New Galah glued to her perch

PartyPat

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Cherry - Rose Breasted Cockatoo
Hi,
I adopted a Galah cockatoo named Cherry a little over 3 weeks ago. She had been a breeder for most of her life and as far as I know never kept as a pet so she's taking some time to adjust. That part I understand and I'm being patient with her and she's actually coming around much more quickly than I expected. I couldn't touch her until this week but now she'll let me give her light scratches on her head and after teaching her to step up onto a ladder she's now stepping up onto my arm pretty readily. She doesn't really respond to the vocal cue yet but knows to step up when I put my arm or the ladder out.
All things considered I'm very impressed with the progress she's made in this short time but I'm more concerned about how she spends her time inside her cage. She almost never leaves the one perch she has chosen, she'll only stay on this one perch or on climb on the food and water dishes nearby. I'm worried that she's bored and not being stimulated enough. I've gotten her toys- she has one with a bunch of straws and ropes and fun things to pull on and tear apart but she has never touched it, or the basket or mirror I put on the bottom of the cage. I got her a swing that she has also never touched and she'll only play with anything that's within reach of her perch. She chews on some wooden spoons that we hung near the perch and will play with a second mirror that's nearby but I worry that it's not good for her to just sit in one place all day. I've only seen her leave her spot a few times and she always goes right back to it.
Is there anything I can do to help her entertain herself when she's in her cage or to help encourage her to be more active? Should I not be worried about this so early on?
 

SailBoat

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So move her World, closer to her perch!!!

You have made major and very large steps forward with a Parrot that has been a breeder near all her life!

Try this view point:

It is NEVER the fault of the Parrot!
It is ALWAYS the fault of the Human!

Viewing 'everything' from this vantage point will allow you to quickly see what you are doing wrong and correct it quickly.

When you view from a Parrot 'centered' World, lots of stuff just makes more sense and is easier to understand!

At present, she needs her World closer!
 

Scott

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Thanks for giving new life to a former breeder! Have you any idea of Cherry's age? Transitioning from an old life to a new companion will take time and effort. Your progress to date bodes well, and cockatoos are generally very sociable.

For now, her cage is security and you'll have to provide encouragement to willingly venture outward. Perhaps a small playstand next to the cage will help. If amenable, you can progressively move it farther from the cage.

What sort of diet? Abundant fresh fruits and vegetables are necessary, and you might gain trust by hand-feeding her favorites. Finding a desirable treat as reward is helpful. Might try small pieces of almond, walnut, or depending on where you live, Cheerios.

A visit with an avian certified vet will give a baseline of health. Galahs are susceptible to Fatty Liver Disease.
 

MonicaMc

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I don't recommend mirrors for birds. These can cause unhealthy additions which can lead to abnormal behaviors.

Also, how can you make her toys more interesting? What about sticking treats and food in the toys that she could forage on? This would give her more incentive to check her toys out and potentially even play with them!
 

plumsmum2005

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As she has been a breeder and probably been fed an all seed diet unless very lucky I would in the first instance have her checked out by a CAV. See if you can transition her onto a pelleted diet * as a small part of her daily diet along with sprouted seeds and a veggie chop. Until you have the CAV blood test result go easy on high fat foods such as nuts and seeds.

You sound like you are making good progress with her, well done btw but IMO it is necessary to find out if this is medical or behavioural. If there are medical issues she won't move much except to eat and drink.

CAV's will push Harrisons, I have had success with TOPs small or crumbled pellets. RB2's like destroying paper and cardboard.

http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/449-toxic-list-our-birds.html
 
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LordTriggs

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Very good point by Plum. A vet visit and a look at the diet is a definite must right now. When kept as breeders there's often 1 perch in the cage, 2 if they're lucky. She may not be used to moving around and her legs may be a bit weaker so she may struggle a bit sitting on a different size perch.

Edit: You could always try target training her whilst in the cage? It may give her something to do a realization that not everything different is out to get her.

Of course if you need to play hardball you could always move that perch somewhere else, outside the cage maybe?
 
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plumsmum2005

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Until you know her medical status please dont play hard anything. RB2s are when well fairly active birds, happy to ladder up and down their cage, interact with toys. They are very interested watchers also. Please until you know what is what treat her with kindness, gentleness and consideration, who knows what is going on. Take that important first step and see the CAV please.

