What to look for in a rescue amazon?

[baserock love]

Thanks. I'm glad i'm not the only person appalled by this and I'm really embarrassed that I fell for all these people (Including 2 i will meet this weekend) who sold me some song and dance about how their primary concern is for the birds wellbeing and how much they love it etc etc...i'd wager one or both of them are trying to flip a bird off on me that probably got into somebody's hands by conning somebody into thinking it was going to a forever home and changed hands god knows how many times to get to here. I think what's even more disturbing than that is that genuine animal lovers willingly give their pets over to these people as long as they pony up the cash. I GENUINELY had no idea this bird flipping thing was going on to this scale till today.

This woman with the DYH was nearly in tears talking about her african grey that flew away and that they bought the amazon hoping he would fill that void but he didn't get along with their other african grey (whom i could hear in the background.). She probably did love this bird and just dumped him off onto the first person with the cash regardless and now he's just a consumer good.

I'm honestly going to rethink how i approach this. I had a member here offer me two BFA's for free because they genuinely wanted them to have a good home with somebody who had time to work with them and we both agreed one probably wouldn't be a good fit for me and they are a bonded pair and can't be separated. I see a lot of this in the rehome forum here, people who actually care about the bird's well being and that's their motivation. That's the kind of bird I'm looking to adopt, or one from a legit shelter that just needs a home and the money will be put to finding the next bird a good home. There's a difference between a rehome fee and fee.

There's a 24 year old BFA who's supposedly very friendly about a 5 hour round trip away at a 501c3 non profit shelter. He's older than i want idealy but i might make the drive to pay him a visit.

This place seems to do great work and they say he's generally friendly and docile.

 

[Tyrion]

Flipping is and always will be a terrible practice in the animal world ...its sad that our animals are a commodity ...I saw it most in the reptile world but I'm finding its just as bad in the bird world ...most people don't look at birds as part of the family as they do their dogs and cats so it is easier to put a price tag on them and let them go to anyone who will pay it ... and its sad to say but there are some really bad rescues out there that shouldn't be classified as rescues ...you just have to weed through the bad ones till you find some one good or a nice bird that really needs a home ...even if their owner is bad doesn't mean the bird is bad ..it could be a great bird in a bad situation ...sorry you are seeing the rough side of bird buying/selling and I hope you find your special one soon

 

[baserock love]

Flipping is and always will be a terrible practice in the animal world ...its sad that our animals are a commodity ...I saw it most in the reptile world but I'm finding its just as bad in the bird world ...most people don't look at birds as part of the family as they do their dogs and cats so it is easier to put a price tag on them and let them go to anyone who will pay it ... and its sad to say but there are some really bad rescues out there that shouldn't be classified as rescues ...you just have to weed through the bad ones till you find some one good or a nice bird that really needs a home ...even if their owner is bad doesn't mean the bird is bad ..it could be a great bird in a bad situation ...sorry you are seeing the rough side of bird buying/selling and I hope you find your special one soon

I"m embarrassed to say that i spent a whole day cleaning cages at SBAB "rescue" in Houston. It's now so obvious that they're just a bird flipping operation duping people into dumping their birds off on them, terrorizing them and then charging a "rehoming fee" that's only slightly less than the cost of a chick from a breeder often for birds with completely damaged psyches and totally ingrained self mutilation habits from the stress of being in that awful place and the cages that are surrendered with the birds are of course sold at a high price too. There's a whole room full of RUSTY cages 15% smaller than my cage with pricetags 75 bucks more than i paid for my basically brand new 700 dollar cage off craigslist.

 

[baserock love]

Let us know what happens with the birds you visit this weekend. Hope things go well.

It didn't. I checked on two birds, blue front amazons, the DYH at the fake rescue/bird flipping operation meetup didn't go through, she clammed up when i started asking too many questions and not talking about the money i was going to give her.

