can you teach an older parrot new tricks?

[juliawardy]

My congo african grey is about 20. He was my mum's but due to circumstances she gave my lovely sam to me. It turns out that my mum didn't know a lot about african greys, she only ever put 1 toy in his cage, gave him chocolate which is a no no, hardly ever gave him fruit or veg so after researching a bit on congo african greys i am starting to introduce toys, different fruit n veg but he is not really that interested, any ideas?

[marie83]

20 years is a long time to live your life in a certain way. How long has he been with you? How is his bond with you?

Personally I just think he needs time to adjust. I'm sure your already introducing new things slowly but it is really important not to overwhelm him. 1 toy at a time etc. If he has a good bond with you try eating new foods in front of him or playing with new toys in front of him. However long it takes keep working with him and you will get there in the end. If he is fearful of anything take it even slower. He just needs time and education to lead a more enriching life.

Loads of support on here from people and we all have different perspectives on things so you will get lots of ideas if you keep posting, asking questions and updating us.

Btw, welcome to the forum

[liz]

Julia you are headed in the right direction. Everything you have done is good.

Anything new you can give him or show his will enrich his life (and yours). Has he ever been out of cage for a while. Myrtle never came out of her cage before she came here. I left the door open. It took a long time but she went to the top of her cage. I never closed her in again.

I brought her a rose-of-sharon branch today. One by one she picked the leaves off. They all went on the floor but she had fun.

Have fun.

[juliawardy]

I dont know if im doing this rite about replying!! but thank you for your advice, sam has always known me and we've got a great bond, ive had him for about a year and i thought my mum knew what she was doing, but obviously not. Sam just destructs any toy that i put in his cage, i let him out of his cage every night and he's in the busiest room in my bungalow so he sees lots of life. i talk and sing to him put him on my shoulders, he kisses me and would love to regurgitate in my mouth!! Im gonna start playing with his toys and eating what i give him in front of him which i have never thought of doing, so thanks for that.

[liz]

I dont know if im doing this rite about replying!! but thank you for your advice, sam has always known me and we've got a great bond, ive had him for about a year and i thought my mum knew what she was doing, but obviously not. Sam just destructs any toy that i put in his cage, i let him out of his cage every night and he's in the busiest room in my bungalow so he sees lots of life. i talk and sing to him put him on my shoulders, he kisses me and would love to regurgitate in my mouth!! Im gonna start playing with his toys and eating what i give him in front of him which i have never thought of doing, so thanks for that.

Destroying toys is fun. You should check the thread WHAT HAS YOUR BIRD DESTROYED.

That is worse than Myrtle regurgitating in my ear.

[Parrot-Tamer]

Woah chocolate! Anyway I think it's possible to teach a parrot of any age anything. Do you have a clicker coz they're REALLY helpful.

Josh

[Grey_Moon]

Absolutely!

Jacko was 5 when she came into my life---she didn't play, was terrified of hands/toys/new things and didn't step up or really do anything but pluck.
At 13 she plays fetch (which she loves lol), rides in the car, wears a harness, meets new people all the time and beak grinds the whole time, she is afraid of almost nothing new (total time adapting to an entirely new house---maaaybe 5 mins), eats *anything* and wants to chew on or get into EVERYTHING .

She also flies now (a bit like a graceful brick---or a helicopter ) and is a pretty self-confident self-directed bird (she goes where she wants to independent of me and I think the ability to be self-sufficient and in control of her own life has helped immensely).

Are we a hundred percent there yet? Nope. I'm still working on the physical repair of her body (chronic malnutrition and its impact on the body or feather/nail neglect can take a looong time to correct), but she's come a long way and I see her continue to improve inside and out daily. One day we'll work on the flight commands, but until then I enjoy watching her look and feel better with each passing day.

She still isn't cool with being toweled for example, but loves to be huggled and snuggled under a blanket with me (we tend to have lazy in bed days when we feel like it) and will take a nap cuddled up to me like that---so again, we is getting there.

Just let Sam guide you---and the biggest thing for me would be to get him onto a better diet ASAP. You can work on the toys and etc as you guys go along. Believe it or not I'd schedule a vet visit for some bloodwork ASAP as well---you can thus be the 'hero' who rescues him from the big scary vet after they're done---which will help him like you. It'll also give you a guideline to how his organs etc are holding up.

Good luck