Help me help this baby

[sunnysmom]

Elvis and Pebbles have a lot of the same phobias. Lol. It took over a month before I could get Elvis to bathe. Terrible, I know but nothing was working. I just kept showing him the spray bottle, and would spray my hand with it and make it seem fun. I would then give him a quick mist. If he ran, I stopped. We did this for what seemed like forever until one day he decided that getting misted was fun. I really didn't think he was "dirty" but wow did his feathers look so much whiter after his first bath. Even now, it's hit or miss with him. Some days he'll will let me mist him and some days he won't. Silly too. LOL.

 

[JLcribber]

She has started eating her chop, and she is even eating some pellets if I soak them a little. Our biggest problem right now is bathing. She is terrified of mister, and bowl, does anyone have any bathing ideas. She won't get on my shoulder unless food is present and will start nipping if you get her too far from her cage, so shower is out. Any thoughts on this would be helpful. Also, she is going to need a bigger cage than what I have, I had to make due with what I had on short notice. What is the best style. Tall, bigger side to side, play top, or dome top?

Bathing is way down the list when compared to the stress of being squirted when you can bet good money that at some point in the past that tool was used to punish the bird. A lot of birds DO NOT get over that and to push the issue is only going to backfire. If a bird only gets wet once every couple of weeks that's perfectly fine. They do not have to bathe everyday. That's just nonsense.

She will need to discover the joy of bathing in other ways. A very large clear glass casserole dish for example with 2 inches of water in it. Again as with anything new, exposure first (for a week). No demands. Not threatening. Just there. Then you get down on the floor and start playing in that water (fingers, laughing). She will at least investigate.

Try running a vacuum cleaner or hairdryer while the dish is out. There something about that noise that gets them going.

 

[Alien J]

let her see you "play" in and around the mist.

This methodology has worked well in just about all areas with TD and I. To convince TD to try new foods I eat some of whatever it is in front of TD. I make a big deal about how yummy it is. Then I ask, "Try some?". I did as @cassiesdad suggested to you with the misting. Spray it up so it falls down on my head, all the while making a bit of a fool of myself, laughing and whistling. Now, when TD sees the sprayer, he/she flies right to my head. Downside to that is that I have to mist my head along with TD!

 

[finchly]

Downside to that is that I have to mist my head along with TD!

Oh boy. My hair would curl all up. Oh wait, I usually have a bird in it anyway .And yesterday Rio regurgitated for me from a spot over my head, it went everywhere. OK maybe misting is not such a bad thing.

 

[Alien J]

And yesterday Rio regurgitated for me from a spot over my head, it went everywhere. OK maybe misting is not such a bad thing.

Oh, how I know about the curly hair frizzies! And now that I am a bird slave, I no longer use any chemical products. Wasn't too hard... I was already making my own shampoo and conditioner. Both only have two ingredients, one of which is water!

 

[cathybill7]

I believe JLcribber might be right in this case. I've tried spraying myself acting a fool with my frizzy hair also, but she just stays hidden. I do believe she was sprayed as punishment, therefore I will keep working with the dish. She will at least look at that with curiosity. The terror she shows with perches and spray bottles, breaks my heart. She will just crawl behind her cage and hide. She chewed her dowel perch in half and I had to replace it with a screw on natural branch, and the first night she slept in her food bowl. It wasn't until the next day she would even get on it. I have a cement perch up higher, and she won't even get on it to sleep. I put it there as her nails are so sharp at this point. The only time she acts really happy or excited, is when food is present. I think that may have been the only interaction she got. When I get close to her while she's on her play top, she will put her head down, and let me scratch her head, but won't step up. For now I am just letting her move at her pace until she can see none of us are going to hurt her.

 

[Alien J]

I do believe she was sprayed as punishment,

I cry just thinking about any and all of the creatures being hurt, tortured, neglected and exploited by the supposedly smartest, most civilized species...humans, who, IMO, for the most part, suck.

My TD was abused as well. From hatch day till his/her 20th day, when I took him from his abusers. I think, because TD was still so young, I'm not having the types of issues you are facing... though I do have those types of issues with my dog, Dusty.

 

[faislaq]

Since she's food motivated you could try hanging food on a skewer above the cement perch. I know when Buzzard's nails cut into my arm I started giving him treats only when he stepped onto his pumice perch and then dancing side to side so he'd step side to side on it to file them. After a day or so I didn't bleed anymore wen he stepped up. Within the week, they were smooth again. Whew!


