Trying to choose the best path for Rafiki

I adopted Rafiki only a week ago. He's a male Orange Winged Amazon, and he's in his twenties for age.

Rafiki has had a rough life. He's spent the last four years being well cared for, but not really interacted with beyond mealtimes as far as I can tell. Before that, he was removed from a breeder home where his mate, along with all the other female amazons, had died from poor conditions. (that's as much of his history as I have!)

He's doing really well here, and I'm so happy to have him. He mutters a friendly "Hello" all the time, and he does take food from the hand. He's fearful of the hand though, he grumbles and strikes a little bit when I touch his foot. He gets excited when my husband comes home and so far seems completely unphased by my three preschoolers.

I'm trying to decide if I should push him to step up or not. With younger parrots, I'd say of course, he just needs time to learn, there's no harm in trying to teach him. But with the fear of the hand... I don't know if it's wrong to push that kind of interaction on him, you know? He works really hard for walnuts, so at least I have a currency to use with him.

I'm planning on getting a female OWA, I've been looking for one for a while, I just love the unique Amazon personality. I'll let them bond as they wish, seperately caged. But I wonder this - should I let him be a "bird" bird and not a people bird? With an older Amazon who has been through (clearly) a lot of trauma, should I just let him NOT be willing to step up?

He's healthy, though he's got two toenails that are brutally short (whether from over-cutting or deformity, I don't know) and a big scar on one of his feet that looks quite old. He over-preens his feathers under his wings, but I know that can just be habit since he used to breed, it might or might not be stress related. He's been on a seed-and-table-food diet for some time now, so we're working on pellets and he's taking them well, along with lots of fresh vegetables.

Does all of this make sense? I'm stressing, because an older bird like this shouldn't still be adjusting to new homes, you know? But at least he's here, and taken care of. I just need to decide if pressing him to step up is a good idea before he establishes real habits in my home, or if I should let him decide how much he wants to have physical contact with me, which I think he would decide on none.

Thanks so much for your opinions!



PS - this is not my first parrot, but the only one in my home at this time.

The step up is very important for our captive birds to perform. I would just give him time to trust. Have you tried to get him to step up on a perch? That may be the first way to go for now. If you stress out too much over this the bird will feel the stress. Read the birds body language and see where it goes. Please keep us updated on your progress.

Welcome to our fantastic forum.

First of all, thank you so much for taking in an adult male amazon with some bagagge. Not many people would do that. As to his age, granted that captive birds don't live as long because of the unnatural conditions we keep them (no exercise, bad diet, stress, etc) but, at 25, he is not an older bird, he is in his prime so don't worry too much about his age.

Personally, I find no need whatsoever for the step up command and I always let them decide. If they do it, it's great! But, if they don't, it doesn't really make that big a difference to me.

I think your idea of getting him a mate is great but, you know, it doesn't really have to be an OW, zons bond with all zons so any other zons will do as long as he likes her. That's the most important thing because zons are very picky as to which bird they like and which one they don't so, if you don't let him choose, you might end up with two birds that will not work out together. But, if you do find a mate for him that he likes and loves, I would not keep them in separate cages. It would be very stressful for them to live separate if they are bonded and I suggest you reconsider this course of action.

Of course the seperate cage situation would change IF they bonded - I do want another OWA, just love them because they're so less common than BFAs, and the bright orange is so pretty with the light blue on his forehead. I don't want to force them together right away just in case they DONT bond.

Thanks for the info about them being so picky, I'm glad that I'm going to cage them seperately until he decides he likes her - and if he doesn't like her, then she still has her own cage without having to change the situation. I haven't found my next OWA yet, but she's waiting somewhere!

If, in the meantime, a sweet little DYH or something comes along that he absolutely loves (even an ekkie or grey, if he likes her!), of course I'll hold off on the OWA. I kind of believe that I'll find the bird when the bird needs me, ya know? Rafiki definately needs me.

He's been less talkative and more pouty the last few days :-( Just letting him take his time... he still takes food from the hand but he's not spending as much time out of the cage as I would like. But he's been here a week now, so the permanence of the situation is probably just setting in for him.

Oh, I'm so excited! After I thought he wasn't feeling too happy here so far, I just randomly decided to put my hand out and offer a walnut for a step up. It took about five minutes of him hesitating, thinking, deciding... and he put his toes gently on my finger! I rewarded him, praised him, and offered again when he finished the first one - he did it again! The third time he even put almost all his weight on the foot on my hand. I'm so thrilled. My husband is building him an out-of-cage perch right now, we haven't needed it yet but we're just too excited now. I can't believe the progress we've seen already. Just had to share!!!

That's great!!! I'm so happy for you!

Thanks for sharing the good news.