Hi,
Iām cross-posting this across different forums as I need advice from as many experienced bird keepers as poss.
We adopted an eastern rosella yesterday from a āfriend of a friendā. The friend said he was a parrot then showed me photos of him. Frantic googling revealed him to be an Eastern Rosella parakeet. I read everything I could find whilst still deciding whether to take him & discovered many consider them aviary birds, not pet cage birds and certainly not beginner ones (and yes I am a beginner)ā¦but despite this I still decided to take him. Please bear with me and donāt all shout at me at once!! Now that heās here I really want to do all I can to make him happy & healthy. Iām inexperienced with birds (had a canary when I was a kid and thatās it!) but am prepared to learn everything I need to & wonāt give up on him if he turns out to be as difficult as Iāve read rosellas can be. So thatās why Iām here asking for help.
I have loads of questions to ask but for now thought Iād start by giving a run-down on what the last 24 hours have been like with him & just post my most pressing questions. Here are some pictures of him first:
His cage was filthy when he arrived here & still is pretty manky. I left it completely alone last night as I didnāt want to stress him but this morning I just cleaned out the bottom tray & re-lined it with newspaper (it was lined with sheets of soaking wet newspaper with urine/faeces caked sandpaper on top!) and just brushed out what old food / feathers I could. The whole cage needs a good scrub down though (& probably treating with a bird disinfectant too) but I canāt do this yet as I feel itās way too soon to try to handle him & move him out whilst I do this properly. Besides I donāt even have a spare cage to put him in yet or spare perches or anythingā¦ L - any advice on this? I know I need to use safe cleaning products & disinfectant etc when I do this. I thought maybe taking the whole thing up to the bathroom & doing it properly in the shower so I can use really hot water & rinse it thoroughly, is that how you would normally do it? His perches have a bit of food/poo on them - is it safe to sand them a little to get them cleaner with him still in the cage or will the dust affect him? What they need is a thorough wash but I donāt have clean dry ones to replace them with yet.
The food that came with him is a proprietary parrot mix (no brand name as itās just in a plastic bag). Any thoughts on the suitability of this? Iāve read some feed canary food? I know Rosellas also need fruit & veg & am currently researching the diet side of things along with everything else. He ate a little bit of pear today along with his seed & some cashew nuts.
When we got him home yesterday we expected to see a frightened little soul quivering in the corner of his cage but within half an hour he was chirruping & whistling at us. I sat in a chair by his cage talking to him & whistling/singing. He stood on his perch with his head cocked to the side, intently listening and whistling back at me. If you make a move for his cage heāll usually (though not as much today) fly to the back of his cage and cling on until he feels safe to come back down on his perch. Tonight heās been that bit more interactive, hanging upside down from the roof of his cage, chirping and looking at me cheekily and REALLY responding to my singing lol!
Heās accidentally been outside his cage today too! I was nowhere near even trying to handle him yet so hadnāt intended letting him out yet ā but he escaped whilst I was installing a new rope ladder Iād bought him! I just didnāt expect him to want to come out so was totally unprepared. He flew around panicking a little for a few seconds but then perched on top of a tall cabinet we have. I was thinking āS*** what do I do now?ā then made a move towards the cabinet & he flew back into his cage, phew! In time I want to let him have his flying time each day out of his cage but I was nowhere near prepared yet & must admit I did get a bit of a scare! I have never handled a bird in my life (my childhood canary was always handled only by my dad) so know Iāve got an awful lot to learn here. I know I need to take it slow but donāt have a strategy as of yet & am reading, watching videos about hand taming etc. . I know some rosellas never accept handling. Iām just hoping Iāll gain his trust in time and heāll show me if & when heās ready. Does anyone have any advice on this? What if he never becomes tame in this way ā how do you move untamed birds from cage to cage for vet visits, cleaning etc?
I think his claws look pretty long ā you canāt see from the pictures (Iāll try to take some better ones tomorrow & see if I can get a clearer picture of them) and also maybe his beak too? The top part of his beak just looks longer somehow than Rosellas in photos Iāve looked at but maybe Iām wrong. Iāve been searching online for an avian vet in my area & am going to ring one tomorrow quite locally to me that has come up in a search.
Tonight when we covered his cage for bed he started flapping like mad around his cage and let out a terrible squawking noise. He didnāt do this last night at all. 5 minutes before though he had been very active, chirping, hanging upside down and playing so was he just telling us he was peed off about having to go to bed!? He settled down within seconds but it was quite worrying until he did.
Iāll leave my post there for now, sorry itās so long. If anyone has any advice to give on the issues Iāve mentioned up to now Iād really appreciate it.
