Hello and Request for Help :)

[Wolf]

Here is the video that I was sent.
https://youtu.be/ZtNVRDaH-pE
I saw nothing unusual about his behavior either.

[liz]

Looks to me like a little bird wants to come out and play.

I recently got chomped by a Macaw. I watched in slow motion thinking she is going take the end of my finger. The pet store manager freaked out so I had to be calm. Her bite was a reaction when the Cockatoo screamed. I said owe and she let go. To calm everyone down around me I stroked her beak and told her it was okay and she was a pretty bird.

If you keep in mind that the bite was caused by something it really helps with the pain.

[mikella]

Tonight though, Quigley was out and we were on the floor with him and he was rubbing his head against my husband's hand for about ten minutes (husband wasn't moving at all, all Quigley's doing), and afterwards he hopped up on his forearm, then walked down and took a BIG chomp out of his wrist. A deep one. I knew he was going to do, but wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Uuuuuuuuugh. What do you think causes this sort of instance of biting?

He is 100% hormonal - The behaviour that I was suspecting was mating type behaviour definitely is, I even recorded a video if I needed confirmation, but I am sure. He was doing the "wiggle" this time haha.... he was quiiiiiiiiite wound up. Other times I wasn't sure because there was no "wiggle" hahaha

By the way, yes, I tooootally misread that behaviour in the video. It looks so "skittish" to me, skinny, darting-type movements, ducking down. He normally only does it as it gets dark. So I'm glad I know this now! I really had been thinking he was distressed! haha I don't remember my other birds doing quite this - skinny usually meant frightened.



Will edit this post soon or make a new one with proper replies.

If someone happens to read in the meantime - the CRI 94+ and Ktemp 5000 lights - I can't figure this out, can't find on websites for stores around here. Could someone clarify what exactly they are and where I can find them?

Also, I've been to four pet stores looking for a birdie hut, but this is the closest I can find, and it still has that "fake fur" inside. Is this ok? Or should I order online?

http://www.petsmart.ca/bird/nesting/prevue-pet-products-bird-snuggle-hut-zid36-14221/cat-36-catid-400035?var_id=36-14221&_t=pfm%3Dcategory

[Wolf]

I just reviewed the video again and still just seeing a bird asking to come out. However, you are correct in that "skinny bird", or holding the feathers tightly against the body usually means a frightened or aggressive bird ready to attack. But I don't see that in this video. You are there and you know the bird better than I do, but I just don't see that here. I only posted it because Pajarita wanted it, probably to make some point, I will wait and see what she wanted it for.
Think back to this last instance and see if you can identify what made you think that he was about to bite your husband. I don't need to know, but it might help you. Kiki, still bites sometimes without much of a warning, sometimes the warning is very subtle and easily missed. Sometimes so subtle as to almost be missing. So don't feel bad if you don't always catch it, I miss it sometimes as well.
Over all you are doing fairly well and so I am confident that you will get there and things will be just fine. If you think that he is getting ready to bite, then he just might. If your way of dealing with the biting is gentle and uses distraction it won't hurt to use it as distracting him will not hurt him even if you might be wrong.
Huts? The fake fur ones are not good for the bird, they make the owner happy as they appeal to the human concept of a nice hut and because of that they are popular. Order online or wait for the right kind. A small cardboard box on a platform is safer for the bird than the fake fur huts and will do just as good of a job, they are also cheap and easy to replace.

[mikella]

Pajarita:

The cage I have is 27 inches high, 20 inches wide, 20 inches deep (and whole thing is 55 inches from top to floor). Half inch bar spacing. Ideally he would be out with me most of the time, so I'd like to keep this cage (at least at this point). It's brand new. I could take it off the base and put it up higher. I think even if I can arrange the inside better it would help. He really only started hopping around and seeming comfortable in it in the last few days - I didn't want to change much until he seemed more comfortable in there.

I did ask about cage set-up before - I need info. The perches are actually different sizes (despite looking the same like you said). There is two long rope perches that his feet go around and his nails are about 1/8-1/4 inch from touching, a short wooden one that is wider, a long rope one that is a little wider than that, a really wide wooden one that came with the cage but he doesn't go on it that I've seen, and another short rope one in the top back that is skinnier like the two long ones. He initially had been sleeping in that top back corner on the small rope one. I can move his fluffy buddy back there (he just started sleeping there recently). I also have a couple more perches that are not in the cage that could be switched in (one is a small cement one of different thicknesses, not sure if those are good or bad).

