Senegal parrot is terrified of me

[booster]

Note: I'm sorry if this seems like a repost of the thread below me. I wanted to add my own input but was fearful of hijacking the discussion - so I figured I would just make my own thread. My bird's problems seem to be a touch different anyway.

Some background: My Senegal parrot is about 2 1/2 years old now, by rough estimate. She came from a home that didn't want her when she was about a year old. I have no idea what she experienced while there. Living with me, however, I feed her consistently pellets and vegetables (plus a little more junk food than I care to divulge, haha). She used to be adoringly tame. I could roll her over onto her back. I took her outside with me. I played "got your beak" with her. She would come to me when I called her. If she heard a scary noise, she would run to my face and hide under my chin or in my hair. She would actively seek me out if I disappeared from a room. She never seemed to be very fearful of anything when I was around, excepting only a few things. If I open any doors, she'll shriek and fly away. Fast movement by other people used to spook her as well, although this was rare because I rarely had company. She hates other birds, too. Always has. But she's seemed to be fine as long as I keep the other birds away from her and she gets her favorite shoulder on me.

The problem: One day I was feeding her some baby food (instead of cooking sweet potato) and she made a mess all over her feathers. So, gently, I wet a sponge and tried to wipe some of the gunk off. The first three strokes were fine. She seemed uneasy but willing to endure it, or so I thought. The fourth stroke caused her to shriek and fly away. It wasn't unlike what had happened before with opening doors, so I just calmly walked after her. I knelt down, held out my finger and told her to "step up." She walked over to me, hopped on, I petted her and then put her into her cage. I didn't really think she would need to recover or anything of the sort, I just wanted to signal that the "sponge bath" was over.

Well, the next day, I tried to take her out and she shrieked at me. Every SINGLE time after that incident, when I try to interact with her, she has screamed at me. Most of the time, she screams if she even hears me say "step up" so I've tried training her to respond to a new word: "Come here." Sometimes this works. I gave her space and time to calm down. I've tried re-taming her. I tried sitting by her cage, reading and watching TV. I can open the cage to feed her SOMETIMES without being screamed at. There was even a point when I thought she had gone back to normal. I could tell her to "Come here" or "Step up" and she would without screaming. If I ignored the screams, she WILL still step up... But she looks so nervous that I don't have the heart to compound her fear by FORCING her to stay out of the cage.

Since she hates birds, any time I work with her I make sure it is JUST her and I. I even tried changing her environment, once, and brought her to my boyfriend's house (BIG mistake! She got loose and tried to fly away). I've tried positive reinforcement - holding out a treat that I know she loves and offering it to her. If she screams, I retreat and wait a few minutes, then try again. If she's quiet, she gets the treat. EVERY time I think I'm making progress, though, something spooks her and she freaks out and I have to start all over again. And by "Something spooks her" I mean NOTHING happens. She just, seemingly randomly, goes crazy and screams like something is trying to kill her. I called a vet about it once, thinking maybe there's a deeper issue but the vet told me he wouldn't be able to do anything. That I should just make sure I'm feeding her right and spending time with her.

My plea: If anyone could help me, I would sincerely appreciate it. I love this bird so much. This issue has been going on for about 4-5 months now. Every time I make progress, she randomly freaks out and I have to start all over. I momentarily thought about finding her a new home... but I just don't think I can bear to part with her. She used to be such a fabulous pet. Now... I still work with her but I admit it's VERY discouraging to make progress and then have it destroyed. I've desperately tried searching for SOMETHING that sets her off (thinking maybe she catches sight of a picture, a toy, lights, something) but there are no consistencies. I've tried using different rooms, even going into my closet. So please, if anyone can help, I would truly be grateful.

