Untame parrot got stuck in awful food dish holder

[Known Space]

I got my beautiful, beautiful, still untame pionus on Friday. He's housed in a temporary cage for quanrantine until test results come back. Should be by Friday.

The cage, I learned, is awful.

I happily noticed that he was ALREADY EATING HIS PELLETS. THE ONES MY PARROTLET EATS, WHICH ARE TINY. Which made me happy. I removed the food dish from the cage, and went to the kitchen to grab a nutri-berry. When I was back, I saw my poor little pionus got completely stuck in the holding mechanism of the dish. Essentially, it's basically just bars, spaced 3 inches apart to hold up the dishes. I didn't even think of how DANGEROUS that is until I saw him stuck in there. I felt stupid.

Poor guy is fine: I grabbed a towel, grabbed him, and gently undid his wing from the mechanism. I closed the cage and left him alone for 30 minutes. I came back later to see if his posture had changed or his wings began to droop. But no, he's fine.

I was upset the rest of night. Especially when I noticed he was afraid of my hand again. In my panic, I didn't use the towel to blind him so that he couldn't see my hand releasing him from the dish holder.

I've been trying to tame him for days by getting my hand closer to him. It's been going well, he stopped panicing and he occasionally sat closer to me, facing me and just observing me, as I was getting my hand closer to him. If he was getting uncomfortable, I stopped. But now that this happened, he's more afraid of my hands than ever.

I feel like I've ruined our relationship forever and that I have to start from square one. What am I to do now? Just start from the beginning?

No worries, I removed the mechanism and replaced it with more conventional food dishes.

 

[zoo mom]

So sorry that happened. Yes just start back at the beginning.

 

[Birdbabe]

Yes. Just start over, you had to free him, be was scared as were you. You've had him 4 days, everything is new and scary...time and patience ..

 

[Known Space]

A part of me is just afraid that this will do permanent damage or that he won't forget this and will gravitate to other people he won't have had these experiences with. I think I'm still somewhat paniced.

 

[Lodah]

A day to us is only seconds for a fid! A month to us is only days! Their pace... not the same as ours!

 

[iamwhoiam]

Good that your Pi is OK and you were there to help him.

 

[Feathered up]

You haven’t ruined anything. Just be patient and he’ll come back around. I’m glad he wasn’t severely injured. You’re a good fid Mom!

 

[finchly]

I would be upset too but — focus on the good part. You were able to save your baby!

 

[Known Space]

So, he managed to escape out of the cage TWICE now because the door is huge and... so many other reasons I just don't want to get into now. The solution to one problem created another. I just toweled him, grabbed him around the neck and stayed calm. I haven't had nearly as much drama with my parrotlet ever.

So I've decided to stop trying to tame him until he's in his permanent cage in a few days. The current one makes him feel cornered now that he's had these bad experiences. And it's not worth doing at this moment. When he's here, and he has more room to sit, I can tame him without him feeling like it's forced.

 

[finchly]

One thing I've tried is hanging a dish towel with clothes pins over the doorway while I open it. They are less likely to push through,and you can put your hand in and do what you need to.

 

[Nancy B]

I had my Freddy rb2 since the first week of December. I can't tell you how many times we have STARTED OVER! NOT FUN, but I think it's part of us getting to know our feathered babies. Whenever we do something to spook him directly it's 6-12 weeks without him coming in contact with us at all! The last time I spooked him he ran on the floor back to his cage, and climbed back onto the cage top. He wouldn't have anything to do with me. Frustrated at myself I sat down on the stairs next to his cage and started crying! I heard noises and when I looked up he was running back and forth on his cage top, then he stopped and lifted his paw! I extended my hand and he hopped right up for me. He knew I was upset! Right away he did his cuddles and got lots of kisses. And he licked where the tears were on my face. Some people think they don't understand, but they most certainly do!

 

[rocky'smom]

JMHO, don't stop trying to work with him. Try this in small Ziploc baggie, keep his favorite treats like nutriberries. Every time you pass the cage, call his name show him the treat, put it in his dish thru the bars. Don't watch to see if he eats it, just give the treat, walk away. Pretty soon he will come to the bars just to see if you have his treat.

 

[Dartman]

Just let him kick back and observe everything for a while, it's what they do to get to know their new home and flock. Do things somewhat close by and eventually he'll get curious and want to see what you're doing. Treats are great bribes even if you just let him see you put it in his dish. He'll eventually decide your OK in his own time and hopefully eventually you'll be his chosen one and his friend for the rest of his life.