20 Week old elects not eating much, now biting

Jakejmitchell

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I've had my male Eclectus for almost 2 weeks now.

I purchased him hand raised and fully weaned from a very reputable breeder, in fact you pay a premium on the birds from them.

First week his eating was fine, the breeder mentioned he loves sweet potato mash, so i started making it.

Since then he's only eating the sweet potato mash, he will nibble at a few beans and snow peas, but he won't eat the fruit as a majority.

He has seeds and pellets to which they have supplied. But won't touch anything.

This is all i can get him to eat,

Sweet Potato mash
Pomegranate
Snow Peas (small Amounts)
Beans (Small Amounts)
Corn (Small Amounts (as naturally not allowed much)
Paw Paw (small amounts)
Seed
Dried Fruits

Won't eat (To what I have tried)

Mango
Cauliflower
Cucumber
capsicum
Apples
Banana
Peaches
Plums
Carrots

So I'm starting to be a little concerned about his health if he won't eat much... Or why he's only eating specific foods.

For the first time today, he bit everyone and didn't want to get out of his cage, i fear something could be wrong.

Any suggestions would help :green:
 
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Jakejmitchell

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Update in the last hour, he's going nuts biting all his toys, throwing them everywhere, biting everything including me...
I'm unsure if he's just being a baby bird and testing everything, but he's not normally like this so i am still concerned...
 

chris-md

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You have so many options available to you, don't fret!

Its a matter of repeated exposure. I cannot tell you how much I've spent on unused fruit while getting my boy to try new things.

It all comes down to preparation. Sometimes they simply don't recognize something as food. A whole mango? YUM! Cut up mango cubes? What are these strange things?

Start with a whole fruit and let him watch you shove some nuts into it (it has to be super ripe and soft). He'll start shredding the fruit to get to the nuts, learnign along the way the fruit itself is great.

Along the lines of preparation, play with the shapes and sizes. WOn't eat cubed carrots? Try julienne'd carrots, or matchstick carrots.

Play with cooking. Carrots too hard? Cook them a bit to soften them. Some birds get so picky, they won't eat stuff raw but will eat it cooked, or vice versa.

And cover it with stuff he WILL eat. Sustainably sourced red palm oil or coconut oil do wonders for getting beaks down into a bowl.

Its funny, my partner JUST asked me what I'm doing. Told him about your post and he had the best response. Hes NOT a bird person, but has embraced his parrot ownership and learned all the tricks himself. He put it about as succinctly as you coudl possibly put it.

He just said "Keep trying, and pepper it with s**t he WILL eat". This is why I love him! LOL!
 

chris-md

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Parker - male Eclectus

Aphrodite - red throated conure (RIP)
Also, fruit should NOT be a majority of the diet. Your bird is young so you don't have to worry about it yet, but fruit will be a huge problem later once he enters puberty.

It comes down to hormones. Eclectus are capable of being induced to hormonal behavior as a result of excess sugar in the diet - this includes sugar from fruit. You need to keep fruits to a minimum.

The diet really is vegetables and grains, with the occasional fruit thrown in. In a chop mix, really only one or two fruits at most. 20% of the diet, tops.
 
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Jakejmitchell

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Also, fruit should NOT be a majority of the diet. Your bird is young so you don't have to worry about it yet, but fruit will be a huge problem later once he enters puberty.

It comes down to hormones. Eclectus are capable of being induced to hormonal behavior as a result of excess sugar in the diet - this includes sugar from fruit. You need to keep fruits to a minimum.

The diet really is vegetables and grains, with the occasional fruit thrown in. In a chop mix, really only one or two fruits at most. 20% of the diet, tops.

Thank you so much for your input, i will try less fruits.. He's calmed down after his little crazy moment.. Possibly too much fruit in diet.
 

chris-md

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He’s also young, so gonna have energy to expend.

Also, wanted to suggest playing with food size. Put stuff like cauliflower and kale through a. Food processor so he can’t escape it.
 

chris-md

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Parker - male Eclectus

Aphrodite - red throated conure (RIP)
He’s also young, so gonna have energy to expend.