[Wolf]

OK ! First of all I do not mean to offend and I mean no disrespect, but there is more going on here than you have stated. Now this could be very simply that you don't know that it is a factor in this behavior or something that you overlooked, there are many possibilities and then it is also possible that the cause is not one or two things, but the coming together of many different factors. I am not saying that you aren't doing your best, I have made many mistakes through lack of knowledge and through not understanding how things actually fit together to affect my birds. Shortly, I am going to make some suggestions, but what I would like you to do is to tell me about your birds life, I would like as much information as you can give me about the week leading up to the change in behavior. You know feeding schedule, time out of cage ,how much and what kind of interaction between yourself and your bird, time the bird gets up and goes to bed, what type of light natural or artificial the bird received and what you fed the bird plus anything else that you think might be helpful to know. I would also like the same information for the past week.
OK then, lets start with eliminating all of the junk food. Put her on a solar light schedule up with the sun and to bed with the sun with full exposure to the dawn from the time the sun is starting to lighten up the sky and full exposure to dusk when the sun is getting ready to set until full dark. This will take some time, but it will reset her biological clock and help to bring her endocrine system back into proper balance. As long as she is not attacking you make sure that she has at least 4 hours of free time out of her cage, just open the door and let her do whatever, this is her time. It does not need to be all in one setting it could be two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening before sunset. Feed her fresh vegetables and some fruit in the morning, making sure that there is enough so that she has some left to nibble on throughout the day and limit her ration of pellets to what she will eat in 20 minutes or so in the evening and remove any leftover pellets when she goes to sleep. Spend a minimum of 15 minutes each morning and evening one on one taming and bonding time with her.
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viewtopic.php?f=8&t=12521

[booster]

Hi Wolf!

I'm going to try to answer all of your questions and provide as much info as I can. I'm really grateful for your attention and advice on this. Please, please, please don't feel the need to sugarcoat anything for me. I promise I won't take it personally. I really just want my baby back and if that means I have to suck up my pride, that's what I gotta do! (:

I'll try to keep this organized for you and break everything down. It helps me tame my thoughts, too, and stay on track.

The week before the behavior change:

Feeding schedule: I was feeding her ZuPreem Fruitblend (the one with the African Grey on the package) at approximately 1/2 cup in the morning before work (about 6:00 am). When I got home from work (about 5:00 pm), I would take her and my other bird out of their cages and get them some snacks, which was usually kale, spinach, greens, sweet potato, or some other vegetable (that's what I buy for my pet lizards, though, so I have an abundance on hand and it's usually what they get). I let them eat their fill and play around for about 30 minutes while I got my personal stuff done around the house. During the rest of the afternoon, she would get to snack on whatever I was eating (sometimes cereal [tried to limit her to two pieces, though], ice cream (I know, shame on me), or pieces of my sandwich (I'm not very exciting). I let them do this because I've always read that eating together is a bonding exercise. Please tell me if I should do this differently.

Time out/interaction: this is a rough estimate, but from 5:00 - 5:30, she'd be on the counter eating. From 5:30 - 10:00 she'd be on me. I would be doing laundry, homework, work work, watching TV, reading, playing video games usually. I would interact with her frequently, though. For example: if I were playing my race game, I would pause every time I finish a race and talk to her about it ("Did you see that, Marcy! We kicked butt!") and pet her and try to make it fun. If I were watching TV, I would usually be stroking her head or training her or rolling her jingle ball around with her (I don't watch TV, really, I just like the background noise). If I were doing laundry or some chore, I would usually have to focus on the task but she would still be on my shoulder (sometimes dangling from my hair to see what I was doing, which I thought was funny and encouraged).

Bed/Wake time: she would usually go back into her cage about 10:30 - 11:00. It would depend on whether we showered together or not (gosh, that feels to perverted to type). I don't know what time she usually woke because I would be at work before the sun came up. But I could assume it was when the sun came out.

Lighting: her cage was right next to a window, so I tried to sync her to the outside light. I'm sure she woke when it became bright... but I admittedly kept up after dark. Maybe 1-2 hours.

The week after the behavior change:

Feeding schedule: I still feed her ZuPreem fruitblend but I've since changed the size to the one with the cockatiel on it. This change only occurred... perhaps a month ago. I'll say two to overestimate. She gets 1/2 cup in the morning before work (about 6:30). When I get home (which is about 8:00 now, due to school), she gets some more veggies (same kind as above). I now have been using the junk food as treats.

