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Fie saying hi

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Fie saying hi

Postby Fie » Sat Oct 15, 2016 2:15 am

Hi everyone,

New to the forum. Well actually I have been reading along for a few days now but didn't take the time to say hi yet.
My husband and I recently became the parronts of a 4 months old male eclectus. He's a cutie and super well behaved. I started reading on the forum because I want to do everything right for our little baby, I'm constantly worried that we're not doing everything right and not giving him everything he needs. We're both working so he has to spend a few hours on his own, but he seems to be managing himself just fine judging from the mess in his cage every time I get home :D

Anyway, hoping to learn lots more here on the forum!!! :swaying:

Cheers, Fie
Fie
Parrotlet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 13
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Male Eclectus
Flight: No

Re: Fie saying hi

Postby dragonlady2 » Sat Oct 15, 2016 10:41 am

Hi there,
I have a Male eclectus as well. I would love to see some pics of your baby.
dragonlady2
Lovebird
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 34
Location: canada
Number of Birds Owned: 12
Types of Birds Owned: Alexandrine, conures, senegal, australian king, plum head, eclectus,Barrabands, parrotlets, canaries
Flight: Yes

Re: Fie saying hi

Postby Pajarita » Sat Oct 15, 2016 11:15 am

Welcome to the forum, Fie, husband and baby ekkie! Please tell us more about him... we don't even know his name!
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: Fie saying hi

Postby Fie » Sat Oct 15, 2016 2:11 pm

Lol true I totally forgot to mention his name! Such a bad mom :shock:
His name is Croky. Little explanation about the name: I'm originally from Belgium, currently living in New Zealand. Croky is the name of a brand of potato chips in Belgium and their logo is a green parrot, hence the name. :roll:
Pictures don't seem to work right now, I'll try and figure it out :D

Croky is super cute. He's only been with us for two weeks, but even after a few days he was already potty trained. He tends to squawk quite a bit in the morning and the evening, not a loud scream. What I learned from this forum is that this is apparently normal eckie behaviour....
He's currently eating veggies (mostly sweet potato, carrots, bell pepper...), fruit (apples, oranges, berries, pommegranate,...) and sprouts. A few times a week he gets a teaspoon of seeds and a teaspoon of pellets. His diet is what I'm most worried about since I've read that this is pretty hard to get right with eckies. So any tips are welcome!!
He sleeps a long time, goes to bed at around 8pm and wakes up at 7am (it's springtime in New Zealand, days are getting longer). He sleeps in a room without curtains so he can see when the sun comes up... or is that not how that works?? :?
He's alone from around 8.30am until 4.30pm, but when we're home he's constantly outside his cage and spending time with us, playing, cuddling or just watching whatever we're doing.

Oh and we also have a dog and a cat both of them are quite old, 8 yrs and 13 yrs, and couldn't care less about the little flying thing we brought home. The dog is more interested in all the food Croky is getting, but that's about it. It doesn't help that Croky noticed and sometimes throws a little bit of food on the ground... We never leave them alone though!

That's a little bit more about us, any tips are always welcome!!
Fie
Parrotlet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 13
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Male Eclectus
Flight: No

Re: Fie saying hi

Postby Pajarita » Sun Oct 16, 2016 11:31 am

:lol: ALL parrots throw food to the ground - it's part of their ecological niche (the behavior feeds ground-dwelling species and disperses seeds). It's one of those things that parrot keepers learn to live with -along with chewed up books, furniture, clothing, poop all over the place, etc :D

I hear you on the diet worry! Their very specialized diet in the wild is the one reason why I don't take in ekkies as all my parrots eat the same thing and I just tweak their dinner so as to give more or less protein to the different species. Unfortunately, nobody knows enough about what the right proportions of the 'basic' nutritional elements (protein, fat, fiber, carbs, moisture, etc) of their diet should be... We know that they need more produce than any other species but we really do not know much else. I hope I don't offend you when I say this but, in my personal opinion, eclectus is one species that should have never been bred as pets. All parrots are difficult to feed correctly but, at least, we know of many that, having been fed right, last as long as their life expectancy but not ekkies - the oldest one, a wild caught one kept in a zoo in a country where they originate, only lived to be 30 and, going by their size, they should, at least, live to be 60...
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: Fie saying hi

Postby Fie » Tue Oct 18, 2016 1:23 am

You haven't offended me, I just think it's quite sad to know that it's almost impossible to get the diet right. :cry: However what some internet research has taught me is that we only recently figured out that they don't eat like other parrots, so hopefully maybe there's a little hope for the new eckies.... I'll just do my very best ;)
Fie
Parrotlet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 13
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Male Eclectus
Flight: No

Re: Fie saying hi

Postby Wolf » Tue Oct 18, 2016 6:09 am

They also have a different social system than many other species of parrots, as well as a wholly different system of mating behaviors.
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: Fie saying hi

Postby dragonlady2 » Tue Oct 18, 2016 9:23 am

My Ekkie eats only fresh or cooked foods which equals about 90% of his diet. The other 10 % consists of sprouts, nuts and a little seed. He can't have pellets as any pellet I have tried to supplement his diet has resulted in toe tapping. I make fresh chop every day and add a sweet potato mash with red rice and quinoa later in the day.

Pajarita...tried the red rice that you advised and I love it myself. So everyone in the house eats red rice...lol.
dragonlady2
Lovebird
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 34
Location: canada
Number of Birds Owned: 12
Types of Birds Owned: Alexandrine, conures, senegal, australian king, plum head, eclectus,Barrabands, parrotlets, canaries
Flight: Yes

Re: Fie saying hi

Postby Navre » Tue Oct 18, 2016 9:31 am

I love ekkies, but I have no idea how to "read" them. I'm at their mercy.

Luckily the ekkies I have known have been kind birds, but when I got bit by Sebastian, I had no idea it was coming. I still don't know why he bit me. Usually, I know I'm going to get bitten before I do. It's either a situation in which I HAVE to do something a bird doesn't like, or I'm pushing my luck.

With an ekkie, I never know what they're thinking.
Navre
African Grey
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 1909
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Turquoise Green Cheek Conure
Hooded Parrot
Flight: Yes

Re: Fie saying hi

Postby Pajarita » Tue Oct 18, 2016 10:59 am

dragonlady2 wrote:My Ekkie eats only fresh or cooked foods which equals about 90% of his diet. The other 10 % consists of sprouts, nuts and a little seed. He can't have pellets as any pellet I have tried to supplement his diet has resulted in toe tapping. I make fresh chop every day and add a sweet potato mash with red rice and quinoa later in the day.

Pajarita...tried the red rice that you advised and I love it myself. So everyone in the house eats red rice...lol.


It's delicious, isn't it? Have you tried the black one? I cooked both the red and the black for my son and his family when they came over and they fell in love with both - but my husband is a big fan of Jasmine so that's what we usually end up having although I prefer the red or the black (nuttier in taste, isn't it?) - thankfully, because my husband stays in Connecticut for days and days, I can enjoy my 'weird' foods without having to listen to his complaints :lol:
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

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