One of the BFA's was an obvious flip that was being kept in a rabbit cage out on a guys porch, it's bowl filled with sunflower seeds, i'm pretty sure like..salted sunflower seeds. He claimed that it's actual cage was elsewhere that he just put it in this cage to show me here but there was a lot of bird crap under it and stains where it looked like bird crap had been recently scraped off. The picture in the ad i'm pretty sure wasn't the same bird or at least not a recent pic as this one had pretty rough looking feathers, possible mild chest plucking which i haven't even seen on an amazon yet. He said it was pretty friendly that it just takes time to warm up to you but i couldn't get it to take a treat at all let alone interact with it and he wouldn't let me inside the house and said he won't try to take it out because it would fly away and we can't go in the house because the dog will freak it out. There was a dog in the house barking non stop the whole time i was there. it struck me as an excuse for him to not have to prove that this bird trusts him and is used to being handled by him as he claimed. it just looked really scared. Just kept asking me if i want it and seemed really impatient. Said it was a year and a half old but he doesn't have any vet or hatch papers, of course it's in perfect health. He said he had it since it was a baby but he didn't remember which pet shop he got it from :| I asked about the seeds in it's bowls and he just said "I just put those in there to show him to you." the feathers he blamed on molting. This guy just didn't strike me as an animal lover to put it mildly and he didn't seem to know much about birds or taking care of them but pretended he did just nodding and agreeing with me on anything i said. It was basically red flag after red flag after red flag. Ugh, poor thing The ad is suddenly unlisted. Should I call animal control or something? I'm positive he just leaves that bird out on the porch in that cage.

The second one I dunno. I think this guy just got a bird and just doesn't do anything with it and it's just a perch potato, maybe this is a flip also. It looked really fat, and it's cage that looked maybe a tad too small and a bit rusty looked like it hadn't been cleaned in months, the entire bottom of it was covered in feathers and there was a small mountain of crap pretty much all in one place even though it's a non play top cage and he claims it spends all day playing and climbing around on top of the cage. Teh top had virtually no poop on it. This is the guy that claimed he stopped taking it to the vet for nail and beak trimmings like 5 years ago and it's beak and nails did look too long. He claimed the bird was pretty friendly and bonded to him over the phone yet he couldn't get it to step up, it just walked away from him and lunged at him when he pushed it. It wanted nothing to do with either of us at that moment that's for sure. I didn't see any signs around his house that there's ever a parrot walking around, no crap, nothing chewed on, no perches. He was at least feeding it zupreem parrot pellets and he claims he feeds it a chop diet in addition to that but i saw no veggies in it's bowl. He said he'd have papers from his last vet visit which was like 5 years ago and his hatch papers for me to see but couldn't find them when i got there. He looked overweight and not healthy and this guys last BFA he said died after 10 years from him feeding it nothing but bird seed.

I had talked to this guy on the phone numerous times and i thought the 700 dollar rehome fee was reasonable since it came with a bunch of perches toys, food and the cage. I told him i didn't need any of that and i didn't think the cage was even usable. He originally said the fee was for the stuff he's including with the bird but said he wouldn't lower it if i didn't want that stuff which made me think this was probably a flip. I could afford it but I wanted to see what his motivation really was and it seemed like it was just the money despite him insisting earlier he REALLY just wants to make sure he goes to a good home, which means he's lying to me about god knows what else. Again, red flags all over the place. I told him from the get go i might want multiple visits with it and especially now because the bird's personality is totally different than he described over the phone. He seemed really annoyed and basically said to call him if i want to buy the bird and walked me to the door.....this was after he said i could hang out all day to get a feel for him and interact with him.

I hate to say it but i have zero faith that either of these birds are in even remotely decent health or have EVER been handled by people. It just didn't seem right to me so I think i'm going pass :\ I'm not going to rush into this if it doesn't feel right.

 

[rockybird]

That poor first bird! I couldnt have left it there to suffer...

 

[baserock love]

That poor first bird! I couldnt have left it there to suffer...

I called houston animal cruelty crimestoppers and reported the address.
I didn't bring cash that day because I have no intention of simply taking a bird home after meeting it for 5 minutes. Judging from the photos i keep seeing on criagslist...this is REALLY common. i can't help them all I want to adopt a bird and give it a great home but I also want a companion. I just don't think either of these birds are going to make great companions...if they even live past another few years.

I probably don't need to say this here of all places but for the love of god, if you have to rehome a bird and just HAVE to make a buck off him, vet the living hell out of whoever you sell him to. If you don't this is where they end up i'm finding.

