1 Week with Mia

Otter

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Jan 21, 2020
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Louisville, KY
Parrots
Princess Mia: Blue Fronted Amazon ~14 years old
Hi everyone! Thanks for welcoming us to the forum. I brought Princess Mia the blue fronted Amazon home last Friday. She is around 13 years old and had one family before being surrendered to the rescue for personal reasons.She wasn’t at the rescue for very long and she was well cared for there.
I think things have been going great with her and us. Her first morning here she decided to talk to Steven, saying “Hi girl” “Hello” and making some cat and chirping noises. Now she talks every morning and every evening to any of us who talk with her. I think she’s even close to learning a new word, “Hola.” Not that I would know for sure, as she is the first parrot I’ve lived with in my adult life.
She steps up when she wants to and when she doesn’t she walks away. She doesn’t lunge and bite at all, but she will give a warning pinch if you try to push her. She also bit me today to tell me she didn’t like where I was standing with her and I needed to fix it. I’m working on learning her language, and mostly it’s clear. I was a little uncertain because what the thread describes as the amazon death dance, seems an awful lot like her “I’m interested, keep talking” pose. She puts her head down and her wings slightly open and shakes some. I’m going with it being please keep up the attention because it certainly isn’t that she’s about to fly to me. Not yet anyway, maybe when she’s learned to trust us.
Here are the things that I’m concerned about:
She isn’t moving around in her cage much. She goes to get food or water, but otherwise stands in only one place. I can tell, because all the poop is under that one spot. Today I rearranged her cage and took a few toys out. I think it was more full than she was used to and maybe the toys were a different type than she knows. Afterwards she was more willing to stay on a different perch than usual, but I’ll see more results based on where she sleeps tonight.
Also, she eats Zupreem fruity blend pellets. Today I bought her some of the not colorful ones to try mixing in to try to switch her over. She only likes some of the colors, so I hoped plain pellets would stop her from being picky. I figure she’ll ignore the plain ones, but it’s worth a try. The real issue I’m finding is that she is picky about other food, even treats. At the rescue her favorite treat was cheez-its. Here she will eat tiny bits of crackers and occasionally dried fruits. She doesn’t seem to like any nuts but rarely a piece of almond. I’m wanting to work on clicker training, but I don’t want to be feeding her crackers all the time. I bought nutriberries in hopes that having to eat through that to get the papaya would give her a taste for small seeds I can use later as treats. Any tips for finding your parrot’s favorite food?
She’s a really good girl. We are all so happy to have her. We’re trying our best to work at her pace. I keep reminding myself we have a long lifetime to love her.
Thanks for reading and for any advice!
 

LaManuka

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Fang ({ab}normal grey cockatiel), Valentino (budgie), Jem (cinnamon cockatiel), Lovejoy(varied lorikeet), Peach (princess parrot)
Welcome aboard to you and beautiful Mia! As you probably already know there are plenty of Amazon aficionados here who will be only too happy to share their experience and help you if you need, but it sounds like Mia is already making herself right at home :)
 

Amsterdam

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Sep 8, 2018
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Welcome to the family!! I wish i could give you advice but i have no experience at all with these kind of qeustions lucky for you we have alot of members who sure can help you
 

Cagzo

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Jan 14, 2020
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One Pineapple Conure.
Hatched late 2018.
It sounds as if you are both doing very well. It must be all very strange for rescue birds to start with. You are already getting to know the signs of what she likes and doesnt like, you just have to go along with it.
I'm still learning after nearly 3 months what all the little noises and mannerisms mean. I'm not allowed to touch her cage when I speak to her,only for cleaning and putting in food!
They can be such Divas.��
 

wrench13

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Yellow Shoulder Amazon, Salty
Treat - try pine nuts, small pieces of them. My 'zon loves them.

Regular foods - try HOT peppers,like jalapeno , habenero and ghost peppers. Hot chilies too.Parrots have 1taste bud for every 100 of ours, and they like hot stuff. Plus hot peppers have all sorts of good vitamins in them. Corn, cooked or raw, but not too much, its mostly sugars. Go to our nutrition sub forum and look up recipes for "chop" which is all sorts of veggies etc choped up. Some birds like it chunky, some more finely chopped, like in a food prosseser.
 

