Hello, First time parrot owner here (I have a few questions)

[ms pato]

Hello everyone,

I'm ms pato from Nigeria. I'm a first time parrot owner. I have had Adora my for two weeks now. She was gifted to me. She is an adult and I presume she is wild-caught. So far, we are getting along, she takes food from my hands and she started to allow me to pet her with my bare hands (since yesterday). She is still pretty skittish and won't step up.

I have a few questions however, I'm worried about her diet as she only takes dry corn and millet. I stay in Nigeria and bird pellets are hard to come by (especially in the region where I stay). I have tried some food alternatives but she rejects all. Need help with food choices and switching to new foods or possibly making a healthy pellet as I can't find a place to purchase bird pellets

2. She looves my bedroom mirror. It doesn't stop her from interacting with me but I'm afraid. Are mirrors ok? I have read that some birds become territorial about mirror. I think it helped tame her as she feels comfortable in front of the mirror but I hope it won't become detrimental?

Thank you in anticipation

[Wolf]

Hi and welcome to the forum. If you have only had Adora for 2 weeks you have made a huge amount of progress with her, especially if she is a wild caught. I am not surprised that she is not yet stepping up for you as she is still adjusting to both you and her new home so she is still afraid and the most important thing that you can do is to focus on winning her trust.

All parrots are highly social creatures and are not only intelligent but they are self aware just like you and I, they know who and what they are. I really have no idea as to what foods that you have available to you in your area, but Adora needs to eat a good variety of fresh raw fruits and vegetables as well as a variety of partly cooked whole grains with a few thoroughly cooked white beans and lentils to give her a little more protein. I do not recommend either white or brown rice as they have a substantial amount of arsenic in them. The reason that she does not eat the other foods is that she does not recognize them as food and to teach them to eat them I borrow from the way that parrot parents teach their young what to eat. So here is how I would approach the matter of teaching her to eat better. Since she is a single bird I would remove any food from her cage after she goes to sleep at night, she should be sleeping at that time so will not be eating any way. Then about an half an hour to an hour after she wakes up in the morning at sunrise I would go to her with a small dish of fruits and vegetables that are cut to a size suited for her. That would be small pieces but still big enough for her to hold in her foot and take a few bites. I would be talking to her in a coaxing type of voice and using her name and I would show her one of the food items and then I would eat it in front of her without offering it to her. Pick up another piece of the same food, show it to her and again eat it myself. I would continue to repeat this process telling her how wonderful this food is and making noises that also say that this is great food. She will begin to ask for a piece, but you don't give it to her yet, you just keep showing her the food and eating it yourself. Then she will begin to beg for the food, don't share the food just yet as her parents would not share it either. Then she will reach a point where she begins to demand that you share this wonderful food with her and then you give her a piece to eat. She might eat it or she might taste it and drop it. That is OK you just move on to the next food on the plate and repeat this same process and when you finish with giving her one or two pieces of these foods, place them in her food dish so she can try them at her leisure. It may take a while but she will begin to eat some of these foods, so notice the color and texture of the food and try to give her new foods that have a similar texture for a while. This is very close to the way that parrot parents teach their young to eat new foods. Some of the thing working in your favor are that she is a social creature and enjoys spending time with you, Eating and sharing of food is a social activity as well as a bonding activity for a parrot and doing this especially putting the food in her dish when you are done also helps to build trust.

Mirrors are a ticky thing and you really need to watch your bird in order to understand what to do about them. Some birds are fine with mirrors, but I think that most of them have other live birds around them. other birds just see the bird in the mirror and bond to that bird and that is where the trouble begins as they really do not see either windows or mirrors and so they do not understand that the bird in the mirror is not a real live bird. Generally if your bird goes to the mirror to spend its time with the bird in the mirror then it is best to remove the mirror.

I hope that this will be useful to you and Adora and that you find it helpful.

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum, Ms. Pato and Adora (wonderful name, by the way!). You seem to be doing OK but I would caution you about petting her. For one thing, if she is allowing it now it's because she is scared of retaliating but, even if she was allowing it because she trusts you 100%, it's not recommended to pet birds (it's a sexual caress to them and it makes them hormonal). The only thing you should do to a bird is to touch or scratch their heads, necks and cheeks. Nowhere else - well, you can touch her feet, too.

Wolf is right about the food issue. I suggest you look in our diet section for good information, tips and recipes.

[ms pato]

Thank you Wolf and Pajarita for taking out the time to reply me. It was really helpful. I'd be trying them out and I'd let you know how it goes.

We do have a variety of food; grains, fruits and nuts. I'll be checking the diet section as you advised.

Poor Adora, she is going to say bye bye to the bird in the mirror