ali-zee wrote:And sunset can be at 10pm! Thanks for the advice think I have a good handle on the daylight hours and diet.
Really was hoping to get some experiences by other people who introduced a new family member to a Senegal! Especially one who is really attached to my boyfriend. Zee loves visiting my dads house and annoying all the dogs (she loves to imitate my dads whistl e to call them!) so hoping that she will be ok but if anyone has any personal experience would be much appreciated!
Hmmm, I checked the calendar and at the beginning of July (when you have the longest days), your civil twilight starts at 4 am and ends at 10 pm. These are the extremes and, actually, quite similar to what happens where I am (greater NY area) and, what I do, during the summer, is uncover them at 4:45 am (the earliest I ever get up) and cover them at 9 pm. The thing is that they need to be exposed to a goodly length of twilight but, as long as they are exposed to 1.5 hours, is good.
As to introducing a parrot to a new family member, well, I think we have all done it at one point or another but when you are talking about a baby, it's completely different than an adult because babies don't move and they don't ask for anything from a parrot so I doubt there will be much that you actually need to do except keep her schedule and routines the same they were before and THAT's where you are going to have difficulty. Not because the parrot will make it difficult but because you are going to have to juggle the needs and schedules of both while you are sleep-deprived and tired all the time. But, because the parrot won't have any interaction with the baby for a couple of years, I doubt there will be an issue between the two of them. Parrots are not only highly intelligent, they are also extremely social so, to them, accepting an individual as part of the family is not hard. I once rehomed an ekkie who hated my guts with a passion (she was in love with my husband but he was never home and she was terrified of the other birds and would attack them) to one of the vet techs of my own avian vet. Elsa (that was her name) also fell in love with her husband (a HUGE mason with a body full of tattoos, long hair and a big beard) and also hated the wife but she adored the kids! Whereas she would bite the heck out of me and the wife, she allowed the kids to handle her, would take food from their little fingers with the outmost care and flew around the house (the husband made perches for her for every single room) following them. So, personally, as long as the bird is not overly hormonal and is getting the same care and attention it got before, I would not worry too much about it and kind of take it as 'we'll cross that bridge when we get to it'.