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Went to breeder. In love with senegals!

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Re: Went to breeder. In love with senegals!

Postby Eurycerus » Thu Aug 02, 2012 1:23 pm

I'm hoping that if I talk with my mom and print some instructions for interacting and literature that she'll understand. She just doesn't want to get bit again (who does?) but I think that it shouldn't happen much more or at all. I will tell her what you told me. You could be right. Maybe she thought she was going to be ignored if she was set on the cage and wanted people time. Also I used to use targeting when I was scared she'd bite me when I was transferring her someplace, so I'll have mom do that. I forgot how useful that was.

She did get a solid fear bite at another time, but to me that's understandable and she shouldn't hold it against my rascal.

Here's hoping I can convince her it's going to be alright! Thanks for your help.
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Eurycerus
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Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Senegals
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Re: Went to breeder. In love with senegals!

Postby Nir » Thu Aug 02, 2012 2:07 pm

Eurycerus wrote:
laducockatiel wrote:So...much...writing...... :shock:


Haha you're a crack up ^_^

It's actually pretty helpful to read as a Senegal owner. Saddening though. I expected biting but I didn't expect it to be as big of a problem as it's become. I'm going to print out Michael's socializing tips and bring them to my mom. I was just on the phone with her and she said she basically never wants to handle my parrot again. She was bit twice. Once because Nika fell and was scared and my mom probably picked her up too quickly to allow her to calm down. (would've been avoided if she wasn't clipped when I got her but whatever) Second time mom had her step up and was presumably setting her on top of her perch and got nailed after she stepped up. I understand the confusion and suckiness but wish she'd give it another shot.

People seem to have a misconception about parrots that they SHOULD never bite. To me it makes sense. They are prey animals, territorial, may be attempting to display a certain mood or dislike to you, or are just testing you. I am EXTREMELY frustrated by the instant dislike my mom and boyfriend feel towards Nika. It's because they don't understand and aren't willing to take the time. So I'm here with a bird that no one but me will socialize with. Something I did not anticipate.

Even more frustrating is I know that she's pretty tame too. She's quirky and funny and easy to be with once she realizes that biting is pointless.


think about it from there point of view. they might not be interested in birds as much as you and might only see them as cute little things. So they go touch it and draw blood then try it again and draw blood again. Then they say screw it. Only thing we can do is educate them as much as possible so they give it a try again. The senegal might not hate them but might just be bad circumstances that lead to them getting biting. In the other hand if the senegal does hate them then like michael said, they might always hate them and that might be harder to overcome.
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Re: Went to breeder. In love with senegals!

Postby Mona » Thu Aug 02, 2012 4:44 pm

Great! Yes Eurycerus....I do a lot of targeting and that really can be a great solution. I think that is worth a try too! Great ideas!

Mona
Mona in Seattle
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Re: Went to breeder. In love with senegals!

Postby SlaveToAParrot » Fri Aug 03, 2012 11:37 pm

Nir wrote:can you eloboarate on this a bit. How often did you interact with him during the life circumstances ? How often did you spend time with him during those times?


The 'life circumstances' are still sort of going on to this day, but my situation has improved quite bit from how it used to be several years back. I am home a lot of the time. I had gone from spending a little over half the day with Cody outside his cage. I was interacting with him quite a bit back then, like, socializing him with everyone I knew, we could actually cuddle a little bit back then too. I didn't think of the training, but I would just be consistent every day with handling him outside the cage whenever possible.

And then, it went downhill when other things came up in my life that I had to deal with that took my focus away from my Senegal. I would take him out of his cage, but I would let him entertain himself the majority of the time. I would only interact with him for roughly 25-30min split up throughout the day. I didn't feel like I was able to train and socialize him on a daily basis since I was not in the right mindset at the time.

He flipped favourite people and his wings had been clipped during that time as well.

Now he gets out for at least two hours every other day in total. An hour and a half in the morning and an hour in the evening. If I am lucky I will be able to take him out for a couple of hours during the day as well. I try to tame and train him for as long as he will allow it, which is roughly 10min(15 is stretching it for him). I don't have a set schedule as to when I do these things with him. I make sure he gets some flying time to stretch his wings. I keep him flighted now. Otherwise he stays in his cage more. I have two cages for him that he alternates being in. His original cage is his sleep cage and I got him a larger cage that he can be in during the daytime since I am not able to take him out when I would like to work with him more. I do most of the taming and training sessions while he is in this cage. The biting is the main reason why I do it this way because my family is afraid of him flying and attacking them. Otherwise I would do it more often outside the cage.

So, what happened was around the time things went downhill was also the time when Cody was in his terrible two's stage, unfortunately. No one had taken the time to work with the bird through this stage and I regrettably have a lot of undoing to do because of it. Cody lost trust in me and I have to build that trust with him again. He will let me pet him and help him with his pinfeathers, but only for brief time. His favourite person who is my father hasn't been very supportive with me in working through the biting issue. Cody is mine, but he is also a family pet and I have accepted the fact that I am not his favourite person despite actively trying to improve the situation with him. I have no choice but to tackle all of this by myself. A good chunk of not getting past it is from we just haven't been able to read his body language very well. I think if I had a visual of that years ago, maybe things would have been different. I have a hard time reading my Senegal unless he is obviously showing signs of aggression or discomfort.

It is a work in progress and it has been a very gradual progression over time, but there is still lots to work on in regards to the aggression and territorial behavior he has right now. Oh and I talk to my Senegal and tell him what I am going to do and it seems to have helped a little bit, at least has helped him not be so fearful of new things. :)
Owned by:
Cody the 17-year-old male :senegal: / Birdie the 20-year-old female :greycockatiel:
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