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Ummm, hi!

frostilicus

Checking out the neighborhood
Joined
4/20/17
Messages
2
Real Name
Brian
I'm new here, in case you couldn't tell.

I'm Brian, live in Texas, and am currently working on convincing an abused (cinnamon?) green-cheeked conure I'm one of the good guys. Not much else to say.... Uh.... Software engineer, had a yellow-collared macaw when I was young and thought I'd be fine adopting a bird (not that we're having issues or anything, it's just a long road for the little dude and I). Enough about me, though.... I guess maybe I should talk about him, right?

His name's Sheldon. Thought about changing his name but I decided it'd be easiest on everyone if we didn't. Scared of everything (quite literally). I bought a new cage for him the day he moved in, as well as a bunch of toys (some small, some large, ropes, ladders, popsicle sticks, wood blocks, bells, and so on), two "tree branch" perches, etc. Until recently, I've had to lure him on/around anything new with food (his favourites are raspberries and safflower seeds) multiple times before he would be comfortable enough to explore on his own.
He doesn't like to fly (hasn't had his wings clipped for a very long time - I know this because his toenails were also unclipped to the extent of almost curling back to his toes) and will only do so when scared or when he reeeeeeally wants to hang out with someone (extremely rare, and only started just recently). Also, this toenail bit means he's uncomfortable with clothes. He's gone so long having issues standing/walking on clothes (let alone carpet!) that he just won't try and seems scared - almost as if he saw his the difficulty in removing his feet from things as those objects attacking him.
He's pretty hand shy, and will happily draw blood if it means the hand isn't around anymore, but he's gotten to be fine with hands when there's food in question. If he is in a mood, though, he'll reach around the food and bite your fingers. As far as bites go, he's only drawn blood in (this) house three times - once when he was moving in and didn't like the way his foster-parent was handling him (toenail issues + towel = deathtrap!), and twice when someone tried to get him to step up without a treat. He has bitten other times, and his punishment has been basically consisting of him in his cage, door closed, and any human in the room either ignoring him or leaving for a brief amount of time.

Over the past four months, he's gone from overtly afraid of everyone and everything to afraid of a lot of things. It's been a lot of work, but now he climbs out of his cage, onto his training perch, around toward the desk (he still mostly sticks to "Sheldon's" things unless he flies - again, very rare). In fact, the main thing he actively flees from at this point is any perch held in someone's hand (which was the first thing we worked with). He also seems to have decided empty water bottles are his new favourite toy.

I'm kind of getting away from the whole point of this....

Me Brian. Adopted Sheldon. Hi. Nice to meet ya.
 

Just-passn-thru

Biking along the boulevard
Avenue Veteran
Mayor of the Avenue
Joined
1/13/16
Messages
5,546
Location
Southern California
Real Name
Suzanne
Hello, seems your making good progress with Sheldon , hope you can get his nails trimmed, . certainly would help with his ability to walk. possibly would give him some confidence and comfort.
:greet9:
 

Animallover03

Biking along the boulevard
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Iowa
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Audrey
:welcome2:
 

sunnysmom

Ripping up the road
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Pennsylvania
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Michelle
Welcome!
 

Cynthia & Percy

cockatoo mania
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welcome
 

Newbie GCC

Rollerblading along the road
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Joined
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Heather
Howdy, Brian and Sheldon! We are also Texans. Sounds like you are doing a good job with training each other. Just remember, slow and steady wins the race.
 

nu2birds

Rollerblading along the road
Joined
2/24/17
Messages
1,086
Location
Seattle, Washington
Real Name
Kurt
Welcome.......to you and Sheldon. When you have time, some pics would be nice. Would like to see the little rascal.
 

greys4u

Rollerblading along the road
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:hello1: and Thank You for rescuing that baby
 

Tiel Feathers

Joyriding the Neighborhood
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Location
Quincy,CA
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Deanna
:welcomesign: To you and Sheldon!
 

expressmailtome

Ripping up the road
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Matthew
Welcome, and enjoy the site!
 

iamwhoiam

Ripping up the road
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the zoo
Welcome to AA. Thank you for taking Sheldon into your home.
 

Tyrion

Biking along the boulevard
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Oh Canada
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Annette Thompson
:hi::shakehands:
 

zvezdast

Sprinting down the street
Avenue Veteran
Joined
3/27/12
Messages
565
Welcome to AA, from another Texan (and SW engineer!)
Looking forward to hearing more stores about Sheldon.
Oh, and we love pictures on this forum!
 
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