New rainbow lorikeet owner seeking advice

[BabyRainbow]

Hi, I am a new and concerned Rainbow Lorikeet owner. I just got it (boy, name is Rainbow, 3 months old) yesterday.

Unfortunately the sudden move to a new place appears to have traumatised Rainbow (hence my concern).

At first he wouldn't let go of my hand and his heart was beating really fast. After stroking him and cooing for a few minutes, he calmed down and finally stepped up to the perch in the cage.

After that, he remained quite still, did not move a lot, and wouldn't leave the perch.

And then he did not sleep. At past 9.30pm it was still awake, and I could feel its wariness.

I went to bed at around 12am. Then the thrashing and screaming started. He stopped after I covered the cage, but every now and then I could hear some slight movements from him... I didn't get close to check out Rainbow because I don't want to startle and freak him out any further than he already is whether he's sleeping or not. To check him out I'd also have to turn on the light which I worry may disturb his sleep cycle.

Am I overreacting? How do I get him to relax and feel safe at his new home?

Note: Sun's up at around 6.30am where I am. That means a maximum of 6 hours of sleep for him tonight, if he wakes up normally!

Thank you for hearing me out. I look forward to any inputs!

 

[LaManuka]

Welcome to Parrot Forums to you and Rainbow!

What you’re describing sounds very similar to my experience with my purple crowned Princess Lilly Pilly when she first came home. Other than having the night terrors, is Rainbow confident perching on your hand otherwise? If so you are already WAY ahead of where Lilly was when she was a baby. Lilly was hand raised but had been moved to an aviary for some time before I bought her so she spent her first few weeks here terrified of me and convinced I was going to eat her! She also spent probably at least her first week clinging to the bars of her cage all night and I imagine not getting much sleep.

I suggest you don’t cover the whole cage until Rainbow gets used to the layout. Maybe just cover the back for the first week, then a bit more little by little until he calms down. Where in the world do you live? If you’re in Australia then use our native flowers as bribery. Lilly LOVES her grevilleas, bottle brushes and eucalyptus flowers, just don’t pick them from the side of a busy road or anywhere you even suspect may have been sprayed with pesticides. If not, little bits of fruit go down well, Lilly gets apple, pear, banana, raspberries, blueberries and mango.

Remember that Rainbow has gone through some major adjustments in his short life and though you mean him no harm, he doesn’t know that and has absolutely no reason to trust you. Food bribery is your friend in these early stages but if Rainbow is anything like Lilly, once that switch flicks on in his head, you will have what we call a “velcro-bird” on your hands. Then it’ll be “welcome to the wonderful world of lorikeet hyperactivity” and you’ll be in for a wild ride!

 

[BabyRainbow]

Welcome to Parrot Forums to you and Rainbow!

What you’re describing sounds very similar to my experience with my purple crowned Princess Lilly Pilly when she first came home. Other than having the night terrors, is Rainbow confident perching on your hand otherwise? If so you are already WAY ahead of where Lilly was when she was a baby. Lilly was hand raised but had been moved to an aviary for some time before I bought her so she spent her first few weeks here terrified of me and convinced I was going to eat her! She also spent probably at least her first week clinging to the bars of her cage all night and I imagine not getting much sleep.

I suggest you don’t cover the whole cage until Rainbow gets used to the layout. Maybe just cover the back for the first week, then a bit more little by little until he calms down. Where in the world do you live? If you’re in Australia then use our native flowers as bribery. Lilly LOVES her grevilleas, bottle brushes and eucalyptus flowers, just don’t pick them from the side of a busy road or anywhere you even suspect may have been sprayed with pesticides. If not, little bits of fruit go down well, Lilly gets apple, pear, banana, raspberries, blueberries and mango.

Remember that Rainbow has gone through some major adjustments in his short life and though you mean him no harm, he doesn’t know that and has absolutely no reason to trust you. Food bribery is your friend in these early stages but if Rainbow is anything like Lilly, once that switch flicks on in his head, you will have what we call a “velcro-bird” on your hands. Then it’ll be “welcome to the wonderful world of lorikeet hyperactivity” and you’ll be in for a wild ride!

Thanks, LaManuka! That is some useful information, especially now I have some gauge of how long it might take for Rainbow to adjust so I wont get too worried.

I live in Singapore, so not much flower bribery choices but I do have some fruits.

Rainbow has refused to perch on my hand since leaving it but it's okay, I will work for it!

Thank you!

 

[LaManuka]

Fantastic, another member in Singapore, welcome aboard!

