Hi,
I am new to parrots. We have a Cockatiel that was hand raised that we got about a month ago for my son and he was good from the start with our whole family. The Cockatiel is 4 months old. Never shy, very sociable, and wants to come out and play every day. He will sit on anyone hands, shoulders, or on his perch and play. He loves to interact. Although he is my son's bird, that basically means he just sleeps in his room, he is a family bird.
About a week ago we got a Parrotlet for my daughter.
He is 3.5 months old, hand raised. We got him out of three we could have chosen because of the three he was the most docile, loved sitting on my daughters shoulder, and currently doesn't bite too hard. Our experience with him is quite the opposite of our Cockatiel though. I expected some differences, but I don't know how to properly deal with him and I don't want to create a situation where he resents us.
Basically, we try to take him out and handle him every day. Everyone in the family handles him, with the idea that he gets used to all of us, but...
-He hates coming out of the cage, and we have to grab him and basically pry him out.
-Once out, he tries to go on our shoulder and hide in our clothing or in my wife or daughters hair. Its almost harder to get him out of their hair than the cage.
-He tries to fly off our living room perch, where we have been putting him during the day so he can get used to seeing us and hearing the noises in our house. His wings are clipped though, so he goes to the floor and hides under the couch.
-He runs away from our hands.
-He wont eat anything except a bite or two of millet from our hands, and we basically force it on him.
He seems to be getting worse, which means we are doing something wrong. How do I do this the right way? Raise him to be a well socialized bird that wants to come out and spend time with our family?
I want to try training him with treats, but like I said, he barely takes them. My arm gets tired before he bites, and basically i have to touch it on his beak to the point where he bites it.
Thank you in advance for any help. His name is Rio.
I am new to parrots. We have a Cockatiel that was hand raised that we got about a month ago for my son and he was good from the start with our whole family. The Cockatiel is 4 months old. Never shy, very sociable, and wants to come out and play every day. He will sit on anyone hands, shoulders, or on his perch and play. He loves to interact. Although he is my son's bird, that basically means he just sleeps in his room, he is a family bird.
About a week ago we got a Parrotlet for my daughter.
He is 3.5 months old, hand raised. We got him out of three we could have chosen because of the three he was the most docile, loved sitting on my daughters shoulder, and currently doesn't bite too hard. Our experience with him is quite the opposite of our Cockatiel though. I expected some differences, but I don't know how to properly deal with him and I don't want to create a situation where he resents us.
Basically, we try to take him out and handle him every day. Everyone in the family handles him, with the idea that he gets used to all of us, but...
-He hates coming out of the cage, and we have to grab him and basically pry him out.
-Once out, he tries to go on our shoulder and hide in our clothing or in my wife or daughters hair. Its almost harder to get him out of their hair than the cage.
-He tries to fly off our living room perch, where we have been putting him during the day so he can get used to seeing us and hearing the noises in our house. His wings are clipped though, so he goes to the floor and hides under the couch.
-He runs away from our hands.
-He wont eat anything except a bite or two of millet from our hands, and we basically force it on him.
He seems to be getting worse, which means we are doing something wrong. How do I do this the right way? Raise him to be a well socialized bird that wants to come out and spend time with our family?
I want to try training him with treats, but like I said, he barely takes them. My arm gets tired before he bites, and basically i have to touch it on his beak to the point where he bites it.
Thank you in advance for any help. His name is Rio.