Eleanora 'Too owners...a few questions.

Our family has recently adopted an Eleanora Too named Nic Nic.

Nic is 15 years old and has had, from what I gather, at least 2 other homes.

He is very relaxed, friendly and nearly silent (squawks approximately once every other day or so). He entertains himself beautifully, although he loves attention. We are trying to give him a balance of family time as well as alone time, both in his cage and on his playpen top. (Cage is in our family room where we spend 90% of our awake time.)

Just curious as to what your thoughts are on this specific breed of bird. I was a zookeeper for 7 years, and although I have worked with many Toos, I have never met another Eleanora.

His behavior, and mind you I am NOT complaining (he is an absolute pleasure to be around) is not like any other cockatoo I have EVER met.

Is this typical? What are the little "quirks" of E. 'Toos?

Just trying to expand my knowledge of this incredible bird...we hav totally fallen in love with him.

Any help is appreciated.

WOW, you are so lucky. I hope you keep this TOO for ever because you prbably won't get this lucky again. But then again, it could still in the honeymoon phase. But I hope he's going to be a good one. It sounds like the perfect fit for person and bird. I applaud you for making the sacrafice to set boundaries early on with socialization and equal times of alone time. This way it will hopefully keep him from getting spoiled and start demanding attention like most TOO's do as well as other birds. I didn't make that sacrafice with my Senegal, I wanted to spend every waking minute with her and still do. So needless to say she's spoiled ROTTEN and demand her attention when she thinks she isn't getting enough of it.

I know what you mean, Mike. I keep waiting "for the other shoe to drop", but the woman who ran the rescue had him for a year and said she only heard him make a noise once or twice in that time. Her words were, "with Nic, what you see is what you get", so we are hopeful as well.

While this is my first Too at home, I have worked with a few and I know how they can become incredibly demanding, which is why I am adamant about "On & Off" time for him. I give him time on his playpen top alone and sometimes he will go down into the cage and nap. I would really like to see him continue to behave this way, he is a pleasure to have around.

I also like the fact that he is already 15 years old, I am hoping that he is set in his ways a bit..."set in his ways" is a term rarely used towards a positive trait, but that is certainly the case here.