Most fruits are fine to feed EXCEPT avocado which is toxic to birds. Also if you feed apples or pears make sure you remove all the seeds as they contain tiny traces of cyanide (!), and citrus fruits should also be avoided. You can dab a spot of honey on your (clean) fingertips too to assist in getting Rainbow more accustomed to your hands.

Lorikeets are just that bit trickier to tame down since you cannot use the usual sunflower seeds as rewards so you may spend the next few weeks with sticky fingers from all the fruit nectar and honey! Your baby may also want to take naps during the day too. I will also try to find some information for you about bird vets in Singapore since it’s a good idea to have him health checked once he’s settled in. Birds have evolved over millions of years to become expert at hiding any signs of illness so an annual vet check is a good way to catch any nasties before it’s too late.

 

[BabyRainbow]

Fantastic, another member in Singapore, welcome aboard!

Most fruits are fine to feed EXCEPT avocado which is toxic to birds. Also if you feed apples or pears make sure you remove all the seeds as they contain tiny traces of cyanide (!), and citrus fruits should also be avoided. You can dab a spot of honey on your (clean) fingertips too to assist in getting Rainbow more accustomed to your hands.

Lorikeets are just that bit trickier to tame down since you cannot use the usual sunflower seeds as rewards so you may spend the next few weeks with sticky fingers from all the fruit nectar and honey! Your baby may also want to take naps during the day too. I will also try to find some information for you about bird vets in Singapore since it’s a good idea to have him health checked once he’s settled in. Birds have evolved over millions of years to become expert at hiding any signs of illness so an annual vet check is a good way to catch any nasties before it’s too late.

Thank you! That is super kind of you!

Just one more question (for now, haha), when Rainbow has his night terrors or terrors in general, what do I do to calm him down? Like I mentioned previously, I left him alone so he doesnt get too scared, but I am not sure if that is helpful in the long run. Thanks!

 

[LaManuka]

Well, my Lilly never had night terrors as such, but it’s quite a common thing among cockatiels like my doofus-brained (but totally loveable boy!) Fang. I have to leave a nightlight on for him and I leave about half the front of his cage uncovered so he’s never in total darkness. Hopefully Rainbow will settle down after a few weeks though but Fang is now 9 years old and still needs his nightlight

 

[BabyRainbow]

Well, my Lilly never had night terrors as such, but it’s quite a common thing among cockatiels like my doofus-brained (but totally loveable boy!) Fang. I have to leave a nightlight on for him and I leave about half the front of his cage uncovered so he’s never in total darkness. Hopefully Rainbow will settle down after a few weeks though but Fang is now 9 years old and still needs his nightlight

I think he improved a little! He was licking my fingers today and is a little willing to peck at some food in front of me. Yesterday he literally flew away and refused to eat when I am in the same room.

 

[LaManuka]

Yes my poor little Lilly spent the first about 3 weeks of her time in our home pretty much completely petrified of me and wouldn't do much at all while I was in the same room as her!

Best thing to do is try to establish some sort of a routine so your bird will come to expect what will happen next. They are not like cats or dogs who will trust people much more quickly, birds take their time to assess their new surroundings and they watch EVERYTHING you do before they decide whether they are going to trust you or not. Say the same thing to Rainbow when you approach the cage each morning. Pull up a chair close (but not too close!) to the cage and read aloud to him, it doesn't matter what you read but just read in a calm voice, so he becomes accustomed to you. Little by little you can pull your chair closer to the cage while you read. I did this in VERY uncomfortable chair for 3 solid weeks and just about broke my backside (no joke!) in the process of getting Lilly to understand that I wasn't going to hurt her. I also played her YouTube videos on my phone of other purple-crowned lorikeets in the wild which she found intriguing and couldn't help but come over for a closer look Have a little dish of fruit bits handy while you're doing all of this. You can also buy those jars of 100% pureed fruit baby foods and use a spoonful of that, i used to use pureed apple or pear which were a big hit with Lilly. There's a lot of wastage with those because once opened you can only keep them for a few days in the fridge but it's worth it. While you are in the taming/training phase with a juvenile bird you can get away with using highly energy dense foods as bribery/rewards but later in life you will want to lessen the fruits and increase lower energy foods like vegies in order to decrease any hyped up hormonal behaviours which can become a problem. You can offer leafy green vegies like celery, bok choy, broccolini and kale now so they won't be completely alien to Rainbow in the future.

