New Ekkie questions!

Hi all, new on the forums - hopefully I'm in the right spot!

I adopted my male ekkie, Lucky, 8 days ago. He's my first bird, and after specifically seeking out an Eclectus after over a year of research about them, I couldn't be happier.

The first few days were surprisingly quick - he's playing, eating, and talking, cooing, and has customized some of the branches in his cage already. He seems interested in me but still (understandably) cautious. No aggressive behavior so far. Target training was picked up in 5 minutes and he seems to really enjoy doing it.

My partner and myself have him on the BirdTricks diet (currently, the winter cycle) sans all of the beans (only sprouts at the moment). We're searching for a place near us that sells beans aside from canned chilies. We also cannot find yellow squash - only pumpkin, and I've heard conflicting stories about potential risks with pumpkin.

Seeds are strictly for treats aside from a small millet spray every few nights as part of dinner.

However, stepping up is something that is obviously going to take time (luring works, but only sometimes) and is something I don't force at all - if Lucky isn't interested, I don't make him.

And that brings me to my next question: how/when should I go about bathing him? Weighing him? He still hasn't really explored much of the house yet and seems especially neophobic (I know Eclectuses tend to be so).

I've been keeping astute and probably worry _way_ too much but I definitely don't want to mess anything up. Does this all sound normal? Am I missing something?

Thank you all - I've appreciated reading through the forums for a long time now. Ekkie-tax follows ^^

Bathing him is something you'll just have to play by ear, based on what he seems to want. I'm not sure if Eclectus need more or less bathing.
As far as weighing goes, I weight my boys first thing every morning after they come out of their cages and do their BMP (Big Morning Poop). Then I write the number on the calendar so I have a good idea of trends and their normal weights. Sometimes a quick drop in weight is the only indicator one gets that something is wrong. If you only weight once in a while, how would you know if it was a sudden drop or a long, steady drop?

Welcome by the way, Lucky is SO ADORABLE!!!!

Hello and welcome to the forums!

Thank you for adopting this absolutely adorable boy! So cute!

Sounds to me like you’re doing everything right, from the diet to the training You’re just a nervous new dad; perfectly natural. I promise you’ll settle in.

The birdtricks diet is great, but be careful: I’m pretty sure they introduce a lot more fruits in the spring and summer. The Ekkie diet demands fruits be kept to a minimum. I’m a fan of birdtricks, but they aren’t Ekkie specialists. You have to take some of what they give you and tailor it for our species. You’ve heard of seasonal hormones, how birds go nuts in the spring breeding season? Ekkies can breed year round, meaning their hormones aren’t timed to seasons - they can be induced by environmental factors such as excessive sugar in the diet or insufficient sleep.

Start teaching foraging to help engage his mind, very valuable!

Agree with squeekmouse above that you’ll just have to play with bathing. Could prefer showers over bathing, or vice versa. Of shower, Anything that puts them off from bathing could be temperatures (some birds like it hot, some like it frigid), water pressure (regular shower may hit too hard and he’ll prefer a mist setting), or duration. He may prefer misting bottles! You just have to experiment.

For weighing, you’ll get a range of answers there. I don’t weigh my boy, shamefully, but weighing daily is in my opinion excessive - there’s so much fluctuation in a healthy bird from day to day - could be 20g or more - that daily weighing become meaningless. Once a week would be more than enough.

Hello, and welcome to the Parrot Forums family!

You seem to be off to a great start, already. And that's a cute lil' guy you have there. Great advice above on the showers. I tend to feel that every other day is good for an ekkie. I personally shower mine, but I use a shower head with variable settings and use one that is middle-of-the-road pressure-wise. But as Chris mentioned, their preferences vary. Jolly is just an aquatic animal dressed in feathers, so he'll go with any temperature. But Maya definitely prefers it on the warmer side.

As for weighing, I do it nearly every day, myself. As Squeekmouse mentioned, a drop in weight is one of the best indicators of an issue with a bird's diet. (But as Chris mentioned, drops of 20 grams do happen, and aren't necessarily a cause for alarm. The trick is to get a feel for the tendency. Jolly, for instance, can vacillate between 387 and 410. So if I weighed him and he was coming up in the 360's, I'd definitely be concerned.

Here's a link to a situation I had that shows the importance of weighing: http://www.parrotforums.com/general...ortance-weight-scales-checking-droppings.html