She almost never leaves the one perch she has chosen, she'll only stay on this one perch or on climb on the food and water dishes nearby. She'll only play with anything that's within reach of her perch. She chews on some wooden spoons that we hung near the perch and will play with a second mirror that's nearby, I've only seen her leave her spot a few times and she always goes right back to it.

This is the behaviour that my RB2 showed when unwell btw. :)
 
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Laylatoo

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I agree with Plumsmum. My Layla also picked a perch and rarely ventured when she wasn’t well. Both my rose breasted toos stay busy most of the day with their toys. These feathered kids hide illness well and when you aren’t sure of their background and health situation you would feel so much reassurance if you took her for a good exam. Another issue they are prone too is obesity so a good starting weight is very important. Especially with her lack of activity.
 

Siobhan

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She may not know how to clamber around and play. They probably kept her in a tiny cage where she only had one perch and she doesn't realize she can move around. Be gentle and don't be in a hurry, but try playing with her toys in front of her, and get very excited about how cool they are. Start with moving some close enough to her favorite perch so she can reach them from there, then scoot them a little further away, and a little further away every couple of days to encourage her to reach for them. And hiding food in them is good, too. Put a treat like peanut butter (my 'too LOVES peanut butter) on one just out of reach so she has to go after it.
 
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PartyPat

PartyPat

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Thanks for all the responses and kind words everyone. I'm very proud of Cherry and how much progress she has made so quickly.
She's 17 years old, I intend to get her to a vet soon for a check up. The aviary/rescue I got her from had her checked when they took her in. She has a lipoma so I'm guessing she probably was on a fatty diet before. She's on all pellets and veggies now, but she seems more interested in playing with her veggies than eating them. She likes to pick them up and throw them across the cage. She seems to have a lot of fun though I'd rather her eat them. Usually she'll eat a couple bites and then start tossing them.
Because of her weight/lipomas she doesn't get seeds in her food and at most she'll get 2 or 3 sunflower seeds as a reward when I work with her.
Why are mirrors not recommended? She seems to really like it but can it have some negative effect?
She does like destroying paper and her perch (which I find funny that she's slowly chewing her way through her favorite perch). I got her some wooden spoons and hung them from the cage near her and she likes chewing on them. Sometimes I'll hang a sheet of newspaper from the top of her cage and she loves chewing that away.
So I've found some things that help keep her entertained on her chosen perch but I do still worry about her staying in one spot all day. I guess it makes sense from what you've all said about what her conditions likely were as a breeder.
When she comes out of the cage I encourage her to fly as much as possible until she's worn out since exercise is so important for her health.
Here's an album of a few pictures of her for Tami2 and anyone else who'd like to see her https://imgur.com/a/SJs7A
She's missing feathers around her neck that were apparently pulled out by her mate. I've never seen her pluck.
 

Laylatoo

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What a pretty pink lady! Can’t wait to see her progress in a few months after the new diet and love and attention!

My two girls also throw their veggies. I now do a mash for them which they eat great. I start with Higgins creamy zen as a base and then add tons of veggies that are finely puréed into the mix. Maybe you could try a mash too. The pink girls are always picky it seems. Lol. Does she enjoy bathing? If so she may love that one on one time with you away from her cage. :)
 

Scott

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PartyPat

PartyPat

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Yep Scott, I finally arranged a time to meet her and my heart melted, even with her trying to nip and hiss at us I just knew that she was a sweetheart deep down. And it's starting to show!
I'll be looking for reputable vets in the area. Hopefully I can get my car situation worked out quickly so I don't have to catch a ride with someone else.
And a mash sounds interesting, I was going to try making a "chop" for her as everyone seems to call it and get her a separate food bowl for fruits and veggies. It occured to me tonight she may be throwing them because they're covering up the pellets she wants. Though it's more likely she's just playing but it wouldn't hurt to have a dedicated fruit/veggie bowl. What else could you use as a base? And I would just add the veggies I want and puree them all into a fine mash? Worth a try.
I bathed her for the first time about a week ago, at first she seemed to tolerate it but I think I may have gone a bit overboard with the spray bottle after she allowed me to do it because she started trying to get away from me and the bottle when I kept going. I'll slow down next time. I couldn't really tell whether she was enjoying herself or just allowing it to happen at first.
Cherry and I played together tonight and she's readily stepping up onto my arm and I don't notice her hesitate as much to move in my direction. When I get her onto the ladder she's even started to walk up it to get to my hands. The first time she did this it was to bite my finger but tonight she just walked over and stepped onto my hand. I'm really amazed at all the sudden progress, with how slow things were moving at first I was preparing for this to be a very long process before I could touch her or hold her.
 

plumsmum2005

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Hi, if you search for member Betrisher, she has a RB2, Dom, who has lipomas also so maybe some useful tips there. (maybe she is even reading this?)

