- Sep 15, 2019
- 18
- 0
So, I got a parrotlet that was about 6 months old at the time of purchase. He is now 1.5 years old, and his name is Pascal.
This was the first parrot I had purchsed myself. The breeder (a woman at a bird fair) told me that she'd hand raised him but stopped handling him when she decided he would be a breeder due to his turquoise coloring. However, she changed her mind and brought him to the bird fair to see if anyone wanted him.
It was (foolishly) love at first sight. Even my husband adored him. So, she clipped his wings, told us to forcibly handle him to get him used to human interaction, and we took him home.
He has never gotten used to people. He is terrified of hands and flees if people get too close. After a few weeks, I researched and found claims that forcing your bird to be handled is very bad, so I stopped. I also researched specialty training for very skittish birds (which he is). It suggested not clipping his wings to give him a sense of safety, so he's had full flight for almost a year now. Because he has full flight, he won't step up onto his training stick.
Basically, his days consist of eating fruits and veggies and then having free flight of the whole floor. He tends to fly to the indoor aviary to watch the finches all day, but he almost never visits me or my husband (in the next room over).
If you've read this much so far, thank you! My questions are:
1. Even though I'm sad I don't have the relationship I crave with my parrot, I'm really more worried that he isn't happy. Can a parrotlet be happy living this way?
2. Any tips of how I can train him if he won't stop flying away...?
Note: Pascal has a complete playpen set up by my desk that he can and does ocassionally visit.
This was the first parrot I had purchsed myself. The breeder (a woman at a bird fair) told me that she'd hand raised him but stopped handling him when she decided he would be a breeder due to his turquoise coloring. However, she changed her mind and brought him to the bird fair to see if anyone wanted him.
It was (foolishly) love at first sight. Even my husband adored him. So, she clipped his wings, told us to forcibly handle him to get him used to human interaction, and we took him home.
He has never gotten used to people. He is terrified of hands and flees if people get too close. After a few weeks, I researched and found claims that forcing your bird to be handled is very bad, so I stopped. I also researched specialty training for very skittish birds (which he is). It suggested not clipping his wings to give him a sense of safety, so he's had full flight for almost a year now. Because he has full flight, he won't step up onto his training stick.
Basically, his days consist of eating fruits and veggies and then having free flight of the whole floor. He tends to fly to the indoor aviary to watch the finches all day, but he almost never visits me or my husband (in the next room over).
If you've read this much so far, thank you! My questions are:
1. Even though I'm sad I don't have the relationship I crave with my parrot, I'm really more worried that he isn't happy. Can a parrotlet be happy living this way?
2. Any tips of how I can train him if he won't stop flying away...?
Note: Pascal has a complete playpen set up by my desk that he can and does ocassionally visit.