Navre and Friends in Boston

[Wolf]

It would probably be better for him to eat the pellets for dinner. The only way that I know to switch this type of eating habit would be to remove any leftover food from the cage at night when the parrot goes to sleep, then he may be hungry enough to eat his gloop and produce in the mornings.

[Pajarita]

They do have their individual quirks, no doubt about that! But what does he eat early in the am? Just produce?

He will eat his pellets from the night before, or bananas, broccoli, grapes, crackers, all things he asks for by name.

Why don't you remove them from his cage once he goes to sleep? That will make him eat his gloop in the morning and get used to this schedule. Mind you, it's not as if eating gloop at night and high protein in the morning is bad, per se. If you measure the amount of pellets he eats and allow just a cropful, the final percentage of daily protein/fat will be the same BUT the winter nights are so long that, in my personal opinion, it's better to give them the high protein for dinner and the gloop/produce for breakfast.

[Navre]

The vet said he was underweight. He does look skinny in the breast area. I was trying to make food available to him at all times.

I think he needs exercise, but he still doesn't want to be handled. He comes out on his own every few days, but largely just walks around looking for places to hide.

I'd like to exercise his wings, but I think we are a long way from being able to do that.

[Wolf]

Do you think that he is actually trying to hide or perhaps looking for nesting sites? He would want a covered or hidden nesting site that is easily defended. Kookooloo often heads for the bathroom in my home as it is the darkest room in the house and then looks for the darkest area in there, but I know that she is not trying to hide as she keeps coming back to the entrance to the bathroom to see if I am watching and if she does not see me, she will call to me.

[Pajarita]

The 'skinniness' of the breast is more from lack of muscle than actual loss of weight so I would not worry too much over it. When they are skinny, you can put your fingers under their rib cage -something you cannot do when they are at a good weight. Just wait until he feels more comfortable with you and start exercising his wings and, before you know it, he will be flying. Do you have anything high hanging from the ceiling that he might like to perch on? My Sophie loves the platforms and hardly ever comes down from her favorite one... and, when she does, it's to perch on the top of a tall cage. The only time she goes to ground is when she is nesting.

[Navre]

Nick is already starting to get his flight strength back. He can fly around a small room, and he is now able to perch and land, properly.

[Pajarita]

YAAAAAAYYYYYY for Nicky!!!

[galeriagila]

Sometimes they're so resilient. Rbird never flew... was clipped... until about 3-4 years old. As soon as his feathers grew in, he noticed that when he did his usual jump to ground and flap like crazy to soften the landing... he FLEW! Within a week or two, he was flying pretty well.

[Navre]

Somewhere deep in the recesses of a jungle in Africa, lurks a bird-eating predator, unknown to science, that looks just like a screwdriver.

At least that's what I surmise, judging by Nicholas' reaction to a screwdriver.

[Wolf]

Well, I don't know about that although in his mind it is plausible enough. Still with just a slight bit of imagination a screwdriver could easily resemble a lizard or even a snake.