Big change for Paco

So Paco’s existing cage was in way worse shape than I thought (and I already thought it was pretty bad). But this morning when I went to scoot it a few inches to access his water bowl the janky cage leg broke (it was being held together with a rusty bracket and a couple zip ties. So we made the decision to try and just bite the bullet and get him into his new cage. I set up the interior exactly like the old one with a couple extra perches and put a few new toys lower down in the cage so he can get used to them but they aren’t right in his space. So far he hasn’t wanted to go inside but has been acting comfortable on the door (his favorite place on his old cage as well and has climbed around the top of the cage. He’s still whistling and talking, giving us contact kisses and taking treats from our hands, and I did make his favorite bell accessible while sitting on the outside of the cage. I’m really hoping that while this transition might be stressful for him that we can make it through relatively smoothly because after looking at his old cage we don’t really see any wait to repair it. It’s just that far gone. Guess if going inside seems way to stressful I can take out anything new and see if that helps but we were thinking that we should just “go for broke” with the change. Bad idea?

With new cages, I have always made it a point to have our Amazon be an important part of its arrival, removal from the boxes (he commonly makes the boxes into smaller bits. Then when the assembly occurs, he is fully apart of it with him being on the structure as the parts come together. And finally, where everything goes within and on it.

With time, Paco will take-over the new cage... But, you will have to suffer for not consulting your Parrot first, etc, etc, etc...

I did this with Baxter's new cage. She explored the door and top for a few minutes, went inside and never even looked at her old cage again.

I might suggest letting him watch while you put his food in the new cage, and let him explore and find it without immediately closing him in. Inside= yummy good things, and it's okay to come back out. Worth a try.

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Great advice from both of you! Thank you!!! SailBoat....the “new” cage I have is actually a beautiful secondhand cage I bought and cleaned, sanitized and refurbished a bit so he didn’t have the opportunity to watch me build it. Saxguy64 I did decorate and stock it with him right next to me making a big happy deal about everything I put in the cage. He watched intently and chatted with me the whole time.

As of 6pm tonight I am beamyond thrilled to report that this guy in the last 2 hours has COMPLETELY come out of his shell. He is stepping up, asking for “head scratch”, singing dancing and just being completely comfortable. Upon returning him to his cage a bit ago I decided to try putting him inside in front of his food dish. He had a great session of eating (throwing food everywhere) and did not appear uncomfortable or nervous in his cage in the least. We slowly closed the door to see what would happen and he didn’t have a care in the world. My heart is bursting to see him blossom in front of our eyes. He’s so sweet and gentle it blows my perspective of greys right out of the water. I am so comfortable around him. This is turning out to be 100 times better than I could have expected.

How wonderful! What a blessing you have him! Congratulations on the new to you! :

Welcome home Paco, from the bottom of our hearts

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I applaud your "go for broke" strategy reference the replacement cage. Seems you already have sufficient rapport to clear away the big changes at beginning. Food is powerful motivator, and switching all of Paco's food to the new cage is good beginning. Don't let him go more than a few hours without sustenance, so you can shift food back and forth and he'll eventually become curious and try the new cage.

UPDATE: Paco “Bell” went for his first vet visit today. He did great considering he has never been to a vet before. Nails are finally not skin-splitting (he has never had his nails trimmed in 22 years) and we did a slight clip to the first few flight feathers because the vet thinks his wing feather mutilation might be due to having been clipped for 20 years and then allowed to grow out (as in he doesn’t know what to make of these longer more intrusive feathers so he self-clipped the whole row right above his flights). She said let’s take it slow with his over-preening and hopefully a new more balanced diet and some sunlight and regular baths will turn him into a new bird in a while. She said outwardly he appears healthy for a 22 year old bird so we’ll just wait for the tests which she said would just indicate the need for a healthier diet which I will be doing anyway. She felt he was a very sweet bird who took the visit mainly in stride considering it was his first time to be toweled for nails.

good news hope he soon realises what beautiful wings and what AMAZING flight ability he has. There will be no stopping him then


good luck with the new cage! It may take time. I didnt really give Enzo the option of time, I swapped all of her toys and perches over so she was familiar with her 'furniture', when bedtime came she was confused but opted to sleep in the cage where her cage 'ni-night' rug was. She never looked back after that really.

bigfellasdad said:

good news hope he soon realises what beautiful wings and what AMAZING flight ability he has. There will be no stopping him then


good luck with the new cage! It may take time. I didnt really give Enzo the option of time, I swapped all of her toys and perches over so she was familiar with her 'furniture', when bedtime came she was confused but opted to sleep in the cage where her cage 'ni-night' rug was. She never looked back after that really.

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We didn’t really give him a choice either. We did the same thing as you and just made the swap since the leg to the old cage literally broke off. His new cage set up is exactly the same as his old with the exception of a few new toys at the bottom for him to get used to. He seems very comfortable with it now and is enjoying the extra perch on top of the cage. So far seems so good.

BIG UPDATE tonight: Paco is playing with a new toy!!!! It has silver measuring spoons, 2 little sneakers and a bunch of plastic “rings” (the jewelry kind) on it. I have been playing with it, chewing it and laughing while doing so for 4 days and he has shown a lot of interest in the measuring spoons. Tonight though, while holding the entire toy visible in my hand he went for the plastic rings. So I slowly attached it to the outside of the cage and it got at least 5 visits where he grabbed different parts of it and interacted with it. My gosh this is so huge!!!!

Aavogaro said:

BIG UPDATE tonight: Paco is playing with a new toy!!!! It has silver measuring spoons, 2 little sneakers and a bunch of plastic “rings” (the jewelry kind) on it. I have been playing with it, chewing it and laughing while doing so for 4 days and he has shown a lot of interest in the measuring spoons. Tonight though, while holding the entire toy visible in my hand he went for the plastic rings. So I slowly attached it to the outside of the cage and it got at least 5 visits where he grabbed different parts of it and interacted with it. My gosh this is so huge!!!!

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Fabulous, their enquiring minds just cant resist