Time out/interaction: I'm a terrible parent because of this, but my class stretch out until 8:00 pm, so I only have about 2-3 hours to work with her before bed. My interaction usually consists of this: when I have the other birds out, I like to make a big deal about things and act like the junk food is SOOOOO good. The other birds and I have a lot of fun and since Mercy's cage is RIGHT next to my couch, where I usually sit, she gets to see everything. I know when she gets jealous because she'll start to talk, telling me "step up", "come here" or others. She also makes this little "huh!" noise that REALLY means she wants to come out. At this point, I open the cage door and try to offer her some of whatever have. If she screams, then I close the cage door and stand there, waiting for a minute or two before trying again. I do this until she can quietly take the food and then offer her another piece, usually. On the good days, if she's quiet, I venture to ask her to "come here" and stick out my finger. Sometimes she screams, so I retreat (with the food) and fall back to the first method. If she steps up, quietly, then I take her out of the cage and give her food. If she look uncomfortable in the slightest, then I put her back and go back to the other birds for a few minutes before trying again. If she's good, then I let her hop off onto the couch and watch everybody. At THIS time, any time I give the other birds a treat, she gets one too and she's usually VERY good about it at this point. I rarely have any trouble if I can get her this far - at least until it's time to put her back into her cage, then we have to do everything the same way as getting her from her cage.

I'll be honest, though, sometimes I don't have the patience for this long game and I'll leave her in her cage if she screams the first time without ever giving her the treat. This is usually no more than once a week, though.

Bed/Wake time and lighting: Again, I'm not sure what time she gets up but I DO know that, on the weekends, it's sometime around 10:00. My little brother moved in with me about a month ago and we tacked curtains over the windows to help keep the room dark. He tells me he usually gets up at 10:00 am. The lights are - or should be - on at that time. The room, however, is not pitch black. It's... I'll say dim. There's enough light to see everything, but a human could sleep peacefully. I don't know if this disturbs her sleep in the mornings when the sun is up. The light is usually on from 10:00 am until 10:30 pm, when I go to bed.


Whew! Sorry for the length. I tried to provide AS MUCH info as possible. Haha.

[booster]

I forgot to add one detail:

My sennie's wings are currently clipped. I do normally detest this but there were a few occasions when she freaked out (some of the random, seemingly for no identifiable reason, moments that I explained above) and she flew right into a wall. One time, I was already crying very hard before I realized that she'd survived. In just the second it took for her to smack the wall and fall, I was convinced that she had died. She was okay, though. Scared crapless, but okay

She came to me with clipped wings and I believe they had NOT yet grown out when her behavior changed. I would hesitate to let them grow out again while she's so fearful, but IF that's a suggestion, I'm willing to try it.

[Wolf]

When you are / were petting or otherwise interacting with her did your petting her happen to include her back or any other parts of her body?
I know with working and school both that time is at a premium and then with your brother moving in ... Well is there any way that you can get her arranged so that she can be on a solar light schedule? Pellets, I understand why you may need to use them but try to find TOPS pellets as the pellets that you are using are absolutely the worst that you could be using. And with feeding her the amount of them that you are feeding you are giving her too much protein and sugar, she doesn't require that much protein and none of the sugar. Consider giving her fruits and vegetables in the morning enough to get through the day and cutting the pellets in half and feed them at night before her bedtime. Protein is a high energy type of food and she doesn't eat while she is sleeping so that is the best time for this type food as it will fuel her body all night long.
Yes eating with her and sharing your food with her is a primary bonding activity, but it needs to be fruits and vegetables or at worst whole wheat bread.
Can you recall her going through puberty?

[Pajarita]

If this has been going on for some months (as it appears by the OP's narrative), she was going through puberty at the time of the onset and still is, Wolf.

Well, for one thing, you need to improve her diet and put her on a solar schedule. She is eating the worst pellets and in the morning, which is the wrong time for high protein. As to a solar schedule, I realize that this will mean no interaction at all during the winter and this is the main reason why I believe that people who work full time should not have a pet parrot. Aviary birds are fine because you can always clean, feed and check on them without turning the lights on but parrots that are bonded to us need interaction with us and, during the winter, the only way you can give it to them is screwing up their endocrine system so it's pretty much a no-win situation for the parrot.

I don't know why she is having such an extreme reaction to you but I doubt it was the wiping. Parrots are not that stupid. They might be shy, they might be untrained, they might not be all geniuses but three wipes with a sponge is not going to traumatize them so much so I think it might be a combination of things that had been 'building up' and finally blew up. People always say the bird was perfectly fine until one day, it changed completely but it's never quite like that.