Once Rainbow has settled in for a bit you can take him to the vet for a wellness check. Unfortunately there are a few viruses like psittacosis and psittacine beak and feather disease that are fairly common among pet birds. As they will usually hide signs of illness until its too late its a good idea to get a check up to see if there's anything underlying that you need to be aware of. The following avian vet comes highly recommended by your fellow Singaporean member, username charmedbyekkie, details are:

Dr. Denise Ng at Light of Life Vet.
Blk 703 Bedok Reservoir Road
#01-3508
Singapore 470703

Phone number is 6243 3282.

Their hours are:
Afternoon 12pm to 5pm,
Evening 8pm to 11pm,
Closed on Tuesdays, Sundays and All Public Holidays.

In the meantime, just take things slowly with Rainbow. Move slowly around him and don't try to crowd him or rush him as he needs to be the one to make the decision about when he is going to trust you. Once that little switch flicks on he will be all over you like the proverbial rash!

 

[BabyRainbow]

Yes my poor little Lilly spent the first about 3 weeks of her time in our home pretty much completely petrified of me and wouldn't do much at all while I was in the same room as her!

Best thing to do is try to establish some sort of a routine so your bird will come to expect what will happen next. They are not like cats or dogs who will trust people much more quickly, birds take their time to assess their new surroundings and they watch EVERYTHING you do before they decide whether they are going to trust you or not. Say the same thing to Rainbow when you approach the cage each morning. Pull up a chair close (but not too close!) to the cage and read aloud to him, it doesn't matter what you read but just read in a calm voice, so he becomes accustomed to you. Little by little you can pull your chair closer to the cage while you read. I did this in VERY uncomfortable chair for 3 solid weeks and just about broke my backside (no joke!) in the process of getting Lilly to understand that I wasn't going to hurt her. I also played her YouTube videos on my phone of other purple-crowned lorikeets in the wild which she found intriguing and couldn't help but come over for a closer look Have a little dish of fruit bits handy while you're doing all of this. You can also buy those jars of 100% pureed fruit baby foods and use a spoonful of that, i used to use pureed apple or pear which were a big hit with Lilly. There's a lot of wastage with those because once opened you can only keep them for a few days in the fridge but it's worth it. While you are in the taming/training phase with a juvenile bird you can get away with using highly energy dense foods as bribery/rewards but later in life you will want to lessen the fruits and increase lower energy foods like vegies in order to decrease any hyped up hormonal behaviours which can become a problem. You can offer leafy green vegies like celery, bok choy, broccolini and kale now so they won't be completely alien to Rainbow in the future.

Once Rainbow has settled in for a bit you can take him to the vet for a wellness check. Unfortunately there are a few viruses like psittacosis and psittacine beak and feather disease that are fairly common among pet birds. As they will usually hide signs of illness until its too late its a good idea to get a check up to see if there's anything underlying that you need to be aware of. The following avian vet comes highly recommended by your fellow Singaporean member, username charmedbyekkie, details are:

Dr. Denise Ng at Light of Life Vet.
Blk 703 Bedok Reservoir Road
#01-3508
Singapore 470703

Phone number is 6243 3282.

Their hours are:
Afternoon 12pm to 5pm,
Evening 8pm to 11pm,
Closed on Tuesdays, Sundays and All Public Holidays.

In the meantime, just take things slowly with Rainbow. Move slowly around him and don't try to crowd him or rush him as he needs to be the one to make the decision about when he is going to trust you. Once that little switch flicks on he will be all over you like the proverbial rash!

Thank you for the sharing and advices! :07:

 

[LaManuka]

You’re most welcome, it’s always nice to have another lorikeet aficionado on board. Don’t forget to share some photos of Rainbow when you get a chance, we baby photos

 

[BabyRainbow]

Here you go.

I don't have many photos yet, because most of the time Rainbow is jumping and climbing all over the cage so it's hard to get a still photo of him.

He's just so adorable. That one day he spent a whole day in my bedroom outside the cage, when I put him back in he made these soft vocalisations that sounded like a protest: "how could you do this to me?".

Rainbow is super active too. He could climb and jump from morning till evening. I wish I have some of his energy. LOL

There's also something I would like to ask about the food.

Will there be any problems if food are served cold or hot? Or should they be kept to room temperature?

For the vegetables, do I feed them as raw or is it okay for the veggies to be cooked? I'm not sure if Rainbow can eat the stalks or not... or leaves for the bird, stalks for the hoomans? ^^;

Sorry for being such a noob and thanks for all the help so far.