 

[melissasparrots]

I would assume that any rescue bird will need vet care. That is the nature of rescue. You are doing a selfless good deed which means you may need to give more to this bird than you anticipate. That said, many younger birds that have been poorly cared for can rebound easily. There aren't any super easy ways to tell. Mostly it involves comparing the bird to an outstanding healthy specimen. My first female yellow nape was a rescue. Her owners loved her and knew what a good diet was, they just didn't have the skills to get her to eat it. She had a lot of black on her green feathers, the tips of her feathers were curled and the skin on her feet was super thick. Sometimes I'll see amazons around with a hard shine on their feathers rather than a natural, healthy gloss. Sometimes feathers that look stringy and poorly groomed can be a health issue. Sometimes its just lack of a bath or some minor feather shredding which may or may not be physical. Also look for overgrown beaks as that is also a sign of liver issues. Regarding the black feathers, many amazon species naturally have some black scalloping on their feathers. So, you'll have to compare to the normal. If I have a hard time telling if a feather is black or dark green, that means trouble.

Also, if you are looking for companion qualities, watch how the bird interacts with the owner and also consider that amazons can sometimes have a strong preference for males or females. If the owner can't handle the bird easily and the bird doesn't seem to enjoy being handled, then you will likely have a challenge. Also, as someone else said, male napes, double yellows and blue fronts can be a significantly greater challenge than the girls.

 

[Clueless]

I didn't think amazons plucked either, but then I met a couple of Amazons recently with chest plucking.....they were both stressed from moving to a new place.

My best buddy, MC, would have been passed up based on your requirements. I'm so very thankful I took him in. Amazons are awesome. Secret is contrary as all get out....but I returned home last night from 4 days away and after giving me the pin eye, eat you alive, flare every feather to the nines, who are you looks.....the bird went down the cage to the corner and looked at me. Yes, I went to provide skritches.

Don't give up on these poor dudes, they need love too....probably more than the others you will encounter.

 

[baserock love]

I would assume that any rescue bird will need vet care. That is the nature of rescue. You are doing a selfless good deed which means you may need to give more to this bird than you anticipate. That said, many younger birds that have been poorly cared for can rebound easily. There aren't any super easy ways to tell. Mostly it involves comparing the bird to an outstanding healthy specimen. My first female yellow nape was a rescue. Her owners loved her and knew what a good diet was, they just didn't have the skills to get her to eat it. She had a lot of black on her green feathers, the tips of her feathers were curled and the skin on her feet was super thick. Sometimes I'll see amazons around with a hard shine on their feathers rather than a natural, healthy gloss. Sometimes feathers that look stringy and poorly groomed can be a health issue. Sometimes its just lack of a bath or some minor feather shredding which may or may not be physical. Also look for overgrown beaks as that is also a sign of liver issues. Regarding the black feathers, many amazon species naturally have some black scalloping on their feathers. So, you'll have to compare to the normal. If I have a hard time telling if a feather is black or dark green, that means trouble.

Also, if you are looking for companion qualities, watch how the bird interacts with the owner and also consider that amazons can sometimes have a strong preference for males or females. If the owner can't handle the bird easily and the bird doesn't seem to enjoy being handled, then you will likely have a challenge. Also, as someone else said, male napes, double yellows and blue fronts can be a significantly greater challenge than the girls.

Well the biggest part of the problem was the fact that it was obvious the owners were lying to me about so many things and that both birds had been neglected for god knows how long. If you believe the people selling them, every bird on craigslist is 1 to 4 years old and in perfect health. The second bird the guy said he'd have the most recent vet papers and his hatch papers but surprise surprise, they vanished and he couldn't find them. The first bird the guy said he couldn't remember what pet store he got him at but he was unbanded. He said he didn't have a band. For all i know that was a wild caught bird in it's 30's that had never been handled by a human. Both the owners claimed the birds had been dna sexed but couldn't prove it. Both owners said their birds were friendly but weary of strangers yet neither could or would handle them.

The ferret I owned before my last one got cancer. I shelled out 4000 dollars for two operations and medication on him and I was happy to do it, it was hard but i did it and it still didn't save him. I was happy to do that because I had raised him and we had a great bond, he was my buddy who literally went everywhere with me. It might seem messed up but I just don't want to be stuck with an unending parade of vet bills on a bird that i possibly might never be able to handle that's potentially at the end of it's life due to neglect. I need to know at least something about it and have SOME sort of rapport with it before I take it home. I wish i could save em all but i can't.

I'm happy to work with a bird, i plan to no matter what it's temperament is and I fully plan to take it to a vet and get it treated if it needs it right after I get it but I don't want to spend this money on a potential companion unless i have any reason to believe he's going to be around for awhile.

