HELP needed with my Rock Pebbler

[liz]

OUOTE lets you respond to individual posts. EDIT will let you go back and change you post if you need to correct the posting.

He will do what feels like little bites to taste and explore you.
If he actually bites you it will be because you did something wrong.

[Wings]

14 You now have a toddler that wants to be with you more than he wants to stay in his room. Kid proof (parrot proof) your house to reduce him getting into trouble.
15 He will learn to talk just as any other child. Use words repeatedly such as "let me help you" or "do you need help?" He will learn the word help means you will come and take care of whatever.

Just my 2 cents. If Wolf or Pajarita disagree with something I said then go with what they say.

That's brilliant! I will back track and start all over again. I will use those phrases when I see he wants "out" or to be with the "flock". Gosh, I felt so discouraged. I will let you know how it goes!

[liz]

Thank you. I was afraid I would come off pushy or condisending.

You will also learn that with my technology impairment. I don't know how to spell.

[Wolf]

I went back and read this posting again as I really wasn't satisfied with my reply, nothing unusual about this. I started a reply and had to stop to feed my birds, so I tried to post what I had. It didn't work.
Given the age of your Regent Parrot and the fact that he is fairly new to his new home, you have had to deal with the normal fear of new places and his loss of all that he was familiar with before coming to live with you, but you are having to deal with the fact that he is approaching if not already beginning to go through puberty. This is the time that he goes through many changes both in his body and in his personality, it is when he quits thinking like a child and begins to think like an adult bird and releases the parent/ child dependency type of bond for the more permanent mate bonding of an adult bird. It is a period when our efforts at training seems to be ineffective and is a good time to scale back on the training until he is done with puberty.
You have been pushing him a little bit too fast which is partly due to the puberty thing which has no doubt slowed his ability to adjust to his new home, so ease up on the training and concentrate on earning his trust just as you would with a new baby bird. This requires, as you said that you pretty much start all over again and spent this time learning more about his body language as well as increasing the variety of the fruits and vegetables that he will eat. It also requires you to spend time just hanging out with him just talking to him, read to him offer the occasional treat while talking to him. Don't reach into his cage to get him out or for anything other than to clean the cage and to provide him with food and water. I would open the door to his cage and take a step or two back away from his cage and let him come out on his own and service the cage at that time, after he comes out. Try to remember that this is a confusing time for him as well. He still has the drive to want to be with you ( the parent/ child bonding) and the drive to be more independent as he goes through puberty. It takes above average patience with him due to this particular timing, most of the time we only have to deal with one of these issues at a time but you are having to work through two major changes in his life, both of which are very confusing and stressful for a parrot.
Yes, he is an aviary type bird, which means that he is more suited for life in an aviary, but he can still be an excellent companion bird, but it will probably require you to spend more time and energy with interacting with him on a one on one basis.
I asked about his diet as free feeding pellets is really not much better than free feeding seeds. I think that he and your cockatiels would do better with eating partly cooked and/ or sprouted whole grains and a wider variety of vegetables along with some fruit for their breakfast and for all day long and just feeding the pellets for their dinner. The free feeding of pellets will interfere with how well he will respond to treats used either as bribery or for training purposes. This id due to the fact that the pellets and the highest value treats have one thing in common and that is the amount of protein in them. Also diets that are too high in protein extend their hormonal periods as well as increasing their aggressiveness in general.
As for understanding their body language better this link should help, as their body languages are all very similar regardless of the species of parrot.
http://littlefeatheredbuddies.com/info/ ... guage.html
I am thinking that overall you have a fairly good grasp of what to do provided that you are patient and allow the bird to come to you as well as letting it set the pace for interactions and training. If the bird moves away or simply refuses that is fine, do something else for a short while and try again in a few minutes.

[Wings]

Thank you. I was afraid I would come off pushy or condescending.

You will also learn that with my technology impairment. I don't know how to spell.

NOPE! Not pushy or condescending at all. I appreciate all good advice. I acknowledge that I'm not an expert and that there are people who know a whole lot more than I. I want to do the best that I can for my birds (I want them to be HEALTHY AND HAPPY). So I WILL listen to any sound advice. I will try these tips and see if I can get further that way. I will let you know how it goes.

