New Electus Owner.

[davefv92c]

do a vet visit sounds like you need to, get the nails done then.
do a ton of reading in here about what you should do to keep things like nail trims and beak trims to a min. Max is 2 yrs old and i took him into get his nails done a few months back and they almost laughed and only trimmed 2 nails. same on his beak he keeps it wore down and all pretty on his own. different perch's and and different woods on the toys some soft some hard.

 

[chris-md]

Good morning and thank you for giving this sweet girl a home!

You’ve got it right, your birds need a slow introduction. Be very wary of the size difference.

Regarding the aggression I’m betting it’ll ease up once she settles in; it’s her way of expressing her discontent. Be very careful not to inadvertently teach her that biting is an acceptable form of communication and will get her what she wants.

She may also be a bit cage aggressive. But a newly weaned bird being cage aggressive downer quite compute. There is a way to test however. if you can get her to an area out of sight of the cage, and see if the touch of aggression continues. If it completely disappears while away from the cage you know she’s cage aggressive. Otherwise she’s just still unsettled.

 

[Jferrand526]

do a vet visit sounds like you need to, get the nails done then.
do a ton of reading in here about what you should do to keep things like nail trims and beak trims to a min. Max is 2 yrs old and i took him into get his nails done a few months back and they almost laughed and only trimmed 2 nails. same on his beak he keeps it wore down and all pretty on his own. different perch's and and different woods on the toys some soft some hard.

I’m planning on getting her nails trimmed today because its just horrendous. I might as well get it out of the way now before she harms herself or someone else with those nails. I do have quite a few perches and different types of wood in her cage. Although I am kinda worried about putting her in the carrier. She hates it. I’m afraid if I do it today she will dislike me even more because I am forcing her.

 

[Jferrand526]

Good morning and thank you for giving this sweet girl a home!

You’ve got it right, your birds need a slow introduction. Be very wary of the size difference.

Regarding the aggression I’m betting it’ll ease up once she settles in; it’s her way of expressing her discontent. Be very careful not to inadvertently teach her that biting is an acceptable form of communication and will get her what she wants.

She may also be a bit cage aggressive. But a newly weaned bird being cage aggressive downer quite compute. There is a way to test however. if you can get her to an area out of sight of the cage, and see if the touch of aggression continues. If it completely disappears while away from the cage you know she’s cage aggressive. Otherwise she’s just still unsettled.

I think she’s still unsettled. Her whole background is, she was shipped from Florida to California and then taken home and had to be hand fed but she was forced a bit. I don’t blame her previous owner for forcing her because she wasn’t eating at all and the “breeder” did not inform her that this Eclectus wasn’t weaned yet. 2 months later when she just started settling in, she is being given to a new home, she is forced into a carrier at night by her previous owner and then had to endure a car ride and entered a weird home. I would be pretty unsettled for maybe a week or two.

She does step up onto a stick. Although she will bite it a few times.

 

[Jferrand526]

So here is my situation, I have family members that like to complain and bicker in the living room. There is almost never a peaceful day, especially since my family members like to clean and use the vacuum. Vivian got scared because of the vacuum and flew out of her cage and to the distance that her wings can take her even though they are cut. My mother was yelling at her and banging her fist close to Vivian because there was something my mom did not want her to chew on. So I do believe Vivian just went two steps back.

I did pick Vivian up carefully and led her back to her cage because her cage is her safe haven. So now I’m having a debate about wether I should put her in the bird room now where it is peaceful and I spend most of my time or leave her in the living room where it is noisy and where I think she will remain wild because of my parents. She lunges at my dad and just doesn’t relax around him and she is now lunging at my mom because of the whole vacuum situation and yelling this morning.

I kinda don’t know what to do. I know I can tame her with patience and if she sees me all the time then she will relax a bit. I don’t really spend time in the living room although I have made an effort to do so. I spend most of my time with my flock in the bird room.

 

[davefv92c]

sounds like a busy place , get her off to the other room.
cleaning stuff i dont like to use stuff around the birds at all.
so be careful there. the sweeper should not bother her but should be in cage while that is going on. might make her want a bath does that to mine. comes to bathing i use the spray bottle method cause both my birds run, from running water. and like the mist instead kinda cool they will raise their wings, they both will hang upside down on perches to get their underside sprayed twice a week.

 

[Jferrand526]

sounds like a busy place , get her off to the other room.
cleaning stuff i dont like to use stuff around the birds at all.
so be careful there. the sweeper should not bother her but should be in cage while that is going on. might make her want a bath does that to mine. comes to bathing i use the spray bottle method cause both my birds run, from running water. and like the mist instead kinda cool they will raise their wings, they both will hang upside down on perches to get their underside sprayed twice a week.

