Mimi's Progress

[liz]

I am also considering metal trim on my cabinet doors. She is such a busy bird that I look for her when she is quiet.

[Pajarita]

What's up with their chewing? Well, it's what they do, that's what's up with it. I have metal borders all over the birdroom. I did not put any in my living and dining room and I am now paying the price for it from the door moldings to the window sills to the bookshelves and even the fake antique radio which Linus has chosen as his primary target (he LOVES to pull the knobs off and carry them back into his cage to play with them) and already has an entire border all chewed up. It's no good trying to deter them, the only way is to prevent it... only problem is, in my personal experience, that we always overlook something and they always manage to find it

[liz]

Myrtle is a terror on my kitchen cabinets. I worry about the stuff she gets in her mouth. It some kind of poly coating instead of paint.

No matter what Myrtle does she can't beat the hole that Rambo chewed behind the toilet in the bathroom.

[Pajarita]

Give her time.

[liz]

What kind and where did you get the metal for trim?

[Pajarita]

I use the sheetrock metal corner beads (like these:http://www.homedepot.com/p/Gibraltar-Building-Products-10-ft-Galvanized-Metal-Corner-Bead-10524/100356006), only I use it as edges on corners. They don't look pretty but they do look neat when you paint over them with non-toxic, zero VOS paint, and they do prevent their chewing.

[liz]

Thank you. I will look for it today while I still have cabinet doors.

[Wolf]

I think I mentioned it in another thread but Mimi is beginning to climb about on the outside of her cage, usually screaming the whole time. Although it sounds like she is screaming in protest to her earlier training, I think she is screaming in joy as there is no one asking her to do this or otherwise interfering with her. It could also be that she wants us to see what she is doing and that may be why she screams while doing this. We will see, I guess.
I am hesitant to do it, but I may need to separate Mimi's cage from being as close to the other birds as it is. Space is one reason for my reluctance but I think that being so close to the others has really helped her a lot. But in addition to climbing on her cage, today she started biting at Kookooloo or at Kiki if they were in their cage when she was out climbing on her cage and if they were out of their cages she had to go inside to check them out.
I wonder if she is finally starting to reach the conclusion that the rules of the past are no longer there and that she is finally going to be allowed to be herself. Any way I think that we are in for some fairly rapid changes in her.

[liz]

The screaming is strange but Rambo screams when I give him a new cardboard box. It sounded like a distress scream to the point that my mom thought I was hurting him. His is followed by talking to himself about the new box.
It could be excitement of being out or like a kid screaming for mom to look at how they ride their tricycle.
She has done so well under your care. Each day must be an adventure for you as in what new thing is she going to do.
I love reading her progress.

[Pajarita]

She is beginning to find what I call 'her place in the flock'. In my personal experience, this is something that doesn't happen a few months or even a year after we take an adult bird in, it takes a looooong time and I think (this is one of my 'off the wall' theories that have no scientific basis whatsoever and it's merely based on my experience and my 'gut feeling') it happens when they not only feel 100% comfortable in their new home but also when they get a sense of permanence in it... It's as if they said to themselves "Well, this is my home now, they treat me well and I am not going to lose it so I am going to make it MY own"

Now is when the tweaking and tweaking and tweaking begins, Wolf - welcome to my world!