Skeeter the Red Bellied Parrot

[Weka]

Hi cml and Pajarita --

No worries, I told the doc that we're planning on keeping him fully flighted -- but he seemed rather skeptical that we'd be able to re-teach Skeeter to step up without doing so. We'll show him!

As for the veggies: I think he was just wanted us to temporarily reel them in to see if there was any other reason for excess urine in the droppings. I gave Skeeter a little bit less this morning, but not too much as he has a habit of taking his Harrison's pellets over to his water dish and dunking them like donuts in coffee; I take this to mean that they are too dry for them to be properly digested. But since this is what he's been on for perhaps most of his 10 years, I don't want to change over to a better alternative until he's settled in a bit.

We did the training treat sampler test today to see what the favorites are, and the answer is: almost everything! But the most favored were:

1) Peanut <--unshelled, from the hookbill seed mix from the shop. I think there's just a couple per bag.
2) Pistachio
3) Walnut

Now he's asleep again, which, given his seemingly healthy appetite and once-over by the vet, makes me feel like it must be from all the transition stress. If he's still taking 2-3 hour power naps twice a day a few days from now, though, I'll be sure to call the office straight away.



Thanks for reading about our adventures,

Weka

[Michael]

Skeeter is about 10 years old, and while fully flighted has been reportedly cagebound for a good part of his life. (A case of young-boy-gets-parrot, grown-boy-leaves-parrot-with-mom, mom-can't-keep-parrot story)

Sorry, I haven't been following this thread or responses so I apologize if my answer is gratuitous. But I just wanted to point out some things about a cage bound "fully flighted" bird.

1) If he hasn't been out of that cage for more than a few weeks, he's not really flighted. He's probably closer to "good as clipped." So besides the fact that it is better to keep him flighted, you can have a lot of the clipped effect in the first few weeks anyway without damaging his wings.

2) Regardless whether he can fly or not, if he is known to be aggressive, you want to do all initial training in the cage. He's been cage bound all these years... leaving him in another few weeks or months but to set things right so he can come out from then on is worth it.

3) Even with full feathers, if the bird hasn't been flying, he probably wouldn't have the strength to do a full circle of the room if he wanted to. Especially on freefeed, he'll be so heavy he'll barely be able to haul his weight. The biggest reason not to give him the chance to fly until he is trained is cause he will probably crash before he gets somewhere and not because you have a concern of him flying all over the place.

When I leave my guys even a few days without a chance to fly, they get substantially weaker. After being gone a few weeks on vacation (even with modest opportunities to fly) they can barely fly.

So don't worry about flight. BUT DO MAKE SURE YOUR HOME IS FLIGHT SAFE REGARDLESS!

[Weka]

Thanks for your thoughts on this, Michael.

1) Good as clipped, indeed! If he hadn't been on a managed diet for the last two years at the bird shop, I'm guessing he wouldn't have been able to fly at all.

2) Yes, we plan to do all our initial training in his cage, as per your instructions online and in your very helpful book. He is VERY territorial/scared when anyone puts a hand near him inside his cage, and yesterday even forcibly lunged at Mr. Weka, who was just calmly standing outside it, talking near the bars.

3) He was able to get a little bit of loft (about 4-6 feet) when he initially became airborne, but tired in a matter of seconds and would flop to the ground. Again, if he were overweight I doubt even this would've been possible. The doc said his flight muscles were very weak.

When we do get Skeeter tame enough to be allowed out, we will do so on a schedule and work on flight training in slow increments. We have already put in several measures to prevent escape, and plan for a few more, just in case. It would be awful if all that time and effort helping Skeeter flew literally out the door...



Best,

Weka

[Pajarita]

If he continues the polyuria (excessive urination), I suggest you have a bile acids test done.

[KimberlyAnn]

How is Skeeter doing?

[Weka]

No worries, Skeeter is doing really well. Sorry I haven't checked in sooner. I've just been so busy with work (I work from home) that any free moments I have I'm spending it on the bird (chopping/cooking/cleaning/interacting) His droppings are more normal now, and his energy levels are going up -- to the point where it's like, who is THIS bird? He's so peppy! Chirping, climbing, shredding his new toys, etc. but still napping from time to time. I've been in contact with the vet and breeder, and it looks like he might be going through a partial molt, as there's quite a few little pin feathers coming in on his head. He really likes it when I gently scritch him just behind the ears or under his chin to loosen things up. We've also got a humidifier going in the room, as the whole-house humidifier has been going full blast and the readings were only at 35%. (It's been a VERY cold and dry winter here in Colorado.) He took a bath in his water dish Saturday, which was pretty comical. I spritzed him down in the cage today, which he seemed to appreciate, and told him we'd get him in for regular weekly sessions in the shower as soon as we get him a little more used to hands.

We're doing two 15 minute training sessions a day now, and wow, is this bird wicked smart. He caught on to targeting in just one session, going from being super afraid of the training stick to eagerly following it all over the cage so he can get a bit of walnut. We are going to work on stepping up this week -- wish us luck!



Okay, back to work,

Weka

ADDENDUM: We are still going to take him in for blood work in a couple of weeks, just to make super-sure he's okay.



***

[Pajarita]

Please remember that birds should always be bathed in cold water, never warm because it strips the natural oils from their plumage and skin.

[Weka]

Thanks for the reminder, Pajarita! Yes, absolutely -- only cooler temp water for this bird. (And for me, too. It's better for the immune system and hair.)

Skeeter did so good today. I was able to target him onto an unfamiliar hand perch. It took two days and three sessions to get him brave enough to do so, but he finally got up the nerve. He makes these little worried noises when he is wanting his treat but facing something he's not sure of, sort of like a soft, descending, "Ooooh!" that is so cute that I have to be careful not to start laughing so as to break his confidence. It's as if you can see him thinking, "I want that nut sooo badly, but it's over there by the scary thing. Ooooh, what to do?" If he refused to come over but wasn't acting distressed, I simply waited and talked softly until he decided to move towards the target stick again. When he did, this was rewarded with a little bit of nut, which then encouraged him to come closer the next time. Just three days ago he wouldn't even come near the cage door (I think he associates it with bad things like towel grabbing, etc) and now he's able to sit on a hand perch with the door wide open. Now it's just going to be more of the same, getting him used to the perch until we can move to stepping onto my hand...


--W

[Pajarita]

Good job!

[Weka]

Cute Skeeter, singing his "Doo-doo-doo" song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqw27-RhKPs