Thea'sPapa
Moving in
- Joined
- 8/28/14
- Messages
- 7
Hi all,
I am new to the forum and a new parent to a Maxi Poinus hen that is a few months old. I had a cockatiel for about 18 years until it passed away, and then had a male Senegal parrot for six years until I decided to rehome him. I gave the Senegal my best effort, but he made clear that he only liked to be with women, and he mostly liked to sit on his cage and look out the window. He was very gentle and did not bite, but if anyone picked him up from his cage and walked off with him, he flew right back to the cage. I reached the point where I thought this was not the right home for him. Anyhow, the Senegal now lives with a woman who dotes on him, and he flies off his cage to be with her, so that is a happy situation.
Our kids, ages 12 and 9, wanted to get a new bird, and after a good deal of research we decided to take the plunge and get a baby pi. We are in Washington DC and there are no pi breeders within driving distance so we had to get a baby sight unseen from a breeder in North Carolina who has a good reputation. Thea arrived via Delta cargo last week and is settling into her new home nicely. She knew how to step up from finger to finger when she arrived, but would not step up from perch to finger or from the ground to finger. After a few days of training she is going from perch to finger but we are still working on ground to finger.
Thea is a very sweet bird. She makes cute sounds and for some reason is doing a lot of bowing (this is not lowering her head to be petted, but an up and down bowing). She likes to walk around the floor and explore things, and seems to be very playful. I am sure her personality will continue to emerge as she becomes more comfortable in her new home.
I read a few other threads on this forum about pi biting incidents and they left me a little concerned. Despite having read them, I have decided that I want to let Thea perch on my shoulder, even though it makes it difficult to maintain eye contact with her. I was wondering if the veteran pi owners could describe the warning signs for an impending bite. With my Senegal, you could see his eyes pinning very noticeably, and he would strut along the top of his cage in an uncharacteristic way. I was unfamiliar with the hormonal changes that male parrots experience in the springtime, but I quickly learned from a nasty bite that that was not the time to pick him up. Thea is female, and hopefully will not become quite as aggressive as a male once she reaches sexual maturity, but when I look at her (very large) eyes, the irises do not seem to be much lighter than the pupils, so I wonder if I would notice any eye pinning. If it is not eye pinning, what are the warning signs of a pi bite?
I am new to the forum and a new parent to a Maxi Poinus hen that is a few months old. I had a cockatiel for about 18 years until it passed away, and then had a male Senegal parrot for six years until I decided to rehome him. I gave the Senegal my best effort, but he made clear that he only liked to be with women, and he mostly liked to sit on his cage and look out the window. He was very gentle and did not bite, but if anyone picked him up from his cage and walked off with him, he flew right back to the cage. I reached the point where I thought this was not the right home for him. Anyhow, the Senegal now lives with a woman who dotes on him, and he flies off his cage to be with her, so that is a happy situation.
Our kids, ages 12 and 9, wanted to get a new bird, and after a good deal of research we decided to take the plunge and get a baby pi. We are in Washington DC and there are no pi breeders within driving distance so we had to get a baby sight unseen from a breeder in North Carolina who has a good reputation. Thea arrived via Delta cargo last week and is settling into her new home nicely. She knew how to step up from finger to finger when she arrived, but would not step up from perch to finger or from the ground to finger. After a few days of training she is going from perch to finger but we are still working on ground to finger.
Thea is a very sweet bird. She makes cute sounds and for some reason is doing a lot of bowing (this is not lowering her head to be petted, but an up and down bowing). She likes to walk around the floor and explore things, and seems to be very playful. I am sure her personality will continue to emerge as she becomes more comfortable in her new home.
I read a few other threads on this forum about pi biting incidents and they left me a little concerned. Despite having read them, I have decided that I want to let Thea perch on my shoulder, even though it makes it difficult to maintain eye contact with her. I was wondering if the veteran pi owners could describe the warning signs for an impending bite. With my Senegal, you could see his eyes pinning very noticeably, and he would strut along the top of his cage in an uncharacteristic way. I was unfamiliar with the hormonal changes that male parrots experience in the springtime, but I quickly learned from a nasty bite that that was not the time to pick him up. Thea is female, and hopefully will not become quite as aggressive as a male once she reaches sexual maturity, but when I look at her (very large) eyes, the irises do not seem to be much lighter than the pupils, so I wonder if I would notice any eye pinning. If it is not eye pinning, what are the warning signs of a pi bite?
