"Echo" - IRN in need of safe, loving home. Minnesota, Stacy

[Squeeing_Onion]

"Echo" - Indian RIngneck, Female​

Born on May 07, 2021​

(4 years, 8 months)​

Adoption fee is entirely negotiable. I don't care about the money. I just need her in a safe home asap, because I am about to lose mine. I have set it mostly to scare off unscrupulous flippers browsing craigslist for cheap birds to re-sell.

Comes with ALL supplies - enclosure, floor protector, stainless steel dishes, SO many cage perches (both in the cage and ones clean and ready to be used / swapped out as desired), two standing perches, pretty wall protectors (fabric shower curtains to protect the wall from food being tossed), bed raisers to raise the cage up, sunlight lamp, in-cage heater, and some food.
(TOPS pellets / seed mix if i have enough to spare, and a bag or partial bag of frozen veggie chopt)
She needs new toys; the only ones i really have left are only safe for use under supervision, and can't be left in her cage (rope fibers, wicker; if she can tangle herself up in it she WILL, wicker balls are not safe unless supervised. She unravels them.)

The long story short:

- I can no longer keep up with my birds. It is hurting my health to do so, and I am only just barely managing to keep them content and not dissolving into insanity from too much confinement. (I can't let them out as often as they need anymore ) I have chronic health issues and that is outside my power to change, despite all efforts made to accomodate my body's needs.

- I am moving in March or April, possibly as late as May. That is somewhat outside my control and depends on other factors. I am moving because my family is losing our house. Gotta love family drama on top of the mortgage being raised exponentially higher and higher and higher.

- Echo would not be safe in my new home. She needs lots of space to fly, which I will be unable to safely provide there.

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Some Details About Echo:

- With people she trusts, she is playful, inquisitive, and sometimes needy for attention. With me, she is demanding of head scritchies and being talked to. She likes to sing and be silly.

- She loves beak boops and will sing for them / when she gets them. It's cute as heck and melts my heart. She'll accept them from me almost any time; she accepts them from my parents only some of the time (they do not spend enough time with her to fully cultivate her trust)

- With strangers she is silent, shy, and fearful. Typical Indian Ringneck, from what I understand and have heard from other caretakers. She calms down fairly quickly if her space is respected. I tell people to take a step backwards if they see Echo retreating from them; this seems to work to communicate to her that you are actively paying attention to her body language and needs. If you are truly listening to her, she will start to warm up to you.

- Towards other birds, she can be aggressive. I'm aware she's made friends with a bird before, but she was originally rehomed to me because her prior caretaker could not address both Echo's confinement fear + her aggression with an Amazon parrot at the same time, her house did not allow for separation of them. In my home, Echo tried to befriend my GGC. Unfortunately, Bongo decided it was more fun to bully Echo and chase her off perches, and Echo got fed up with that after two weeks and now they try to kill each other every chance they get, and I am unable to separate them into different rooms. It's driving me insane with stress. (mostly because of Bongo. If she's covered Echo leaves her alone. But Bongo will fly to Echo's cage and stand there like an idiot to be attacked. Usually she ends up fine because I cover Echo's cage when she's out, but sometimes mistakes happen.)

- Echo is not currently trained to Step Up. I have only just begun being able to touch and handle her; I can now, sometimes, pick her up like my hands are a little nest. (we're working on step-up but she hasn't figured out letting go of what she's currently gripping).

- Echo will fly to anyone she knows, for treats. She will usually then retreat to a perch to eat it.

- Echo has only recently begun being willing to fly to a perfect stranger for a treat, and it may take a while for her to work up the bravery to do it. She is very shy, please expect this of her.

- Echo would be an excellent candidate for target training and I think it'd genuinely help teach her things like Step Up. I have tried to start it with her several times; it goes well, except I fail to be consistent with it and run out of energy way too fast, and then we have to start all over again.

- She is I think at the mid to later stage of birdie puberty. Most her hormonal behaviors have settled; right now she is testing boundaries occasionally with dive-bombing to 'protect her territory.' Her mating displays have finally begun to be way less common. (we had about a solid six months of that when she first hit puberty, hah)

I have not had any incidents of bites with the dive bombs, just her flapping and cawing and sometimes she bounces into me, but it is possible she could attempt it. If I keep her engaged and active with other distractions, this behavior evaporates. (It seems to mostly come up when she's bored / hasn't had enough productive social interaction. In short, if she's cranky and frustrated, she might dive bomb and be territorial. When she's happy, it doesn't even cross her mind and she's too busy playing with toys and singing)

- She is not a picky eater! She eats TOPs pellets, free fed, with some TOPS seeds. She gets veggie/grain chopt every morning for breakfast. She gets veggie treats often, and fruit treats occasionally. If she sees you eating it, she's probably willing to try it. There are very few foods she's turned her beak up at. Veggies are loved just as enthusiastically as fruits. Peppers are beloved. Banana is oddly, meh. She loves berries of any kind, dragonfruit (when it's good, if it's bland she looks at me and pouts and tbh i don't like them either when they taste like that), very very rare treats of partial orange slices, wild grapes every summer/fall when they're in season, etc.