As for the blinds, I had to close/tilt them for the video to pick up any picture (it was right at sun down time so was getting pretty dark in the room but the brightness from the window was totally blocking out the picture of what was in the room - if that makes sense. Didn't want to turn on light in room given the time). I appreciate the indoor light info. I'm not "neglecting" to do things, promise - If I haven't done something, it's because I don't know to do it. Could you give me direct info of where to find/buy/order these bulbs from? I live in Canada. I did a bunch of reading and looking around online last night but need guidance! We have three LED bulbs in the ceiling light in here - not sure if that will do anything for now, but I did put them on this morning and will continue leaving them on all day until new bulbs unless you think it's pointless.

Could you tell me what you think about the sort of bite I described right above? If not prevented, he will do this every time.

Is it odd that he would rub his head against his hand for such a long time, then less than a minute later, make his way back to it to bite? It seems odd to me. I just can't work out his biting in my brain.

Woolf, you said to think back about what gave me the idea he was going to bite. Well, because he was walking down his forearm towards skin. haha But I thought since he had been affectionate for so long seconds before that I would see what happened...

Oh and by the way Pajarita, his old owner actually named him because she liked that movie. I've never seen it, but it's now on my list!

You all are so good about answering questions, so here are a few more to add to the ones above :

- I still need confirmation about the sun down thing. Say online it says "sunset 7:35." Can I COVER him anytime after 7:35? (We have a skyline view, so I can see that the sun is all the way down and gone.) OR do I need to wait until it is DARK?
- Since I stopped giving him baths, he has had two MASSIVE baths in his water dish. This ok? Mean anything? (Not to be crazy, but I hope he doesn't do it when I'm out because it's literally so much water everywhere that it would swell the baseboard or floor!)
- He bites through my clothes pretty hard when climbing, he gets "nibbly" and it hurts (I get little bruises). Is this something I just wait out for now? I've been saying "ouch!" when it's bad but it seems to have zero impact so far (I know it's early days).

And finally, update on gloop: He's (of course) picking out the few seeds, will chew maybe one piece of corn and the rest goes on the bottom, and I THINK he is eating the quinoa. The millet and amaranth seem to stay. I put chili in it today. Will see what happens over time. I was hoping he would be a little more keen on it by now, BUT he is eating SOMETHING from that dish at least, and we give him other stuff. He liked squash yesterday moreso than before, so that's good.

[liz]

Rambo and Myrtle don't bite unless something is distressing them. Both are in season right now. It is a grin and bare it month. I am just waiting for it to pass so I can have my feathered babies back.

[mikella]

I just want a feathered baby period

(ok, over it now!)

I love him. I just hope hope hope that we will build a good relationship and will be able to trust each other eventually. I don't ALWAYS want to be bitten...

[Wolf]

I wonder, especially about the biting while climbing, if (1) you might just have very sensitive skin and(2) if he is biting as hard as he is while using his beak to help because of being insecure due to being clipped. It is something to consider. If this is the case you might need to consider a heavier material. The other biting, where he goes to exposed skin and bites, I don't know. partly because I don't have a GCC, it could be hormonal, but that doesn't fit my experience with my Senegals hormonal biting. He could be unhappy about something and is trying to tell you, this does fit with the way my Senegal used to bite in the beginning. For this biting, I think that I would get a small stuffed animal toy from the animal section of Wal Mart or from a pet or toy store and keep it to block him from biting you. The best way to teach a parrot to not bite is by not getting bit. So I suggest that you either distract him from it or failing that you use the toy to block him fro biting you. If I had to block him from biting I would also tell him No Bite" in a firm but calm voice.
As for covering his cage, for his benefit, I would wait until full dark before covering the cage. The reason is that he needs to be exposed to the full twilight periods of dawn and dusk in order for his internal biological clock to reset to its proper synchronization with the seasons. This internal clock affects everything in his body as well as affecting his mental and emotional states. It is what turns the hormone production on and off.
Baths:
While it won't hurt him to bathe in his water dish as long as it get changed out afterwards it is messy for sure. I use these for my smaller birds such as my Senegal and she loves hers.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... atid=16514
Due to it being further inside the cage it does reduce the splash out but you could put a piece of plastic sheet on the outside of the cage to stop the water from splashing out of the cage.
I am glad that he is starting to nibble at the gloop, it should not be very long now before he is eating it like he should.

