First headscratchings, yay! :D

[Serafisk]

Omg, I'm so excited so I just had to share this with you guys!

I've had my amazon Elliot for a little over 2 months (he's probably a year old btw), and for the first time today he allowed me to scratch his head :] This is exactly the kind of progress I've been hoping and wishing for

I've been scratching his chest and touching his feet for weeks, but as soon as whatever he's munching on is swallowed he'll nip my finger or take a step away to show that he's not comfortable, so I always "back off" to give him some space.
      Today, though, I started saying "wanna cuddle?" and scratched his beak - which, mind you, took a few attempts before he would even let me. After a while he grew really still (nearly enough for me to think he'd gone into an other seizure (he's had two occassions where this has happened)), but then he started chirping very quietly and low. I kept saying "wanna cuddle?" and as I scratched his beak I repeated "cuddle, cuddle is nice" then I'd tell him he was a good bird and offer him a seed.
      After repeating this for a few times I started stroking the feathers just above his beak and his eyes cosed, then suddenly I'm scratching his head, neck, around his eyes - and he's just sitting there, chriping in that low way. I kept saying that he was a good boy and withdrew my hand, then offered him a seed, but he was barely even interested in them - so I think he enjoyed being scratched :]

I managed to snap some pictures, but they turned out really blurry and not so good, since I was so caught of guard. I thought it would take several more months before we'd make this sort of progress, since we've been more or less stuck in the same place for weeks now. For him to enjoy being touched and scratched had started to seem like an impossible dream only, since I suppose not all birds enjoy being scratched. I'd more or less given up hope of him being a cuddly parrot, but today my hope was restored

I don't want to "puch my luck" and be too hands on with him, so I'll resort to our usual games and training for our second session today (we always play some in the morning and then later in the afternoon), and give it a second attempt tomorrow instead :]

[pennyandrocky]

i don't think you're going to be the one pushing it. now that he's had scratches he'll be looking forward to them now. my always loved scratches from people but one day my snuck up and preened him while i was scratching his head. i was so nervous about his reaction but from that day until we lost him he would chase my penny with his head down feathers up begging for more.

[cml]

Congrats!

[Serafisk]

Haha, I hope you're right pennyandrocky :]

It might not seem like a big deal to everyone else, but this is like a major milestone for me. It's one of the things I've been longing to being able to do with him. I was so hoping for a cuddly bird but as I said I started to fear that he might just not be one of them (which would have been fine, btw, I would accept him any way he is.)

[Pajarita]

Congratulations! And consider yourself lucky and your bird an exception because, usually, zons don't like to be touched. They love to perch on your shoulder and share things with you but they are not touchy-touchy birds. I've had ten zons and out of all of them, only one (a RLA hen) liked to have her head scratched.

[mrbowlerhat]

Aaaw, I'm so happy for both of you! I remember the first time Alaska let me scratch her head, it was really awesome so I understand you feel like it's a big deal, because it really is!