- her favorite treat of all time are these birdie-safe tortilla chips i have, which she gets as rare treats due to the salt content. (some salt is good on occasion, imo, so it's a rare treat)

- She's very capable of entertaining herself for hours at a time in her cage, and/or she takes naps. She only gets demanding about needing attention when I have fallen behind on minimum care (minimum being out for 15-30 minutes in the morning and again in the evening. There are days I can only let her out to fly once in the evening ;_; she needs more than 30 minutes of out time!)

Quality over Quantity is important to her. She wants to hang out with people she likes, not be ignored.

- She LOVES to fly and NEEDS to fly. I will not adopt her to anyone who would clip her wings. You will literally kill her through mental anguish if you did, so Don't. She gets the Zoomies and loves to whip the fastest circles she can and really pushes herself. SHe'd be an excellent candidate for indoor flight games and training.

 

[Squeeing_Onion]

(part two because it was too long, woops)


- She does not have any behavioral problems aside from birdie puberty making her test boundaries more seriously at times. She can and will get loud at least once or twice per day, but does not have a habitual screaming habit. She's honestly quiet for most the day, but will alarm call for weird things or necessities like her water or food dishes needing service, or if she's spooked by someone she saw outside a window.

- She is very expressive, and gives clear body language and verbal warning before a bite might be provoked. She does not have a biting problem; in four years, i have only been bitten by her twice, and neither resulted in serious injury. One broke skin slightly. I have been gently nipped several times, without marks left.

- With me, she lets me cuddle her, pet her head (I make sure to only encourage platonic contact), boop her beak, give her beak or cheek kisses, and rub her cheeks. She is beginning to let me pick her up sometimes, and lets me touch her toes now without reacting (or she'll bow her head to gently mouth my fingers)

I can't promise Echo will be a physically affectionate bird for a new caretaker; it would not surprise me however, as she really does earnestly crave affection and attention. She is just so very shy, nervous, timid-- i think some of that is her nature as an Indian RIngneck, and some of it is because she was badly handled by humans as a bird who was raised by her birdie parents and taken from them, then stuffed in a box and shipped to a ditribution center (who kindly provided her hatch date for me, which is why i have it!), and then again to a pet store. Her experience with people before coming to my house, was to be toweled every single time she was put away or transfered.

I have had to towel her twice for emergencies (one for a birdie injury in Bongo, and once for a severe storm that took a turn and i wanted the birds in their carriers ready to go Just In Case), and though i was so terrified of it, neither event hurt her trust with me. I fed her warm mushy food (oatmeal) to reassure her and provide comfort; this works like a charm for Echo.

Any time something scary happens, warm mushy food is a great way to help calm her anxiety.

Echo came to me with -severe- confinement issues, which I'm very proud of her for learning to adapt and overcome. However, in the beginning, it was To the point she had a wound on her face between her nares from chewing bars in futile escape attempts. THis was mostly healed with her first caretaker who purchased her from the pet store she came from.

In the years since, Echo now not only accepts going into her cage but is comfy in it and will often go inside of her own violition. On rare occassion, she goes in and yells at me until i get a clue and put her to bed xD

That said, however, while Echo is well beyond the state she was in when initially adopted, this is crucial information of her history, because without proper attention Echo can easly relapse to destructive behaviors. She NEEDS time out of her cage, and consistently. She can handle the time she's let out changing, so long as she is out of her cage at least once every single day.

She has tollerated the rare period of boarding for trips, and when my health was better, both my birds came with me to camp and stayed in their cages during it. (The environment was so novel, Echo didn't mind being in her cage for 3 days. 4 was pushing it and she began to get antsy)

Speaking of boarding-- Echo was once boarded at PAEP about three or so years ago. This was before I learned how awful the so called rescue is. (we're talking dead mice and months old food and bird waste everywhere, a floor-to-ceiling pile of unwashed toys and filthy cages, and when I tried to help by cleaning stuff, no one put aything i washed and set out to dry away. They instead piled more dirty toys and perches on the clean ones and thus, ruined everything all over again).

Their birds do not recieve proper medical care or attention. Echo and Bongo were both boarded at PAEP for about a week while i went on a trip. Echo was delivered in a temporary cage, and because they were busy when I arrived despite it being a scheduled drop-off, they asked me to just leave the cage there and they'd transfer her themselves later that evening and just tuck my cage aside.


When we returned, Echo and Bongo had not been moved at all. Echo's water dish was full of 6+ poops (she only poops about once every half hour or more) and a room full of volunteers were too busy with other birds to do actual jobs of taking -care- of the birds they so loved. For the next two weeks, Echo would purposefully drop something in her water to see if I would change it out. I had to chang ehe rwater sometimes 6 or more times per day. After a few weeks she finally chilled out and stopped worrying about it, but it was so awful.


