New parakeet activity- (Renamed as I was worried before)

[Eric&Rebecca]

Hi guys,

So our red rump arrived and he is still really nervous. He doesn't eat unless his cover is on or if we are in the room. We try leaving him alone as much as possible so he can eat but I'm not sure if this is normal.

Also he doesn't really move around his cage too much. I know they are not as active as cockatiels so I'm not expecting him to hop about everywhere but he sits in one place completely still for up to 4 hours.

Also he hasn't really made any noises at all. Apart from when he comes out for a fly he will occassionally tweet. He did have a couple of crash landings but he's ok and he's fine with stepping up on the wooden dowel.

Otherwise he seems healthy, good droppings, clean vent, compact plumage.

Is this normal?

[friend2parrots]

I've read this, and the other posts about Percy, and it sounds to me like he's doing just fine, behaving just as a parent-raised grass parakeet would behave when it first comes home to a new home.

I am not that familiar with the Red Rumps as a species in particular, but theyre probably similar to the Bourkes in overall behavior, as both are grass parakeets. the Bourkes have a very similar behavior of sitting perfectly still for a very long time. Toby my Bourke sits like a statue for a really long time sometimes, and then suddenly races about the house flying and running at lightning speed. its just part of their nature.

the grasskeets generally dont move around that much unless they think they can dart about at lightning speed or fly really fast. i think thats one of the reasons the are technically called "aviary" birds. my Toby is a cage potato in his smaller travel cage, but flies and runs all day really fast in his aviary style regular cage.

if Percy doesnt already have an aviary style cage thats fine, as long as he gets himself completely exhausted everyday flying around the house (which i am sure he will soon master to perfection - all the grass keets, from what i've heard, are remarkably powerful and talented flyers) .

what about running? Toby loves to run light lightning. Has Percy shown any interest in running?

all in all it sounds like Percy is settling in really nicely. THe dowel is a good idea for now, but during this quarantine time, it would be a great idea to take advantage of Edmunds absence and Percy's youth to teach him, with all the time you can spare, the basic husbandry skills of "step up", "come" and "go to cage". thats what i did with my birds when i first got them home. its extremely important to teach a parent raised grasskeet these things because otherwise they get so intoxicated and gleeful with flying and running that you'll never be able to round them up. so I would take Percy into a small room like the bathroom (take a cage in there too if you can, a smaller one if you cant move his regular cage) and work on these lessons with him there, so he can master them as soon as possible. otherwise youll spend half your day rounding him up.

the quietness, not eating when youre around, is all normal. he should warm up within a couple of days. the fact that he's eating when youre not there is a good sign that he's healthy and normal.
if you want him to warm up to you faster, just spend as much time as possible in the room that he's in, and he will soon get hungry enough to sneak a nibble while youre there!

hope that helps! all the best with Percy!

[Eric&Rebecca]

Thanks so much.

He does jump around a lot in his cage (more because he is scared I think), the quarantine cage is big enough for the moment but he will have a much bigger one after this. He moves up and down the perches and today when Eric was sat at the desk he came to the food bowl nearest him and munched away then hopped back to his Java perch... a little later he came down and did the same thing again. So that's good progress!

He does fly around like mad and has had a few crash landing. We have him in the bedroom for this as there's plenty of soft surfaces for crash pads! He will sit on the dowel and look at you and he does do little chirps. He's seemed quite scared and nervous he hangs off the clothes hooks or the lamp shade... upside down. Should we just let him fly around like a maniac and wait for him to settle when he is out of the cage?

We can get him back in the cage very easily with the wooden dowel and getting him out we take the lid off and gently introduce the dowel rod and he'll either fly out the cage or step on it to get out. We can't reward him for this yet as he won't take food from our hands but eating with us in the room and next to him was such a big step for him. He even looked at Eric and then turned around to carry on munching.

We had to wipe his bum yesterday because he had some poop stuck in his tailfeathers, not diarrahea or pasted vent it was just where he'd pooped while climbing, it was fully formed and normal colour but nevertheless it needed to be wiped off using warm water. While he was in the towel Eric managed to get him to put his feet on his chest and settled down for a cuddle. While he was there we fed him 4 sunflower seeds which he did take from my hands. We wanted to make sure that this unpleasant but necessary action was rewarded.

Once we plopped him back in the cage he just returned to his branch and looked at us and didn't go hide in the corner! His droppings are completely normal now he's had two bigger meals. He has seed mix (prestige cockatiel and Harrisons mash). We will introduce spray millet and fresh fruits and veg in the next couple of days. Then after a while try and convert to small pellets in place of the mash.

He does seem a lot clamer today... I guess I'm just a paranoid new Mummy. He's also scared of hands and he doesn't preen a lot. Is this normal for grass keets or is this just another part of him settling in?

Finally where is the best place for his bath? I have a large stainless stell bowl I can hang it or place it at the bottom as i know they like bathing. However, as he hasn't prenned yet I'm not sure he'll bathe but I'd like him to have the option.

