A few questions about T-Rex

[SnapV]

Hello everyone!

It’s now been 5 days that we have T-Rex and I have a few questions as to how we should proceed with him

So far, he doesn’t really want to step up but is not afraid of fingers and hands and let us scritch him on the neck (gets all fluffy and seems to really enjoy it). He will more willingly step up on a branch though. His cage is in our home office and his java tree stand is in the living room (where we usually eat on the couch) so so far, we have been moving him from the cage to the java tree whenever we are in the living room relaxing or eating. He seems rather comfortable on the perch and in the cage (though he is terribly clumsy still, it’s so funny ).

We have started to train him to step up on our hands by holding a bird cracker and putting the hand we want him to step onto between him and the cracker and saying “up”. He is getting less and less hesitant to do it and whenever he does step up we congratulate him profusely. Do you guys think this is the right way to go about it?

Also, whenever we are in the office, we leave his cage door opened but so far, he has not stepped out of his cage by himself. I’m not even sure he understands that he can get out. What can we do to encourage him to go out of the cage to go play on the playtop, fly to us or around the room? Will it come in time?

Another thing is when he’s on his perch, sometimes he starts to fly around the living room: he doesn’t seem startled just seems to want to explore a bit which is cool. However, he has a lot of trouble with his landings and half the time, instead of landing on something he can actually perch on, he will fall on the floor. Is this normal and is there something we can do to help him learn how to land better after flying?

And a last question (sorry for the wall of text! ) He seems to be eating most of the time we are with him (like hours at a time), is this normal? The breeder said to never limit how much pellets his eats so he has always access to them both in his cage and on his java tree stand but it surprises me how often he will eat.

I should also say that so far, T-Rex has been incredibly silent, only chirping and chattering a bit and he has not bitten anyone yet We really like the little guy!

Thanks a lot for reading this and for any answer you guys might have for me!

 

[Stormcloud]

Birds usually take several weeks to settle in. What else is T-Rex eating other than pellets??? I wouldn't force him to come out of his cage. At this point of time while he's settling in he knows that this space is his and it's safe. Just keep leaving the door open for a set period of time (maybe an hour or so) and then close it again. One day in the not too distant future when he feels settled and secure, he'll want to come out and explore on his own. Just don't rush it. Birds are often clumsy when they're young and it will take him a little time to master landing, but the more he tries the better he will get.

 

[macawpower58]

Enjoy his silence now, he may not always be so quiet! It took my macaw years to really let out a yell, but now that he's decided he likes it, he can really raise the roof!

I'd say you're doing fine, going slowly is the best way, you want trust more than anything. He will come out of his cage in his own time. Don't rush him, the cage is his safe and secure spot.

As long as he is eating I'd not worry. Birds are a forager, which means they pick at stuff all day long if availabe. I'd get a scale if you don't have one, and just watch his weight. As asked above by another, what is his diet like. Most of us feed fresh veggies and fruit, as well as beans, pasta, bird bread, etc.

He sounds like a sweetheart!

 

[SnapV]

Thanks for the answers Just wanted to make sure he'll get less shy with time.

Also should I continue bringing him to his perch in the living room when we are there or should we leave him alone in his cage in the office (which seems lonely to me)? When we bring him to his perch in the living room we have him step up on a branch from inside his cage and then step down on the java tree perch. He seems comfortable on his perch as well as in his cage: he preens, plays with toys and eats his pellets.

As for the food, he always has Tropican pellets available. As well, whenever we eat, we give him some fresh food that we are eating so in the morning one piece of fruit and cereal, at noon raw veggies or sprouts and at dinner cooked veggies and pasta/rice/beans... As well, when we want to encourage a behaviour, we have started giving him pieces of parrot cookies, which he really likes. I would say so far, he really likes the cooked veggies, the pasta/rice, the cereals and the raw veggies. He doesn't seem to want to eat the sprouts and most of the fruits (except bananas). He does eat his pellets really really well. We limit the amount of non-pellet food as the breeder told us he should eat about no more than the size of his head of those foods per day. Does that seem right to you guys?

As for his weight we have been weighing him. At the breeder's on Saturday he weighted 225g. He then dropped to 202g on Monday morning (I guess because of the stress but the vet said that there was nothing to worry about if he was eating well) and then we weighted him yesterday night and he was back to 220g so that seems well.

Do you guys suggest I change anything about his alimentation?

 

[Heather F]

The drop in weight could be partly due to time of day. If you weigh him in the evening after he's been eating all day, he's likely to weigh more than in the morning after his big first poop when all his tanks are empty.

 

[cute_lil_fiend]

I love him! He is so cute.

Not too much more to add except for that in my (very) limited experience with pionus, they do tend to be a bit more shy. However, when he opens up, he will want to be into on the action, you can bet on it.

As for weight, mine was about 210g when I got him, and he vet checked just fine, so I don't think you have anything to worry about.

 

[SnapV]

Thanks everyone I think we're going to be just fine. He's starting to babble more, it's so adorable. We'll give him time for the handling