Iām cross-posting this across different forums as I need advice from as many experienced bird keepers as poss.
We adopted an eastern rosella yesterday from a āfriend of a friendā. The friend said he was a parrot then showed me photos of him. Frantic googling revealed him to be an Eastern Rosella parakeet. I read everything I could find whilst still deciding whether to take him & discovered many consider them aviary birds, not pet cage birds and certainly not beginner ones (and yes I am a beginner)ā¦but despite this I still decided to take him. Please bear with me and donāt all shout at me at once!! Now that heās here I really want to do all I can to make him happy & healthy. Iām inexperienced with birds (had a canary when I was a kid and thatās it!) but am prepared to learn everything I need to & wonāt give up on him if he turns out to be as difficult as Iāve read rosellas can be. So thatās why Iām here asking for help.
I have loads of questions to ask but for now thought Iād start by giving a run-down on what the last 24 hours have been like with him & just post my most pressing questions. Here are some pictures of him first:
His cage was filthy when he arrived here & still is pretty manky. I left it completely alone last night as I didnāt want to stress him but this morning I just cleaned out the bottom tray & re-lined it with newspaper (it was lined with sheets of soaking wet newspaper with urine/faeces caked sandpaper on top!) and just brushed out what old food / feathers I could. The whole cage needs a good scrub down though (& probably treating with a bird disinfectant too) but I canāt do this yet as I feel itās way too soon to try to handle him & move him out whilst I do this properly. Besides I donāt even have a spare cage to put him in yet or spare perches or anythingā¦ L - any advice on this? I know I need to use safe cleaning products & disinfectant etc when I do this. I thought maybe taking the whole thing up to the bathroom & doing it properly in the shower so I can use really hot water & rinse it thoroughly, is that how you would normally do it? His perches have a bit of food/poo on them - is it safe to sand them a little to get them cleaner with him still in the cage or will the dust affect him? What they need is a thorough wash but I donāt have clean dry ones to replace them with yet.
The food that came with him is a proprietary parrot mix (no brand name as itās just in a plastic bag). Any thoughts on the suitability of this? Iāve read some feed canary food? I know Rosellas also need fruit & veg & am currently researching the diet side of things along with everything else. He ate a little bit of pear today along with his seed & some cashew nuts.
When we got him home yesterday we expected to see a frightened little soul quivering in the corner of his cage but within half an hour he was chirruping & whistling at us. I sat in a chair by his cage talking to him & whistling/singing. He stood on his perch with his head cocked to the side, intently listening and whistling back at me. If you make a move for his cage heāll usually (though not as much today) fly to the back of his cage and cling on until he feels safe to come back down on his perch. Tonight heās been that bit more interactive, hanging upside down from the roof of his cage, chirping and looking at me cheekily and REALLY responding to my singing lol!
Heās accidentally been outside his cage today too! I was nowhere near even trying to handle him yet so hadnāt intended letting him out yet ā but he escaped whilst I was installing a new rope ladder Iād bought him! I just didnāt expect him to want to come out so was totally unprepared. He flew around panicking a little for a few seconds but then perched on top of a tall cabinet we have. I was thinking āS*** what do I do now?ā then made a move towards the cabinet & he flew back into his cage, phew! In time I want to let him have his flying time each day out of his cage but I was nowhere near prepared yet & must admit I did get a bit of a scare! I have never handled a bird in my life (my childhood canary was always handled only by my dad) so know Iāve got an awful lot to learn here. I know I need to take it slow but donāt have a strategy as of yet & am reading, watching videos about hand taming etc. . I know some rosellas never accept handling. Iām just hoping Iāll gain his trust in time and heāll show me if & when heās ready. Does anyone have any advice on this? What if he never becomes tame in this way ā how do you move untamed birds from cage to cage for vet visits, cleaning etc?
I think his claws look pretty long ā you canāt see from the pictures (Iāll try to take some better ones tomorrow & see if I can get a clearer picture of them) and also maybe his beak too? The top part of his beak just looks longer somehow than Rosellas in photos Iāve looked at but maybe Iām wrong. Iāve been searching online for an avian vet in my area & am going to ring one tomorrow quite locally to me that has come up in a search.
Tonight when we covered his cage for bed he started flapping like mad around his cage and let out a terrible squawking noise. He didnāt do this last night at all. 5 minutes before though he had been very active, chirping, hanging upside down and playing so was he just telling us he was peed off about having to go to bed!? He settled down within seconds but it was quite worrying until he did.
Iāll leave my post there for now, sorry itās so long. If anyone has any advice to give on the issues Iāve mentioned up to now Iād really appreciate it.
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