Hello from a very new parrot owner with lots of questions.

katparks

New member
Oct 15, 2011
18
0
Western MA
Parrots
Baby, a Bare-Faced Cockatoo
Hi there! This place was actually recommended to me by someone on LiveJournal, but sadly I do not know their username on this forum.

I care for a Bare-Faced Cockatoo named "Baby". Whether or not he's "mine" is somewhat fuzzy, but he's my responsibility. As far as I know I'm his third living situation, and he's at least 16.

I can already see this is going to get confusing. Let me start from before my beginning, and try to bear with me. Baby belonged to a woman who ended up in a nursing home. She asked a nurse to take him and give him a new home. The nurse and her middle son went and picked him up, and took him home, knowing nothing about parrots, and while the family did take basic care of him (food, water, talking to him), it was certainly not a parrot heaven. 9 years later, I started dating her oldest son. That was 5 years ago. (This is where I get "at least 16"; he was full-grown then, so I figure at least 2 at the time, and 14 years here.) He's always fascinated me, but I knew nothing about birds. ANY kind of birds, let along parrots. Let alone a large parrot who could easily break my fingers. Which is why it took 5 years to sink in that something really should be done to improve his living situation, and how he relates to his household.

Two of the three times he's been out of his cage in the last 14 years are the stuff of urban legends. Once, he attacked the youngest son in the chest (there are still jokes made about Baby trying to take off his nipple for a trophy). Another time he grabbed one of the dogs by the scruff of it's neck and "rode" it around the house laughing while the poor dog frantically tried to get him off. The third time was to cautiously move him into a much larger cage, which my boyfriend bought him on my recommendation; it was the largest we could find without having to make one ourselves.

Along with the new cage, I switched his diet from seeds to Zupreme pellets, which went amazingly smoothly. I gave him a few as "treats" by hand, through the cage, then started putting a small amount in with his food, and when I saw him picking the pellets out before the seeds, I upped the percentage. (He does get fresh fruits and veggies occasionally; his favorite is baby bananas, in the skin, with just a slit down one side so he can "forage" for the sweet part!) I told his previous caretaker that I was going to get him on a healthy diet... and was told in return that since Jason and I were so interested, they'd just let us take care of him entirely. (They're good folks, and good with most animals, but Baby was entirely outside of their experience and by the time I came around, his entire life consisted of biting, screaming, and being fed to "keep him too busy to be noisy." It did not make for a happy parrot family.)

He's gotten progressively quieter, with the larger cage, and then the new diet, and then rotating toys in and out. The more I read the more amazed I am at how much worse he COULD be, and how much potential for sweetness he has. He doesn't pluck his feathers, or mutilate himself, and he only screams excessively now when his water's dirty, or when it's been over a week without new toys to destroy.

We started training this morning; I still don't trust him enough to handle him, but I'm teaching him to go to specific perches when I point to them. I have human-grade peanuts I use as training treats, since they're the only thing he is ABSOLUTELY in love with. My thinking is that this teaches him to go where I want him to, which will make teaching him to step up onto a dowel easier, and let me move him away from the door when I need to reach in for his food bowl or to move toys. Am I on the right track with this? I'm hoping so, because he picked it up so incredibly fast. What else can I do to increase trust and get to a point where I can take him out of his cage? He does let me reach in and pet him, by the way; he especially loves under his wings scratched, and will raise them out of the way to get me to rub there. However, this is always from behind; I don't let my hand get where he might be able to bite me. He's lunged a couple times, but usually half-heartedly. I'm more worried he'll bite me just to see if I react than that he'll bite me just to hurt me or lash out.

Also, being in his cage 100% of the time means he's never had a bath. None of us knew parrots were supposed to HAVE baths. I thought about spritzing him with a new, clean spray bottle of water through the bars, but I'm worried that he'll hate it and blame me for upsetting him. Any ideas? Or should I just leave that until he's at a point I can handle him?

