Hello from Seattle!

[nerdybird]

Hello! I just adopted my first bird, a blue-winged female parrotlet. She's about 1.5 years old, and I've had her for about a week. This forum, and Michael's videos and articles, were a great source of info when I was considering getting a bird.

I got her from an older couple who has a lot of birds and needs to rehome them because they are moving. This was their first/ only parrotlet (they have a lot of finches and canaries) and they told me up front they hadn't socialized her properly, although she is tame as she was hand-raised.

The cage they gave her to me in was filthy, and sealed shut; I don't think she'd been out of it in months, and it's not very big :/

I had planned on using target training to get her out the first time, as Michael's guide suggests; however I really needed to clean the cage, and she also seemed desperate for some attention. She warmed up to me, even through the cage, incredibly fast, so I decided to take her out to clean it before target training.

I took her into my very small bird-proofed bathroom and let her out, by taking the top of the cage off (since it was sealed shut with a sturdy piece of metal). Also I didn't want to frighten her by reaching in to the cage. She flew a bit at first and seemed frightened, but came back towards me very fast. Then I pet her and she loooved it. She let me scratch her neck and head for probably a half hour. She was definitely affection starved! She is molting as well, so I think she really wanted help with the pinfeathers on her head and neck.

The first time she was out she flew very poorly; She had her wings clipped by her breeder, but not since. I plan on keeping her flighted, but it's obvious she hasn't flown much.

Since then I've taken her out in my bathroom every night for a couple hours. She will hop onto my hand, although she doesn't know the step up command; if I hold my hand out she will just hop onto it. She doesn't seem comfortable on my fingers though; All her perches are smooth so maybe her feet aren't in good shape.

The second night she let me pet her in my hand for quite a while, and seemed to decide I'm ok, and after that became obsessed with climbing my shirt/hair and trying to get to my head. At one point she used my large metal earrings as a ladder.

She is fairly well potty trained on her own; she doesn't seem to want to poop unless she is on a perch. I say "bombs away!" whenever she poops so that I can hopefully keep her trained to do that.

While she is definitely bonding well with me, she is afraid of everything else and doesn't really play. I assume this is because she's been somewhat neglected.

She is afraid of toys with bells. When my keys make noise, she flips out and becomes all puffy, flies around, and chirps rapidly. It seems like maybe she thinks it is another bird? Any advice on what to do about that would be appreciated. Any similar noise produces a similar reaction. I tried showing her the keys but it didn't help.

I tried to start clicker training her, by clicking when I give her treats; but she seems to get distracted by the noise. Muffling it helps a bit but not much.

Noises in general seem to startle her. She is also afraid of the towel I used to cover her cage, so I stopped using it. When I turn the lights out, she climbs onto the upper corrner of the cage and stays there all night. But just now (the first time I've been home at this time of day with her) she is napping on her perch with her head tucked back, with the lights on.

I think that's about it for now! She is wonderful and seems very smart. Hopefully after some time and proper training and socialization she will be less afraid/ (aggressive?) towards noises and such.

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum and thank you for adopting instead of buying. Now, just two comments. Taking her into an unfamiliar room is something that used to be done years ago and no longer recommended. And don't take her out at night. She needs to be kept at a solar schedule (plets are very hormonal little birds which tend to pluck when any little thing upsets them). Also, please let her out in the same room where her cage is. She will feel more comfortable (less stress) that way. Second comment: A week is nothing. You might think this is the way she is and that she is bonding with you (and maybe she is) but, most likely, she is on her honeymoon stage so don't get upset if she changes. Last but not least, please do not start training her until she has been with you for a couple of months and feeling at home and do not try to toilet train her, she is a teeny, tiny bird and she needs to go every few minutes so any 'holding' it is hugely detrimental to her health.

[Harpmaker]

Welcome to the forum nerdybird! It sounds like you are doing what you can to repair months of neglect. Good for you! Enjoy your stay.

[Wolf]

