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Anxiety Dissorder in my Conure

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Anxiety Dissorder in my Conure

Postby ShyguyShawn » Thu Mar 23, 2017 9:18 am

Hi, First time posting on this forum.

My Conure Rumble is 4 years old, he has been with me and my wife for over 1 year now, he was purchased from a Pet store when he was already 3 years old, having been at the pet shop since he was 5 months old.

We knew he was going to be a piece of work that said we are getting discouraged.
He does not want to perch on our fingers for more than 3-4 seconds at a time.
He constantly flies away from us. He seems to be panicked by us.
To the point that he will fly into a dark room and potentially hurt himself rather than stay on our fingers.

Recently he was with my mother for one whole week and apparently he was well behaved, my mother was able to pick him up and interact with him for long periods of time.

We read online that he might simply be Overprotective of his cage, and this would cause him to be extremely anxious when we are to interact close to his cage. That said he is this way in the entire house not only his cage.

We were also told that introducing a second conure that was raised by a breeder, hand fed etc. might help Rumble realize that we are his friends not his foes.

I am at a lost of words here, just looking to have a healthy relationship with our bird. Right now it feels like he will never warm up to us and it is very discouraging.

Any tips or tricks are welcomed!
ShyguyShawn
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Gender: This parrot forum member is male
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Types of Birds Owned: Turquoise Conure
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Re: Anxiety Dissorder in my Conure

Postby Bird woman » Thu Mar 23, 2017 10:39 am

Hi shy guy welcome, if you could imagine spending 3 years in a pet store being cooped up and I'm sure not let to fly around and explore with god knows how many people sticking there fingers in your house and making weird faces and sounds at you all day wouldn't you be a stress monster? A year in a parrots life is no time and I've had BIRDS that have taken me a lot longer to straighten out . Don't force your baby to interact , just quiet time by his house with door open and nobody invading his territory. Offer treats now and again talking softly and generally just hanging together until he starts approaching you for cuddles and scratches. Hormones could possibly be playing a big part in this also and I think I'll let pajirta take it from here as she knows more about these smaller birds and can explain diet and solar schedule better than I . Welcome to the forum BW
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Re: Anxiety Dissorder in my Conure

Postby Pajarita » Thu Mar 23, 2017 12:11 pm

Hi, Shawn and Rumble! I assume you are talking about a GCC (Green Cheek Conure), right? BW is absolutely 100% correct. This poor little thing has been completely traumatized from living under terrible conditions for years so no wonder he is so skittish! What makes things sadder is that GCCs are one of the neediest birds when it comes to attention from humans so although the conditions would have been bad for any parrot (they are all highly social species that physically NEED closeness and the feeling of belonging), they were truly devastating for this little guy.

I would suggest you sit next to his cage (never staring straight but looking at him from the corner of your eye -staring is a predator behavior) for hours and hours, talking, whistling, singing, offering a treat every now and then (if he doesn't take it from your fingers, just leave it there for him to take when he feels like it because this is not a reward but a token of friendship you are giving him). Once you see him eagerly approaching the side of the cage closest to where you are, you can start opening the door but do not put your hand inside his cage! If his cage is not the kind that has a door that opens down and stays up (like a moat kind of thing), put a perch outside his cage close enough to the door so he can just step on it from it. Keep everything quiet, no TV, no radio, no loud noises, no sudden movements, no children, no pets, etc. The idea is to reassure him that you are NOT going to grab him (how have you been getting him back into his cage?), that you are NOT going to force anything on him and that you are NOT going to threaten or hurt him in any way.

Now, I don't want you to be discouraged but it's going to take a loooong time to undo the damage done to him so arm yourself of lots of patience and think in the long term because this is not going to be easy for him but, if you do everything right and your persevere, you will have a friend for life!
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Re: Anxiety Dissorder in my Conure

Postby ShyguyShawn » Thu Mar 23, 2017 1:43 pm

Thank you So much :)

I guess the main thing to do here is be patient.

Rumble does like going out of his cage, the second I open his cage door he goes out and flies around ,
typically perching on my computer monitor.
That said he avoids me and my wife at all cost when he is out of the cage.

In order to get him back in the cage we simply let me stop flying around and we have him step up.
We then gently put our hands against his wings and hug him back to his cage. It works and he does not seem to get upset when we do so. Perhaps it would be best for us to take a step back and give him more time :)

Thank you for your help!
ShyguyShawn
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Gender: This parrot forum member is male
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Re: Anxiety Dissorder in my Conure

Postby liz » Fri Mar 24, 2017 7:31 am

You are trying very hard to understand him. He is doing the same thing. I suggest giving him a perch that puts him at face level and letting him watch you go through your day without putting your attention on him. The more time you spend in his presence without interacting is the more time he has to figure you out. I put mine in the dining room which is the most active room in the house then let them watch the world around them. With the cage door open they usually just go to the top of the cage and watch. I always wait until they come to me before I try to interact.

None of this really works if the bird is hormonal. In that case you grit your teeth and hang on until that season is over.
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Re: Anxiety Dissorder in my Conure

Postby Pajarita » Fri Mar 24, 2017 10:37 am

Yes, indeed, patience and love will do it. I once took in a male GCC from a lady who had taken him away from her own sister (her words were: "My sister should never have children or pets!"). I don't know exactly what was done to him but the lady said he had been abused by her. He was a holy terror! All he wanted to do was bite people. It took me months and putting up with a lot of bites (I had to sit down with a towel wrapped around my neck and wear a padded bra because he would scoot down my top and bite me! But a steady and strict schedule, good fresh food diet, lots of flying time and patience won at the end and he stopped biting so just keep on doing what you are doing (try to see if you can move him back into his cage by just making him step up to a stick without putting your hands on his body) and he will come around.
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