I've heard about males being a bigger challenge. I"ve been trying to get as many experiences from people on their amazons as possible and it seems that the people who have more time to work with their birds who have more one on one time with them have the better relationships with them regardless of sex so I'm just going to take it on a bird by bird basis and like you said see how it interacts with it's owner and of course with me. Thanks for the advice about everything though! I really appreciate it.

I'm not rushing into this. I'm still in the preliminary search, heck all of the stuff i ordered for the cage hasn't even arrived yet and If i'm going to pay a "rehoming fee" in the 700 to 750 dollar range I need to save a little more now that I just blew 500 bucks on a bird cage and stuff to put in it and around the house. I was set when I had pretty much a done deal on adopting a BFA that came with everything for 500 but that fell through. Most of these craigslist birds come with their own cage, toys and everything.

 

[Clueless]

For what it's worth, both of mine are DNA males, blue front amazons.

 

[rockybird]

THeres no guarantee that any bird you buy, even a healthy baby from a breeder, will not wrack up vet bills. You have to be prepared for this. My healthy caique hurt himself a few months ago. I paid around 1600 in vet bills for what turned out to be a soft tissue injury that he completely healed from. My healthy parakeet developed a respiratory infection a couple weeks ago, which cost over $500 in vet bills. On the other hand, my little rehomed green cheek, severely malnourished, almost naked with few feathers, kept in a tiny cage by the previous owners, only cost the standard vet checkup and blood work fees and has been healthy since. My nanday conure, who was weak from confinement in a small cage, with a broken wing, cost a little more, but that is only because I pursued evaluating the broken wing out of curiosity as to how bad it was, even though the vet said there was nothing we could do.

Both of my rehomed birds, who lived in suboptimal conditions are the best pets. This is despite being told one of them was "mean." They are sweet and affectionate. They have never bitten. I did not view either of these birds before agreeing to purchase them. I saw their condition on craigslist and knew I had step in. I negotiated a price over text, met the owners at a mutual place, and took possession of the birds. One of them is snuggled up purring while I type this and the other is running around "exploring." With parrots, you just never know what you are going to get. I feel very fortunate that I can give these two little sweet rascals a home.

 

[baserock love]

THeres no guarantee that any bird you buy, even a healthy baby from a breeder, will not wrack up vet bills. You have to be prepared for this. My healthy caique hurt himself a few months ago. I paid around 1600 in vet bills for what turned out to be a soft tissue injury that he completely healed from. My healthy parakeet developed a respiratory infection a couple weeks ago, which cost over $500 in vet bills. On the other hand, my little rehomed green cheek, severely malnourished, almost naked with few feathers, kept in a tiny cage by the previous owners, only cost the standard vet checkup and blood work fees and has been healthy since. My nanday conure, who was weak from confinement in a small cage, with a broken wing, cost a little more, but that is only because I pursued evaluating the broken wing out of curiosity as to how bad it was, even though the vet said there was nothing we could do.

Both of my rehomed birds, who lived in suboptimal conditions are the best pets. This is despite being told one of them was "mean." They are sweet and affectionate. They have never bitten. I did not view either of these birds before agreeing to purchase them. I saw their condition on craigslist and knew I had step in. I negotiated a price over text, met the owners at a mutual place, and took possession of the birds. One of them is snuggled up purring while I type this and the other is running around "exploring." With parrots, you just never know what you are going to get. I feel very fortunate that I can give these two little sweet rascals a home.

As I keep saying, I am prepared. I owned ferrets for the last 18 years, they're probably the most notoriously health issue prone pets you can imagine and I owned them in California where they're illegal so no vet even has medication or equipment on hand to treat them so you'll pay an absolute premium for any treatment. Not one ferret of mine ever went without treatment when they needed it. My ferrets had everything from the usually fatal green slime disease to adrenal disease which required monthly medication for life to multiple cancer operations. I always did what was necessary to save them and I never gave up on them.

There is a difference between being prepared for vet visits throughout the course of an animals life, and getting an animal that might already be sick and dying with chronic health problems due to a lifetime of neglect right off the bat that you have absolutely no rapport with that might never trust humans that's being sold to you by somebody who's acting like a shady used car salesman. This will be my first experience owning a large parrot, I want to do everything I can to give it the best home it can have and have the best relationship with each other we can have. I Don't want to get in over my head by getting a bird that I'm not fairly confident I can work with. I"ve seen enough "I have to rehome my bird we're driving each other crazy." threads on various forums to know that when an owner is in over their head, neither party is happy.

