Hello, All! Please Help With My Eclectus!

Anansi

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Maya (Female Solomon Island eclectus parrot), Jolly (Male Solomon Island eclectus parrot), Bixby (Male, red-sided eclectus. RIP), Suzie (Male cockatiel. RIP)
Hey, everyone! This marks my first posted thread; not only to this site, but to the internet in general. And at 39, I suppose that makes me something of a rarity. Lol! Until now, however, I've never really felt drawn to do so. But I have been singularly impressed by the sense of community present in this site, forged by the love you all have for your companion parrots. So here I am, a fellow psittacine enthusiast, hoping to share in and benefit from the combined wisdom and demonstrated goodwill of this community. I have very recently welcomed a 5+ month old male eclectus into my family. Bixby basically claimed our hearts back in August as a 5 week old hatchling, and our bond to him grew over the (long) months of weaning until we finally were able to take him home the week of Thanksgiving. Now, Bixby isn't the first parrot we've owned. That honor belongs to our cockatiel of 17 years, Suzie. (Poor Suzie was actually a tragically misidentified MALE cockatiel, but by the time I had done enough reading to recognize the store owner's blunder, we were several years too late to change his gender-challenged name. But I digress.) Suzie died around 2 years ago of a kidney disease, and it has taken my wife and me all this time to again reach the point where we could welcome another parrot into our family. In this short time, we have come to love Bixby dearly, but we have also come to realize that his needs, as an eclectus, are far more specialized than were those of our beloved cockatiel. Furthermore, a lot of the information available on these beautiful birds is often conflicted and even outright contradictory. Kale, broccoli and corn have been alternately lauded and demonized, depending on where you look. The same is true of turnips, beets, a number of beans, and so on. Some veggies are touted as great sources of calcium, and then denounced elsewhere as "enzyme inhibitors". The only things that seem almost universally agreed upon are the importance of vitamin A and the benefits of carrots and pumpkin in providing it, the fact that fresh fruits and veggies should form the bulk of their diets, and the evil effects of colored pellets. So as you might imagine, after my admittedly (and unexpectedly) long-winded introduction, I am looking for some help here. Here are my questions: 1) Can anyone tell me what vitamins, proteins, nutrients, etc are needed for a strong and healthy eclectus parrot, and which foods might provide them? (Please don't think I'm avoiding doing my homework, here. I have spent copious amounts of time researching this, and I have come to realize that I need the wisdom of those who already have experience with an eclectus.) 2) Can anyone tell me how long it takes from the presence of a nutritional imbalance for a stress bar to form on the feathers? I ask this because I have noticed a few on Bixby (judging from descriptions I have read on this very site) and I was wondering if they were a reflection of the diet I provide now, or the diet he had for the majority of his short life at the pet store. He was well cared for, there, but his diet consisted of pellets (uncolored), this kind of trail-mix looking combination of dried fruits, seeds (mostly sunflower and pumpkin), nuts, and other stuff, and some other crunchy tidbits (some of which were colored) that I don't know the names of. Over the past 3+ weeks since he has been in my care, I've eliminated the pellets and crunchy colored bits entirely, reduced the "trail-mix" portions to maybe a quarter of his daily diet, and made the majority of his food intake fruits and veggies. (Pumpkin, carrot, varied types of squash, jalapenos, bell peppers, Jamaican hot peppers, pomegranates, mangoes, apples, grapes, quinoa, brown rice, wheat bread, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cucumber and corn chief among them.) And 3) When is the best time to start "potty training" him? And does anyone have any tried and true tips for doing so? This obviously isn't as urgent a concern, but any help in this arena would also be appreciated. Anyhow, I apologize for this OVERLY long post, and promise all future postings will be significantly shorter in length. Thanks in advance for taking the time to read all of this.
 

GaryBV

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Pacific Parrotlets - green Beanieboy and blue Skya;
Fischer Lovebirds - Mariposa and Papillon
Hi Anansi - I just wanted to welcome you to the parrotforums - was very nice to read your introduction and it's quite thorough - After that I think others are as likely to ask YOU for advice as you are to ask others. I don't think it was 'overly' long at all, just a little hard to read - I find making several paragraphs makes it easier to digest lol Very nice to have you :)
 

Freespin

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Nov 28, 2013
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Waikato New Zealand
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Male senegal - Stephen. Previously Barry - Male Barraband
Nelson - Male Eclectus
Hi and welcome! I am also a new eckie owner and completely understand where you are coming from in regards to the mixed messages in regards to diet! I am constantly reading where I can about it but at this stage I figure variety is key. I have grown to really enjoy preparing his food and find myself at the supermarket with a trolly full of fresh fruit and vege... 95% of which is for my birds and not me!

I can't much help with your second question though babies tent to be a bit rough around the edges until they moult as far as their appearance goes.