[friend2parrots]

He does fly around like mad and has had a few crash landing. We have him in the bedroom for this as there's plenty of soft surfaces for crash pads! He will sit on the dowel and look at you and he does do little chirps. He's seemed quite scared and nervous he hangs off the clothes hooks or the lamp shade... upside down.

this all sounds good. he's still getting used to the room and its layout. from what youve written it sounds like he's bold little fellow, and not all that scared of anything. just make sure everything is birdproofed. it would be best to keep the curtains/blinds drawn on the windows for now, and cover mirrors. you can teach him what windows and mirrors are later on once he's gotten the hang of indoor flight and the layout of the room/house.

Should we just let him fly around like a maniac and wait for him to settle when he is out of the cage?

yes, he will figure out when and where to settle down. my Toby was EXACTLY like this when he first came home. this is how grasskeets get comfortable with their new environments. they may "look" scared when they are doing this, but don't be fooled!! they are actually extremely confident and bold birds. From what you've written Percy sounds really normal. Just let him do whatever he wants and explore wherever, as long as its safe for him. If you're up to it, I would actually just leave the cage door open, with food and water inside, and let Percy come in and out on his own as a break between his flights and explorations. perhaps getting all his excess energy out of his system will help to get him ready for accepting treats from your hand, and training, etc.

We had to wipe his bum yesterday because he had some poop stuck in his tailfeathers, not diarrahea or pasted vent it was just where he'd pooped while climbing, it was fully formed and normal colour but nevertheless it needed to be wiped off using warm water. While he was in the towel Eric managed to get him to put his feet on his chest and settled down for a cuddle. While he was there we fed him 4 sunflower seeds which he did take from my hands. We wanted to make sure that this unpleasant but necessary action was rewarded.

i guess if it was just a one time occurence it should be alright, but its generally not a good idea to grasp grasskeets with your hands the way you might be able to handle a regular parrot or even a cockatiel or budgie. Grasskeets like to stand on your hand, and like their neck, face, and head scratched with your fingertip, but they generally don't like their bodies to be held in any way. Sometimes they get very stressed when grasped bodily, and this kind of flooding can overwhelm their senses. Because they are naturally gentle birds, they do not bite when flooded, but instead might zone out and allow you to hold them at that moment. But this is not a natural stance for them and it stresses them; they dont like cuddling the way other parrots, cockatiels, and budgies might like cuddling.

it is possible, i think to teach a grasskeet how to be held by a towel or a hand without stressing out, but it would require very progressive desensitization, with LOTS of positive reinforcement training, over a very long period of time, with very gradual baby steps. I'm hoping to begin towel training Toby one of these days, just so his vet checkups are les traumatic.

Once we plopped him back in the cage he just returned to his branch and looked at us and didn't go hide in the corner!

wow, this is great. sounds like he's getting used to you real fast, esp for a parent raised bird!

His droppings are completely normal now he's had two bigger meals. He has seed mix (prestige cockatiel and Harrisons mash). We will introduce spray millet and fresh fruits and veg in the next couple of days. Then after a while try and convert to small pellets in place of the mash.

this all sounds good.

He does seem a lot clamer today... I guess I'm just a paranoid new Mummy. He's also scared of hands and he doesn't preen a lot. Is this normal for grass keets or is this just another part of him settling in?

The grasskeets are kind of strange in this way - they don't particularly like hands, but they really like being with you. My Toby (who LOVES being with me, and is VERY attached to me, and follows me around the house) runs away from my hands unless I say "step up". He prefers to do his own thing, and then, when he's ready, he will hop onto or fly onto my shoulder and sit there for a long time. and then fly off again. if i'm working on the computer, and if Ringo is in his cage or distracted elsewhere in the house, Toby will fly to my forearm and sit there while I type, for a REALLY long time. But the second I move my hands to reach out to him, he will bounce away, UNLESS i say "step up". its my suspicion that he thinks of hands as a game, as a signal to start playing. and in his mind, playing is running and flying, with me going after him. that's why teaching "step up" and "come" to these bold and playful little fellows is so important.

so dont feel discouraged that he doesn't seem to like your hands. he will get used to them in time. the grasskeets are complicated in their own cute and gentle way!!

Finally where is the best place for his bath? I have a large stainless stell bowl I can hang it or place it at the bottom as i know they like bathing. However, as he hasn't prenned yet I'm not sure he'll bathe but I'd like him to have the option.

I place one large and shallow bowl (with about one inch height of water) on the floor of Toby's cage, and change it twice a day. Toby drinks from it, and jumps in for his baths when he feels like it. Ringo's got the same kind of bowl with water in his cage, but Toby doesnt bathe anywhere nearly as frequently as Ringo does. The grasskeets are desert birds - maybe that explains why they dont bathe as much.

re: preening, Percy will preen when he's sized up his new surroundings more fully and can put his guard down. i am sure he will start preening sometime within the next few days.

i hope that helps - also, I'm wondering, has Percy shown any interest in running? or just flying? i'm really curious about this!

