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She picked me!

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She picked me!

Postby connmccollou » Wed Sep 21, 2016 3:00 am

Hi everyone.
I recently bought a new pineapple green cheek conure from a nationally known pet store. My husband and I were there to buy fish and supplies for a new 65 gallon tank we had purchased a few days earlier.
While we were walking to the fish section I saw her alone in this huge glass cabinet, sitting on the floor and looking miserable. I knelt down to look closer and she ran towards me and tried to hop on my finger thru the glass. It was heartbreaking to see her trying so desperately to get to me.
At that point the clerk unlocked the door and took her from the cage. She actually HOPPED from his finger to the front of my shirt and climbed up to my shoulder. The whole time we looked at different fish she stayed nuzzling my neck and making low clicking noises with her beak. Such a sweetheart!
Needless to say, the fish tank is still empty and I have a new baby who sticks to me like glue, even sleeping in the bed with me, warm and comfy in a "nest" I made with my warm winter scarf.
The biggest problem I have is that she refuses to eat anything but sunflower seeds and millet. No raw OR cooked fruits, veggies, noodles, nothing. She tries to get to my straw when I am drinking diet cola, using her beak and tongue ferociously. She isn't even five months old yet, could she have been weaned too early? Any advice would be hugely appreciated!

Have a great day!
Connie and Luna.

Just tried to attach a picture but have to figure out how to resize it first! I'm a cyber dummy.
connmccollou
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 2
Location: San Angelo TX
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Pineapple Green cheek conure
Flight: No

Re: She picked me!

Postby liz » Wed Sep 21, 2016 7:19 am

In the wild she would have learned from the flock. You are now her flock. Eat in front of her and share from your plate the foods she can have.
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liz
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 7234
Location: Hernando FL
Number of Birds Owned: 12
Types of Birds Owned: DYH Amazon Rambo
BF Amazon Myrtle
Cockatiels: Shadow Tammy Flutter Phoenix Jackie
Andy Impy Louise Twila Leroy
Flight: Yes

Re: She picked me!

Postby Wolf » Wed Sep 21, 2016 7:32 am

Since you got the bird from a pet store it is very likely that she was weaned both too early as well as improperly.

I understand that you are quite taken with her, but please put her in her cage to sleep and not sleep with her. She is so little that you could easily roll over onto her while you are both sleeping and she does not have the strength to get out from under you or to make you get off of her before she dies, This has happened to far too many of these precious little birds. Sleeping with her is just too dangerous for her, please don't risk her life in this manner.

She is still a baby and you are now her parent and she looks to you to teach her everything that she needs to know to survive in a human world, beginning with what foods to eat. Parrots are very social creatures and the sharing of food is both a social event as well as a bonding activity for them. It is also part of how they learn to eat new foods. The parent birds teach their young what foods to eat by sitting them on a branch while they take turns going after a food, bringing it back to the branch, showing it to their young and then eating it. They do not offer this food to their young, instead they make sounds to impress the young with how good this food is and act as if it is so special that they will not share it. The young start by asking for some, then by begging for some of this food, then by demanding to have some of this wonderful food. Still the parents do not share it. What the parents do is to actually make it easy for the young bird to steal a bite of the food. They want their young to be so taken by how good this food is that they will actively take part in taking some of it for themselves so that they will remember the food and what it looks like. You can use this to your advantage by sharing their meal with them and introducing new foods first and after your bird gets some of the new food regardless of whether it actually eats it or throws it away then giving it its normal breakfast . You can also use this same thing whenever you have a new food that the bird could safely eat. You don't have to wait for the bird to try and take it away from you but you do want it to at least start demanding a bite to encourage them to try the new food.

This is just one of the things that breeders or pet stores do not tell you about before you but the bird as all they want is to sell the bird. You will soon discover that there are many other things that they don't tell you about.
Wolf
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 8679
Location: Lansing, NC
Number of Birds Owned: 6
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal
African Grey (CAG)
Yellow Naped Amazon
2Celestial Parrotlet
Budgie
Flight: Yes

Re: She picked me!

Postby Pajarita » Wed Sep 21, 2016 10:23 am

Welcome to the forum, Connie, Luna and daddy! And OMG, I don't blame you one bit for getting her/him! You would have had to have had a heart of stone to be able to resist him/her! Now, I suggest you have Luna DNA'd before you decide on a feminine name or choose one that is unisex unless you don't care if you end up with a boy named Luna! :lol:

Wolf and Liz gave you good pointers in terms of getting them to eat a good diet so I will only add a couple of things. The best time to get them to try new food is early in the morning about one hour after the sky is lit enough that you can see fairly well without artificial lights, this time of the year means about 7:30 am. The trick is to give them a good dinner (I give them enough of their seed mix to fill their crop and a tiny bit extra -just in case they are hungrier than normal) and take away their food bowl after they fall asleep (which should happen as night falls naturally and without any artificial lights on -especially electronic screens which give out a blue light that keeps them awake). Then, when dawn starts, the bird will wake up and, about one hour after this, it will be good and hungry and, as there is 'no better sauce than hunger', if you eat produce in front of her (sit down at the table, if you wish), she will want what you are eating (don't offer, just talk to her and eat as if you did not care) and, when she does, offer her some (just make sure it's a 'fresh' piece of the side of the fruit or whatever where you have not touched with your mouth -human mouths have bad bacteria that can make them sick). Now, I know that eating raw produce early in the morning is not something that we enjoy but you can start with things that are not too bad like apples, oranges, grapes, etc. GCCs are mainly fruit eaters in the wild and normally eat a portion of fruit larger than what we would think it's a 'good' size for a small parrot. One thing that I find useful is to use the same phrase all the time (it doesn't really matter what you choose to say, only that you use it ALL THE TIME) because, in time, it becomes a clue for the bird that means: "this food is good and you should try it!" I have a Senegal that says: "Eat it!" whenever he is hungry, somebody is eating or if I am serving food - I did not teach him this phrase as I say something different but somebody in his previous life did and he learned it so well, he actually tells the new birds to "Eat it!" when I am teaching them to eat new food :lol:

The sharing of breakfast has two purposes: one is to teach them to eat new foods by showing them that the food is good and not dangerous but another one (and as important as the first one) is that it creates a bond between the bird and the humans. Parrots always eat together (in flock) and, although some people believe that their foraging is work, that is not the way birds regard it. To them, foraging is a social occasion and one that they enjoy beyond the fact that their hunger is appeased so, when the human eats with his/her bird, the bird understands this action to mean that both are part of the same flock... that they 'belong' together.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: She picked me!

Postby QQeboraECervantes » Wed Sep 28, 2016 2:44 am

Thank you. I have the same question.
QQeboraECervantes
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 1
Number of Birds Owned: 0
Flight: No

Re: She picked me!

Postby liz » Wed Sep 28, 2016 6:28 am

When I go to the kitchen for a snack, Rambo and Myrtle go back to their breakfast plate to eat while I am eating. At my mealtime they expect me to take something from my plate to add to their breakfast veggies and fruit.
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liz
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 7234
Location: Hernando FL
Number of Birds Owned: 12
Types of Birds Owned: DYH Amazon Rambo
BF Amazon Myrtle
Cockatiels: Shadow Tammy Flutter Phoenix Jackie
Andy Impy Louise Twila Leroy
Flight: Yes


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