I don't think it's unreasonable to take health and behavioral history into account when choosing a pet you will have for possibly the rest of your life just like I don't think it's unreasonable that shelters require you have all your existing flock screened for disease and health issues before they adopt out a parrot where it will live for the rest of it's life.

 

[melissasparrots]

It sounds to me like what you really want is a hand fed from a good breeder. Of course, breeders can be slime balls too and even young amazons will make you prove yourself before letting their guard down. The alternative if you simply must rehome is to wait for the rare honest person with a good bird that needs a home. It's okay to be picky. However, you'd be rehoming instead of rescuing.
I do know the bird world. I'm not sure what it is about parrots, but basic integrity is less common than it should be in the bird world. If you think something is fishy, that's because it is. But if you really want to rescue, it's not the birds fault it had a lousy owner. But a real rescue is a situation where you might get those never ending vet bills and still not a tame bird.

 

[Rain Bow]

I think poo can also change colors for eating something different colored.......

Yes, I have seen this myself. Green if lettuces. Red when Red sweet pepper. Its a brown red color, almost brick & @ first till a lot of reading w/ conclusion it was pepper I thought ER oh! Heavens no! Appeared like what most would conclude blood. Nope Red Pepper.

Try to make as short story. Lol! Buddy has this seed, dry fruit veggie mix w/ nuts. When I got him there was distress due to a death. His poop was black & dry. I started feeding him any fresh as his owner had been past, for @ minimum 3 days, we were told. The water was scummy. It was tail end of winter. Between dehydration fears of mine, the fact that I'd been told coping w/death for a parrot didn't always end well as the stress alone could kill them. I would've said it was this situation! Not sure if it was possibly a bad diet w/little to no fresh, as long as I checked each item to ensure it was safe for him, if I bought it he'd try it. I had to prepare it the way "he" wanted it tho! He's finicky there. I eat a bunch of fresh, so he's eating what may have been pitched before he came. A ton of reading later. He seems to be thriving. They are a ton of work, but the rewards are grand!

In the last 2 months he's was now on very limited amounts of the seed mix. Which it seems he's only eating about 2-3 varieties of the seeds & some dry corn w/ occasionally a piece of dry fruit. I give him my (not from the mix) dry fruit, Cheerios, some little pieces of cracker as rewards or just to warm him up. Then he gets fresh in morning breakfast & dinner. Then we may use grapes as a treat / a few times a week I knife feed to us so my mouth & saliva, do not get to him (can hurt them) an apple in morn/@ night. Poop looks great, he is peeing well too! Now looks like this thread which ugh I have been looking for hours now. I seem to have lost what was downloaded to the tablet. Urgh, sorry. I did find this, in the event your hesitant @ all, I say be prepared as these issues are very true & real.

BEFORE you decide to get a Parrot | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum

I did find this one although not pics, it is well described in what I skimmed. Maybe someone who has read it fully can chime in. Hope it helps!

Poopology 101 | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum

If I can find the pic one I will pop back

Rain

 

[baserock love]

It sounds to me like what you really want is a hand fed from a good breeder. Of course, breeders can be slime balls too and even young amazons will make you prove yourself before letting their guard down. The alternative if you simply must rehome is to wait for the rare honest person with a good bird that needs a home. It's okay to be picky. However, you'd be rehoming instead of rescuing.
I do know the bird world. I'm not sure what it is about parrots, but basic integrity is less common than it should be in the bird world. If you think something is fishy, that's because it is. But if you really want to rescue, it's not the birds fault it had a lousy owner. But a real rescue is a situation where you might get those never ending vet bills and still not a tame bird.

I should probably say adopt. I want to adopt a bird. I don't wan to get a baby from a breeder as the first thing that became apparent when it occurred to me I was in a good position to get a parrot finally and started doing my research it's that there's SO many birds being shuffled around, languishing in shelters that would be lucky to have a home where they can get a lot of one on one time and basically 12 hours a day of out of cage time in a quiet chill place with no other pets, and no kids.