SailBoat

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Jul 10, 2015
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DYH Amazon
One week is a very short time period for her to really open-up as she is likely still shocked by the loss of her family. It takes time for a Parrot, like a child to become comfortable with her new family. She needs to develop a comfort in her new family.

Understand that the "Understanding Amazon Body Language" Thread talks to the foundation within all Amazons. Each will go on to add their special twists to it, but if you do not understand the basics, you will likely not pick-up on what she has and will add. An Amazon in full out Hormonal Rage will not be missed!!!

You are already to a point that the Much Larger Thread at the top of the Amazon Forum will be of more help as you move forward. Take a long look at the I Love Amazon -... Thread... You will find that it is full of information that will support your Loving and Living with Amazons. It is based on Segments, and each segment addresses different requires in Loving your Amazon. On the first page is a listing of the segments, pick and choose as you find you need...

The goal of moving away from colored pellets is that except for the sugar and salt which is not good for your Amazon. The colors will at some point lead you to rushing to your Avian Professional when your Amazon eats only one color and the poop comes one a single color... Not a good day!!!

Diet that contains higher volumes protein is dangerous for Amazons! Sugar and Salt must be limited in an Amazon Diet. An in all honesty, an Amazon spinning up as a result of a chemically driven hormonal rage, plus the added effects of sugar can be come down right dangerous.

In short, its still very early, let her adjust to her new home!

FYI: It is not uncommon for an Amazon to have a set-back or two when it becomes clean, they are not returning home!!!
 
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DaveTX

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Jan 31, 2020
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Houston
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15 y/o Blue and Gold Wing Macaw
Mia will come around. I brought Jojo and 15-year-old Macaw home last week and she is doing well. She is used to eating seeds...I put in fresh fruit and vegetables and a separate bowl of non-GMO pellets. After a few days, she started eating the pellets! Not sure how I am going to get her to eat the fruits and vegetables but I ordered a cookbook. She is happy and talking and chirping away. She has plucked her belly (prior to going in to rescue her elderly owner took ill). I am hoping a good diet and an outdoor aviary in my backyard in Houston will help. Good luck with Mia and keep us posted!
 

Ira7

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Feb 9, 2020
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Coral Springs, FL
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YNA
Mia will come around. I brought Jojo and 15-year-old Macaw home last week and she is doing well. She is used to eating seeds...I put in fresh fruit and vegetables and a separate bowl of non-GMO pellets. After a few days, she started eating the pellets! Not sure how I am going to get her to eat the fruits and vegetables but I ordered a cookbook. She is happy and talking and chirping away. She has plucked her belly (prior to going in to rescue her elderly owner took ill). I am hoping a good diet and an outdoor aviary in my backyard in Houston will help. Good luck with Mia and keep us posted!

My YNA Archie has been part of our family just a few weeks now, and granted, he’s only 9 months old.

I have had tremendous success...TREMENDOUS success...acclimating him to eat new fresh fruits and vegetables. Granted, I’m retired, and have the time to do this.

Archie gets just a few pellets and light sprinkling of seed in his dry bowl in the morning. That’s it. Hardly anything.

His wet bowl will have chopped squash, or another veggie. A few hours later, a chopped fruit will go there. Later, veggies again, then fruit again. So every day, he gets a choice of four taste sensations, sometimes more, since I’ll often mix stuff in the same bowl.

The idea is that new foods are a TOY to him. When I bring the bowl over, I tip it towards him to show it to him and say, “Ooooooh!!! Blueberries!!!”

And he replies “Oooohhhhhh!!!”

And if he doesn’t eat something the first, second or third time...I keep giving it to him. Sometimes, combining it with something he does like changes his opinion.

To me, at this stage of my life, getting Archie to eat these different things...getting away from a seed-based diet...is the most satisfying thing ever.
 

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