[Eric&Rebecca]

He does fly around like mad and has had a few crash landing. We have him in the bedroom for this as there's plenty of soft surfaces for crash pads! He will sit on the dowel and look at you and he does do little chirps. He's seemed quite scared and nervous he hangs off the clothes hooks or the lamp shade... upside down.

this all sounds good. he's still getting used to the room and its layout. from what youve written it sounds like he's bold little fellow, and not all that scared of anything. just make sure everything is birdproofed. it would be best to keep the curtains/blinds drawn on the windows for now, and cover mirrors. you can teach him what windows and mirrors are later on once he's gotten the hang of indoor flight and the layout of the room/house.

Yeah we have pulled the blinds down. He likes to cling to them. The reason we think he is scared is because he bumps into things. We removed all the mirrors in the room beforehand so it's just walls. The corner has spare bedding so if he falls there its a soft landing and then there's the bed so bit like a squishy room! lol. He seems really scared because he does this little squeak when he flies like he's really distressed.



"If you're up to it, I would actually just leave the cage door open, with food and water inside, and let Percy come in and out on his own as a break between his flights and explorations. perhaps getting all his excess energy out of his system will help to get him ready for accepting treats from your hand, and training, etc."

We will definitely try this tomorrow. Eric is home all day so he can try that and see if the little fella wants to come out by himself. We have only got him out by stepping up onto a wooden dowel so far.



"i guess if it was just a one time occurence it should be alright, but its generally not a good idea to grasp grasskeets with your hands the way you might be able to handle a regular parrot or even a cockatiel or budgie. Grasskeets like to stand on your hand, and like their neck, face, and head scratched with your fingertip, but they generally don't like their bodies to be held in any way. Sometimes they get very stressed when grasped bodily, and this kind of flooding can overwhelm their senses. Because they are naturally gentle birds, they do not bite when flooded, but instead might zone out and allow you to hold them at that moment. But this is not a natural stance for them and it stresses them; they dont like cuddling the way other parrots, cockatiels, and budgies might like cuddling."

Yeah we only did it because we had to wipe him. The poop was fine and formed like i said it'd just got stuck. We wouldn't do it unless we had to.

His droppings are completely normal now he's had two bigger meals. He ha

He does seem a lot clamer today... I guess I'm just a paranoid new Mummy. He's also scared of hands and he doesn't preen a lot. Is this normal for grass keets or is this just another part of him settling in?

"that's why teaching "step up" and "come" to these bold and playful little fellows is so important."
How would you suggest proceeding with him from stepping on the wooden dowel. I've tried just sitting quietly and gradually moving him closer to me. Also we can put our hand in the cage and he doesn't move away from it until we touch him with it. We are trying just leaving our hand in the cage for while then taking it out. How did you train yours?

"also, I'm wondering, has Percy shown any interest in running? or just flying? i'm really curious about this!

Just flying at the moment. He'll hop around when he feels jittery in the cage but he seems to just flap around outside squeaky and crash landing ocassionally. He doesn't sit on surfaces as such he likes to hang off things and perch up high. He seems absolutely petrified :-/ and he likes to look out the window. He's started showing interest in his preening toy just now so that's good and he's eaten very well today, almost cleared his bowl.

[friend2parrots]

it sounds like youre doing everything right so far.

i wouldnt worry about the little squeak. its probably just a noise he makes.

i know how you feel - it can be a little frightening watching a fully flighted parent raised bird get used to walls. it might take him another day or so to figure them out. i don't think he's petrified, however, but just startled at the novelty of his surroundings, because otherwise he wouldnt eat so well, and his poops wouldnt be so well formed. a really scared bird would have badly formed stools, because they wouldnt be eating.

if you are very concerned about the crashes into the walls, you can try hanging bedsheets on each of the walls. they will soften things up. don't worry, he will get the hang of flying indoors soon enough. the fact that he's eating so well and showing interest in his preening toy already, despite all the crashes, means that he's still feeling good about himself and his surroundings. these are really great signs. hanging onto things and looking out the window also sound good - shows he's agile and curious.

good luck with him tomorrow, and keep us posted!

[Eric&Rebecca]

He's started chirping!!!! It was cute. He was sitting on his perch and he just chirped lttle squeaks for a while then dug into his lunch.

Doesn't seem to be showing interest in spray millet but there's time for that...

[Eric&Rebecca]

And now he's preening!!!! Awwwww he's so sweet.

[marie83]

He sounds gorgeous.
I've personally found these type of species (my own 'tiels and the grass parakeets at the farm with the aviary I volunteered at)take longer to settle than the more parroty type species. Just to be clear I'm not implying grass type parakeets are not parrots or parrot like, Im just a bit upset atm and genuinely cant think of how to say what I mean. Perhaps I shouldn't post at all at the moment. Just wanted to say mainly that your bird sounds like he is doing just fine

[Eric&Rebecca]

LOL. I know what you mean they are parakeets not full parrots or macaws. I don't see them as parrots either although they belong to the pstaiccine species. Don't worry I get what you mean.

UPDATE: he stepped up!!!! He sat on Eric's index finger for 15 seconds. He flew away after and then we got him up two more time for a couple of secs each time. We let him rest after that but he got a good fly around. He's still getting used to walls and he's had a few crash landings.