tiedyed
New member
Hi everyone! One of our neighbors acquired Cookie a few months ago. I wasn't sure what kind of environment he was in before they got him, but the bird seemed to be more than they could handle. The few times I went to their house, Cookie did nothing but scream repeatedly. I'm no bird expert but I've always loved parrots (a friend in my teenage years had a halfmoon that I adored) and found that Cookie would quiet down if I went over to his cage and talked to him. Ultimately they offered to give me the bird, 2 cages, food and everything else just to get the screeching monster out of their house. So I thought about it for a couple of days, and discussed it with my other half ('kissedbypix' in this forum) who didn't hesitate to say she wanted him. I'd never interacted with this bird before other than brief discussions through the bars of his cage. When I went to retrieve him, I had to get him into a tiny little carrier. I was told he would step up, but I also knew that since he didn't know me, he would probably resist. And resist he did. I used the let-him-bite-you-and-don
t-pull-away approach since I had no time for introductions. So he bit the hell out of my finger before climbing aboard. Got him over to our house, put him in the smaller of the cages, because the larger one looked like it hadn't been cleaned in months, and we wanted to clean it good first. Once he was in his smaller cage, he was fine and quieter than we expected. He slept through the night. His previous owner would try to keep him quiet by covering his cage. With a white sheet. Duh. Not very DARK in there. He was apparently ignorant of the fact that the cover is supposed to darken it. Of course, Cookie would simply chew holes in it to see out. But I digress. While he was settling in to his new environment, we researched everything we could about Nandays (which brought us here eventually). We got his big cage (which is plenty big for him with loads of toys) all cleaned and sanitized. Placed it in the corner of our bedroom/office where we spend almost all our time. We found we had to change his name to 'Tookie' because saying 'Cookie' all the time was driving our dog nuts. He must have figured out that biting me wasn't getting him anywhere, so would step up for me without a problem. Pixie was still hesitating and he would try to bite her at first. But after about 1 day, he figured out that this isn't such a bad place. In fact we found him to be absolutely delightful. He loves coming out of his cage and will ride your shoulder making contented little noises (he hasn't said anything yet, we don't know if he's ever talked) and seems to be as happy as a bird can be. He's LOADED with personality. He likes to pick at my face hairs, and walks up and down my arm while at the computer to investigate my trackball before climbing back up my arm. He's decided he likes us and now (after 3 days) can pet him on the head, front, & back. Doesn't seem to like his tail messed with though. And now, if he doesn't want to be taken off the shoulder, doesn't bite, but will push your finger away with the top of his beak. We've discovered what he likes. He's probably been deprived of any fresh fruit or veggies, and will gobble down almost anything. Last night Pixie was trying to eat an eggroll with Tookie on her shoulder and, well, he decided to cling to the front of her, reach out to her hand and help himself. Yeah I think we'll keep him
t-pull-away approach since I had no time for introductions. So he bit the hell out of my finger before climbing aboard. Got him over to our house, put him in the smaller of the cages, because the larger one looked like it hadn't been cleaned in months, and we wanted to clean it good first. Once he was in his smaller cage, he was fine and quieter than we expected. He slept through the night. His previous owner would try to keep him quiet by covering his cage. With a white sheet. Duh. Not very DARK in there. He was apparently ignorant of the fact that the cover is supposed to darken it. Of course, Cookie would simply chew holes in it to see out. But I digress. While he was settling in to his new environment, we researched everything we could about Nandays (which brought us here eventually). We got his big cage (which is plenty big for him with loads of toys) all cleaned and sanitized. Placed it in the corner of our bedroom/office where we spend almost all our time. We found we had to change his name to 'Tookie' because saying 'Cookie' all the time was driving our dog nuts. He must have figured out that biting me wasn't getting him anywhere, so would step up for me without a problem. Pixie was still hesitating and he would try to bite her at first. But after about 1 day, he figured out that this isn't such a bad place. In fact we found him to be absolutely delightful. He loves coming out of his cage and will ride your shoulder making contented little noises (he hasn't said anything yet, we don't know if he's ever talked) and seems to be as happy as a bird can be. He's LOADED with personality. He likes to pick at my face hairs, and walks up and down my arm while at the computer to investigate my trackball before climbing back up my arm. He's decided he likes us and now (after 3 days) can pet him on the head, front, & back. Doesn't seem to like his tail messed with though. And now, if he doesn't want to be taken off the shoulder, doesn't bite, but will push your finger away with the top of his beak. We've discovered what he likes. He's probably been deprived of any fresh fruit or veggies, and will gobble down almost anything. Last night Pixie was trying to eat an eggroll with Tookie on her shoulder and, well, he decided to cling to the front of her, reach out to her hand and help himself. Yeah I think we'll keep him