Third question. What I have found that seems to be working for my boy is keep an eye on him in his cage and get him out after he has gone poop. The after about 20min - half an hour place him back on his perch (or where you would like them to go) and leave them there watching until they go. When they go add a word and praise and then pick them up again. You will learn the tell tales that he needs to go or is abput to go. Nelson will be snuggled up on my chest while I watch tv and then get up and start getting restless when he needs to go =)
 

Mike17

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Alex- Eclectus, Ariel- whiteface, Junior- pied, Custard-lutino, Ziggy- pearl cockatiels, Kermit- Princess parrot, Jade- Plumhead parrot, George- budgie, Coco- Rainbow lorikeet, Corey-Little Corella.
Welcome, Anansi. For someone who has never posted on the web before your Number One was a doozey- nicely written too apart from the paragraph thing. I can't disagree with anything you've said, whilst I have eccies, you appear to know more than me already!
 
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Anansi

Anansi

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Maya (Female Solomon Island eclectus parrot), Jolly (Male Solomon Island eclectus parrot), Bixby (Male, red-sided eclectus. RIP), Suzie (Male cockatiel. RIP)
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Lol! You're all absolutely right about the paragraph spacing thing. Reads pretty much like a flow of consciousness, doesn't it? Chalk it up to sleep deprivation.

And thanks, Freespin, for the training advice. I'll start working on that this weekend. One thing, though. I've noticed my boy can be a little inconsistent with his timing. Twenty minutes here, two minutes there. Was this a problem with yours as well?
 

Terry57

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Hello and welcome Anansi! I too am a new eclectus owner and I am thrilled to have someone else on the forum to learn from! The folks on here who own eclectus are a wonderful source of info:) Bixby is beautiful!
 

MikeyTN

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Feb 1, 2011
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"Willie"&"Lola"B&G Macaw,
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This site should help you answer some questions! -----> Eclectus Parrots
 
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Anansi

Anansi

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Maya (Female Solomon Island eclectus parrot), Jolly (Male Solomon Island eclectus parrot), Bixby (Male, red-sided eclectus. RIP), Suzie (Male cockatiel. RIP)
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Thanks, MikeyTN, for that link. That was actually one of the sites I used for my research, though. And some of the foods that they suggest are given a bad rap in other places. So is the Land of Vos site generally considered a true authority on eclectus health and diet among eclectus owners?
 

MikeyTN

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"Willie"&"Lola"B&G Macaw,
"Dixie"LSC2, and "Nico" Scarlet Macaw.
I go by that site and it comes highly recommended! I haven't read anything bad about that site.
 
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Anansi

Anansi

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Parrots
Maya (Female Solomon Island eclectus parrot), Jolly (Male Solomon Island eclectus parrot), Bixby (Male, red-sided eclectus. RIP), Suzie (Male cockatiel. RIP)
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Thanks. Hearing that from someone who already owns an eclectus eases my mind substantially. How long have you had your eclectus birds?
 

MikeyTN

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"Willie"&"Lola"B&G Macaw,
"Dixie"LSC2, and "Nico" Scarlet Macaw.
About 3 years now? Wanted them for years and finally got them for my partner and love them ever since :)
 

henpecked

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hey and welcome to the forum. Glad to meet folks who are interested in their birds well being. I;m not an Eclectus owner but have lots of parrots,mostly amazons. I have found that variety of diet is most important. You can find all sorts of conflicting advice on the internet, however, too much of anything is bad and variety is best,IMO.
 

WannaBeAParrot

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Cody-Blu, female Blue-Crowned Conure, Hatched - (approx) June 1, 2014, in a South Florida tree.

Pritti (Cherry-Head Conure) -- Fly in Peace my beautiful boy. Forever I'll love you.
Hi Anansi,
I don't have much to offer as far as species-specific advice for an eclectus, but want to say Welcome and Congrats on the addition to your family.
 
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Anansi

Anansi

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Somerset,NJ
Parrots
Maya (Female Solomon Island eclectus parrot), Jolly (Male Solomon Island eclectus parrot), Bixby (Male, red-sided eclectus. RIP), Suzie (Male cockatiel. RIP)
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@MikeyTN: And I see you have both a male and a female. Are they a breeding pair? And does having the two of them together affect how companionable they are with you? Or their talking ability?
 
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Anansi

Anansi

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Dec 18, 2013
22,301
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Somerset,NJ
Parrots
Maya (Female Solomon Island eclectus parrot), Jolly (Male Solomon Island eclectus parrot), Bixby (Male, red-sided eclectus. RIP), Suzie (Male cockatiel. RIP)
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And thank you all for making me feel so welcome. I'm still feeling my way around this site, but it's already proven to be a strong resource filled with good people.
 

MikeyTN

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Feb 1, 2011
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Antioch, TN
Parrots
"Willie"&"Lola"B&G Macaw,
"Dixie"LSC2, and "Nico" Scarlet Macaw.
@MikeyTN: And I see you have both a male and a female. Are they a breeding pair? And does having the two of them together affect how companionable they are with you? Or their talking ability?

I got them as a breeding pair but Gracie doesn't like JoJo in that way so they've never bred together. I have no issues with either one of them and both are super sweet and they chatter all the time. They keep each other company. My friend who breeds them, her pairs are nice as well. So far I don't have anyone telling me their pairs became nasty after breeding.
 

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