[Wings]

I went back and read this posting again as I really wasn't satisfied with my reply, nothing unusual about this. I started a reply and had to stop to feed my birds, so I tried to post what I had. It didn't work.
Given the age of your Regent Parrot and the fact that he is fairly new to his new home, you have had to deal with the normal fear of new places and his loss of all that he was familiar with before coming to live with you, but you are having to deal with the fact that he is approaching if not already beginning to go through puberty. This is the time that he goes through many changes both in his body and in his personality, it is when he quits thinking like a child and begins to think like an adult bird and releases the parent/ child dependency type of bond for the more permanent mate bonding of an adult bird. It is a period when our efforts at training seems to be ineffective and is a good time to scale back on the training until he is done with puberty.
You have been pushing him a little bit too fast which is partly due to the puberty thing which has no doubt slowed his ability to adjust to his new home, so ease up on the training and concentrate on earning his trust just as you would with a new baby bird. This requires, as you said that you pretty much start all over again and spent this time learning more about his body language as well as increasing the variety of the fruits and vegetables that he will eat. It also requires you to spend time just hanging out with him just talking to him, read to him offer the occasional treat while talking to him. Don't reach into his cage to get him out or for anything other than to clean the cage and to provide him with food and water. I would open the door to his cage and take a step or two back away from his cage and let him come out on his own and service the cage at that time, after he comes out. Try to remember that this is a confusing time for him as well. He still has the drive to want to be with you ( the parent/ child bonding) and the drive to be more independent as he goes through puberty. It takes above average patience with him due to this particular timing, most of the time we only have to deal with one of these issues at a time but you are having to work through two major changes in his life, both of which are very confusing and stressful for a parrot.
Yes, he is an aviary type bird, which means that he is more suited for life in an aviary, but he can still be an excellent companion bird, but it will probably require you to spend more time and energy with interacting with him on a one on one basis.
I asked about his diet as free feeding pellets is really not much better than free feeding seeds. I think that he and your cockatiels would do better with eating partly cooked and/ or sprouted whole grains and a wider variety of vegetables along with some fruit for their breakfast and for all day long and just feeding the pellets for their dinner. The free feeding of pellets will interfere with how well he will respond to treats used either as bribery or for training purposes. This id due to the fact that the pellets and the highest value treats have one thing in common and that is the amount of protein in them. Also diets that are too high in protein extend their hormonal periods as well as increasing their aggressiveness in general.
As for understanding their body language better this link should help, as their body languages are all very similar regardless of the species of parrot.
http://littlefeatheredbuddies.com/info/ ... guage.html
I am thinking that overall you have a fairly good grasp of what to do provided that you are patient and allow the bird to come to you as well as letting it set the pace for interactions and training. If the bird moves away or simply refuses that is fine, do something else for a short while and try again in a few minutes.

Wolf THANK YOU so much for your input. OMG! I feel horrible, I have been pushing him too hard. I feel terrible! I will take your advice and HOPE that I'm able to progress. I looked at the link about body language and I do recognize that I have not been sensitive towards his feelings. I will do my best to have absolutely no expectations (so I don't rush him) and I will back off. I will start at square one and build trust over anything else (I hope the damage I have caused is not irreparable). I will also re-vamp the feedings. I always thought that pellets needed to be free fed. I will address that and see if that works better.

I do have a few questions.

1. If he wants out, should I just open the cage door and let him come and go as he pleases?
2. If he gets out how do I put him back in? or do I have to wait for him to feel like going back?
3. When I move to the kitchen area (that's where I feed the birds) and he calls out like he wants to be part of the group should I go get him and bring him to the kitchen or let him be in his cage?

I feel I have been doing things wrong for so long I don't want to continue doing them wrong.

[liz]

If you are home open the door when you give breakfast. If he calls you then answer him. Keep talking to him and let him find you. You may have to go to the doorway so he knows which direction you are in.

[Wolf]

