New Senegal

[sickcoyote]

Hi.

I bought a Senegal 2 months ago. It was around 7 months old when I bought it. His name is Xanther (unsexed.) I have semi-owned a Lovebird with my parents for more than a decade but it ultimately bonded with my mom. Now I'm now living on my own and need a companion.

I wanted something more challenging than a Lovebird -- something willful and sharp, but something that could stay sane while I work full time. I did a lot of research and picked a Senegal.

But now every morning it kills me to leave him alone. I work 9 hours and I can't stop imagining how lonely I would be... I think he's content, definitely well-behaved, and I'm working on toys but I understand that he's intelligent and should live longer than I have been alive. I want to give him a wonderful life.

I'm joining because Michael's videos and book have been helpful in equipping me with knowledge but I'm beginning to think I will need some (emotional?) support.

Here's my beautiful bird in a good mood:

https://youtu.be/UebMHvP-Euo

I will probably be lurking more than anything but this forum has already been a great resource and I'm sure it will continue to be one for years to come.

[liz]

Welcome to the forum.

You are a good Parront to consider how he feels while you are gone.

I would put him near a window so he can watch activity outside. Give him foraging toys and any other toy that will keep him from being bored. I have found out that wooden shims are not treated and are usually pine. They are great for chew toys.

[Wolf]

You are telling me that Xanther is about 9 months old and when I watched the video I saw a bird that I was not sure of the sex of, it would take a good full frontal picture of the bird showing how far down its body the yellow vest extends to tell its sex. Also I am seeing a bird that due to the color of its eyes that I suspect is closer to between two and five years of age that it is to 9 months. Although it is not absolute their eyes do not normally begin to change to yellow until they are two years of age and then it takes some time to be the shade of yellow that yours appears to have. Does he have a band on his leg? if he does then there should be a two digit number turned 90 degrees from any other numbers or letters and that two digit number should be the year that he was hatched.

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum, Coyote and Xanther! Yes, the angle of the video makes it hard to tell but it seems to me that you have a little girl there. Hope we can be of help but, if you don't mind my saying so, you shouldn't antagonize her with your fingers in front of her beak like that. Senegals are not patient birds and do not suffer foolishness with any grace - and, when they bite, they bite HARD so, if I were you, I would change my interactions with her and eliminate the teasing asap.

As to leaving a bird alone... yes, it's a problem. Parrots are not meant to ever be alone and not having anybody familiar around is very stressing to them - added to the fact that you cannot keep them to a strict solar schedule when you work full time which makes them overly hormonal and you end up with a bird that, eventually, it will bite you.

[dragonlady2]

You have a beautiful little Sennie. I agree with Pajarita, playing/ teasing your bird with fingers in it's face will eventually earn you a nasty bite. Sennies are not known for their tolerance around this kind of interaction. The nastiest bites I have ever received was from a hormonal Zon and 2 from my Sennie. He can be a vicious little biter....drew blood and left a hole both times the stinker. Love his feistiness though. The little beggar is fearless.

[sickcoyote]

Thank you for all of the input.

It's very possible (s)he is older than I was told. I got him from a reputable bird store but they told me they did not have a hatch date and the age they gave was an estimate. He was brought to them by someone who owns a lot of birds, not a breeder. His wings were (sadly) clipped as well but I will not be reclipping them.

Here's a belly photo for those interested in trying to determine the sex. I was under the impression that determining by appearance is inconsistent so I didn't really look into it, but if it is reliable I would love to know.

http://i.imgur.com/kRXq9IE.jpg

Regarding the teasing, that's something I've always done with my mom's lovebird, which is not really capable of biting hard -- some days he likes it and some days he doesn't. When the video was taken Xanther was being very affectionate and receptive, making his happy noises and enjoying himself. But I understand what you're saying. He has bit me quite hard a few times early on and it's on a completely different level than a lovebird.