Thank you so much. I will move her off to the other room when I get home. Most of my birds don’t mind a vacuum but I had introduced it all to them first. I’m going to move her cage into the other room right away when i get home. Most of my family doesn’t really understand that chemicals such as window cleaner and air fresheners can hurt my birds so that’s why I moved them all into a room where I know they would be safe.

Is asking Vivian to step up onto a stick pushing her or should I be practicing that with her more often? She seems a bit more comfortable now, she wants to roam around the living room. I am kinda intimidated by her but I want to help her and I don’t know if I should go about wearing something to protect my hands. My conures had some biting problems and I can stand their bites but I don’t think I’ll be able to handle Vivian’s bites.

 

[davefv92c]

the whole trick to avoiding a bite is ,learn her body lingo.
when you are handling her always pay attn, it is not like they can bury that upper beak into you without you knowing it is happening. dont be intimadated just a little quicker
that is the trick,and dont put yourself into a position to get bit, like on the shoulder when they are there you dont know what they are going to do to yer ear,lol
i have been bit once by Max he was on my shoulder he got caught up in my hair and i reached up to get him out he bit. but i could not see it coming. no shoulder any longer.
i dont kiss my birds they like to grab lips to close to the face. Max did beak butt me in the eye one day while on my chair back, i did get a slightly black eye.
i would never use a stick,or a gloved hand.

 

[Jferrand526]

Okay so I move her into the bird room with my other birds, let her relax a bit and keep her in the cage or should I let her stand ontop of her cage as she usually does? I let her stand ontop of the cage even when I’m not home because I trust her.

Although I don’t know how to go about trying to gain her trust and getting her to step up. I have been trying to offer her treats and usually I would leave them at the top of the cage when she’s out and today she started taking the treats from my hand.

 

[Jferrand526]

My conures were all handfed and I had gotten them all tame except for two who not know step up and will do it willingly but they never lunged at my hand even when I was training them to step up and down

 

[Jferrand526]

Update: Vivian had her nails cut today and she shrieked louder than a macaw because she was super scared. The groomer said that she had never had her nails cut and this must’ve been the first time. Vivian is now not afraid to eat and use her feet to hold big items.

I moved Vivian into the bird room and a feeling of dread came over me after I moved her. I’m scared she will harm the other birds while I am not home. She is currently locked in her cage for the night but I don’t know if I should leave her out of the cage while I am not home tomorrow. For the last two days I have had her and moved her into her cage she gets to roam free throughout the day because that was what she did at her previous home.

I’m a little fearful that she might try to fly to the other cages while I’m not home and might harm one of my other birds. Although her and I did make progress today, she takes treats from my hand and lets me pet her a little bit but the fear of her harming one of my other birds keeps coming back to my mind.

I’m thinking maybe I can leave her in the living room on a TStand during the day with food, water, and toys. That way she gets free time and I can leave the house without worry. I don’t know, I’m kinda stuck on what to do and not to do.

 

[davefv92c]

i never leave my birds out while im not around.
i guess you have never been around a U2, hell leave one of those out wondering around your house and they will try and eat your house.lol
so many ways for a wondering house bird to get hurt even killed.
common since dictates, and leaving parrots wondering around the house unattended
is just not use of good common since.
think about what you are doing your Eclectus is a different kinda bird then your conures.
do a lot of reading here read how other's care for their birds learn from their posts and retain all the info you can. not trying to insult you but i believe a little self education here would do you good.

and as for the birds biting each other it does happen i have 2 and they are never out together and they are not allowed on each other's cages
like i said read through the forums and you will see people posting with birds with missing toes,even missing feet.
just part of of the bird world

 

[Jferrand526]

I have read a little bit about missing toes and feet. Its just that at her other home all of the birds were out at the same time. I thought keeping her on the same schedule would help her but I guess I need to get her used to a new schedule.

When she was in the living room, she would roam around her cage and on the top but not go anywhere else. She didn’t want to come down or go anywhere. Her other home had another eclectus, blue fronted amazon, sun conure, and cockatiel all out at the same time on different parts of the room and in different cages. The cockatiel and sun conure were together in one cage whereas the blue fronted amazon and the other eclectus stayed together in the other cage. Personally I wouldn’t cage any of those birds together but the main point is even when the previous owner did leave all the birds would be out at the same time, I thought that since this the previous owner had 15+ years of experience with birds I was following the right example. I thought keeping Vivian out in the living room so she could roam on the top of her cage would be a good idea but then something changed my mind and I placed her in the bird room with the others and she does seem a bit relaxed this morning, although now she will need to get to know a new schedule. I’m not home all day so she cannot be out of her cage all day either.

I know common sense is a thing that is needed when dealing with birds and I do have common sense but I was trying to do what the previous owner wanted of me.

