Ralphie- perch potato anonymous

[raeleigh26]

Storms. What do I do about a storm at night with thunder and strong wings and hail?
We are expecting very bad storms tomorrow afternoon. (I have had the storm shelter open often since the last question about it)
You can hold and comfort a small child in fear. ... I'm liable to lose a finger, or an eye, if I do anything more than talk to Ralphie if he gets scared. Heck..... I'M scared of storms.

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[texsize]

I have found that Amazons in general are not so easily scared.
If you remain calm and talk to your birdin a calming voice you should be ok.
Keep flashlights and battery lights handy, a power outage might fluster him.

 

[SailBoat]

Place him in his 'Carrier' and take him into the shelter that way. Since power failure can happen, having flash lights, per my good friends recommendation, are important. With surprise, Amazons tend not to be effected by storms. But with surprise shadows tend to concern them.

Remember, Amazon's lock into our emotions, your fears are their fears.

 

[raeleigh26]

I've cut Ralph's nut rations to nil. He's manipulated us into not getting any cooperation unless it's a trade off. He never knows when he'll be offered a reward now.
We no longer use a stick to move him; either he steps up without biting, or we leave him be. This has resulted in him being bored in his room without breakfast for over an hour on many occasions, but eventually, when I walk in and greet him like it's the first time I've seen him that day, he happily steps up and comes out to the living room.
we went through a bad week of biting, which included my bottom lip. -i do realize that I missed his signal that even though he called me over and stepped up, he did not want to be taken away from his tree, he bit the instant I turned away from it.
I got the tail end of one of these tantrums on video. He was on the towel rack after our shower, and after I finished getting dressed and he was mostly dry, I asked him to step up to go back to the living room, which he did.... and then he bit me. My instinct to pull my hand back (with him on it) left him on the floor.
And while I tried to stop the bleeding, (mine. Not his. He was fine. ) he asked me to pick him up. Which I declined. He walked back to the living room. He walked around until he found the highest spot he could reach(without flying. Though, you know, he can) and asked me for several minutes to take him back to his tree.
Eventually I did. And I got his apology, "I'm so sorry." On camera. (Lucky I love you, kid)
We don't force or coerce or lure him. And he's gone back to being bored, rather than engaging. I've done more talking to him than training, trying to get more of his phrases on cue. He seems content to repeat, "hello, hahaha, *wolf whistle" forever as long as there's hope it'll land him a pecan chip. Sigh.

He's molting, (he won't let anyone help with pin feathers on his head, so he uses an old feather to scratch and even screams about the itch sometimes) he's moody, and he seems unhappy that our schedule isn't 100% predictable. A day of being left alone and it takes a week to settle him down.

Still working on that independence and confidence.

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[raeleigh26]

Still mostly content to do nothing with his life, but he is a lot more messy now; he's nearly chewed through a rather large wooden block toy.
You Should see him with a ping pong ball. I think he hates it. He grabs it with his beak, takes it with his foot... and throws it.... violently.... like he hates it....

Like what would happen if you handed a petulant child a vanilla ice cream when they specifically said they wanted mint chocolate chip. Yeeeah.



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[AmyMyBlueFront]

Ralphie is a handsome boy Kind of sounds like Amy too. After 31 years you'd think I'd know his moods but still manage to get nailed with that beak of his.
He has tons of toys. Some hang in his house,others from his play top.
The only time I see him chewing on anything is when I reach in to get his water bowl and he grabs what is handy (at least it isn't my arm anymore).

His little game is when I try to get him to step up on his carry-me-around-perch stick when he is on his play top he'll run to the back,then he rolls on his back,chews at the perch stick,kicks at it,chew on any toy he can reach. This will go on for ten minutes or more or until I say FINE! and leave him be.

He has no problemo though going over to BB's house,climbing up tohis roof top,and chewing BB's toys! Or walking around BB's house to chew on the corners of BB's perches ( had to replace a couple) He is obsessed with BB. Now Beebs is retaliating. At times I hear Amy let out a SQUAWK and I think BB is nipping at Amy's toes when he is on the roof. This I have to curtail coz I don't want Amy to get a bloody toe


Jim

 

[wrench13]

That's how Amazons 'play' with some things, like they hate it with a deadly red passion. Salty does that with his metal tubular bell and with a foot toy that looks like a circus elephant stand with a bell inside it. Oh how he hates/loves that. He bangs rapid fire and then flings it clear across his cage, only to run over and attack it again.

 

[SailBoat]

Aaa, the joy of all out 'hate' when the ring is sitting peacefully on the cage top, found, and shook to near death and dropped from height. Only to be glared at from on high.

 

[raeleigh26]

Today I discovered, quite accidently, that the haunting melody Ralph occasionally whistles is from phantom of the opera..... he went nuts when I whistled the entire song! Hopefully I can get him to copy more than 5 notes

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[SailBoat]

A know base number of tones can result in their adding to the song, especially if the music has a reoccurring segment. That can turn-in any number of contact calls. Enjoy!