[Wolf]

Looked at the photo you posted and still can't tell. Suggestion try to get a frontal shot of him either perching on the level or just standing flat footed on a table or such. Also I would suggest that you either carve the dowel rod perch in the photo so that it has an uneven surface or replace it with perches made from bird safe branches with the bark left on. Completely round perches will eventually cause pressure sores on the bottom of their feet which could lead to a disease called bumblefoot which is very painful to them. I would also look into some sweet feet perches for him. as well as possibly a good rope perch so that he has a variety of perches to choose from.

[Pajarita]

Yes, the photo needs to be taken from the front with the parrot perching at the same level as the lens of the camera. But I still think it's a girl. Males have a very short green V on their chest with lots of yellow showing on the lower chest, belly and the sides next to the wings while females have a longer V which reaches almost all the way down when you look at them from the front so less yellow shows.

Females are much more sweeter than males although males which are not overly hormonal are not really biters if they are treated well. BUT give them the smallest excuse and you will end up with a hole surrounded by a really nasty looking black and blue My female, Zoey, is a sweetheart to me - I can do anything I want to her and she has never bit or even nipped me (not once from the very first day!) but she has no problem whatsoever biting other people -interestingly enough, she has never bit any of my grandkids. The male was a completely different story. The previous owners did not know about avian photoperiodism so they kept him at a human light schedule and fed him too much protein with the inevitable consequence that the poor bird became overly hormonal and super aggressive so their solution was to keep him in his cage (and old-fashioned, table top, square one -way too small for any bird!) all the time which, of course, made things much, much worse. By the time they brought him to me, he had been in that cage for almost his entire life (11 years) and hated all humanity with a passion! He relentlessly attacked me several times a day, every single day for over 3 years - it was so bad that I had scars from him all over my feet and ankles (I would cover the rest of my body with clothes -not that I did anything to stop him from biting me through them ). He started getting better at around 3.5 years after he came to me and is now my friend (he is perching on my left knee right now) in the sense that he no longer attacks me but I still have to use a stick to move him from point A to point B because, if I use my hand, he might bite me -he doesn't do it all the time but he still does it so I don't give him a chance.

[sickcoyote]

Here's a front view. I'm trying to compare to pictures but I'm still not really sure. I guess girl?

http://i.imgur.com/j8cNHP3.jpg

I'll be getting a bigger cage with better perches and bar size/spacing. The perch I use outside the cage is natural and there is a rope in the cage but yeah the main ones are not good. I'll carve it a little today. I bought a natural perch initially but it was shunned and taking up a lot of room so I took it out.

I'm hoping Xanther stays as sweet as s/he is right now because I was really anxious for the first month or so. There was a period that he would bite me hard enough to leave a (small) cut any time I took him out of the cage. I think he was trying to come out on his own and climb on top of the cage. I ignored the bites and kept taking him out, and at first when he didn't bite I put him on top of the cage as a reward. Now he's stopped biting and I no longer let him go on top of the cage, so everything seems ok. I expect there will be more episodes like that in the future.

[Pajarita]

Yep, it's a girl so you better get used to using 'her' instead of 'him' as one would not want to offend such a pretty lady

All rehomed parrots go through what we call 'the honeymoon period' when they first get to their new home. This period could last from a single month to several, it all depends on the environment, the amount of time one spends with the bird and the way one treats it. Once they start feeling comfortable in their new home, they show their true colors -and that can mean aggression so make sure you don't antagonize her or insist on her doing something she doesn't want to do, always allow her to make the choice and set her own pace because this period of time is the foundation of your future relationship with your bird and you want to make sure the bird bonds the right way to you. Parrots are not like dogs. Not only because they are undomesticated while dogs have been domesticated for, at least, 30,000 years but also because they don't belong to hierarchical societies so they are not hard-wired to understand obedience or subservience in any way so, basically, they feel no need to please anybody, not even their owners UNLESS they trust you implicitly and love you to pieces. When they love you, they would die for you but, if they don't, watch out!