Hello
I'm a divorced single mom with two kids at home and one in college. I grew up with a squirrel monkey and a blue fronted amazon as siblings (oh and an actual human older brother) so I am familiar with parrots. My mom's amazon is now 26yo and doing well.
It was actually my mom who got me into this. She met a woman at the local pet store who had bought Topaz from where she worked. Topaz had been at the store for 2 1/2 years and was being abused by the other employees. So she saved up the money and bought her. She knew my mom had Pepper and loved birds do when she realized Topaz wasn't getting as much time out of her cage as she should have due to having 3 cats she asked my mom to find a loving home for her. So my mom asked me!
We have had Topaz for over 3 weeks now. She is binding well with me and my 12yo daughter Elli. She is a lacewing by what I've been told. She talks up a storm. She had only this week started putting her head down while in her cage and letting us lightly rub her head. We are working on her biting us. Her former owner did not react when she bit but actually trained her by saying "good girl" when she bit. She has her wings clipped and will flutter off of her cage and tries to explore. We let her go for a while and then guide her to her play stand and watch her closely. Because of her exploring we learned that she will step up from the floor but not her cage. I thought she was afraid of hands but apparently she is just territorial of her cage.
She's funny because she rings her bell if she wants attention but also uses certain phrases or squawks. She has gotten brave enough to use a stand on the bottom side of her cage close to the couch and even ventured off of it into the computer my daughter was using!
Now if we can only control the biting. My daughter has a couple of lacerations that are infected on her finger from Topaz. I have a few bruises. It's so hard not to pull back or react. Tonight during her head rubs I learned that if I gently touch the top of her beak with my finger and say no while slightly pushing on her beak she stops trying to bite and puts her head back down for another run a lot quicker. Each night we learn something new about each other. She runs into her cage when I come over and leans down for a head rub. Hopefully she will feel comfortable soon enough to not have to be behind bars for a rub!
Sorry for the length! I look forward to learning from everyone here!
I'm a divorced single mom with two kids at home and one in college. I grew up with a squirrel monkey and a blue fronted amazon as siblings (oh and an actual human older brother) so I am familiar with parrots. My mom's amazon is now 26yo and doing well.
It was actually my mom who got me into this. She met a woman at the local pet store who had bought Topaz from where she worked. Topaz had been at the store for 2 1/2 years and was being abused by the other employees. So she saved up the money and bought her. She knew my mom had Pepper and loved birds do when she realized Topaz wasn't getting as much time out of her cage as she should have due to having 3 cats she asked my mom to find a loving home for her. So my mom asked me!
We have had Topaz for over 3 weeks now. She is binding well with me and my 12yo daughter Elli. She is a lacewing by what I've been told. She talks up a storm. She had only this week started putting her head down while in her cage and letting us lightly rub her head. We are working on her biting us. Her former owner did not react when she bit but actually trained her by saying "good girl" when she bit. She has her wings clipped and will flutter off of her cage and tries to explore. We let her go for a while and then guide her to her play stand and watch her closely. Because of her exploring we learned that she will step up from the floor but not her cage. I thought she was afraid of hands but apparently she is just territorial of her cage.
She's funny because she rings her bell if she wants attention but also uses certain phrases or squawks. She has gotten brave enough to use a stand on the bottom side of her cage close to the couch and even ventured off of it into the computer my daughter was using!
Now if we can only control the biting. My daughter has a couple of lacerations that are infected on her finger from Topaz. I have a few bruises. It's so hard not to pull back or react. Tonight during her head rubs I learned that if I gently touch the top of her beak with my finger and say no while slightly pushing on her beak she stops trying to bite and puts her head back down for another run a lot quicker. Each night we learn something new about each other. She runs into her cage when I come over and leans down for a head rub. Hopefully she will feel comfortable soon enough to not have to be behind bars for a rub!
Sorry for the length! I look forward to learning from everyone here!