Also, wanted to suggest playing with food size. Put stuff like cauliflower and kale through a. Food processor so he can’t escape it.
 

charmedbyekkie

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You've got a rather young ekkie. Keep in mind that ekkies are notoriously hard to wean. They seem fully weaned, then they regress at little sometimes. Quite a few ekkies aren't completely weaned until they're 9 months old.

So with that context, your little guy might be looking for formula, hence his preference for mash. At the same time, I don't feel comfortable recommending syringe feeding if there isn't someone to show you how to do it.

Do the food processor part that Chris mentioned. You can mix those into his mash. For every meal, I'd offer adult food first, then if he rejects, offer mash with the adult food mixed in. He'll slowly figure things out.


Also keep in mind that because he's young, he is still figuring things out. Not just his new relationship with you, but also how to play and how to interact with different things in his environment. Biting toys and throwing them might just be his new exploration into how to play with things - I wouldn't discourage it. I would, though, encourage him to expand how to uses his energy into other areas. Toys are good, but recall training is even better. Our boy works of his energy on his toys while he's inside his cage, and then has 'zoomies', zipping around the house, when he's outside his cage.

Biting you and humans is something that you guys can work on (the behavioural forum here has quite a bit of advice regarding how to train pressure).
 
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Jakejmitchell

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Little bit of an update...

He's now off of his mash, he's picking at his vegetables.

He doesn't want to be handled at all, he just wants to sit in his cage.

I'm not worried in the sense of hurring him up into the perfect pet, i'm just worried he will turn on me and never want to bond with me.

The breeder called me and said just stick to what they fed him for now, trying to get him to want to come out again..

He never bit me, now he won't stop :/

He's got all the toys in the world, all the food he wants! He has a large cage and is well looked after, just doesn't wany any human interaction.. What am i doing wrong?
 

noodles123

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Umbrella Cockatoo- 15? years old..I think?
I have always read that eckies shouldn't eat pellets due to their unique digestive system..
 

Laurasea

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Yours is Weaned. Hopefully hasn't regressed.. but young newly weaned birds can still bennifit from comfort feedings. You can use a spoon to feed baby bird formula before bedtime, or offer warm cooked veggies or oatmeal. I have a link on stress in parrots that I will get. But I'm also going to share a breeders account of babies
Eclectus
Tiny Eclectus chicks are naked, without down, so they are vulnerable to cold and need the warmth of the hen to keep healthy, according to Laurella Desborough, an aviculturist in Florida, who specializes in Eclectus parrots. If they are being hand-reared, they need more warmth provided in the brooder than Amazon parrot or African grey parrot chicks (which have some down).

During hand-feeding, “Eclectus take their formula much slower, as they swallow it down differently than most other parrot chicks,” Desborough said. “It can take up to 10 minutes to feed one Eclectus parrot chick.”

From Saydak’s experience, hand-feeding an Eclectus chick is “like trying to feed a moving target.” That’s because of their very sensitive and uneasy disposition during the hand-rearing stage. “They need to be handled gently and fed in a quiet, secure area, or they will display an instinctive lunging behavior, which can make feeding very difficult,” Saydak said.

Another rather unique behavior in Eclectus is that “the fledged and weaned male youngsters will fly to the brooders and try to feed the feathered babies if the babies ask for food,” Desborough said. “This seems to be an instinctive behavior, because it is very strong.”

Could be they are very sensitive as young birds. So trying to reduce noise, stress , unexpected stuff around him. Overall as a species I think they like less petting than others. I'm definitely not sure on that tho..

Link on stress
http://go.skimresources.com/?id=162...tz=300&xuuid=71081d508d5b593ed0299e4eb75c2657
 
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charmedbyekkie

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What incentive does he have to interact with you? Have you done any clicker training or target training? If he doesn't have positive interaction (in his perspective, not yours) (and this could be in the form of treats), he has little reason to want to tolerate you.