I would put a couple of perches on the outside of the cage (maybe a nice branch with smaller branches growing from it tied to the side of the cage so she can climb up -they do like heights, they feel safe there), open her cage and walk away. Not to another room, mind you, just somewhere far enough that she doesn't feel 'crowded' - and don't look at her straight up, do it out of the corner of your eye and 'do your stuff' around the room. Don't train her, don't sit close to her cage, don't ask her to step up, don't do anything. Once you see she doesn't react to your close presence, you can start offering her a treat but don't make it a condition whether she takes it from your hand or not as you are doing now. Offer it and, if she doesn't take it, just leave it there for her to take if she wants to and walk away. We tend to impose ourselves a bit too much on them and call it 'training' and that doesn't work to build trust.

Let her wings grow out - a bird only crashes against a window or wall once and learns to avoid it. The only way it keeps on doing it is if it's flying in a panic but eliminate the source of panic and the bird will not crash. Grounded birds are vulnerable and stressed out birds and that contributes to aberrant behaviors.

Your bird sounds VERY insecure, fearful and anxious so somehow, somewhere along the line, she never learned to feel comfortable enough in her living situation to develop her self-confidence (I am not blaming you, I am simply stating that it seems to me she never did develop it). High hormones, not enough rest (she is not sleeping anywhere near enough hours) and lack of flight are a very dangerous combination for birds. It's not only physically unhealthy for them (screwed up endocrine system, depressed immune system, etc), it also creates something akin to mental instability. But it's correctable. A good diet, a strict solar schedule and good daily routines, enough time out of cage, flight and mental stimulation as well as unconditional love takes care of it. In time.

I really cannot give you a detailed 'procedure' because I don't know how you will solve the schedule problem. The days are still long enough for you to be able to interact before and after you get back from work but they will soon be too short and when you have a situation like this one, you have to follow the solar schedule exactly because, otherwise, the endocrine system does not go back on track.

[booster]

Wolf - I would have her lie on her back in my hand on occasion. I know the back is... shall we say "sensitive," but I WAS perhaps careless when petting her.

I'll remove the curtains so that she can adapt to the solar schedule. I do want to make a note, though, that at the time her behavior changed, she was on one. The work and school schedule has only endured for... summer semester - so I'll say two months. I'm not trying to argue because I agree that the solar schedule would be better for her, but I don't think it's responsible for her change. Do you think it could be why her behavior has persisted, though?

As for the diet: again, I promise I'm not trying to be argumentative. I just want to make sure I understand the WHY of this information because I had read that ZuPreem was a good brand to buy for birds. I know it's not the equivalent of Harrison's or Tops, but I thought it was a decent supplement to make up for any missing nutrients in her veggies. A precaution, so to speak. Would the "natural" be a better option instead of Fruitblend? Perhaps I got the two confused when I researched this. I do give her a LOT of veggies. I'll add them to her "plate" in the mornings as well, now, though.

As for puberty, no. I don't recall anything ever changing. This has been the most drastic by far. She's also much more neurotic and frightened than ever before.


Pajarita - I realize that not everyone will believe people that work full time should have pets but I'd like to say in my defense that I do TRY very hard to be good to her. Now that I have her, I'm not willing to give her up but if that's what you're suggesting, I would like to exhaust any and every other possibility first. A lot of people in this world work full time and there are so many animals - parrots included - that need homes. I would love to quit my job and stay home all day to play with my birds, but I need money to provide food, toys, vet, and a house for them. In less than a year, I should be able to move on to a job that will let me interact with them more.

The "building up" theory makes sense. Can food alone do that, though? Because, as I pointed out to Wolf, her cage had unblocked access to light by the windows before her "freak out." Again, please don't think I'm trying to argue. I just a very analytical mind sometimes. XD

You perch and treat offering sounds like a terrific suggestion. I don't know if every Senegal is like this, but mine is certainly VERY stubborn. This may be what causes her to "reset" her behavior, now that I think of it. If she resents being "trained" like I'm doing.

As for the wings, I'm not sure how I can eliminate her panic because I don't know what causes it. I swear, NOTHING changes that I perceive. I know there IS something, but I cannot for the life of me pinpoint it. But I'll see how things turn out with perches on the outside of her cage and free treats.

