How to introduce Rosetta to her new cage?

Well! After all the drama at our house over Christmas and New Year, Rosetta's new cage is *finally* all built and fitted out with new locks and toys and an olympic swimming pool (cat litter tray filled with water). Tomorrow, I planned to swap 'Setta into her new cage, which is about six times as big as the one she's in.

Only, this afternoon, I offered her a simple cheap rattan foot toy and she nearly had a stroke! I've noticed lately she is quite fearful of all sorts of things she isn't familiar with (and by that, I mean *very* familiar!)

When she first arrived, I began playing with her by tossing a plaited rope on the floor. At first, she was very scared of it, but eventually she came around and began to play with it. She learned to hang upside-down from it and enjoyed it so much that I installed it in her cage, where she swings wildly on it like a mad thing. I had to make her a new one to play with when she's out of her cage and she's terrified of it because it's different from the original one! She's afraid of the new water dish I got for her as well. Maybe she'll be happier with thatwhen it's full of water (she loves water), but maybe not?

So the question is: should I hasten slowly with the transfer of 'Setta into her new cage? Should I introduce her to the new toys gradually? Maybe I should take most of them out? There's a colourful ladder, a longer hanging rope, a rope swing, a twirling swing etc etc etc)? I don't want to give her a heart attack or to destroy the trust we've built over the last while.

Or, should I just put her bodily inside the cage and let her get used to it willy-nilly?

I'm torn between the two and would appreciate your advice.

Maybe stock up the new cage with all the new toys and perches and set it near her current cage and let her explore at her own pace.

I usually let the birds go explore (on their own terms) and I could not get them out of the newer one!

=

I *had* to plunk Sunny in a new cage without much warning and it took her forever (months) to come to grips with it.
(Her old cage had holes in them large enough for the CAG's to climb through ... so very unsafe)

I guess if you know that she is easily frightened then you have to take all new things very slowly. When I changed Syd's cages I spent several days coping awkwardly around what seemed like a roomful of cages. I put the new right next to the old, then to add encouragement I put favourite toys in and finally food while I knew he was watching the process, that he couldn't resist. He snuck in when he thought I wasn't looking but gradually using the same ploys he spent more and more time. Finally I removed interest from his old cage so that the attraction was all in the new one. Once in he never left.
Just take it a step at a time.

Betrisher said:

Well! After all the drama at our house over Christmas and New Year, Rosetta's new cage is *finally* all built and fitted out with new locks and toys and an olympic swimming pool (cat litter tray filled with water). Tomorrow, I planned to swap 'Setta into her new cage, which is about six times as big as the one she's in.

Only, this afternoon, I offered her a simple cheap rattan foot toy and she nearly had a stroke! I've noticed lately she is quite fearful of all sorts of things she isn't familiar with (and by that, I mean *very* familiar!)

When she first arrived, I began playing with her by tossing a plaited rope on the floor. At first, she was very scared of it, but eventually she came around and began to play with it. She learned to hang upside-down from it and enjoyed it so much that I installed it in her cage, where she swings wildly on it like a mad thing. I had to make her a new one to play with when she's out of her cage and she's terrified of it because it's different from the original one! She's afraid of the new water dish I got for her as well. Maybe she'll be happier with thatwhen it's full of water (she loves water), but maybe not?

So the question is: should I hasten slowly with the transfer of 'Setta into her new cage? Should I introduce her to the new toys gradually? Maybe I should take most of them out? There's a colourful ladder, a longer hanging rope, a rope swing, a twirling swing etc etc etc)? I don't want to give her a heart attack or to destroy the trust we've built over the last while.

Or, should I just put her bodily inside the cage and let her get used to it willy-nilly?

I'm torn between the two and would appreciate your advice.

Click to expand...

My female U2 Baby was like that and get scared of anything new before. I remember when I use to walk though door ways she would freak out. So I held her and kept going though the door way back and forth every day slowly talking to her while doing it to keep her relaxed and eventually she was use to it. I did the same going outside as she would get terrified of going outside and jump at every noise? I just would bring her outside every day and on purpose have someone open a door, or make a noise so she won't freak out and get use to it.

Now she hang off my shoulder everywhere I go and is not scared of loud noises and ETC and very socialized now. Took me a year to work out all her behavior issues one by one.

As far as cage with larger bird you might just have to move her in. I had to do that with mines, but I used my Male U2 Cooper to lure her in to new cage.

My experience with cockatoos is they have minimal fear and eagerly explore new cages/toys with little reticence.

However, they are all different, so perhaps it is best to place her old cage at opposite ends of the room with her new palace and observe the reaction. If amenable, gradually reduce the distance and allow her time to explore on her own terms from the outside. If this choice of action is chose, I'd outfit the new cage as desired so there are few surprises of addition later.

Scott, I'm so surprised at how very fearful Rosetta is! I've never known a nervous cocky either, but everything rattles 'Setta! Sudden noises, loud voices, new objects. Something as innocuous as a small wooden bead has the power to send her flapping off, screeching. Also, the fact that she hasn't shown the slightest interest in exploring the room to check out what she might chew is a huge warning sign to me. The Beaks couldn't wait to get up on top of bookshelves and test the spines of my books for chewability. 'Setta's far too fearful to do that. There are a billion fun things on my desk, for example, that Dommie would have seized and hoicked in a heartbeat. 'Setta doesn't even know they're there: she keeps strictly away. (Mind you, I do have a styrofoam head by the name of 'Capita' on my desk: it has a tinselly party hat that sparkles in the light. I can understand how Capita might intimidate 'Setta a tiny bit...)

The more I'm getting to know this birdie, the more I'm wondering what on earth was done with/to her in her past. She still can't fly very effectively, although her take-off and landing skills are improving, thank goodness. Nuthin' quite like a 500gm bird phlumping onto your arm and digging in with needle-sharp claws!

We had a great session yesterday, playing 'fly on the spot' from a bit of rope. The thing is that 'Setta gets *really* puffed out when she flies even a little bit. She has *no* stamina! So I'm encouraging her to use her wings as much as possible and getting her to fly the longest distance possible from my study, through hubby's study and into the laundry and back. This exhausts her and leaves her panting with her mouth wide open, but I figure if we do that each day she'll build her mojo over time.

Yesterday, she astounded me by flying *into* her cage during playtime to pull out her security-ball to play with. We have inside-the-cage toys and a different set of outside-the-cage toys. Apparently, 'Sett wanted to play outside with her pink ball, so she went and got it. *Such* a clever girl!

Seems Rosetta is carrying quite a bit of baggage from past homes. A shame you cannot find out for certain, so progress will be halting and sort of two steps forward, one step back.

Guess you'll see sort of two steps forward, one step back progression.

My cockatoo is pretty fearful of new objects....I don't know what happened to her before I had her, but she HATES sticks and moving furniture/large objects (brooms, vacuums etc). She is also scared of new toys most of the time.


Have you shown it to her yet?
How did she react?