New Senegal Parrot

[Rujvir_G]

Hi everyone, I got my senegal parrot Ollie 1 month ago. He was scared at the first weeks but is quite friendly now, he lets me pet him etc. He still bites a bit! And I have to wear gloves to get him on my hand, he doesn't quite feel like coming on my hand but he jumps on my gloves, idk why. And they said he is 9 months old, he's eyes are white ish, ive heard they get yellow when they get older, right? Yeah thats all I wanted to tell u guys and it would be a pleasure to hear how to care and stop him from biting nd about he's eyes, what are the symptoms that he is young? He's quite active. Thanks ive been watching KILI"S videos and ive learned alot from u michael ! .

[Pajarita]

I am not sure that the coloring of the eyes is a reliable source of aging, there is conflicting information about it so I never use it as an indication.

If he is biting you, he is not 'friendly'. When a Senegal loves you, you can do ANYTHING with them without getting bit once by them. If they bite you, the relationship is not as good as it should be, the bird is hormonal (which cannot be with bbies) or you are consistently doing something wrong in your approach to handling them. And using gloves makes it worse so, if I were you, I would stop immediately. If he bites your hand when you ask him to step up, use a stick until he bonds with you more deeply or don't ask him to step up. I am sorry but there are no two ways about this. You need to establish the deep bond of love and complete trust BEFORE you handle them because handling them only with gloves is not proper handling, my dear. I don't mean to be harsh, I am not criticizing or scolding you, I realize that you did the best you could under the circumstances but I am afraid that you lost a lot of ground if you got a baby and months later he is still biting you... Babies don't bite and they bond very easily with their new 'parents' so something here did not go according to the normal 'plan'. Can you tell us a bit about his daily life? Diet, routines, schedule, etc?

[Harpmaker]

Welcome to the Forum, Rujvir_G!

What is your Senegal's name?

Baby Senegals with feathers look a lot like adults, so it can be hard to tell. Post some pictures and someone might hazard a ballpark guess.

[Rujvir_G]

Thanks guys, I really get to learn from you guys. And yeah so he wakes up comes out of his cage, he sits on top of it sometimes jumps around, he eats his bird food( mostly sunflower seeds ) grandma feeds him apples in the middle of the day, I take him out in the backyard ( while inside cage ) at evening time and he plays alot at night time most, and then eats some bird food at night and sleeps. I would love more tips from you guys for his care! Thanks !! he bites a bit ( but I think its just a bad habit ) he lets me pet his head calmly though. ...

[Rujvir_G]

One more thing, I catch him shivering sometimes, is that cuz he is scared or is it something else, plus how often should he get a bath? And how to see if he's fully healthy and not sick, etc. Please, I wanna give Ollie ( my parrot ) the best life .

[Wolf]

first of all you need to seriously consider a diet change for your Senegal as the one that you are providing him with is not a good one. Fruits and vegetables are good for him as are cooked whole grains. Save the sunflower seeds for treats only and make sure that they are the grey striped ones only, and the rest of the seed mix for dinner and remove it from the cage after he goes to sleep.

This link viewtopic.php?f=8&t=12521 has a list starting on page two that includes both safe and toxic foods, woods, plants, as well as harmful household products. you should really copy it down and use it as a reference, I do and I use it often.

This link viewtopic.php?f=8&t=12754 has listed several varieties of gloop, which is a very good food that you cook yourself for your bird. Most of us feed this for breakfast along with some fresh fruit and vegetable to nibble on through the day and give a seed mix for dinner.

The best and only way to make sure of his health is to take him in for a vet check and if you have not done this since you got him then you really should bite the bullet and get him checked out by an avian vet. At this time going by what you have said the shivering is probably due to fear.

If Ollie, is biting you, then you need to go back to square one and start all over with basic taming, as you have not earned enough trust from him to start the bonding process. You should also be aware that your Senegal needs to spend a minimum of one hour each day one on one time with you for training and or bonding as well as a minimum of four hours each day free time out of his cage each day. This is even more important if he is in a small cage, which it sounds to me he is in.

Because I suspect that Ollie is in a much too small of a cage than he should be in I am asking you to tell us how big his cage is. We need to know how wide, how long and how tall is the part that he is in.

for the last two things, get rid of the gloves, if you tame and bond with Ollie properly then there is no need for them. And second you need to put Ollie on a solar light schedule. This means basically, that he gets up with the sun and goes to bed when the sun goes down. If you don't put him on a solar schedule and keep him on it you are going to have some major aggression problems in the future. How soon, I can't say as I don't know how long he has been on a high fat diet and how long he has been on a human light schedule, but the longer that he has been living in these conditions then the sooner you will begin to start having problems.

[Rujvir_G]

Thankyou very much, I appreciate that. I will sure get a vet check for ollie. He stays out of his cage most of the time, but he likes to sit on top of it most of the times. I will sure make a diet change for him sir, thanks