I think what you said about everything contributing makes sense. I'll see if making these changes helps at all.


Oh, also: yesterday, curiously enough, she took a liking to my brother. He was able to pet her, roll her onto her back, and kiss her beak just like I used to be able to do. Do you guys this is part of her going through puberty? Does this puberty behavior ever end (I know the puberty itself does, but do the habit she develops while in puberty "stick")? If she's fine with my brother, will she ever love me again like she used to?

[Wolf]

Thank you for answering my questions and being patient with me. When I first read your original post my first thought was that this was the beginning of puberty. But I chose to ask questions to see if I could find other causes for the changes that you described and see what factors were involved. As you supplied answers ,I have attempted to address anything that I found which was detrimental to the well being of your bird. At this point in time, I am still of the opinion that the cause of these changes is the onset of puberty. I have not found, in my opinion, any other set of factors that could account for the changes that have occurred. I did, however find several things that do need to be changed to correct and prevent future issues with your bird. I do recommend that you allow your bird to regain the ability to fly and give her the opportunity to do so and become proficient at it as this one ability affects nearly every major system in the birds body and its ability to function properly.
I can't say why your bird is suffering from panic attacks. You have stated that it appears that she sees something and that you can't see anything. I don't know if this will help on that or not but parrots do see things that we do not see. This is because they see into the ultraviolet light range, you can however get a better idea of what they are seeing if you purchase a blacklight bulb and look about your apartment with the light on. Another possibility, but I don't know how to test for it is that before you rented this apartment that at some point someone may have tried to manufacture drugs there and therefore there could still be some residue from that. Hopefully that did not occur but it is possible.
If I am correct that your bird is going through puberty, then the changes that occur may well be permanent as parrots' personality and often the person to whom they are bonded to may change.
I believe that this is what has occurred .

[booster]

Thank you both so much for your help. I really appreciate the insight and the advice. I apologize for the delay, but I had a few computer problems.

With my brother's help, I've been working with her. She seems to have become very comfortable with him in just the past two days. It may have been random or it may be because of the changes you have both recommended. We leave the windows open now so that she gets natural light. I went out the day I read your recommendations and bought some Roudybush from the petstore and also ordered Tops online (it should arrive some day soon). I didn't want to wait any longer and have them eat the ZuPreem. I started dumping veggies in their bowls in the morning and, if nothing else convinced me of your correctness, it was their reaction to the veggies. Marcy's especially. She was just giddy with the morning treat. Haha.

As for her flight, I'll let her feathers continue to grow in. I still wory about her crashing into walls but, again, I think you guys are right. It might give her more confidence.

Wolf: I really hope there haven't been drugs here. O_O That would be... disturbing. To say the least. I'll inquire about it at the office, though. I may need to start leaving the windows for fresh air, too, if that's the case.

I'll keep working with and harrass my brother to do the same. Haha. He seems to love the attention she's been giving him so at least they have each other. I hope it gets even better between them, even if it means I become the third wheel. Maybe someday she'll be happy with me again.

A BIG thank you for your help, guys. I really, truly appreciate it. (:

[Wolf]

Time will tell if the changes are indeed the result of puberty. Although her change in loyalties between your brother and yourself seems to support this, do not lose heart. Parrots have also been known to change loyalties for what appears to us without any known reason. Also, at some point your brother and yourself may have your separate places and if you keep her then it is possible for her to switch back to you, probably after a period of depression on her part, but not at all uncommon.
Kiki, my Senegal came to live with us and after the first two or three days decided that my Lady was going to be her special human. Not a problem for us at all, but due to her nature she started biting me every time she had the opportunity, which was a lot. It just meant that I did a lot of ducking and had to keep a very close watch on her so as to not get bit. After about four months of this she changed her mind and in the course of about 48 hours became utterly devoted to me and I then had to run interference for a few months between her and my Lady as Kiki suddenly took great delight in dive bombing her and kamikazee runs where she flew full speed directly into the back of my Lady's neck with the sole intent of trying to decapitate her with her beak. Today Kiki is happily bonded to me, but she is also trying to be nice to my Lady and at least accepts her as part of the flock.