Raising Valentino

Raising Valentino: Conversations between Lupe and I


Nurturing and Cuddle Time


Valentino has started flying to me landing softly on my hand or person to be with me. This is his second week with us and he already has started flying to me for attention and affection. At this time I can touch him anywhere on his body and kiss the naked patches on his face and beak. I can stick my fingers into his beak to check and play with his feet massaging them.


Lupe: “He has been lying on you for over an hour. You are gonna make that parrot bald with petting him so much.”
Me: “Did you not see me get up 10 minutes ago to potty him?”
Lupe: “I thought the breeder gave him 15 minutes of cuddle time yet he has been lying on you for over an hour. What happened to the 15 minutes.”
Me: “He is a baby parrot who needs nurturing. There are no other parrots here for him to hang with like at the breeders. He came to me for affection I am going to give it to him.”
Lupe: “You are going to need to man him up down the line.”


Hand Feeding Time


When Valentino first came to my home he regressed to needing to be hand fed three times a day. As been my experience when a weaned baby parrot leaves the breeders and comes to the home that is all unfamiliar to them they regress and need some TLC to help them regain their confidence in themselves. Valentino was no different. He was eating on his own but not enough in my opinion to maintain weight. I hand fed him in the morning, late afternoon and right before bed. In the second week Valentino is now down to the late afternoon feeding and night feeding.


Lupe: “You’re not going to hand feed him until he is three years old are you?
Me: “No I am not. He already is down to two hand feedings and it only been a week and half since he came home.”
Lupe watches me hand feed him. It can get messy and Valentino tends to let the formula dribble down his beak onto his chest. If he moves just right I end up squirting it onto the side of his face. Valentino HATES to have his face wiped.
Lupe: “EWWWW…did you just lick his face? Geeze it looks like when a mother licks her hand and smooth’s the kids face or wipes dirt from the face. How disgusting. I can’t believe you just LICKED HIM.
Me: “He hates to have his face wiped. Fights me all the way. Would you rather him take off flying flicking formula all over you? Look at it around here. It looks like a strange crime scene with gravitational droplets and high velocity splatter of FORMULA. Call in the CSI’s.


The Attempt to Help Valentino Feel Part of the Flock


I use the table perch to perch Valentino with us at the dinner table while we have dinner. Normally he will stay on the perch and take what I feed him and eat it but eventually he will slowly fly straight up off the perch and gently fly to a spot on the table between Lupe and I. He will stand there and eat with us. Of course this can get messy but I am thankful Valentino seems to naturally understand that running around the table and walking across our plates is a HUGE NO NO. Valentino is picking up table manners like a pro.


Lupe: “Are we going to have to have the baby at the table every night?”
Me: “Why not? He is such a good boy. Look at him he is eating like a little gentleman.”
Right after I said that Valentino walked over to Lupe’s plate and reached into it and rips off a huge chuck of her sandwich.
Lupe whining: “He’s attacking my foooood!”
Me: “At least he didn’t take it all.”
Valentino turns to face me so his long tail brushes over Lupe’s plate. She takes her hand and brushes it off causing Valentino to unbalance himself so he squawks.
Lupe: “He’s being an ass. He is gonna be just like Diego!”
Me: “Spend time with him and bond with him and he will also love you.”
Lupe: “I do. We have our Saturday mornings and we watch Football together on the weekends.”
Me: “There you go. Spend more one on one time with him and he will respond to you too.”


I admit Lupe’s parrot education is the result of my teachings. It has taken the 12 years I have known her feeding her information about living with parrots. When she first moved into my house she was afraid of parrots because of a childhood traumatic incident by, get this, a wild Red Fronted macaw. Since living in my home she not only is no longer afraid of parrots but has learned the joys of having them as companions. Of all the animals I have lived with in my life the rewards of earning a parrot’s trust and love is like no other. Even though Valentino is third generation removed from the wild this parrot still has wild tendencies and is in no way fully “tamed” as a dog or cat. The relationship evolves and changes constantly and to keep a good relationship with him will take work. My work with Valentino is one of the joys of my life.

Thanks for sharing your wonderful account of events . I was really laughing there at the interactions between Valentino and Lupe !

It appears that you've done wonders in the short-term with Valentino, and in the long-term with Lupe ... despite that based upon your descriptions she seems a tad jealous of him to me .

And BTW, I wholeheartedly share your sentiment and agree with your statement: "Of all the animals I have lived with in my life the rewards of earning a parrot’s trust and love is like no other." That's the very feeling and belief that inspired the words within my signature area under the MOA insignia . To me, parrots and our relationships with them are simply magical!

that was some good reading!