I mention this, because I cannot adopt Echo to anyone who would ever bring her to PAEP, and because she should get bloodwork done to monitor her health, and definitely if you intend to house her in a building with other birds. I cannot afford to have this done and haven't been able to since that boarding experience, and that is one of many reasons I have accepted that the best thing for Echo is to find her a safer home than I can provide. Echo has shown no signs of illness, however I am aware birds can be carriers and never present symptoms themselves.

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[Squeeing_Onion]

(Part three because still too long, ope )

This breaks my heart to do, but it's the right choice for Echo's sake and my own. I wanted to be her forever home. She was just a baby when I adopted her and she's my feathered daughter; however, my family is losing our house soon (hence why I have to move), and I just can't meet her needs anymore. Facing both problems at once, I have no choice but to accept the reality of our situation.

Echo is at the stage in training now where she's ready to begin something like target training, and learn Step Up and other basic commands. I've taught her all the survival skills-- how to adapt to living in a human household, how to be comfortable in a cage, how to play with toys and entertain herself for hours at a time without outside influence, that some people are worth trusting and can provide tasty treats and toys, that she will get time out of her cage to fly and doesn't have to be afraid of confinement.

If you read all that and are still interested, then here is the adoption process:​

​

-you message me you're interested in adoption, ideally with info about yourself (age, living environment, why you want to adopt a bird, what your experience with birds is, if you have others living with you / other animals / etc)

-I respond with questions if needed; if I like you as a potential adopter, I then give you my phone number so we can chat and ask questions and talk in depth​

​

-We chit chat on the phone. If both of us are still open for this, then we schedule a meet and greet.​

​

- You come and visit Echo in her home. I introduce you and observe how you interact with each other. If this goes well, we discuss adoption. If you need time to make a decision, I can hold her for 24 hours; longer than that and i will entertain other adoption inquiries.​

​

- If you reached this stage and decide to adopt, then we schedule a time for me to deliver Echo to your home. I will bring her in and help transistion her into her new cage, say my goodbyes, make sure you've got all her toys and supplies, and then your life with Echo begins.​

I cannot adopt Echo to someone who:

-Would not take pains to avoid breeding her. If you're adopting to pair her with another bird, please keep looking. There are way too many birds in need of homes, and you have no idea what her genetic history is.​

-Smokes in the house / uses any kind of fragrances that are harmful to birds, etc. THe usual bird safety. No teflon pans.​

-would choose PAEP to board her / buy supplies from (they are all contaminated. All of them. It all shares the same air space.)​

-would not contact me as the first call, if you ever end up in a situation where you cannot keep Echo and must rehome her for any reason. Echo comes with a list of family contacts for her human family. There are two people you will be able to contact for help with Echo should crisis ever occur.​

-would house her with cats or dogs freely roaming in the same room as her. I'm aware some households have performed this without issue. I am unwilling to take that gamble. She must be kept separate from predators.​

You must be either out of college / or entirely certain you will not be attending and dorming. You will not have time for a bird while in college. I do not know of any colleges that would let you dorm with a parrot. THis is why I insist on this.

If you plan to have children or are unsure if you will have children, you must be prepared to accomodate for Echo if Echo does not like the baby or tiny child. I can't in good conscious rehome her to say a young couple who would just rehome her if she flew at a child. Be prepared to give her her own separate room to interact with her with and keep her separated.


Bonus points if:

- You are willing to send occasional life updates. I will never ask for Echo to be returned; I would love, however, to continue being part of her life and know she is well cared for.​

- You work from home, or are home often / all the time and would thus have lots of time to spend with Echo​

- You do not currently have other birds. Echo is likely to be aggressive towards other birds; you cannot count on her getting along with anyone, albeit it is possible she might. She has injured by Green Cheek Conure three times. (And every one of them was my fault, and also Bongo's. Seriously child. You can fly anywhere. Why must you fly to the ONE UNCOVERED SPOT on the bottom of Echo's cage my child pleeeeaaaassseeee--)​

Here's to prayers being answered. I just need her safe, and loved. That's a lot to ask for in today's world, I know. Is anyone able to help?

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Echo sounds like an amazing bird. I truly hope you find a great forever home for her.

 

[Squeeing_Onion]

She really is. I'm going to miss her she usually sings every day. She only sings when she's happy.

Lately she's only been singing occasionally, and it's breaking my heart.

 

[SailBoat]

Very sorry to hear that you need to find a new loving home for you dear parrot. In addition, I am sorry that we cannot take your dear Echo as we have a rescue DYH Amazon that is the current owner of our home.

With great luck, you will find a new home for Echo.
Rehoming a Parrot in the Depth of winter is no easy tack.