Hi
I also have a Celestial Parrotlet, she is 5 yrs. of age so little, so cute and all of the attitude of any other parrot that I have ever seen. If the sound that you are trying to convey to us when she hears the sound of your keys, could be described as kind of a chittering, high pitched and musical then I would not get concerned as this is a happy noise and also how she greets you. If the sound is kind of like a buzzing, then it is how she growls and expresses displeasure and aggression. That is the sound that you don't want to hear.
She is very tiny and she is aware of it, so the fight or flight reflex happens so fast in them that just for you to keep up and influence it you must move quite slowly when dealing with her. You are like 10,000 times bigger than she is and new to her as well and you don't speak parrot. So use that picture in your mind and you may begin to understand how she feels at this early stage of your relationship. Consider how would you react to someone the size of the Empire State building started trying to play with you and you can't understand what it says to you. You might just realize how brave this little bird really is.
Many parrots, of much larger size, are afraid of new toys and such. This is partly a lack of socialization on our part, which can be countered by showing them the toy and letting them see us play with it until they get curious enough to join in the play with you. It is also partly due to what it takes for a bird to survive in its natural environment and so is part of their natural mental make up.
One thing you can try is when she responds to the keys is to place them down in front of her and let her examine them on her own. Also go out and find some dandelion flowers that have a long stem and wrap them into a circle and give her them to play with and chew on. Mine is very playful, and seems to adore such things and the dandelion is good for them to eat as well.
A week is nothing in terms of time to a parrot, give it a month or even longer, bonding can happen very quickly, or at least the beginnings of it, but it is a process that takes time to develop properly and it takes time and patience for this to happen. Don't get in a rush, let the bird set the pace, respect her when she has had enough and don't insist, you can always come back to it later.
She is very little, with a very high metabolism and so she is going to need to poop every few minutes. Due to her physical makeup you can do her serious harm by trying to potty train her in any way, so please don't do it. It is so much easier and safer in the long run to keep a little toilet paper or a tissue on hand for poop clean up.
I hope that this will be of help for you. I posted my last update on my parrotlet, in the Parrot tales section ,it is called Paquita, the Parrotlet. It has a couple of recent pictures and where we are presently at in our relationship, perhaps you will find it amusing .

[Lady]

Hi nerdybird,

Nice to meet you. Welcome

[nerdybird]

Hi all! Thanks for the messages

Zelda is doing great. She is adjusting very well to my apartment, little by little (although it's a very small studio anyway.) She is learning to fly, although still has some trouble going downward, but no trouble otherwise. I have been teaching her to fly to my fingers from her perch from gradually increasing distances.

Wolf- I think you are right about the toys, she has a couple of "chew" toys in her cage but otherwise I don't think she's ever really played with any. I searched online and found some ideas for simple toys to begin with, and she's been enjoying little twists of paper towels with millet in them.

I found an example of parrotlet aggression, and that's what she does with my keys- but she also does that to anything that makes a bell or rustling noise. When I make the noise with the paper twists, she seems to get into it and wants to play with it. So I think it's a playful aggression, at least sometimes.

She seems to be adjusting fairly well- she is no longer afraid of her cage being covered, and has begun sleeping on her perch with one foot up instead of clinging to the cage. She loves to be on me and it took me a while to stop her from flying to/climbing onto my head. I found some good stuff on positive reinforcement and taking away or replacing the "reward" of being on my head; instead, now she has a perch that's at the level of my face, which seems to satisfy her for now.

The only other thing that seems odd is that she doesn't grip with her feet- for a while she would nip me when I tried to get her to step onto my fingers, but she would jump onto my palm easily. I realized she doesn't seem to have a strong grip; I'm guessing it's because she only had crappy plastic perches before :/ I got her some wood ones, and I'm going to get her some better ones too. She has become comfortable perching on two of my fingers at once.

She will eat anything I give her, including Harrison's pellets, but is less inclined to eat them when there are seeds available. I'm giving her lots of seeds and millet until I'm sure she's eating well. I'm also giving her a mash of veggies and grains, but she seems to have trouble getting it down. She likes it and tries to eat it, but it seems like most of it falls out of her beak.

Is there a certain consistency I should be going for with my blender, or do they get better at eating fresh food with practice?

[Wolf]

Some time when birds play it is very aggressive, be glad that it is not your finger, because they usually destroy whatever it is that they play with. I really wouldn't be too concerned with that. It also serves to sharpen and trim both nails and beak, which is the primary reason that they do it ,while the second is that this is how they learn self defense.
As to the fresh foods, I tried to use a blender for Paquita's, but went back to using a knife and just chopping it up finely and she seems to eat it a little better. Parrots, regardless of size are slobs at meal time. Although a pain if you get the honor of the cleanup, in the wild it has many benefits as it helps to spread the plants that they feed on.
Her flight will improve with use as will her overall health and outlook, the act of flying is wired to so much of their brain that it affects nearly everything about them from attitude and intelligence to stress relief and hormones as well as general health.
I am sure that her grip is fine, but it is good that she doesn't feel the need to hold on tightly as, that would be a good indication that she is either scared or otherwise stressed out. And if you can find small branches from bird safe plants such as lilac just make perches from them, leaving the bark on and let her peel it off.

[Pajarita]

Parrots don't have what we would call 'true aggression', all their bites and attacks are defensive or protective so I am thinking that maybe somebody either jingle something to scare her off or maybe they hit the bars of her cage making them 'ring' and that's why she shows aggression to the object that is making the noise (keys).