20ish year old male Amazon

[Dopey]

What is Sammy doing? He has done this several times and I don't know what it means. He crouches down and his wings shake a bit. He does it most when my husband talks to him or when he watches videos of other amazons. Is this normal amazon behavor?

Is he rubbing his beak on the bars really fast?

No, he just holds onto the bars with his mouth.

Maybe he wants you to pet him or scratch his head. I've learned to take advantage of times when Whisper's beak is otherwise entertained than in position to bite me.

 

[Birdman666]

Mine just rubs his beak. I can never tell if he is glad to see me or if he is going to bite me.

With an amazon? It could be both at the same time.

I'm happy to see you, and I'm so excited that I can't calm down. CHOMP!

 

[CFellows]

I dont think he is "humping" his cage. My conure does this to his favorite toy and this does not seem the same to me. it does seem more like an attention thing, but he will not let me touch him. he will take food from my hand, but is very skidish of that.

 

[Dopey]

You've had him less than two days and he takes food from your hand without biting you. Good going!

 

[labell]

Congrats on your new flock member, Zon's are a hoot! I don't know if you said something about this elsewhere in your posts but I would encourage you to get him a new cage as soon as you can.
The pics of him hunkered down on the top of the cage shows major paint peeling with rust underneath this can be very dangerous to your birds health. If cost is an issue at the moment sometimes you can find great deals on your local craigslist just really be picky there are lots of cages people try to sell for tons of cash that are in the same or worse shape than the one you have.
It sounds like you are making some great progress so far!

 

[CFellows]

Congrats on your new flock member, Zon's are a hoot! I don't know if you said something about this elsewhere in your posts but I would encourage you to get him a new cage as soon as you can.
The pics of him hunkered down on the top of the cage shows major paint peeling with rust underneath this can be very dangerous to your birds health. If cost is an issue at the moment sometimes you can find great deals on your local craigslist just really be picky there are lots of cages people try to sell for tons of cash that are in the same or worse shape than the one you have.
It sounds like you are making some great progress so far!

Yeah a new cage is on the to do list, this is the one he came with. Or I was looking into the options on redoing this one.

 

[Birdman666]

Or I was looking into the options on redoing this one.

Trust me, NOT WORTH IT!!!

If he gets heavy metal poisoning from the rust, one vet bill will be three times what you spend on a nice new cage!!! (Plus your bird could die... )

 

[labell]

Re-doing the powder coating on a cage is difficult, you basically have to find a company or someone who can first sand-blast all remaining paint and rust completely off then powder coat the new non-toxic paint on. When I was in my 20's I worked in a factory that powder coated car parts it was a huge process.

 

[henpecked]

After seeing the pics of him on the cage top,,, i think sammy is a girl, LOL. That's usually more of a hen type behavior. Oh, and i agree on the new cage. That rust is a killer.

 

[Kiwibird]

After seeing the pics of him on the cage top,,, i think sammy is a girl, LOL. That's usually more of a hen type behavior.

I agree! The boys 'express themselves' in a different manner:54:

 

[CFellows]

After seeing the pics of him on the cage top,,, i think sammy is a girl, LOL. That's usually more of a hen type behavior. Oh, and i agree on the new cage. That rust is a killer.

That thought crossed my mind, but he was supposed to be an exbreeder bird. If he is a she that completely discredits his whole backstory...

 

[Amanda_Bennett]

It's sad that people will lie about a birds past life, but it doesn't surprise me after finding out Zilla isn't a male, and has had severe health problems for several years. I was told she was a he (they still insist she is a he) And they insist her health problems have nothing to do with the diet they were feeding her for years (parakeet seed, coffee, diet soda, whatever was on his plate for dinner, fast food) you get the picture.

My advise would be to get him/her to a good A-vet as soon as you can and get a well bird check, at least you will know if he/she is healthy or not.

If it matters to you get a DNA test done, if Sammy's sex doesn't matter then I see no reason to pluck perfectly good feathers out of a bird!

 

[CFellows]

So nearest A-Vet would be about a 6 hour drive, one way. I would love to take both the birds in for a check up, but the 12 plus hours of travel would stress them more then what they would benifit from it. Does anyone know if you could send a feather somewhere to have it tested?

 

[Birdman666]

Yeah, people lie more often than not I think. It seems to be a trend.

I don't know why they have to lie...

The good news is that if the bird WASN'T a breeder, then it's probably going to turn out to be easier to work with, and will probably be a pet quality amazon in no time.

Someone just did mail order DNA testing on this board:

http://www.parrotforums.com/cockatoos/49569-still-popeye-only-test.html

 

[Bartleby]

So nearest A-Vet would be about a 6 hour drive, one way. I would love to take both the birds in for a check up, but the 12 plus hours of travel would stress them more then what they would benifit from it. Does anyone know if you could send a feather somewhere to have it tested?

There are multiple A-vets in Bend.

 

[henpecked]

I don't know anything about your bird or you. I don't recall much of your other threads about your bird. But i know this "story line" about many rehomed "Xbreeders". Most of the "breeder" amazons i see for sale are xpets put together in hopes they'll breed. They start out in someones home and then they mature and issues arise. There's a ton of similar stories but they end up as an attempt at breeding. These birds make very poor breeder birds and most are split up and again sold/traded back into the pet trade. Of course they put up a tough wall around themselves, ultimately they trust no one but themselves. It's good she's begging like that to you. She wants your attention. regardless of her past i think she'll make a good pet.

 

[CFellows]

So nearest A-Vet would be about a 6 hour drive, one way. I would love to take both the birds in for a check up, but the 12 plus hours of travel would stress them more then what they would benifit from it. Does anyone know if you could send a feather somewhere to have it tested?

There are multiple A-vets in Bend.

Thanks! I looked online but only found avets in the portland area. I will look again, or if yiu would like to recomend one, you could pm me

 

[Bartleby]

So nearest A-Vet would be about a 6 hour drive, one way. I would love to take both the birds in for a check up, but the 12 plus hours of travel would stress them more then what they would benifit from it. Does anyone know if you could send a feather somewhere to have it tested?

There are multiple A-vets in Bend.

Thanks! I looked online but only found avets in the portland area. I will look again, or if yiu would like to recomend one, you could pm me

I don't really have recommendations either way, but the two I knew off the top of my head are Dr. Mass of Bend Vet Clinic and Dr. Vandeveer (sp?) of Bush Animal Clinic. I cnn't be certain that they are both still in the area, it's been a few years, so you'll have to call the clinics. I know they both have extensive avian knowledge and one of them (not sure which one) consults with one of the Oregon avian rescues.

Since this bird is older and comes from a dubious background I really urge you to get disease testing done and a full blood panel will be invaluable as well. You just don't know what kind of issues 20+ years of unknown diet and conditions could have caused. Many older Zons have liver issues that aren't readily apparent in their physical condition until things are very far gone, it's good to know what you're dealing with. It's also good to have a baseline (even if everything comes back okay) in case of illness down the road so the vets can know what's "normal" for your guy/gal.

 

[Amanda_Bennett]

Didn't know you were in Oregon! I'm in Gresham and I take Zilla to Dr. Lintner in Lake Oswego.

She would only be about 2 1/2 to 3 hours from Bend. She is the only Board Certified Avian Vet in Oregon and she is AWESOME!

If you want her information I can get it to you.

 

[getwozzy]

I second Dr Lintner- she's our A-Vet and she's awesome.