his shoulder, grabbed his ear and started trying to pull it off Wayne's head. :omg:
Another dislike is that he is very conditioned to sit on your shoulder. Not his fault. His previous owners also tried to do trick training with treats so he is quite demanding about wanting you to feed him, constantly. Again not his fault. This species does feed its mate so I wonder if some of the biting is stemming from this. In any event, because I see problems with later aggression when he sexually matures, I'd rather not encourage him to believe that I'm a mate by feeding him from my fingers. :roll:
I have a lot to learn about this species so much is going to be trial and error. Thoughts and advice are welcomed.
Regards,
Jamie