noblemacaw
New member
- Sep 23, 2011
- 1,056
- 3
- Parrots
- Valentino - Red Fronted Macaw - Hatched August 12, 2012
Valentino a male RFM will be 7 months old on March 12th. He has been with us for 3 months. At this time Valentino is mostly bonded to me and when I am in the room only tolerates Lupe. He wants to be with me when out of cage a lot but I am not good with RFM play. He is too rough and his play is painful for me.
I have taught him what "gentle" means and most of the time when the command is given he does check himself and will stop grabbing and pinching at me. However lately he has increased the too rough play to when I am handling him not in play mode. I have taken a lot of time in the attempt for him to understand I can't handle the rough treatments. I have increased his flying time in the attempt to expand some of that baby hyperness and energy. Unfortunately Valentino still want to play rough with me even during cuddle time.
It has been really hard for me to enjoy him when he grabs my skin hard with his beak and he does pinch me a lot. Valentino is not a biter. The only time he has used his beak in displeasure is when I force him to do something he does not like. I can only remember 3 times he has used beak pressure to hurt me. Please understand I do not "force" him to do anything that would scare him or break trust but am talking about normal things he has to do that he chooses he "does not want to do at that time or does not like to do." Valentino is simply being a brat at those times.
What I have been doing when Valentino gets to rough with me and ignores the "gentle" command I will give him chewie things to chew on or simply retire him to his java tree to work off his playing energy. Normally this works quite well along with the extra flying exercises but of late he has been increasing defying my commands and in a way acting out like a teen who will not clean their rooms when asked.
I had added some training toys and performance to help stimulate his mind. I have a acrylic box that he has learned to open the drawers to get the plastic marabella balls inside. I have been teaching him tricks using the kitchen table and he almost has mastered "roll over". I have added adding machine paper on a stainless steel chain that he unrolls all the way to the grill and will play with the paper rolling around in it and chewing and ripping it to little bits. At this time I am looking into "forging" toys to put in cage for him to work out. So far so many out there and without being able to actually "see" the product it is hard for me to choose one for him. I can't help but wonder if I am capable of meeting the complex needs of the RFM.
Valentino can be quite demanding and he is very narcissistic. Although is attention span is longer than my Illiger's was he is not patient at all and can get frustrated quite easily. Valentino can be quite a handful lately and I really really dread when he becomes sexually mature.
Right now I have suspended harness training because Valentino has been too rough with me lately. I will pet him with the harness on my hand like my hand is the parrot and Valentino could care less if the harness is on my hand or not. He now is use to seeing it and could care less about it. My next step would be putting it over the head but for now because he is too hyper about when he is frustrated I have suspended this next step for now.
My goal right now is to be able to enjoy Valentino again instead of experiencing his rough play with the grabbing and pinching of the beak. I will not say he is a violent parrot because he is still a baby but I can't handle how rough he enjoys his play and interacting.
Sorry for such a long post but I wanted to make sure I put in enough information.
I have taught him what "gentle" means and most of the time when the command is given he does check himself and will stop grabbing and pinching at me. However lately he has increased the too rough play to when I am handling him not in play mode. I have taken a lot of time in the attempt for him to understand I can't handle the rough treatments. I have increased his flying time in the attempt to expand some of that baby hyperness and energy. Unfortunately Valentino still want to play rough with me even during cuddle time.
It has been really hard for me to enjoy him when he grabs my skin hard with his beak and he does pinch me a lot. Valentino is not a biter. The only time he has used his beak in displeasure is when I force him to do something he does not like. I can only remember 3 times he has used beak pressure to hurt me. Please understand I do not "force" him to do anything that would scare him or break trust but am talking about normal things he has to do that he chooses he "does not want to do at that time or does not like to do." Valentino is simply being a brat at those times.
What I have been doing when Valentino gets to rough with me and ignores the "gentle" command I will give him chewie things to chew on or simply retire him to his java tree to work off his playing energy. Normally this works quite well along with the extra flying exercises but of late he has been increasing defying my commands and in a way acting out like a teen who will not clean their rooms when asked.
I had added some training toys and performance to help stimulate his mind. I have a acrylic box that he has learned to open the drawers to get the plastic marabella balls inside. I have been teaching him tricks using the kitchen table and he almost has mastered "roll over". I have added adding machine paper on a stainless steel chain that he unrolls all the way to the grill and will play with the paper rolling around in it and chewing and ripping it to little bits. At this time I am looking into "forging" toys to put in cage for him to work out. So far so many out there and without being able to actually "see" the product it is hard for me to choose one for him. I can't help but wonder if I am capable of meeting the complex needs of the RFM.
Valentino can be quite demanding and he is very narcissistic. Although is attention span is longer than my Illiger's was he is not patient at all and can get frustrated quite easily. Valentino can be quite a handful lately and I really really dread when he becomes sexually mature.
Right now I have suspended harness training because Valentino has been too rough with me lately. I will pet him with the harness on my hand like my hand is the parrot and Valentino could care less if the harness is on my hand or not. He now is use to seeing it and could care less about it. My next step would be putting it over the head but for now because he is too hyper about when he is frustrated I have suspended this next step for now.
My goal right now is to be able to enjoy Valentino again instead of experiencing his rough play with the grabbing and pinching of the beak. I will not say he is a violent parrot because he is still a baby but I can't handle how rough he enjoys his play and interacting.
Sorry for such a long post but I wanted to make sure I put in enough information.
