Senegal Parrot Adoption

[khave]

I recently adopted a 4 year old senegal parrot who, for the most part, is an absolute dream. He will step up to anyone, knows about 30 words and sounds, and is picking up tricks like a champ. However, he does have some issues that may or may not be serious, and as a first time parrot owner, would like to get opinions on. His previous owner was a male so he shows the most affection towards them. He skirt dances constantly in the presence of my father and boyfriend and prefers to interact with them. Am I doomed to a male only bird? Will he ever warm up to me? I feel almost hurt that my bird doesn't even enjoy my company. Should I discourage the skirt dancing behavior, if so, how? My bird also makes an incredibly annoying contact call should anyone not give him enough attention. He is fine on the hand, but as soon as he is placed on the perch he screams, even if you are in the same room within sight. I have been trying to ignore it and then reward if he makes a good noise, but it doesn't seem to extinguish the behavior at all. What am I doing wrong? When will he realize its unacceptable? Thanks for your help!

[cml]

My bird also makes an incredibly annoying contact call should anyone not give him enough attention. ....I have been trying to ignore it and then reward if he makes a good noise, but it doesn't seem to extinguish the behavior at all. What am I doing wrong? When will he realize its unacceptable? Thanks for your help!

Dont despair, it will work! We have almost completely removed screaming from Stitch, by doing the above. Before he would scream when we walked out from the room and just ignoring it didnt help at all. Instead we started doing what I think Naurthon suggested in a thread somewhere, namely rewarding another sound profoundly!

We started running to him everytime he did a wolf-whistle, and immediatly when hearing it responded with a whistle back. It took less than two weeks, and the screaming was almost gone. Now he only regresses to screaming on the odd occation if he is really winded up or something.

[khave]

What about the male-only affection? Will I ever be able to interact with my bird like a man would?

[liz]

No. You will have to establish your own kind of bond.

Rambo loves my daughter, Rachel, more than me and considers me a care giver. He will even dismiss me when he doesn't want bothered.
Myrtle loves me best. She can get an attitude with Rachel. Rachel finally got through to her with a game. Rachel points her finger and says bang. Myrtle say "Oh" and flips her head sideways like she has been shot. They are building a bond. Myrtle even flew onto her back for a ride yesterday.

[Khaiqha]

You can form your own special bond with it, but try lowering your expectations. More than likely, it will never get along with you as it does others. This doesn't mean you two can't find common ground.

My irn loves my roommate, who pets it for a whole 30 seconds a day. No matter what I do, my irn will always be more loving and gentle with my roommate. But I found my irn still finds me interesting, likes to do things with me, likes to sleep on me, etc. I've just dialed down my expectations and can now enjoy the little things more.

[pfinarffle]

Congrats on the adoption! We adopted a now 18 year-old Sennie when he was 17 years old, had him since he was 16 years old. Talk about trying to teach an old dog new tricks! Thankfully he seems as bonded to my husband as me. But the screaming... Ugh! I think he suffers from separation anxiety because he's been re-homed so many times in his longish life thus far. He hates it when he loses sight of me or my husband. Yeah, he eventually stops the high-pitched nonsense. But even still, you can only respond to the okay vocalizations for so long before you wear out. Best of luck to ya and keep us posted!