swooneytoad
New member
- Aug 3, 2016
- 4
- 0
Hello everyone,
I am new here and I have a 3 year old Lineolated Parakeet named Birb. Here are the things I love about him and I have a question at the end. Thanks in advance for reading.
Good
He is a three year old Linnie that I got/rescued from a friend who did not want him anymore. The said friend bought him on an impulse and left him alone in his cage without any social interaction. He came to me fearing hands and toys. Now, he steps up readily for me, he plays with his bell and he flies to my shoulder (or hair, but I have a buzz cut now, poor thing could not get a traction on my head anymore).
He is also an expert forager; I put a few feeding stations for him in his cage. Each station has a different location and a different challenge; crumpled paper, shredded paper, paper cover, palm leaf, empty station (no food) but has cover, beads, and a hanging station. He could solve all of these challenges and get to his food. It amazes me, how smart and strong he is. I felt so proud when he reduced the strong palm leaf into dusts just to get to his pellets. He has this foraging toy that hangs from the roof of his cage and sometimes his pellet is too far away from the edge of this toy and he could not reach it, and you know what he does? He bites the toy, he shakes/vibrates it, and all his pellets moved to the edge and he could eat them. Genius!
He also imitates my laugh or TV laughs, or cries. He could not tell the difference. There was one time a character on a TV show was crying, he imitated him, but it sounds like he is laughing, how insensitive. Haha. He imitates my gulping sound, the microwave and the squeaky sound of his cage.
Bad
I love this bird. I love spending time with him, interacting with him, whistling to him and preparing his foraging challenges. But, he also left me longing for more.
Unlike other parrots, he is completely hands off; he steps up for me, he loves perching on me, my shoulder or my finger, but I cannot give him scritches. Not even once. He would move back if I try.
He is not food motivated. I tried training him, for almost a year, with both millet and apple slices. He did not respond to those. He is simply not food motivated enough to do positive reinforcement training with.
He still does not play well with his toys. He really likes bells, but he ignores everything else. I think I have a total of $100 worth of toys that I bought but remain untouch.
Future
I would like to add another bird to my 1 birdie-1 human flock, in around 1 to 2 years time. There is no bird rescue around me, so it is difficult for me to interact with other birds. Apart from watching some birds in the vet office, and the birds owned (not for sale) by the nearby pet store, I have limited real life experience with birds.
I would like to find one that is more hands-on and interactive than my Birb; I would not want a velcro bird like Cocaktoo, but I want a species that would let me give scritches occasionally. Enough to be independent.
Superficially, a species that is larger than my Linnie. It is also a plus if it is a longer lived-species.
About me; I am 27, single, probably not getting married soon, live in apartment, have a stable job (9 to 5/6-ish job), 2 weeks of vacation every year (1 week in summer and 1 week in winter where birdie has to be boarded), and I love parrot (at least the one I have). I have done a lot of readings on the Internet (Avian Avenue), and books on parrots. I would believe I have some experiences with bird/parrot due to my current companionship with Birb.
Here are my potential choices and the cons (I prioritize the cons because I think that is a better criteria than just looking at the pros). I think all these birds have what I am looking for and will provide a good complement to my mellow, hands-off expert forager, Birb.
Senegal/Meyers - Cons: Potentially aggressive to my current bird and may develop 1 person syndrome, since I live alone.
Dusky Conure/Conures in general - Cons: Less than 40 years life span, on record. Could be loud.
Timneh African Grey - Cons: Prone to plucking.
Hahn's Macaw - Cons: Is loud.
So, thoughts, suggestions, debates? Thanks for reading.
I am new here and I have a 3 year old Lineolated Parakeet named Birb. Here are the things I love about him and I have a question at the end. Thanks in advance for reading.
Good
He is a three year old Linnie that I got/rescued from a friend who did not want him anymore. The said friend bought him on an impulse and left him alone in his cage without any social interaction. He came to me fearing hands and toys. Now, he steps up readily for me, he plays with his bell and he flies to my shoulder (or hair, but I have a buzz cut now, poor thing could not get a traction on my head anymore).
He is also an expert forager; I put a few feeding stations for him in his cage. Each station has a different location and a different challenge; crumpled paper, shredded paper, paper cover, palm leaf, empty station (no food) but has cover, beads, and a hanging station. He could solve all of these challenges and get to his food. It amazes me, how smart and strong he is. I felt so proud when he reduced the strong palm leaf into dusts just to get to his pellets. He has this foraging toy that hangs from the roof of his cage and sometimes his pellet is too far away from the edge of this toy and he could not reach it, and you know what he does? He bites the toy, he shakes/vibrates it, and all his pellets moved to the edge and he could eat them. Genius!
He also imitates my laugh or TV laughs, or cries. He could not tell the difference. There was one time a character on a TV show was crying, he imitated him, but it sounds like he is laughing, how insensitive. Haha. He imitates my gulping sound, the microwave and the squeaky sound of his cage.
Bad
I love this bird. I love spending time with him, interacting with him, whistling to him and preparing his foraging challenges. But, he also left me longing for more.
Unlike other parrots, he is completely hands off; he steps up for me, he loves perching on me, my shoulder or my finger, but I cannot give him scritches. Not even once. He would move back if I try.
He is not food motivated. I tried training him, for almost a year, with both millet and apple slices. He did not respond to those. He is simply not food motivated enough to do positive reinforcement training with.
He still does not play well with his toys. He really likes bells, but he ignores everything else. I think I have a total of $100 worth of toys that I bought but remain untouch.
Future
I would like to add another bird to my 1 birdie-1 human flock, in around 1 to 2 years time. There is no bird rescue around me, so it is difficult for me to interact with other birds. Apart from watching some birds in the vet office, and the birds owned (not for sale) by the nearby pet store, I have limited real life experience with birds.
I would like to find one that is more hands-on and interactive than my Birb; I would not want a velcro bird like Cocaktoo, but I want a species that would let me give scritches occasionally. Enough to be independent.
Superficially, a species that is larger than my Linnie. It is also a plus if it is a longer lived-species.
About me; I am 27, single, probably not getting married soon, live in apartment, have a stable job (9 to 5/6-ish job), 2 weeks of vacation every year (1 week in summer and 1 week in winter where birdie has to be boarded), and I love parrot (at least the one I have). I have done a lot of readings on the Internet (Avian Avenue), and books on parrots. I would believe I have some experiences with bird/parrot due to my current companionship with Birb.
Here are my potential choices and the cons (I prioritize the cons because I think that is a better criteria than just looking at the pros). I think all these birds have what I am looking for and will provide a good complement to my mellow, hands-off expert forager, Birb.
Senegal/Meyers - Cons: Potentially aggressive to my current bird and may develop 1 person syndrome, since I live alone.
Dusky Conure/Conures in general - Cons: Less than 40 years life span, on record. Could be loud.
Timneh African Grey - Cons: Prone to plucking.
Hahn's Macaw - Cons: Is loud.
So, thoughts, suggestions, debates? Thanks for reading.