[Pajarita]

Wolf, I thought posting the video would be good for other people to see that this was not the behavior of a scared bird (it's hard to read behaviors accurately with birds so actually seeing an example helps a lot).

Now, on to the questions.

Cage, if it's going to be mainly for sleeping, it's a fine cage but put it higher so his roosting perch (the one he sleeps on) is at your eye level when you are standing up.

Perches: if you have other perches in there that are thinner, it's fine (I couldn't really see well into the cage and the ones I saw in the front all looked as if they had, more or less, the same thickness).

Hut: that one is fine. The material inside is soft but not piling. And, yes, put it high in a back corner.

Light info:
regular bulb socket: http://www.lumiram.com/ecolume-compact- ... 5000k.html
fluorescent tube fixture: http://www.amazon.com/Philips-209056-F3 ... B002DR5U9Y

Light schedule: uncover at first light and cover when it's dark (the idea is for the bird to be exposed to dawn and dusk from beginning to end but you can cheat a bit on the beginning because, otherwise, you would have to uncover at 5 am during the summer -I do it but I am not what you would call 'normal' when it comes to my birds care). Always say the same thing when you uncover and when you cover (I say "Hello. Good morning! How are you?" and, at night, first I talk to them calling them to me and scratching their head, cheeks, neck through the bars and then I say "Nite nite Tsk tsk tsk tsk I love you!" over and over until the cage is completely covered.

Yes, him taking a bath by himself is great! GCCs love to bathe and mine always has a big bowl for it (she likes to do it early in the morning, before her breakfast but some birds prefer to do it after). I have plastic tablecloth protectors under the cages I have in the human living areas, it protects the floor and the poop and food comes out quite easily by wiping it with a wet sponge.

Gloop: don't worry about it, he will eat everything in time (GCCs are great eaters). See if you can get some Kamut, wheat kernels and oat groats (they sell them in a 'healthy' supermarket here called Whole Foods but you can also order them online).

Bites and nips. When he gets nippy or nibbles on your clothes hard, just tell him something like 'No! Geeeently - geeeently' and touch the top of his beak with your finger so as to both indicate what you are talking about and to distract him. They like to have it caressed, too: putting your index and thumb together as if you were going to pinch something, caress both sides of his beak by moving the fingers downward from the top of the beak to the tip -it reminds them of their parents feeding them).

It's not odd at all that he looked for closeness, enjoyed it, and then bit. It's actually perfectly understandable. They are highly social animals and, to them, physical touch and closeness is not only an emotional need, it's virtually physiological. The problem he has is that although he needs and deeply desires the affection, he doesn't trust the 'givers' (humans) not to betray him (neglecting him, leaving him all on his own, keeping him caged, grabbing him) and thus the 'split personality'. Always keep a small stuffed toy handy and next time you see him going for a hand, put it in front of his beak or prevent him from reaching it by making him step up to the Tstick and, when he does, give him a reward and praise, praise, praise. The idea is to break him out of the behavior by redirecting the action to something positive and then heaping the positive reinforcement on him. I don't like to compare parrots to children often because people tend to think of them as feathered children and treat them as such when they are not, they are birds with bird needs and sexually mature at that but, sometimes, making the comparison helps people understand them better so here it goes: Think of an abused child. He wants nothing more than to have a loving mommy and daddy but, when he is adopted and finally gets loving parents, he would hit and curse them, he would squirm out of a hug and a kiss, he would try to run away, he would misbehave so severely that gives them no option but to scold him, etc. Why? Because long term neglect and/or abuse alter the normal physiological and psychological response to stimuli - even good and desired stimuli. It's kind of an avian PTSD and, although their reactions don't make sense to us because, in our minds, we are giving the bird everything he could possibly want and need, they no longer 'reason' it out the right way.

Mind you, this does not mean the bird is a lost cause or that you won't get your 'feathered baby'... it just means that it will take some time for you to have that relationship. I can see how, on a certain level, you must be a bit disappointed with the whole thing because, in truth, that awful woman tricked you into taking a little bird that has issues (created by her, I might add!) and you have every right to feel cheated but, please, think of what this means poor little Quigley! Imagine if he had ended up in somebody else's house, somebody who wanted a sweet little bird from day one and who did not want to put the time and work into 'bringing him back'... he would have ended up been passed from one uncaring hand to another and possibly living the rest of his life in a cage somewhere without love -and that is, without exaggeration, hell on earth for a little bird, especially GCCs which are so incredibly affectionate and so very needy of attention. And this is precisely one of the things you have working for you: that this is one of the most needy and affectionate species there is!

