Long Luna Update, Behavior Thoughts / Opinions?

[flappybird]

And that is the perfect attitude! Kudos to you for not been impatient! I, myself, sometimes have to talk myself out of funk when things don't go as fast as I would like them to

Reminding myself is key because I definitely wish things would go faster. Mostly, I do go through some days where I get lazy and forget to do small things like a little bit of harness exposure (still at the same stage with that one) or making her hang upside down or let me put my palm on her back for treats. I realize I won't make progress if I'm not consistent, but it's hard when you don't really see that much in the way of results.

@Wolf -
The molting thing makes sense. All I can tell you is that the "molt" that the vet suggested she might be going through when we first got her in August has since ended. I'm not so sure that I know what molting looks like, either. It never seemed that Luna was really dropping that meany feathers at all. I saved almost all the big ones, of which there were maybe 8. One big primary looking one, and four big beautiful ones from her tail. She also lost a couple of flight feathers that were very obviously trimmed. Other than that, I never saw any evidence of the smaller, body plumage type feathers. What I did notice is that she was growing lots of new tiny blue feathers on her head, and that her wings now look complete. I guess with a molt I expected to see a whole lot more feathers littering her cage.

[Wolf]

It depends on the molt what you actually see. They do not replace all of their feathers at one time even with a hard molt. Many times all we see are just a few feathers on any given day. sometimes they molt down feathers or contour or which ever ones they need to replace. Each species has their own pattern of molting. I am sure that Pajarita has much more information than I do about this process.

[flappybird]

I mentioned earlier on this thread that Luna has been acting more hormonal and altogether different since three days before thanksgiving. Nothing has changed and I sill can't figure it out. She is on as close to a solar schedule as I can provide. She wakes up every morning with the sun, and I usually get up an hour after that and take her out for breakfast and quality time. On days when I am home early or don't work, (or Michael is) we feed her about an hour or a bit less before sundown, and she goes to bed when it's completely dark out. On days when I can't be home before the sun sets (I get home about 6:30, sun starts to set around 5:30), I leave a very low light (it's on a dimmer) on in the room she's in so when the sun goes down, she still has a tiny bit of light left. I like to think of it as an indicator that I'm coming home to give her dinner before she goes to bed in the dark.

I'm writing again because I'm just the slightest bit worried (or maybe just offended) at her change in behavior. She doesn't really care about me at all anymore, doesn't get excited like she used to when I come home, doesn't want to spend time on me, doesn't respond to me that well, doesn't ever want to get scritches except for very rare occasions. She is most active in the morning now, when neither of us can figure out what she wants. It used to be that she either wanted breakfast, or to sit on my shoulder, or be in the same room, but now she complains no matter what we do.

On days when she's home with Michael all day, he tells me about how she won't let him do ANYTHING all day because he can't figure out what she wants either and is just constantly on the verge of screaming. When I'm home with her all day she doesn't do much or pay attention to me much at all, and is quiet for the most part. Remember that most of her 'horny dances' happen when shes sitting on Michael, mostly in the morning when we bring her into the bedroom, or when he tries to pet her.

It's a little frustrating because I don't feel like I can interact with her at all and I feel like she just hates me for no reason. There is no aggression or biting or anything like that, just mostly... fear or anxiety? I'm not sure. We had no big episodes where I could've lost her trust. The only thing I can think of is on thanksgiving day (not at home, at a relative's house) which was the last time I tried to get her to fly a little outside (before I found out she could get lift) and she ran into a bush/fence after I tried to launch her. She recovered quickly and acted normal the rest of the day. I was worried this is what changed everything, but Michael said that she started acting weird a few days before that. I'm not sure who's memory is right.

Anything I'm missing? Is it a seasonal thing? Will I get my friendly buddy back?

[Wolf]

It appears to me from your posting that she may be choosing Michael as her favorite human instead of you. This does happen. My Senegal originally chose my Lady to be her favored human and then a couple of months later changed her mind and chose me instead. Just keep being yourself and being her friend and she will still accept you as well. If she is choosing Michael as her favored human, you will not have as close of a relationship with her when he is around, but will still be able to have a good relationship with her.