Ekkies are typically more polite birds, giving warning. If he's biting, what warning signs have you been missing? Mind you, he's also a baby. Have you pressure/bite trained him at all? If you haven't read it yet, do check out this thread: http://www.parrotforums.com/training/63988-bite-pressure-training.html

Also keep in mind, in a parrot's world, 2 weeks in nothing. It takes many parrots months to fully warm up to a new 'family'. They have the intelligence of a toddler - if you took a toddler from his original home and put him in a new family, the toddler is going to go through all sorts of emotional upheaval for weeks-months. Parrots are not dogs; they're not inclined to quickly warm up to new people. You have to work from where he's coming from - not from where you expect him to be.

In addition, I just want to preempt anything about 'perfect pet'. Ekkies are NOT allopreeners; as a result, majority of them prefer not to be touched, though some may be trained to tolerate it.
 
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Jakejmitchell

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Thank you, everyone, for your questions.

I noticed he was happy when i turned my Alexa on and played music.

This has helped so far as well as going back to the basic foods he was on from the breeder.

I used the suggestion to give him treats when he gets up on my finger.
He's not currently cuddling next to me playing with my hair.

One moment i'm stressed because he was worrying me, now he seems to be okay.

I'm sure i'll understand how these birds work soon enough, i'm just use to my quakers!

Thank you again.
 

1oldparroter

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Watch youtube.com . Put wingsNpaws or BirdTrix in the search window. Look through those and others. Use the chopstick and clicker w/treats for step up etc. PATIENCE !!! jh
 
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Jakejmitchell

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I'm trying to be as patient as i can, but when is there a point where you say something isn't right?
I've been bitten 5 times from a "tame" bird that i purchased from a very reputable breeder. It's to the point where i am bleeding a lot from them and he doesn't want a single slice of human interaction.
He doesn't want to come to me or anyone.
 

charmedbyekkie

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Cairo the Ekkie!
I'm trying to be as patient as i can, but when is there a point where you say something isn't right?
I've been bitten 5 times from a "tame" bird that i purchased from a very reputable breeder. It's to the point where i am bleeding a lot from them and he doesn't want a single slice of human interaction.
He doesn't want to come to me or anyone.

I recommend you read about the intelligence and independence that parrots have as well as the unique attributes of the eclectus parrot species.

Ekkies are independent (and often poly). They aren't flock creatures like cockatoos. The way they live is completely different to conures or macaws or other parrots. They are NOT allopreeners (they do not participate in preening each other) and often do not feel the need to interact with humans. Ekkies are known to be a more pensive species, preferring to observe from a distance, rather than getting up in your face. If you want a cuddly, human-needy bird, perhaps you picked the wrong species. Conures and caiques are known to be cuddly species.


Please keep in mind you brought home essentially a toddler who doesn't know you from Adam. He's still figuring out who he is in the world - he's young. It takes MONTHS for most parrots to warm up to new people.


We've a saying around here - it's never the parrot's fault if he bites. They communicate clearly. Some people are extroverts, some people are introverts (ekkies lean more to being introverts as I mentioned). If you keep telling someone, "hey, please give me some space," and they keep ignoring your request repeatedly; what are you doing to do? Escalate in all likelihood.

Reflect on what you are doing that causes him to bite, and I guarantee you'll reduce the chance of getting bitten. Consider how you can give him reason to interact with you.


You should read this about how they communicate and humans are often oblivious: https://birdtricksstore.com/blogs/birdtricks-blog/does-your-bird-use-light-to-communicate

And check this out about positive reinforcement: https://www.exoticdirect.co.uk/news/how-train-bird-using-positive-reinforcement

And watch this:
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs1L49yFryQ"]What Parrots See VS What Humans See - YouTube[/ame]


You want him to listen to you.
Are you listening to him?

He did not chose to come into your life. You brought him into yours. Perhaps try to learn his language - parrots already do so much to learn our human languages to communicate with us. The least we can do is try to make an effort to learn their language.

Editing to add: no bird doesn't bite.
 
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