I only just realized how shady the bird world is. I feel like a fool. I didn't see any of this in the ferret community. Outside of this forum, i'm not sure if i've talked to a single genuine animal lover out of all the bird rehomers i've visited and talked to on the phone. All the shelters have been fake, all the supposed heartbroken owners are just selling somebody elses pet or a used up breeder bird they probably got for cheap, this all just occurred to me before the weekend.

I'm no longer in a hurry, I thought this would be easy. It might be a few weeks but it's gotta feel right. While i'm looking and saving up a bit more money since i just dropped all that scratch on the cage and accessories i'll be picking up manzanita trees and bird stands and other goodies i keep seeing pop up for cheap on craigslist and start birding up my house. Sinc ei can't put holes in the ceiling i found some shelf brackets that i can screw into the wall then screw a dowel onto to hang boings and all sorts of things from as well as some awesome pvc bird tree plans to make a pretty epic play area in my room so he has plenty to do while i work.

 

[melissasparrots]

Some amazons that weren't raised with bouncy perches and things with a lot of motion don't like them as adults. You might run across a very healthy and well raised bird that just wasn't exposed to such things and find you wasted a lot of money. A couple of those toys would be nice so that you have something the bird can possibly learn to like, but personally I wouldn't go overboard on those until later. A lot of amazons do very well just playing on their cage top. If you can situate a boing or playgym close to their cage so they have the option of coming and going as they please, its more likely to be accepted.

 

[Rain Bow]

As I keep saying, I am prepared. I owned ferrets for the last 18 years, they're probably the most notoriously health issue prone pets you can imagine and I owned them in California where they're illegal so no vet even has medication or equipment on hand to treat them so you'll pay an absolute premium for any treatment. Not one ferret of mine ever went without treatment when they needed it. My ferrets had everything from the usually fatal green slime disease to adrenal disease which required monthly medication for life to multiple cancer operations. I always did what was necessary to save them and I never gave up on them.

There is a difference between being prepared for vet visits throughout the course of an animals life, and getting an animal that might already be sick and dying with chronic health problems due to a lifetime of neglect right off the bat that you have absolutely no rapport with that might never trust humans that's being sold to you by somebody who's acting like a shady used car salesman. This will be my first experience owning a large parrot, I want to do everything I can to give it the best home it can have and have the best relationship with each other we can have. I Don't want to get in over my head by getting a bird that I'm not fairly confident I can work with. I"ve seen enough "I have to rehome my bird we're driving each other crazy." threads on various forums to know that when an owner is in over their head, neither party is happy.

I don't think it's unreasonable to take health and behavioral history into account when choosing a pet you will have for possibly the rest of your life just like I don't think it's unreasonable that shelters require you have all your existing flock screened for disease and health issues before they adopt out a parrot where it will live for the rest of it's life.

This sounds as tho your intent is good & honorable! I got Buddy from a deceased family member. I knew @ some point Buddy would outlive that family member, & he would be mine. He seems disease free but I have to schedule & get a wellness. I have an ankle cuff & hopefully the hand fed breeder I found online is correct. That they will have... any info on him. Right now we have nothing & even with a computer we can view history & files on we can't locate any info on him. No vet, no DNA & I am not even positive he is a boy. He's temperamental, & I fear his last owner may have used water as discipline (I'll never know!). I don't even know what brand of food/seed mix he's eating as they are Jared in "Pub Mix" containers. Other then drinking or dunking in water, he's scared to be even near it. He gets violent just hearing a spray bottle. His shower days this is what I must use for him, I don't spray @ him but my hand and let it drip like rain, so no one is harmed. Even if he gets lettuce w/ water on it, he will not go to take it for fear of getting wet, it will then wilt. It has taken almost 2 months to get him to the point to allow me to hold a hand sponge w/ water & put hand in cage... just scrub off the wherethe bowls secures where he always wipes his beak & not try to rip my skin off due to his paranoid fear, and "I'm his chosen one!" I've had abused Dog & Cats & that's trouble enough, anyone can tell you that's been in this situation that sometimes time never heals those wounds!

Keep in mind I'm not complaining, nothing prepared me for any of this, but I'm to blame w/ the not knowing as I didn't do my homework! I also made a promise, so if I cannot care for him properly, I'll have to find him a "me" type that can. Animals are not for $$ profit $$ to me either, I get real mad. Even tho technically he's part of the Estate, its not about a profit & any cost would be to deter harm to him, if he casnt stay. I hope that makes sense.