There are two things you need to keep in mind all the time when things 'go south':
- this is not his fault, he doesn't really want to be 'bad' and there is always a reason why they do bad things (aggression is not hard-wired into a parrot's brain).
- it's just a matter of time. He will, eventually, start trusting you, will bond with you and become, in every way, the little feathered baby you wanted.

[mikella]

Yes, Pajarita! For me it is SO helpful to have you guys look and decode for me until I know him better. In fact, here's some I just took (only sound, didn't want him to stop so I didn't move an inch haha). Is the loud one a "flock call"? What about soft squawks? What do they mean to you? (By the way, don't mind the Oldies radio station on in the background haha)

https://youtu.be/BX6PQRbK078
https://youtu.be/WCDsdre0QGI
https://youtu.be/JjPOKE2GaSs

Boy, he is spritely today! haha We went for a few short "walks" and he had squash and stepped up on the T stick a bunch of times. He is in a lively, perky mood, hopping around. And....... (!) This afternoon there's been a change, he has started eating the peas and corn out of the gloop. I'm really happy about this. Tomorrow morning I'll put carrots in again - carrots, peas, corn. See what happens. And I'll do chili again. When he's eating this then I'll start adding different veggies.

Here are some other things I have that I could add, yes or no to them?

-mung beans (little creamy/yellowish beans)
-wild/assorted rices
-little orange lentils
-some organic assorted beans (but think I read only white is ok, probably due to lower glutamic acid content..?)
-organic oats (certified gluten-free, but don't think that matters)
-teff

I'll see what he thinks about what I have then will pick up the ones you suggested

How you explained the biting made total sense.............. I need to undo years of engrained behaviour. I just hope that I am good enough at it to make it work. There's no doubt in my mind that you could! haha But this is a new experience for me. I'm going to do my best though and be as consistent as possible with everything. I am going to get my husband to make a second T stick (I want it to be smaller so he can get a better grip on it with his feet), and get out a little stuffed animal. I forgot about this actually.

There has been a little disappointment (especially since I waited and waited and husband finally let me go for it, I feel guilty in a sense. I assured him that although an older bird would need to adjust, I felt like this was a good fit and would work out well, etc.). Really didn't know what I was getting into even though I found out as much as I could, just wasn't told the real story. Mostly been feeling discouragement/defeat/sadness on and off though. I want to help him and it makes me feel like I'm failing when he bites. I KNOW this is silly though. I know this will take a lot of time. I think every day that I'm glad that I have him. Because if someone else took him, chances are he would end up in yet ANOTHER home because they would have given him away on day 4. And I do love him already. A lot. So does my husband. He was in heaven when Quigley was belly to the floor (heated floor haha comfy), rubbing his head on his hand.

I am confident that I will trytrytrytrytry. And try some more. I will be patient and loving. I just don't feel confident that I am skilled enough to make this work. I will feel much better as I start to see changes, in a month, or two, three... And I DO already feel better even seeing changes as far as him seeming more comfortable, starting to eat though...

I have all the time in the world. As long as I know I'm doing the right thing (which is why I need you guys) and that he will eventually come around, then I am a-ok.

I'm committed to him. I don't want to fail him.

Other questions:
- How much seed for supper?
- The ceiling fixture in this room has spots for three bulbs - use three of those bulbs?
- The tube bulb - that too or is that just another option? I don't have a fixture for that, but could have husband figure it out/put one in. Could it go above his cage on the ceiling?
- Can these bulbs be found in any home/lighting stores or typically only online? (like how specialized are they?)

A found a bird store that I could take a trip to that sells these:

http://www.healthybird.net/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=26&products_id=3516

http://www.healthybird.net/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=26&products_id=1593

Any good? The specs are a bit different...
How long do they last anyways? One of them says a year.

I'm afraid you all are going to get sick of my constant questions.

I want to post a picture of Quigley... How do I do that? Do I need to host the picture somewhere? You guys need to get a good look at his sweet face.