We have a Rose Breasted Cockatoo, which we have owned for only a few months. He's pretty young, less than a year old.
Things were going pretty well, he would step up, hang out with us, and accept slivered almonds as treats.
Now, starting recently, he acts like he's terrified of us. He huddles in the far side or corner of the cage, and runs away from our hand. He will jump down and land on the bottom of the cage to avoid us, and we're afraid he's hurting himself. This has been going on now for a couple of weeks.
From repeated falls, I believe he has broken new growing feathers, we found flecks of blood on the wall behind his cage. I think what's happening is that the fall causes the broken feather, which causes a drop of blood, and then flapping sprays it into tiny droplets of which some get on the wall.
We're not sure what to do, our previous parrot never had any issue like this. We'd like to try to rebuild trust with him but we have no idea what's freaking him out. We're not aware of having done anything to him, and we can't rebuilt trust if he won't let us get near him or give him treats. When we try it feels like we're just antagonizing him further but if we don't then how can we repair the situation?
There are no signs of plucking feathers or self-mutilation other than jumping/falling to the bottom of his cage.
Any ideas?
Things were going pretty well, he would step up, hang out with us, and accept slivered almonds as treats.
Now, starting recently, he acts like he's terrified of us. He huddles in the far side or corner of the cage, and runs away from our hand. He will jump down and land on the bottom of the cage to avoid us, and we're afraid he's hurting himself. This has been going on now for a couple of weeks.
From repeated falls, I believe he has broken new growing feathers, we found flecks of blood on the wall behind his cage. I think what's happening is that the fall causes the broken feather, which causes a drop of blood, and then flapping sprays it into tiny droplets of which some get on the wall.
We're not sure what to do, our previous parrot never had any issue like this. We'd like to try to rebuild trust with him but we have no idea what's freaking him out. We're not aware of having done anything to him, and we can't rebuilt trust if he won't let us get near him or give him treats. When we try it feels like we're just antagonizing him further but if we don't then how can we repair the situation?
There are no signs of plucking feathers or self-mutilation other than jumping/falling to the bottom of his cage.
Any ideas?