Some things just aren't that big of a deal and others are very important, even if not to us to the bird. So please understand that we all make mistakes, I know that I do. It is not making a mistake that is so important it is what we do with it when we become aware of the mistake. The only expert on parrot behavior is the parrot. The exotic bird trade only began to any degree around 1980 and the beginnings of research even later with most of the results that we currently have being 20 years old. So we are really only just beginning to gain any real knowledge about our birds. Birds can be very forgiving of our mistakes especially when they see us making the effort to fix our mistakes. I am very much into gaining and keeping a birds trust for the simple reason that we can't develop a good relationship with them or even do much training without first gaining their trust.
You have asked three questions that from where I am are hard to answer as I don't see what the day to day actions are. I never reach into my birds cages to bring them out, I always let them come out on their own, I have more of an issue with them going back in their cages as they much prefer to stay out with me or on me. You do have him stepping up part of the time at least onto a portable perch so you may be able to take him to eat with the other birds as long as you remain on top of thing to make sure there is no fighting. Perhaps the way to introduce him to eating with the others at first is to roll his cage into the kitchen where you are going to feed your birds and feed him in his cage at first. This would give you a better Idea as to when he is ready to try it without the cage.
I don't know what you have been doing with him for out of cage time, but he does need to have time out to explore his new home. I would definitely work with him on trusting you by talking to him and offering him treats through the cage bars until he is coming to the side of the cage that you are on before you get there and then accepting the treats from you. Then I would open the door and talk with him and offer the treat at the door of the cage and then when he is comfortable with that I would hold the treat so that he needs to step onto your hand or arm to get the treat. This will give you a more reliable way to get him back into his cage when you need to.
While you don't have a reliable way to get him back into the cage you might want to let him out for a couple of hours just before his dinnertime and make sure that he sees you put his dinner in his cage, he may go back in on his own or you can try to step him up on your stick perch to place him in the cage with his dinner. Or you may have to wait for it to get dark enough for him to roost and just scoop him up and put him in the cage.
Also, I think that I am seeing that you may have some anxiety issues so it would help your interactions with him to calm yourself before you begin to work with him as they pick up on our emotions and our body language very quickly.

[Wings]

Some things just aren't that big of a deal and others are very important, even if not to us to the bird. So please understand that we all make mistakes, I know that I do. It is not making a mistake that is so important it is what we do with it when we become aware of the mistake. The only expert on parrot behavior is the parrot. The exotic bird trade only began to any degree around 1980 and the beginnings of research even later with most of the results that we currently have being 20 years old. So we are really only just beginning to gain any real knowledge about our birds. Birds can be very forgiving of our mistakes especially when they see us making the effort to fix our mistakes. I am very much into gaining and keeping a birds trust for the simple reason that we can't develop a good relationship with them or even do much training without first gaining their trust.
You have asked three questions that from where I am are hard to answer as I don't see what the day to day actions are. I never reach into my birds cages to bring them out, I always let them come out on their own, I have more of an issue with them going back in their cages as they much prefer to stay out with me or on me. You do have him stepping up part of the time at least onto a portable perch so you may be able to take him to eat with the other birds as long as you remain on top of thing to make sure there is no fighting. Perhaps the way to introduce him to eating with the others at first is to roll his cage into the kitchen where you are going to feed your birds and feed him in his cage at first. This would give you a better Idea as to when he is ready to try it without the cage.
I don't know what you have been doing with him for out of cage time, but he does need to have time out to explore his new home. I would definitely work with him on trusting you by talking to him and offering him treats through the cage bars until he is coming to the side of the cage that you are on before you get there and then accepting the treats from you. Then I would open the door and talk with him and offer the treat at the door of the cage and then when he is comfortable with that I would hold the treat so that he needs to step onto your hand or arm to get the treat. This will give you a more reliable way to get him back into his cage when you need to.
While you don't have a reliable way to get him back into the cage you might want to let him out for a couple of hours just before his dinnertime and make sure that he sees you put his dinner in his cage, he may go back in on his own or you can try to step him up on your stick perch to place him in the cage with his dinner. Or you may have to wait for it to get dark enough for him to roost and just scoop him up and put him in the cage.
Also, I think that I am seeing that you may have some anxiety issues so it would help your interactions with him to calm yourself before you begin to work with him as they pick up on our emotions and our body language very quickly.

THANK YOU, SOOOOO MUCH for all of your input. I appreciate it so very much. I felt that I had hit a wall and just didn't know what to do. I will take everything you said and start to implement things as you have suggested.

I did take Spike and Ozzie to the kitchen to have breakfast this morning and just placed his food in the cage. He didn't eat he just kept chirping back to the other 2 birds. So every time he chirped I asked "do you need help?" then came to his cage and offered the training stick and he willingly stepped on it so I took him out and placed him on the shelf where I have been placing him to eat and he started to eat. I have a better understanding on how to read when he is uncomfortable. I won't push him, I will wait for those little moments like this morning (and will savor them!) and just read, watch TV, and interact with my other birds in front of him to see if that entices him to "want" to be with us. I will put a playpen on top of his cage and see if he will get out of his cage and perch up there by himself.

Thank you so very much for all of your help. I will check back in a few weeks and tell you what's happening. I'm very excited about the future now and no longer feel like there is little hope.

Thanks!