Progress with Simba!

[BruceV]

After thinking that I would never be able to handle Simba, we had a breakthrough this morning. My gf and I were doing some Wii bowling and he was watching and getting all excited. We were cheering and wooping it up just to have some fun with him.

When we got done, it was time to clean his cage (woohoo?). Since his food dish is on the floor (keeps him from showering the house with pellets), I reached in to retrieve it and Simba decided that it was time to climb out of the cage. Using a perch as a distraction, he stepped on to my arm and I brought him to the tree. Once he has stepped up, he doesn't seem to mind it. Seems to be the act of stepping that he's unsure of. When he was done, I was able to get him off the tree and into his cage without much trouble. He went after my arm, but when I realized that he wasn't hurting me and he realized that I wasn't going to hurt him, he stepped up and back to the cage we went!

Here is a video of the game that we played while he was out. Same game we played on the day I met him at the rescue. He loves to throw the object off the tree. Sorry for the video quality. And the occasional screech you hear is my conure, BlueJeans. Still working on getting her to not run from hands.

[ame="http://youtu.be/Ex_ArtrgZcs"]Simba Playing - YouTube[/ame]

 

[kendrafitz]

Yayy!! Congratulations, I am so happy for you both! He is gorgeous and he almost reminded me of a dog playing fetch. Although I guess you were the one playing fetch. It is so nice to see the progress you are making!

 

[BruceV]

Now I need to figure out how to attach toys to the tree, and what types of toys as well. I think I need to get some of that grippy stuff (vet wrap?) for the branches. He won't go lower than the top level.

 

[kendrafitz]

This is how Rosie's toys are attached to her tree. I think they are eye hooks? They were already installed when I got the tree. Then the toys just hang from there.

Wood toys are always good here, they get destroyed quickly, but she loves them.

 

[BruceV]

Thanks! I think I need some vetwrap too, because the wood is a little slick for him. He won't go to the lower areas of the stand.

 

[kendrafitz]

Sounds good, I think a lot of people use it. I know the women at the store that helped me when I got our java tree said the birds usually won't use the lower branches. They said to try to get the branches as close to the same height as possible to get the most use of the tree. Birds like to be at the highest point, which I never would have thought about. So if the vet wrap doesn't work, that may be why?

 

[torrap]

Wow, such a pleasure to see you both play.
Maybe you can try a ball that he can grab and every time he throws it into your hands you can reward him with some nice words he likes to hear.
You'll be playing throw and catch in no time.....
Congrats on such a great progress.

 

[Calace]

Wow! What a step forward. Congrats!!!

 

[Jayyj]

I love the java products - I have a big tree similar to yours and we're up to seven cage mountable branches. I bought a big bag of stainless steel eye hooks for toys, and if you can hang things so that they have to climb down to reach they want to play with they'll quickly learn to use the whole thing. Ironically the only bit of the tree Alice won't use is the highest bit - it's quite a steep climb and she knows there's nothing fun up there! I cut a lot of saw lines into the tree wherever the incline gets steep so that she has something for her talons to get purchase on.

 

[BruceV]

I bought a big bag of stainless steel eye hooks for toys, and if you can hang things so that they have to climb down to reach they want to play with they'll quickly learn to use the whole thing.

So the eye hooks need to be stainless? I looked at Lowes last night and all they had were zinc.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Oh Bruce, I think Simba must be related to my Niko. :54: Niko does the EXACT same thing with anything and everything I give him - he tosses it as far as he can. The further away from me the better.

Yes, I would only ever use stainless eyehooks. Our local Lowe's has them at fairly good prices.

And I LOVE your Java tree!!! VERY VERY nice!

And YAY for the progress you and Simba have made!!! :35:

 

[BruceV]

Got him out again this morning and discovered that vetwrap on the tree freaks him out. He climbed right back onto my arm and tried to head up to my shoulder. Um...no, Simba, not yet. Sooo...I'll have to see what I can do about making the wood rougher so he doesn't slip so much.

But we had a great time playing, now he's preening and stretching his wings like crazy and just enjoying the time out of the cage. Sounds like he's getting ready to nap now.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Got him out again this morning and discovered that vetwrap on the tree freaks him out. He climbed right back onto my arm and tried to head up to my shoulder. Um...no, Simba, not yet. Sooo...I'll have to see what I can do about making the wood rougher so he doesn't slip so much.

But we had a great time playing, now he's preening and stretching his wings like crazy and just enjoying the time out of the cage. Sounds like he's getting ready to nap now.

Bruce, instead of vet wrap, you could also wrap sisal rope around the smaller perches. That may intimidate Simba less because it's a natural/neutral color.

LOVE hearing of the great progress with you two!!!

 

[getwozzy]

It sounds like Simba is settling in nicely ❤

You could maybe try to find a neutral or brown colored vet wrap, or like Wendy said wrap it with sisal rope.

 

[Jayyj]

Zinc isn't good for birds, unfortunately. I spend an unhappy 15min cruising the aisle at the local hardware store googling zinc and brass toxicity on my phone before giving up and ordering stainless steel ones online. It's probably less of an issue than with toy parts as you wouldn't expect the bird to regularly have the eye hook in his mouth, but for the amount these things cost I wouldn't risk it. As it happens Alice thinks it far easier to climb into her tree from the couch than to use her wings to get up there, and her route includes climbing onto a hoop then grabbing the eye hook it's attached to in order to pull herself up onto the branch, so she does regularly make contact with one. Better to be safe than sorry.

If he doesn't like the vet tape it's easy enough to rough up the surfaces - I used a razor saw to cut lots of 1mm deep lines about 5-6mm apart along the steeper bits. I've also seen Alice using her beak to rough up the branches herself in bits she finds slippery, clever little thing! The sisal rope thing sounds good too, and would have chewing potential on top of being easy to climb on. I might have to give that a try...

 

[BruceV]

I love this place! Everyone is SO helpful!
Oh, and I just went to the local hardware store. TONS of stainless screws, bolts, washers, nuts, cotter pins, etc. But no stainless screw eyes.

 

[getwozzy]

These ones are tiny (3/16") but maybe you can find some larger ones on Amazon?

25-Pack 3/16" Stainless Steel Screw Eye Ri... http://amzn.com/B003NAYQH2

 

[BruceV]

I just ordered a package of 20 for $9.99 from Amazon. Good price for stainless. They're 1-5/8 with a 1/2 inch hole. Exactly what I'm looking for.

 

[getwozzy]

NICE!! Glad you found some!

Another place to look for hardware stuff is mysafebirdstore.com they also have loads of toy stuff.

 

[Jumpingtadpoles]

Another way of creating a non slip surface is to gently etch on the branches, with either sand paper, or a dremel bit. You can just do subtle lines, and it's supposed to be barely visible.