Giving this place another chance

[JessiMuse]

Now I doubt if anyone actually remembers me, considering I've only talked to 2-3 when I actually joined. But if you do, then kudos to you!

For those who don't know me, I guess I'll give a bit of a recap. I joined this forum in June, looking for advice on my parents' white capped pionus, Dudley, who has been having some major aggression problems. However, I felt somewhat intimidated, and slowly coward away. It's nobody's fault here. I didn't have any means of controlling my social anxiety back then, so even on the internet, I felt somewhat paranoid. Doesn't help the fact that I can't read the tone of someone's voice very well offline, let alone online.

Dudley's doing better now. I began target training from in the cage, since he's too scared to do anything while outside. It's a slow process, since he's old (turned 29 this year). Have been making improvements to his diet. It's also a slow process since I'm dealing with a mother who thinks she knows everything about birds (when she really doesn't).

I was also dumb enough to do what everyone else advises against, and got another bird before I have fixed the current parrot's behavior problems (I'll admit, that was a mistake on my part, but I'm happy with her, nonetheless). I now have a Cockatiel named Lucy, who is is almost 5 months old now (ironically, she hatched on my birthday). She's a total sweetie, and I've been working on training her. Sometimes, in front of Dudley (it helps him catch on).

So I thought I would come back here, give this community another chance. I wont be too active, since I'm going through college right now. (I'm going as a part-time student though, so I'll have time for my birds, as well as other things).

Nice seeing some of you again, nice meeting the rest of you! Hope to start over and have a better time here.

[Wolf]

I am glad to see that you made it back and that Dudley is doing better than when we last heard from you. How is his target training going?
And you now have the Cockatiel like you wanted and if I remember correctly this was your favorite species of parrot. Lucy is a good name, is it the name of a favored person in your life or something else that makes it sing for you?
I also work and play with my birds in front of each other although with a couple of them perhaps I shouldn't as they are both a bit jealous of me with other birds, but it does seem to help them overall as they watch what the others do and learn a lot from doing so.
On the more personal side of this posting, don't let it bother you as it is nearly impossible to tell the tone that anybody may intend when you are reading it. I must say that I understand some of your difficulties as although I don't have much problem with anxiety, I do have my difficulties with depression. It is probably best to either consider that what is typed is pretty much neutral in tone and is just the delivery of facts or relating an experience. If it sounds a little off the wall, it may have been intended as humor which is also very difficult to convey in the written word. I will say that the majority of us care about the welfare of your birds as much as we care about our own birds and want only the best for them and you. These are also hard to convey when suggesting changes in the way that you do something or when trying to suggest way to alter a behavior and when trying to provide the reasons for doing these things.
Would love to see pictures of your babies now, if you get the chance to share them and welcome back.

[JessiMuse]

I honestly don't know why I chose the name Lucy. I just thought the name suited her, for whatever reason.
And yes, cockatiels are one of my favorites, mainly because I've had the most experience. I'll be honest, when I got her, I wasn't looking for one at first. I was looking for a dove (a small diamond dove to be exact). Lucy was at a "bird show" held by the local bird club, where breeders go and (surprise surprise) sell their birds. Literally all of the diamond doves were bought by someone before I got there. I fell in love with a Meyers parrot there, though I didn't bring enough money with me (note: bring more cash to bird shows, when planning to get a bird). Every other bird was also over the budget, and I saw Lucy for $30.

I don't know what drew me to her. One could be her cinnamon color mutation (she was the only one with it in her cage). Another could just be that we could have been meant for each other, as corny as it sounds. I've been able to connect with her in a way I've never connected with a bird, before. She's patient with me, and taught me to be patient with her. She also knows how to keep me calm, and calm me down when I do feel anxious. Like a natural emotional support animal. (heck, she might become one, if I can socialize her to strangers and train her to be comfortable to go places with me on a harness, and the like).
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f286/ ... dcrdlm.jpg
(Don't worry, I made sure the flower was safe before allowing her on it. She was also busy looking out the window to eat them)
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f286/ ... nhkpgz.jpg

I apologize for the blur. My hands tremble quite a bit (no idea why honestly. They just do that). It's a miracle when I can get any clear pictures at all. He likes to pose for the camera, too.

I want to make sure Dudley is comfortable outside of the cage (and also that I can get him out and back in safely, without any chaos), before getting out-of-cage pictures. Right now, when he's out of the cage, you can literally see the fear in his eyes. He acts like a model in front of the camera when he's comfortable. I want him to be able to show how fabulous he is, rather than being petrified. (also, please excuse the mess on the bottom of the cage. That was before cleaning).