RB2's are excellent food sorters, looking for the highest value food source, carbs usually so that will explain some of the food throwing. This is one reason a fine chop works well. It is possible that Cherry will like a warm mash some of the time also. Hide chopped veggies in a little scrambled egg now and again (approx 1 tsp)

You could also search fatty liver disease on here for some info and tips. Please drop the sunflower seeds altogether, I switched to tiny pieces of walnut. Good news re the pellets but this still needs to be monitored and not free feed as the fat levels can be quite high. Sprouting seeds and safe legumes has worked well with my Plum.

Regular weighings are essential as this will let you know her starting weight and also indicate illness in the future ie weight drops that are sudden. I have managed to get Plum used to stepping up on flat kitchen scales for a treat, they are intelligent birds and don't take too long to cotton on.

FYI some useful info to help https://www.beautyofbirds.com/liverdisease.html

It is great you have decided to take Cherry into your home and your heart, with some sensible steps to improve her diet and some excellent attention from a good Avian Vet wishing you lots of happy years ahead.

PS The kinds of toys Plum prefers are toys he can swing, a large shiny bell, a rope ball, a green rubber ball with a bell inside (Rollee forager I think it is) He sits in the middle of all these swinging like mad. Cardboard for chewing is a hit too. :)
 
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Laylatoo

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I’ve also used wild rice mix and a cooked bean mix as a base. I use spices in my bases as well. I change it up sometimes because they do much better with variety. My Rosie’s won’t eat chop so mash works for us. It’s all about experimenting. I also offer 4 types of pellets for the same reason. When I feed their fresh food breakfast, I do not offer pellets. They get the fresh mash and eat that and once they are done I then offer the pellets. They get more fresh mash at dinner time. Weighing is especially important. All 3 of my girls get weighed every morning before breakfast. I keep a log. When Layla got sick a few months ago she lost weight unbelievably fast. She also puts weight on crazy fast. My girls also get a freeze dried veggie and fruit mix that they love.

As for toys....Layla is addicted to balsa, natural cork, and basswood. She spends hours chipping them up. I use skewers that I refill with chewable chunks. Jazzi loves swinging and hanging on an orb swing and chewing toys from planet pleasures. I have two large java trees in the living room. This is their daily hang out space.it has java root swings attached as well as all kings of climbing ropes and other swings. They love it. I also have a Wingdow, jollyball, and rope boing setup in the window as another Playstation.
 

plumsmum2005

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Have you tried sprouting @Laylatoo? Plum is very good with this food, which has helped him no end. :)
 

Laylatoo

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I do sprout. Nobody appreciates it. Lol. I keep trying but they are not fans yet.
 
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PartyPat

PartyPat

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I'll be trying some finely chopped veggies after my next run to the store. Or when the broccoli is ready to pick! I was reading about sprouted seeds as well and I'm going to try that though I suppose sprouting sunflower seeds wouldn't be the best idea. Is walnut lower in fat content?
She's eating the Zupreem fruit blend pellets, that's what the woman at the rescue switched her to and she told me it was low fat content to help with her lipomas.
Cherry really likes swinging her mirror toy with a bell on it around. She'll peck at it or push it with her foot. I may move this toy out and find something else swingy and fun that makes noise like it does but I'm still not sure if mirrors are actually that bad. I'll be moving some toys closer to her when she comes out tonight after work, she doesn't like me to touch anything in her cage while she's inside unless it's to offer her food.
And thank you plumsmum! I'll be reading what you provided, I tried to do thorough research on lipomas before I adopted her so that I knew what I was getting into, but the more I can learn about it the better.
 

MonicaMc

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Mirrors can cause unhealthy obsessions and aggression. I'd rather give a bird something shiny with little to no reflection so they don't see themselves.


She may do well on Vetri-DMG and/or Alcohol-Free Milk Thistle. She certainly doesn't have a "healthy" look to her, but her appearance otherwise looks great!
 

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