Rb2 help

[Nancy B]

My Freddy was stepping up and very cuddly for about 3 weeks. Then all of a sudden that stopped and he now interacts with Joe (his favored person) very little, dropping to the floor and exploring, which is fine, his habits are changing. With me interactions have stopped cold turkey and will not come near me. In fact when he sees me, he scoots as far as he can away from me. This has been going on about a week, my work schedule had changed to mostly nights and am not sure if he's not pleased about that, or if it's the way I handle him, or moulting (which he is), or hormones....gosh it could be anything! I really am thrown off by this. I tried to start some target training but he won't even take a treat from me. He looks more annoyed than anything .

 

[faislaq]

He's probably just exploring w/ maybe a little hormones thrown in. I'm sure he'll come around again. What is Freddy's history? Anything from the 7 years before he came to you? Exploring so freely may be new and novel to him. Are you always the one who puts him in his cage? He might not want the fun to stop.

 

[JLcribber]

And the fun begins. The honeymoon is over.

“Change” Of any kind will always throw a wrench into things. That’s why consistency and routine are truly the secret to some harmony. Change is unavoidable sometimes. So you adapt and move on.

Being independent and not cuddly is a good thing not a bad thing. As long as he’s engaged and happy that’s all that matters.

 

[sunnysmom]

Every day seems to be different with a cockatoo. LOL. I wouldn't worry about it too much. But I agree definitely that routine helps a lot. Elvis and I have the same routine every morning and our morning go very smoothly. Evenings- well.... you never know want the evening will bring with him because I can't really structure our evenings as well. And it could be the molt/hormone thing too.

 

[Nancy B]

He's acting very different but he's not aggressive, seems happy, chirps, will do his calls with me, but just hasn't wanted to step up. So I just say ok, walk away, talk to him, ect. Still spend time but I don't try to force anything. This is why as soon as I saw him being non compliant I stopped.

 

[faislaq]

If he's still doing his calls with you, maybe you can whistle and sing with him as you go about your day? That way you're still interacting with him obliquely. Scotty wants nothing to do with us, never has, but loves to get his groove on when we whistle and bob our heads with him.

 

[Monica]

If he wont take treats from you, that's okay! Give him some designated treat cups that you can drop the treats in instead and any time you walk by, set the treat down for him to enjoy! It can help.

 

[Nancy B]

If he's still doing his calls with you, maybe you can whistle and sing with him as you go about your day? That way you're still interacting with him obliquely. Scotty wants nothing to do with us, never has, but loves to get his groove on when we whistle and bob our heads with him.

Haha! That reminded me. He loves the children's song "If you're happy and you know it." I sing it with his name in it and he chirps when there's a pause. I started doing that upon reading this and he started scooting closer to me chirping in the pauses lol. He may miss things we used to do. Before he became interactive I would sit here with him, sing, get him to do his calls, get him to play with his paper rings. Naturally that changed when he started moving around the house. Really wondering if he misses the old stuff.

 

[Nancy B]

He's probably just exploring w/ maybe a little hormones thrown in. I'm sure he'll come around again. What is Freddy's history? Anything from the 7 years before he came to you? Exploring so freely may be new and novel to him. Are you always the one who puts him in his cage? He might not want the fun to stop.

Hey grew up in the pet store my friend owns. He sells very few birds anymore, and won't sell them to people unless he is certain the bird will be in good hands. For this reason he sells just a few. So Freddy spent the first 7 years of his life in a pet store, so I know exploring surroundings is very new to him. He's out of his cage about 8 hrs a day or more, no I'm not the only one who puts him in his cage. Right now he's napping on his cage top. It's also gloomy here so hello that could be it too lol. Sigh....It's probably not the end of the world, just miss my interactive Freddy. I guess he spoiled US with all his attention.

 

[JLcribber]

It's probably not the end of the world, just miss my interactive Freddy. I guess he spoiled US with all his attention.

Remember that in a month or whenever when things are the opposite/different again. It's a journey.

 

[Nancy B]

Well I guess Freddy is not mad at me after all. He was so playful last night more than we've ever seen. He was running around on the couch, he made Joe nervous so he covered his face with a throw. Omg! Freddy started crawling up Joe's leg towards his head (he was lying on the couch) at one point Joe peeked out of the blanket, said AAAHHH then covered over Freddy was so happy when he found him! Meanwhile I had my feet up in the recliner chair when he started crawling towards me, checking out why my foot was in the air. I started peek at boo with my foot. He started bobbing, screeching, swaying side to side, hanging off the couch to find my foot! These little games continued over an hour! Of course we didn't get near him after hide & seek, he had to calm down. What a riot, we didn't watch any tv! Freddy's too cute. I picked up some books today to better understand body language and simple games parrots like to play. I found out the hide & seek I taught Rascal many years ago is something parrots like. I didn't realize it at the time!

 

[Icey]

I was following your story and I am glad to hear how interactive Freddy was with you both.
I think they all go through stages.
One day Frankie won't bother with me, so fine, I accept it, then the next day he's bobbing up and down wanting scratches and fun.
Like us, they have their moods too.
Some days they just want to be left alone and as hard as it is, we have to accept it.
It doesn't mean they hate us, they just want some "alone time"

So happy for you

 

[Nancy B]

I was following your story and I am glad to hear how interactive Freddy was with you both.
I think they all go through stages.
One day Frankie won't bother with me, so fine, I accept it, then the next day he's bobbing up and down wanting scratches and fun.
Like us, they have their moods too.
Some days they just want to be left alone and as hard as it is, we have to accept it.
It doesn't mean they hate us, they just want some "alone time"

So happy for you

That's fine with me, the panic for me was hoping I didn't do something to upset him to the point of him avoiding me. It's actually good he's ok with alone time. That's healthy. He's actually closer to his old self today. I'm so glad!

 

[Shinobi]

Well I guess Freddy is not mad at me after all. He was so playful last night more than we've ever seen. He was running around on the couch, he made Joe nervous so he covered his face with a throw. Omg! Freddy started crawling up Joe's leg towards his head (he was lying on the couch) at one point Joe peeked out of the blanket, said AAAHHH then covered over Freddy was so happy when he found him! Meanwhile I had my feet up in the recliner chair when he started crawling towards me, checking out why my foot was in the air. I started peek at boo with my foot. He started bobbing, screeching, swaying side to side, hanging off the couch to find my foot! These little games continued over an hour! Of course we didn't get near him after hide & seek, he had to calm down. What a riot, we didn't watch any tv! Freddy's too cute. I picked up some books today to better understand body language and simple games parrots like to play. I found out the hide & seek I taught Rascal many years ago is something parrots like. I didn't realize it at the time!

I think Freddy had decided that he now knew you and joe well enough and feel that he need to explore his new home, with that done it's now playtime.

 

[Nancy B]

Yup just starting to figure out exactly that.