We had the wonderful gift of being able to see a baby Eclectus born and nurtured by its parents. To see it growing up from a hatchling has been quite amazing.
The male Eclectus does really well with his preening. He takes great care of his feathers. Aside from periods when he's molting, his featherage is dense and clean.
The baby male Eclectus is a different story. He's very rough on his feathers. He has a habit of picking out fresh buds. Sometimes you'll see what looks almost like fine pine needles in the cage catch tray. He's on medication now, that's supposed to help reduce his anxiety. But overall, he still looks like a carpet pile mess.
Does anyone here know how long it takes for a young Eclectus to develop good preening skills? Is this something that should be instinctive at the start, or does it normally require some sort of tutelage from the parents? Or... are there habitation dynamics that can interfere with this?
Here's how he looks today at 2 years old:
The male Eclectus does really well with his preening. He takes great care of his feathers. Aside from periods when he's molting, his featherage is dense and clean.
The baby male Eclectus is a different story. He's very rough on his feathers. He has a habit of picking out fresh buds. Sometimes you'll see what looks almost like fine pine needles in the cage catch tray. He's on medication now, that's supposed to help reduce his anxiety. But overall, he still looks like a carpet pile mess.
Does anyone here know how long it takes for a young Eclectus to develop good preening skills? Is this something that should be instinctive at the start, or does it normally require some sort of tutelage from the parents? Or... are there habitation dynamics that can interfere with this?
Here's how he looks today at 2 years old: