What ive been told by my pet shop about a senegal...

[Harrybasford]

They have told me that they have found one, that is young, locally bred, ringed, not sure about sexed didnt ask. I live in Spain Tenerife, hard to get birds here, NO bird rescues at all. And they cant get cape parrots. All sounds okay so far but... Despite being young it has been fed by its mother, not hand fed from a baby. I want to atleast get in contact with this breeder to try and handfed his future birds.
So would a bird that is young but had been fed by parents be okay? Better than a rescue anyway?
Or long shot but what about if I got a baby baby from him and syringe fed it myself? I believe there is uncertainty as to whether it is benefician or not, no?

Please help me out here,
And sorry for all the posts, but not much has been going on the boards lately

 

[Harrybasford]

Called them back, its 4/5 months old, not all that hand tame, raised by its parents, sex unknown. And he rarely breeds them. This is about the only opportunity it looks for me. And its 350 euros. Read a bit online. Says they will take time to come around, I have time. Im going to go and see it soo anyway, wish it wasnt like this though. But I am saving it from a caged life over here, I promitse you, the canarians cage their birds the most part. Might go tonight with parents, and my birds. I need to get their nails clipped anyway.

 

[mtdoramike]

It would be possible to tame a wild bird, which for the most part is what you will have. But unless you are willing to take the bites and I mean several and often, I wouldn't bother because it sound to me like this bird hasn't been handled at all. If you go and see it, ask the seller to handle the bird in front of you, if they refuse or show fear then walk away. One of the most painful bites that I have ever received was from a TAME Senegal.

 

[Harrybasford]

Hmm, its not been handles, its fairly young though and i've heard alot of worse stories, this may be the only way to get a senegal on the island
There is loro parque, but they only unload their surplus to pet shops. And no poi

 

[beckybird]

Mtdoramike is right- even tame senegals can be biters. When I went to the bird farm to pick up my handraised senegal (I was on a waiting list), she was hissing and biting my son and I. We decided not to adopt her, but we were told that there were 3 more senegal babies that would be ready to go if we were willing to wait longer. We were given first pick of the 3 birds, and Buzzy was very gentle and personable so we just bit the bullet and waited an extra month for him. A friendly, tame bird is worth the wait... I must admit that Buzzy, even though superfriendly and tame, gets little hyper bursts of energy and can deliver a painful bite!

 

[Karigan]

It will be hard, but they say that even tame birds can go feral after just a few weeks of no contact, and then the owners have to socialize them all over again. I think you could do it if you were willing to put in the time. It took a fairly socialized bird a month to get comfortable with me, so you could be looking at an increadably slow introduction process. Heck, you may not be able to pick it up for a month, depending on how it views people.

 

[suebee]

good luck an look into every possibility and pro's an con's and remember its a 30yr commitment, should you take it, for better or worse lol

if it never steps up for you, would you be happy with that?

 

[roxynoodle]

Well, if the bird never steps up for you, you will have problems taking it to the vet, and possibly even cleaning it's cage. To take it to the vet, you will have to chase and catch it in a towel. And they do poop on the bars, lower perches and toys. You want to be able to either put your hands in the cage to do the cleaning, or remove the bird from the cage to do it.

I would try to wait for either a hand tamed baby or a nice, tame bird that needs a new home. I found a wonderful Amazon nearly 4 weeks ago by being patient in looking for a new bird to adopt.

Handfeeding yourself can be difficult if you aren't experienced. You could harm your baby doing it wrong.

 

[Harrybasford]

As an update: http://www.parrotforums.com/poicephalus/15034-my-new-senegal-parrot-lucy.html#post112789

 

[cockatielfan17]

u must train it urself if they can teach it to step up