Hi Everyone!! This is going to be long and I apologize in advance!
I convinced my girlfriend to get a baby Quaker and we are both obsessed. I have done so much research on youtube and read so many articles and we know the basics like not reacting to your bird when it bites, having it on a healthy pellet diet, teaching it how to step up, lots of love and attention etc but I still have so many unanswered questions and i want to make sure we get this right.
A little back ground, Mango (think it's a boy) is 12 weeks old and he was handfed. He is on a pellet diet and is sweet, occasionally nibbling a little but nothing hard. The cage he currently has is small but his new cage will be arriving in 2 days. He really hasn't spent much time in his cage other than to sleep and eat, mostly he hangs out on our lap or on his little play gym but he doesn't play much still . (Will attach pictures of everything). He likes to get head scratches and will play with some toys outside of his cage but not for long. He will step up if we bribe him with one of his pellets, sometimes he will step up without being bribed much as long as he is out of the cage. He has been at my girlfriends apartment now for 5 days.
As for the questions:
He won't take any treats, the only thing he will take as a treat are his actual pelletes, is this because he is still a baby? Should i keep insisting with different things and should i put them in his bowl for him to try first?
On average he will be home alone about 8-10 hrs a day during the week, he will be able to get 2-3 hrs of play time in the evenings and all day on the weekends, will he be ok? could it be bad to give him too much attention on the weekends?
Should he have food and water accessible at all times when he is out of his cage with us?
is it ok to have multiple people handling him before he is fully trained? (Everyone has been coming over to meet him and play with him)
Should we mist him? We tried setting up a bowl for him to take a bath but he wouldnt go.
Sometimes he doesnt want to step up on our finger to come out of his cage but will step up on a perch, is this ok? or will it make him feel forced?
At what age will he be considered an adult?
We don't plan on clipping his wings and have bought him a flight suit that we havent tried on him yet. Should we wait until he is more comfortable with us to begin training with it? and does anyone have experience with these things as far as safety?
What temperature is ok to start bringing him outside?
Should we set up his new cage and leave him in his current cage with the new cage in the same room so he gets used to it?
Thank you very much for whoever takes the time to read this novel! Any advice is so greatly appreciated.
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I convinced my girlfriend to get a baby Quaker and we are both obsessed. I have done so much research on youtube and read so many articles and we know the basics like not reacting to your bird when it bites, having it on a healthy pellet diet, teaching it how to step up, lots of love and attention etc but I still have so many unanswered questions and i want to make sure we get this right.
A little back ground, Mango (think it's a boy) is 12 weeks old and he was handfed. He is on a pellet diet and is sweet, occasionally nibbling a little but nothing hard. The cage he currently has is small but his new cage will be arriving in 2 days. He really hasn't spent much time in his cage other than to sleep and eat, mostly he hangs out on our lap or on his little play gym but he doesn't play much still . (Will attach pictures of everything). He likes to get head scratches and will play with some toys outside of his cage but not for long. He will step up if we bribe him with one of his pellets, sometimes he will step up without being bribed much as long as he is out of the cage. He has been at my girlfriends apartment now for 5 days.
As for the questions:
He won't take any treats, the only thing he will take as a treat are his actual pelletes, is this because he is still a baby? Should i keep insisting with different things and should i put them in his bowl for him to try first?
On average he will be home alone about 8-10 hrs a day during the week, he will be able to get 2-3 hrs of play time in the evenings and all day on the weekends, will he be ok? could it be bad to give him too much attention on the weekends?
Should he have food and water accessible at all times when he is out of his cage with us?
is it ok to have multiple people handling him before he is fully trained? (Everyone has been coming over to meet him and play with him)
Should we mist him? We tried setting up a bowl for him to take a bath but he wouldnt go.
Sometimes he doesnt want to step up on our finger to come out of his cage but will step up on a perch, is this ok? or will it make him feel forced?
At what age will he be considered an adult?
We don't plan on clipping his wings and have bought him a flight suit that we havent tried on him yet. Should we wait until he is more comfortable with us to begin training with it? and does anyone have experience with these things as far as safety?
What temperature is ok to start bringing him outside?
Should we set up his new cage and leave him in his current cage with the new cage in the same room so he gets used to it?
Thank you very much for whoever takes the time to read this novel! Any advice is so greatly appreciated.
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