Alright, last question for now. Being in such a tiny cage before, even though there were a couple perches in it, he's used to climbing on the bars of the cage. He still does that in the larger cage he's in now, and I worry that he's hurting his feet hanging onto the metal. Is there a way to encourage him to use the perches more, other than asking him to "target" perches? And is that going to screw up our nail-trimming-through-the-bars plan? (Which in itself took over a week; he hated it so much that I gave up on getting it done and went back to the beginning, just touching his feet with the clippers, then stroking his nails with the clippers, then just putting the clippers around his nails and holding onto his nails without clipping them, up to actually clipping them.)

You guys are such a wonderful resource; I went back and read the last 12 pages of threads in the Cockatoo forum before I joined, and learned a TON, very quickly. My head's spinning, but I'm trying my best, and I know you guys will help me to be the very best parrot caretaker I can be. THANK YOU!
 

Printer bird

New member
Jan 4, 2011
268
1
Calgary, AB
Parrots
Dipper, 8 year old WC Pionus
RIP Charlie, Green Cheek Conure,
Lelu, parrotlet and
Poe the budgie.
Thanks for helping this guy out, you are on the right track. I know some cockatoo owners are going to answer some of your other questions but I just wanted to assure you that its perfectly fine that he's climbing his cage bars. In fact, its one of the reasons we have parrots in cages because they like to climb so much and the bars make it possible (plus ventilation etc). It won't hurt his feet and its a great sign that he's responding to your training, you are on the right track. Try and get more veggies into his diet and be patient with that of course (sounds like you are well aware that things take time and have to go slow). And welcome!
 

melinda

New member
Aug 10, 2011
220
0
TN
Parrots
5 year old cockatoo Chloe and 3 year old sun conure Joe Joe
Khloe 15 year old orange wing amazon
First off thank you for taking a interest in improving this guys life! From the sound of things you are doing great with him. It will take time to biuld a strong bond with this bird but he will make the time you put into it well worth it. By training him like you are is a great start and it seems like he must like you to learn so fast. Just take your time with him and don't try to rush him. I would think he might be frightened of a bath but i know he needs it. If you use a bottle spray it up and let it fall on him (mist). Keep up the good work and let us know how he is doing. I am sure many other too owners will reply with pointers that will help.
 

lene1949

New member
Sep 26, 2011
1,701
1
Brisbane, Australia
Parrots
Cory: Short billed Corella -
Echo: Galah -
Max: Alexandrine -
Skye: Yellow Sided conure -
Luka: Green Cheek Conure -
RIP Shrek: Quaker
I would google 'real cockatoo facts'.. This will take you to a forum which deals specifically with cockatoos.
 

oled

New member
Jul 10, 2011
1,149
0
South Sweden
Parrots
Ville a double yellow head Amazon
I don't have any experience with cockatoo so just want to wish you welcome to this family forum. Good luck
 
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katparks

New member
Oct 15, 2011
18
0
Western MA
Parrots
Baby, a Bare-Faced Cockatoo
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Oh goodness Lene, I had seen the webpage but didn't know there was a forum, too. Well, that'll be an effective distraction from my homework for the rest of the morning! I've already learned since I woke up that scratching under the wings = no-no. Whoops! Guess we'll stop that immediately.

Printer, thank you for the reassurance.

And melinda, thank you for the specifics on how to do that. It really helps!
 

brianlinkles

New member
Aug 17, 2011
740
1
Oakwood, Ohio
Parrots
i am the mom of three parrots:
Dorothy- African grey (cag)
Bowie- blue and gold macaw
Nellie- hyacinth macaw
Reggie- hyacinth macaw
Marnie- white bellied caique
Now I'm curious, why is scratching under the wing a no-no? By the way welcome! It sounds as if you are doing a great job already!
 
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katparks

New member
Oct 15, 2011
18
0
Western MA
Parrots
Baby, a Bare-Faced Cockatoo
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  • #8
Now I'm curious, why is scratching under the wing a no-no? By the way welcome! It sounds as if you are doing a great job already!

Apparently under the wings is stimulating to them.... *ahem*... in a "special way", even more so than touching their backs.

I'm curious to see, once we get up to me actually holding him, if he'll try to masturbate on me. He's not a "one-person bird" -- I'm one of three he'll tolerate, and with the changes in our treatment of him, he's even started putting his head down against the bars for Jason to give him head scritchies. But he can definitely tell who is who, and I'm the only one that ever scratched under his wings. :eek:
 

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