She's so TIMID.....

[BirdyMomma]

Hi all. Sorry to keep talking about my bird........... but that's what we do, right?

Knuckles is so timid. She is afraid of almost everything. I don't know what happened, but now, she doesn't even want to come out of the cage. She will let me pet her and scratch her, and she will lick my hand from her perch, inside the cage, but she won't come out. She wouldn't come out for my boyfriend earlier today either. If I leave the cage open, she will sometimes come out on her own, but we discourage that, having heard that it is best for her to be invited out.

Does anyone with cockatoo experience know if this is likely to be a permanent state of paranoia, or will she settle a bit after a while?

I feel bad, because I wanted to take her out, into the other room, to have alone time with her, but she doesn't want to leave her cage. I won't force her, so I guess we both miss out

 

[Allee]

I don't have the same kind of cockatoo and I don't have a lot of experience but when we brought our guy home it took him a full month before he was really comfortable enough to interact much outside his cage. We were complete strangers and his third home. It takes the bigger cockatoos longer to adjust to a new environment. I'm not sure about the smaller toos. I'm sure someone that has more experience can tell you more. A few days ago I took Popeye into a room he hadn't seen before and he immediately went into what I call cockatoo vapor lock and I returned him to his safe place.

I spent a lot of time getting to know him while giving him plenty of space. We took it really slow and it was worth the wait.

 

[BirdyMomma]

Hahahahaaaaaa! Cockatoo Vapor Lock- hilarious!!!

 

[Jayyj]

With Alice she started out being terrified of everything outside the cage, then by the end of the first week she could cope with being on the sofa by the cage, by two months she was fine anywhere in the front room, and after three anywhere in the flat. So, it was slow going to get her settled. Eight months on and we're working on going outside the flat now but it's not going wonderfully well as she's convinced great evil lurks within the travel carrier. I do get frustrated with her fearfulness but it's just the way she is so I just try to keep going steady and nurse her through it.

In our case I keep an open cage as long as I'm home, so she was always able to come out when she felt like it. But ironically the first thing she does when I leave the room without her is high tail it back to the cage, so getting her in and out has never been an issue.