The story:
Ok, i'll try to sum it up. My senegal
, named Oscar, is nearly 4 years old.He was bought by my dad who didn't know a thing about parrots and ended up doing a poor choice since he clearly wasn't hand fed so it's probably a wild one. He has a big bald spot on the back of his neck, probably due to trauma or it's simply genetic, the vet has no idea what else to do about it.
When he was bought he had almost a full year I think and so he spent nearly 3 years 99% of the time alone in my garage completely neglected.
Out of nowhere, since August this year something awakened in me and I just had to do some good on this little guys life. I've been giving him my whole attention since then... So, moving on, since August I took him to the vet, changed his whole cage inside, diet and all those usual things.
The thing is, we're in December and he hasn't improved -that- much when it comes to being tame, I've tried clicker training him since like 2 months ago but he simply won't step up onto my fingers... he'd rather stretch his neck to the max to reach his treat than to make his life easier and step up (while doing this most of the times he's totally touching the step up hand with his chest).
He never ever said a word and I don't believe he will, it's been a great deal of time already to exclude that, I guess. He's more confortable with me being around but he's still pretty cage bound and I most say somewhat, I don't know, dull, maybe? Kinda harsh word though... He doesn't play with anything, ever. The only times he comes out of his cage willingly is if I remove his food bowl and he goes forage a bit on the nearer stuff in which I hide his pellets, but it's just like that, he picks up the pellet and goes way, no exploring, biting his toys or anything whatsoever, he'll run back to his cage instantly. Several times I've hidden his cage when he goes forage and I don't really like doing it because I'm somehow making him not trust me but I feel that need for him to explore a bit longer, sometimes I even managed to put him on the top of my laptop standing quite calmly.
Still lots to say but I guess this is a starting point. I wonder if he'll be recoverable and if will he ever be tame and hopefully the cuddle type.
Please, feel free to ask
Details:
Cage measurements:
It's a 50x40cm rectangle with a height of approximately 70cms, I reckon this to be quite on the edge of being pretty minimum but the cages around here are just so god damn expensive, even tiny and used ones! It's on my mind to start calling to people who can work with iron, wood and that kind of stuff to see if anyone can make me one for a reasonable price.
Diet:
Before my first trip to the vet (August, 2012) with him he was, of course, on the infamous seed diet. Since then he had Nutribird and he's now on Zupreem Natural. Everyday he has one meal of pellets only and then another of some mashed veggies.
Feathers:
This is something that worries me quite a bit, mostly because the bald spot on his neck I mentioned above but also because in most of his feathers the tips are some form of darkened brown, why is this? Was it because of his previous bad diet, will these change soon? How soon?
Shower:
Since he's cage bound the only way I can give him shower is by using a spray/mist bottle, I like to lukewarm the water a bit before showering him since the days are pretty cold here these days. I do this everyday and he seems to like it! The first times he would freak out and walk everywhere but now he's ok with it.
Outdoors:
I'm lucky enough to live in a house with a nice backyard with trees and all that kind of stuff so sometimes even though I want him to be inside with me I'll go leave him outside (also for drying after shower) for a while since I know that sunlight it's pretty important to them but I still have some doubts... How long? Shadow or direct sunlight?...
Training/Training:
Like 2 months ago I started clicker training him, he's not doing that bad except for the step up part because he does nip the target stick I use before clicking and giving him a treat. But most of the times even for this he'll simply ignore it.
I want to write some more but I feel this to be pretty long already, sorry for that!
Cheers from Portugal,
Rogério
and ye he does have one good upper "outside" of his cage, you can see it in the photo. I'll try the arm thing... and yes I usually remove his food before training, never sure for how long though.