 

[Anansi]

Hello Jferrand526, and congratulations and a warm welcome to the newest addition to your flock. I'm late to this thread, but let me address a few things.

It's too late now, but in future you should always institute a quarantine period when introducing a new bird to your flock. We're talking a 30 day minimum, though proper quarantine is closer to 90. The reasoning behind this is quite simple. You don't know if the new member of your household is harboring any contagious illnesses that might infect the rest of your flock. You should never risk the health of the many for the sake of the one.

But as I said, it's obviously too late to discuss quarantine at this point. I just wanted to advise you in case you get any more birds in the future.

As for Vivian mixing with your conures and cockatiels, there are a few things that you should keep in mind. First, I don't think it's ever a good idea to leave birds of such disparate sizes out and about unattended. Even given the obvious familiarity Vivian had with smaller birds in her previous home, I still don't think it was a good practice. In nature, birds of different species rarely flock together... and never in such close and restricted proximity. And territorial proximity takes up a much larger area. This is why so many birds wind up with missing toes or even feet in captivity. They are being forced to share much smaller confines with other birds than nature ever "intended".

So yes, perhaps the owner from the previous home got away with leaving several different species of birds out and unattended for several years. But even Russian Roulette is good for five turns out of six, right? Having something work for 10 years is no consolation if it ends in tragedy in the 11th. Why take the risk? It's just not worth it. Supervised out time is the way to go.

But there is another factor that comes into play, here. Just because Vivian may have developed a bond of sorts with the other birds at the previous owner's residence doesn't mean that she will necessarily get along with the other birds in your home. Each bird has individual personalities. Just as we do. And just as how you or I may get along with this person or that one, while absolutely detesting yet another, the same holds true in the avian world. No cookie-cutter scenarios, here. So you have to treat each new situation with a bird as something separate and distinct from those that preceded it. Even if Vivian got along with cockatiels and conures in her prior home is no guarantee that she will get along with the cockatiels and conures in your home. A gradual, closely monitored introduction is necessary.

And on another point, is the room for your birds bird-proofed? Are you certain there are no live electrical wires anywhere she may end up chewing? Or paint that she might chew off of a surface and ingest? Or fibers that she might ingest that could lead to compaction? Or threaded fibers she could chew into that could wind up wrapped tightly around her throat and strangle her to death? Nothing metallic (aside from stainless steel) that she could chew on that might flake enough for her to ingest and poison her? No medication laying about anywhere? No cleansing agents or other chemicals? No furniture springs and such she might get to with determined enough chewing? No seat cushions with any gels within? The list goes on and on. It is hard to truly bird-proof a room.

I don't mean to be wet blanket here, but you strike me as a person who has their heart in the right place and wants to know the best way to care for a new flock member. So I just wanted to point out all of the things that jumped out at me as red flags.

All that said, here are a few links that I think you might find helpful in working with Lady Vivian and strengthening your bond with her.

Intro to Eclectus Parrots: http://www.parrotforums.com/eclectus/52737-so-you-think-you-want-eclectus.html
Bite Avoidance Via Body Language: http://www.parrotforums.com/training/57935-brainstorming-biting-parrots.html
Bite Pressure Training: http://www.parrotforums.com/training/63988-bite-pressure-training.html
Target Training: [ame="https://youtu.be/HaOicTtwIZo"]Beginners guide to target training parrots - YouTube[/ame]
Step-up Training: http://www.parrotforums.com/training/48810-need-help-step-up-training.html#post435993
Tips for Building Trust: http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/49144-tips-bonding-building-trust.html
Eclectus Diet Bible: fruitandveg

 

[Jferrand526]

I did know about the quarantine and I was in the process of doing so before I moved her into the other room with the others. I had spoken to a vet and took her in to have her nails done and a regular check up. The vet said I could probably move her into the bird room with ease because everything seemed normal and her lungs and everything sounded good.

I decided to move her into the bird room after some thinking about it and I saw that she was only getting worse because of the activities in the living room. I made sure to bird proof the room. There are no wires visible or exposed, all of them are taped down and underneath the carpet out of sight. She is not close to the wall to chew off the paint and there are no fibers within her reach. I do close her cage now when I’m not there to supervise her, her and I have been doing better in our relationship too, I’m glad to see that she will step up onto my hand now. She really likes hearing her name and having her beak and head scratched but every once in a while she will lunge at my hand.

Her owner says that even though she lunges she will not bite but I’m still a bit intimidated by her beak and I know an Eclectus can deliver a damaging bite. We also have an issue with her wanting to fly away from me now, it just started happening today and she only does it when someone else is present or the tv is on. I think she is just going to need a lot of patience, kindness, understanding, and training. I love her so much and she just makes me happy as all my birds do.

I’m thankful to everyone’s comments, advice, corrections, and notice of red flags. I’m learning a lot.