I think everyone hear has heard or seen stories of well intentioned ppl, giving up & then the bird may get put down or abused. They are trying to ensure this is not what happens, to either of you!

Know I'm rooting for you & your adventure! We are just trying to educate you is all!

Rain

 

[Rain Bow]

Some amazons that weren't raised with bouncy perches and things with a lot of motion don't like them as adults. You might run across a very healthy and well raised bird that just wasn't exposed to such things and find you wasted a lot of money. A couple of those toys would be nice so that you have something the bird can possibly learn to like, but personally I wouldn't go overboard on those until later. A lot of amazons do very well just playing on their cage top. If you can situate a boing or playgym close to their cage so they have the option of coming and going as they please, its more likely to be accepted.

I agree with $ spent out on toys etc... Buddy, initially would have gotten a ton of toys. I decided to wait. I used that $ on things I thought were more of a priority. Saved some for his wellness visit. Food seemed more of a priority, his feathers have a better sheen to them every time he gets a bath. I really think starting him on fresh veggies was a smart move. Then different fruits. Then mixed now w/ certain exceptions I have a good base for him. Making sure he is eating certain high vitamin A items. Now his beak is cleaning up nice. It was jagged and splintering.

Still like it to a degree, but it is still trying to clean up! We just did bath day again. I'm going to see if I can get good pic. BRB...

Got a few but had to install some Editting app to get a good view.

Here is where you can see the bottom jaw portion where its lifted out @ the crack.

On this side, You can see where it is almost clean.

​

My point is, he's using the toys he has, the food is getting used for training, rewards, food . It had more uses. In time I can buy toys, but right now where he has learned to bite/snip due to fear... He is learning that gentle play & lov' n time gets far more rewards. The $ I waited to spend can always be applied @ a later date. You need to figure the fear part out. Buddy hates plastic that crinkles was afraid to tear a piece of paper. Plastic is to big to overcome right now (I think) the paper we play w/ now. With an adoption you just do not know & in my experience old owners often become old... They may not tell you the truth, but the bird you find will! Be sure to read on Bird Body Language. This will tell you a bunch if you always let them tell you.

Rain​

 

[baserock love]

Thanks for the great advice everybody! Only bouncy type perch i've gotten so far is a single 40 something inch spiral boing for his cage and it was only 12 bucks, no small loss if he/she doesn't go for it. I"ll hang it from a perch so that it occupies the lower portion of the cage. Only some of the stuff i've bought for the cage and house have arrived in the mail but this is what i have so far. Maybe you guys could tell me if this is going to be a bad layout to start with. The boing and 2 more smaller wood perches as well as some more smaller toys are on the way. I have the foraging ball without a perch near it as I've read that it's a good idea to make some of the toys not TOO easy for it to get to in order to promote activity and mental problem solving stimulation like what natural foraging would do. The 4th dish in the back I plan to fill with smaller foot and beak toys and i plan to have the other toys hanging from the side of the cage or the bottom of perches. The very long perch near the food and water dishes is a work in progress, it was 2 inches longer than advertised so i had to cut one end off and i have to find a stainless fastener screw like what was in it before and re-drill and install it so right now it's just placed there temporarily and not fastened to the cage sides. Sorry for the bad purple photos, the camera on my phone is dying.

Also I think my new screening process for craigs list "rehomes" is working. I just talked to a lady trying to sell her supposedly 27 year companion DYH. She claimed she was VERY concerned that she went to a good home with a good person. I said I'd like to meet the bird first to which she reluctantly agreed saying "It takes her awhile to warm up to new people so she won't let you touch her." which is what all the people trying to make a buck have said. I said that's fine but it would nice to see how SHE interacts with her to get a feel for her personality. If this bird was indeed her companion for 27 years and trusts her like she claimed, obviously this wouldn't be a problem. She instead screamed at me and hung up on me. Makes me wonder where she actually got the bird and what conditions she keeps it in. She absolutely refused to let me meet it anwhere but in a public parking lot in a carrier. I'd wager if i went to her house there's more than a few birds she's trying to sell, it sounded in the background like there were a lot more than 1 as she claimed.

 

[JLcribber]

If this bird was indeed her companion for 27 years and trusts her like she claimed, obviously this wouldn't be a problem. She instead screamed at me and hung up on me.

You should have been a con man. No I'm sorry. I mean you should be working for a rescue. That is exactly the kind of thinking person they need.