Luckily he's not afraid of the mister, but he's not thrilled with it, each time I start misting him. I have to spray the air over my head, say, "whoo-whoo!" and head bob & dance a couple of times before he'll join in.

Scotty runs from the mister, but will usually get the urge to bathe in his water bowl when I vacuum like @JLcribber said. Sometimes Harley will, too. Unlike these "unfortunate" members whose hair actually has some kind of curl, I don't own a hair dryer so I can't vouch for how effective that is, but do make sure it's a Teflon free hair dryer if you try that. (I never knew they had Teflon before reading it on this site!)

 

[cathybill7]

She is food motivated. She watches me closely anytime I go in the kitchen to see it I am getting into the cabinet I keep the bird food and treats in. LOL I'll try the skewer thing. I find it odd she doesn't go to it at night, as it is the highest perch in her cage. She acts as if she has never had multiple perches. She stares at it like it is an enemy and stays on the low middle perch.

 

[cassiesdad]

She acts as if she has never had multiple perches. She stares at it like it is an enemy and stays on the low middle perch.

When Milton needs a new perch- which doesn't happen often, thank goodness- he reacts to it in much the same way. It takes a full week or more for him to get used to the new intruder in the cage...

 

[faislaq]

I'd have thought he'd just tell it off.

 

[cassiesdad]

I'd have thought he'd just tell it off.

Close...he just starts chewing on the perch...

 

[finchly]

She is food motivated. She watches me closely anytime I go in the kitchen to see it I am getting into the cabinet I keep the bird food and treats in. LOL I'll try the skewer thing. I find it odd she doesn't go to it at night, as it is the highest perch in her cage. She acts as if she has never had multiple perches. She stares at it like it is an enemy and stays on the low middle perch.

She sounds a lot like Ernie was in the beginning. The first time we rearranged his cage, he went to the floor and sat for 24 hr. I thought he was dying. LOL (not really funny at the time) He also stayed on that middle perch...wish I'd kept a diary... it was at least 6 months or a year.

Over time she'll do better and better.

 

[cathybill7]

She chewed her main perch in half the other night, and all I had was a bolt on perch to replace it. She slept all night on the food bowl, but started getting on the next day. Sad part was she was standing on the one she chewed in half. Needless to say, that did not end well but she wasn't hurt. She has quite the little personality. She says hello and Pebbles, although it is hard to tell which is which sometimes. She says Aflack very clearly. When my grand baby cries, she'll look at him and say Aflack. When she wants to drink out of my glass and I don't oblige, she goes into a tirade of biblical proportions. You can tell she is yelling actual words, but you can't understand anything she is saying. When I get out of her sight, she yells What ya doin'. I usually yell back and tell her what I'm doing then ask what she's doing. Zeus our Macaw just looks on in disdain. Even though he loves my husband and not me, he is a bit jealous I think. I'm giving him extra attention, but I definitely keep a close eye on him. To make it worse, Pebbles will get to the top of her cage looking across the room at him and yell hello to him which seems to aggravate him more. Sometimes around my house it is a little like the patients are running the asylum.

 

[finchly]

She says Aflack very clearly. When my grand baby cries, she'll look at him and say Aflack.

 

[faislaq]

It's probably a good thing you can't understand the words when she's mad.

And it sounds like somebody's blue & gold is turning a little green with envy!

 

[cathybill7]

I think Zeus might actually be a bit jealous, but the funny part is he won't even let me pet him. In his opinion, I am just his cook, maid, and a vehicle for getting outside. LOL

 

[faislaq]

How dare my human wait on someone else!

 

[faislaq]

You said she won't let you take her far enough from her cage to try a shower, but she watches when you're in the kitchen. Will she let you take her into the kitchen? There *might* be some yummy food on a people plate & some nice chamomile tea in a mug for her.... And maybe while she's eating & drinking you could turn on the faucet to rinse your hands. If the sound of the faucet doesn't scare her, you can put a towel or washcloth on the divider of the sink so it's not slippery & she may decide to investigate the water. At first Pistschio would only edge in close enough for a quick drink, but eventually grew to love sink baths so much we couldn't turn on the faucet without him squawking so much all of the birds chimed in. So what if your entire kitchen gets wet, too. I just figure I'm probably due to wipe down the cabinets and walls anyway. And that was just my little green cheek, I can't imagine what a G2 could do!

 

[cathybill7]

My green cheek does that too. I will give it a try and see.