New parrotlet owner.

[Mskarenlynn]

Hi my name is Karen. So happy to have found this forum. I hope someone can help me.

Mskarenlynn wrote:
My parrotlet arrived two weeks ago. He's four months old. He seems miserable.

He is "suppose" to be hand tamed but wants nothing to do with me. I tried toweling...got nowhere.

He sits in his cage not making a sound. He won't touch his toys. He won't try fruits or vegetables.

I want him happy and I don't know what to do.

I would be very thankful for any advise.

[Wolf]

Hi Karen;
I don't know whether you got here by reading my PM to you or by your other post, so I will try to answer your questions here. You will get a much better response here, so let me be the first to welcome you to the forum.
Your new friend is afraid of its new surroundings at the present time, I know that this a difficult time for both of you, but just make sure that he has fresh water and enough food. For now there is very little you can do except to spend time with him, lots of time doing absolutely nothing but talking to him in a calm soft voice. The only thing that you have accomplished by toweling him is to terrify him, so lets not do that again.
Parrots regardless of species are flock animals and at this stage in his life he would never be alone for an instant, which is the largest factor of why he is so afraid. You are his new mother and he needs you to be there comforting him now more than he has ever needed anything in his short life. Parrots are also usually afraid of anything that is new to them and your baby is in a totally new place with new sights and sounds and smell, there is nothing that he knows here. You are going to become the one think that he can trust and he will come around, but how soon depends on you more than anything else. So spend as much time as possible with him and talk to him softly so as the tone of your voice will help to relax him. He will come to count on that voice and will bond pretty quickly to you and when he thinks that it is ok he will start to relax and he will move towards you for companionship.
Do not get in a hurry on this, if you want to have a good strong bond with him, you have to wait on him to respond to you. Don't do anything else but give food, water, and companionship to him at this time and wait on him. This is the fastest way to get him to trust you and quit being afraid.

[Harpmaker]

Welcome, Mskarenlynn! Enjoy your stay!

Wolf is correct. I would add take a piece of fabric(maybe that towel?) and put it over one side of the cage to give your baby some seclusion. He might feel safer with it covering part of the sides, like a cave.

Find the distance from the cage that makes him nervous about you (by walking towards it until he shifts position or moves away) and pull up a chair out side that range to read softly to him. Sing lullabies. Remember he is a wild animal that you are befriending, and give him time.

It is also common for babies being adopted out to regress in their dietary habits, so feed him soft foods, like organic strained applesauce. I was lucky that when I got my bird that after the manager told me they give "all" their parrots veggies at refrigeration temperature, the caregiver whispered that my bird and another preferred it slightly warm, and said something I would take to heart: "Warm food means love to baby birds".

[Mskarenlynn]

Hi Wolf.i did get your message. Thank you for telling me where to post. I'm new at Forums too.
The breeder kept telling me to do the toweling. I guess it may work for some birds but not mine.

I can't thank you and Harpmaker enough for your response. Right now he's sitting on my shoulder snuggled up tight against my neck and hair. I have to chase him around his cage though to get him out. Is there something else I should try when I get him out?

I will be patient as long as he needs (Louie). I had a lovebird for 22 years and he never acted like this

Thank you both for your advise. I'm definitely going to use it

I'm getting the applesauce on the way home tomorrow. Should I try to feed it to him or put it I his cage for him to try on his own.

Thank you again.

Karen

[Mskarenlynn]

Oh one more thing. His cage is hanging in front of a window. He seems to love to look outside. There is also a door there leading to the back deck I use often. Other than I know never to open the door when he's out...should I move him? Or since he's been there for two weeks now, keep him there?

Thanks!

[Wolf]

You should be happy that you don't have to hear the current thoughts in my head about your breeder, suffice it to say that he has no business touching a bird if he gives this type of advice. Toweling is not something that builds trust, it is only done when needed to examine the bird by the vet, clipping wings ( which I hope you don't do ) and nails, or in emergency situations. It is counter productive to building the trust that you want in your bird.
Do not chase this bird about the cage, I explained to you in my last post what you need to do if you want to bond with this bird. The bird will come out on its own when it is ready to if you leave the cage open. Don't get in a rush or it will cost you later in terms of trust and bonding. Be patient and go slow and do not force the bird to do anything. Right now all you want to do other then giving him a good diet is to talk to him and build his trust and friendship.
Speaking of diet, fix a small dish of applesauce for you and have another dish (empty) for him. Sit down with him and enjoy your applesauce in front of him, make a big show of how much you are enjoying this food. When you have eaten most of it, let him see you put some of yours into his dish and give that to him to eat. He may try it right away or not, if not leave it for him. Repeat this process daily until he tries this food. this is how to introduce him to any and all new foods. Don't force it on him, ever.
All I will say about his placement is that I would keep the outside door locked to prevent others from accidentally letting him out, since he is right by it.

[Pajarita]

Also, if the cage is hanging from the ceiling, in front of the window, it's not good. Cages should never dangle, they should either be on a shelf, on a stand, a table or whatever.

[Harpmaker]

The books say you probably should not to put a new baby by a window, but if he is happy there, I would say that trumps a "probably" in a book.

As for the applesauce, just put it in a feeding cup in his cage.

I am glad to hear he is settling in.

[Wolf]

That bird, what a wise guy, huh? He didn't even take time to read the book!

[Mskarenlynn]

PROGRESS! All because of all of you!

He gets on his swing and actually pumps to get it going fast! I haven't tried to get him out of his cage but have been sitting at a comfortable distance to him. He flew out last night. I crawled on the floor to him and put my hands out and instead of being reluctant, he hopped right up on my finger.

He tried applesauce. The jury is still out on that one. He ate a little piece of spinach. He loves the spray millet. It's about the only thing he really eats right now. I've tried SEVERAL different types/brands of seed and he doesn't seem to like it. Do you think he will eventually eat the seed?

I bought a different cage and now he is on a stand, and not dangling.