The main frustration I've had with training Dudley, is rewarding him, because he's so darn picky. He's still not quite used to the target yet, and it doesn't help the fact that he'll accept one kind of treat about 3-5 times, then refuse it and want something else. Then he won't go back to the previous treat, until I've given him at least 7 different things.

EDIT: gosh darn it! images from photobucket don't resize here. I had to post the urls alone, people can see the full image. I might have to find a separate uploader just for this specific forum.

[ParrotsForLife]

I think ill give this forum another chance too Jasmine its me Brandon im Parrotwhisperer on Little Feathered Buddies im sure you know that lol.Lucy is making great progress with you thats cool you both have the same birthday.

[liz]

"I'm just a soul who's intentions are good ...".
Some days there is no activity in the forum but on other days it seems like everyone is looking for help.
Sorry that you felt that way. No one in the forum is mean but sometimes too much is going on all at the same time.

Glad you gave us another chance.

[Wolf]

I don't know how it is in Denmark as I have never been there, but here in the USA a bird show is a dangerous place to by a bird due to the sub standard birds offered for sale at them and also due to contagious diseases there. I do hope that you quarantined Lucy before placing her near Dudley or at the very least had her vet checked, as a safety precaution. I am really big on asking about these precautions as they are the best ways we have to prevent the spread of diseases to our birds, at least in my mind.
I was very lax about doing this when I first got birds as I didn't know any better and then took a huge chance when Mimi came to live here as she was not adequately quarantined. She watched 7 of her bird friends die from disease in front of her, but after two years without any issues at all from any of my birds I feel pretty safe.
Speaking of Mimi, she is my 16 year old Amazon. In addition to the above statement she was never allowed to come out of her cage or to touch a human or even receive a treat from a human. It has taken over two years of working with her daily to begin to overcome these rules that were forced on her. She comes out of her cage but not off of it and if anyone approaches the cage she retreats back inside and tries to hide by hanging upside down from the back corner of the cage. She has finally started touching my Lady and is utterly fascinated with being allowed to do this even though she get excited fairly quickly and bites down a bit too hard when she gets excited, but she is working on being more gentle and doing well. She has been taking treats, an almond, now for about 2 weeks. After the first time that she took a treat from my Lady, she retreated back into her cage and went through a period of three days of screaming and talking to herself telling herself alternately what a bad bird she was and that she was being a good girl. It was heartbreaking to listen to, but she has to work through these things so that she can heal from the damage done to her. Fortunately, she will live long enough, I hope, that she has a chance of coming through all of this and being a remarkable bird, not that she isn't already remarkable with what she has been through.
I am hopeing that at least some parts of Mimi's story will help you to understand Dudley and the things that he is going through internally to do what he does. And the fact that he comes out and tries is proof that he wants things to be better but he is scared, and still he tries.

[Pajarita]

Welcome back, JessiMuse, Dudley and Lucy. Pretty little thing but you do realize that you can't really sex babies or juveniles tiels, right? I am asking because you called it a female name and it might still turn out to be a male (I doubt it but...) In any case, Lucy is a real good name! It comes from the Latin word meaning 'light' and I personally think it's beautiful.

Now, please don't take this the wrong way but Lucy is still very young -she hasn't even gone through her juvenile molt yet, most likely- so I hope that your training her is just a bit here and there because there is such a thing as over training them... especially when they are babies.

[JessiMuse]

Good to see you Brandon. glad to see I know someone a bit better here.

Wolf, I'm in the US as well. The bird club in my state here is actually very careful about things like that. They make sure the breeder's birds are raised in a clean and healthy environment, before selling. Still, I made sure Lucy was healthy, though.

It's ok Liz. I've been working on my own sensitivity. It's understandable, miscommunications happen. Hoping to actually get to know some of the people here, this time.

Pajarita, Lucy's sexing is based on the genes of the parents. Her coloring is cinnamon, which is a sex-linked mutation. The breeder is an expert on sex-linked mutations, and she actually wrote some articles on that kind of stuff. From the pair she was born from, all of their female chicks are either Lutino, or cinnamon, and all of the males are grey. I've actually talked to her on a regular basis, so I'm confident she knows what she's talking about. I can refer you to some of her articles, if you want. Her behaviors also display that of a female, since usually the males are singing their little heads off by now. But there's always room for exceptions. It's a bit slim, but I'm still looking out for any signs of her actually being male. I haven't really worked on her learning her name yet, so there's still time

And don't worry about the over training. She's still getting used to the place, so majority of her out of cage time is just the two of us relaxing. I'm basically taking my time with the both of them, to prevent any stress to take place.

[liz]

Rambo is 30 and I finally decided that he is a she but he gets really defensive if I call him Rainbow.

[Wolf]

Sorry about that, I must have just read or replied to one of the members post who is in Denmark and carried the thought over to your post. Hazards of answering so many people, I guess.