Dusky Progress!!

[Spiceopods]

When Dusky (our little foster nanday) came to us, he had been covered 24/7 in a cage with no toys or perches for... at least half a year, possibly longer. He'd never had fresh foods, tho at least he was eating pellets instead of seeds. He was eerily quiet, terrified of having his cage cover lifted, and not sure what to do with new toys and perches.

But he's made amazing progress even in the ~2 weeks he's been here! For example:

• A couple weeks ago he barely made a sound at all, but after a couple weeks of humidifier, air purifier, and us chattering next to him, he's a downright chatterbox! He chirps at us all morning and afternoon most days.
• Now one side of his cage (the side facing the sunlight and away from people) is fully uncovered during the day and the rest the whole bottom half is uncovered.
• The past few days he's even been venturing down to the uncovered part to explore or peek at us. Usually if we look at him he panics and scampers back up to the top of the cage, so we try to give him his privacy and look away, but this morning I turned around and saw him at the bottom of the cage looking right back at me, and he just chirped a couple times before calmly climbing back up to the top!!
• He's revealed that he LOVES to CHEW. He's been steadily demolishing his hardwood perch, haha.
• Upon learning that he's a big chewer, we decided to give him a chew toy near his favorite corner (to distract him from trying to chew up his rope perch). But that involved putting our hands in his favorite corner, which we were worried would scare the snot out of him! Turns out we had nothing to worry about. He was grumpy about the intrusion and wary of the new toy, but he let us install it without biting or screaming or prolonged hyperventilating, and by the next day he was already chewing on it!
• He's now tried a bunch of fresh foods (and frozen veggies) -- so far his favorite seems to be fresh spinach, but sweet potato and frozen corn also seem to be a hit, and he's very intrigued by baby carrots.

We're so proud of him!! For a bird we were warned was stubborn and antisocial, he sure is a friendly and adventurous little guy. We'll keep sharing here as he makes more progress.

~Deyan

 

[April]

What wonderful progress he's made!

 

[Tiel Feathers]

What a great update! He’s going to be so happy in your home he’s going to think he’s dreaming!

 

[TikiMyn]

What a beautiful story, it sounds like he landed in exactly the right place. People can be so horrible, I am so glad he is being loved now I hope he continued to explore and eventually be able to be completely uncovered!

 

[Xoetix]

Aw yay! That’s so exciting

 

[Emma&pico]

Brilliant news sounds like your doing amazing job

 

[Pixiebeak]

yay! I hope he takes off in leaps and bounds snd really goes gunho with life!
Such a sad back story.....so glad with yiu you

 

[Spiceopods]

Thank you all! He's only here for a few months until the nearby parrot rescue has an opening, but we're determined to spoil him rotten and encourage him to get out of his comfort zone so he can be happier and healthier going into his next home. We want his future families (both foster and long-term) to see what a resilient and charismatic little guy he is rather than assuming he's a lost cause like the family member we rescued him from did.

If only he could just stay with us forever! But alas: he's really not an apartment bird, and we need to sort out some health and financial things before we can commit to long-term parronting. But considering how quickly he's adjusting here, I have no doubt that he'll do amazing in any caring and understanding home.

Also, another update: we've been giving him a beginner-level foraging puzzle (he has to remove half a toilet paper tube from his dish to get to his pellets) the past few days, and at first it took him a couple hours to figure it out/conquer his fear of toilet paper tubes. But today he just walked right up and threw it on the floor and started munching away!

~Deyan

 

[Kiwi's Dad]

How exciting!

 

[Parutti]

Ooh yes!! Keep the updates coming, I love this story!!

I have a temporary foster Nanday and he's unbelievably beautiful! I'd never seen one in person before! He makes the cutest sounds. And the loudest calls hahaha - but I adore him!

 

[Spiceopods]

Ooh yes!! Keep the updates coming, I love this story!!

I have a temporary foster Nanday and he's unbelievably beautiful! I'd never seen one in person before! He makes the cutest sounds. And the loudest calls hahaha - but I adore him!

YES!!! cutest noises! one sounds like a little "bwoop." i like to make it back at him! or try. doesn't sound quite the same with our mouth. also makes an excited WHOOP! just started that one a couple days ago. so nice to hear happy sounds and curious sounds from him!!

glad property manager loves birds. glad housemates love Dusky. glad neighbor who shares a wall isnn't home much. Dusky only makes a few loud noises a day. mostly only chirps and grumbles. but his loud noises are LOUD!!! (i like the loud!!! wish we could keep Dusky. wish we could get a friend to scream with everyday. miss old galah roommate!!! but we can only afford apartments.)

--[narrator]

 

[Spiceopods]

Look at him peek!! He's still shy about being looked at, but we managed to get a stealthy -- and thus a bit blurry -- photo while looking the other way, haha. He really likes to peek at us from that specific spot, so we're thinking of getting him a little perch or platform to hang out on (and chew) in that spot next time we order toys and perches. See if we can help him feel more relaxed there.



Please disregard the cat tree (the cat is temporarily banned from this room while Dusky is here) and the cage size (he'll be getting a more appropriately-sized one in a couple months).

~Deyan

 

[Xoetix]

Dawwww that’s freaking adorable

 

[Emma&pico]

Look at him peek!! He's still shy about being looked at, but we managed to get a stealthy -- and thus a bit blurry -- photo while looking the other way, haha. He really likes to peek at us from that specific spot, so we're thinking of getting him a little perch or platform to hang out on (and chew) in that spot next time we order toys and perches. See if we can help him feel more relaxed there.

View attachment 420948

Please disregard the cat tree (the cat is temporarily banned from this room while Dusky is here) and the cage size (he'll be getting a more appropriately-sized one in a couple months).

~Deyan

Hello I am here hehe so cute

 

[Tyrion]

So cute

 

[Spiceopods]

Today Dusky let us watch him eat for at least a full minute without hissing, hyperventilating, or scampering away! He just curiously watched us back and continued to munch until he'd had his fill and wandered off. That's the longest he's ever let us look directly at him for! I'm glad he's getting calmer about being watched, because being able to look at him without him instantly fluffing up like an angry character in a Ghibli movie certainly makes it much easier to monitor his health.

~Deyan

 

[Spiceopods]

Haven't posted updates in a while because we've been utterly exhausted, BUT here are some Dusky highlights from the past couple weeks:

• He stepped up onto a perch and let us transfer him from his travel cage to his main cage (after... a LOT of trial and error, haha).
• He has decided that both Nutriberries and bell peppers are VERY exciting! Bonus points if we shove the Nutriberries into the bell peppers.
• He has two food bowls -- one in the covered part of his cage and one in the uncovered part -- and he now regularly eats at the one in the uncovered part!
• We caught him saying a slightly garbled but recognizable "hello" while muttering to himself in the wee hours of the morning when he thought we weren't listening!!! He's been practicing what sound like attempts at human syllables during his morning muttering sessions for a while, but this is the first time we've caught a word. I don't think he's confident enough to try talking when he knows he has an audience, yet, but he's getting there!

~Deyan

 

[Xoetix]

Yay! I was actually just wondering about y’all

 

[Kiwi's Dad]

I’m glad you’ve seen improvement

 

[Spiceopods]

Crawling out of our bad health pit to announce that Dusky has been getting more and more bold about standing (and chewing) on the perch just outside his cage door, lately!! He still only stays there for a few minutes at a time and scampers back into the cage if we look at him while he's there, BUT he returns to it multiple times a day most days now.

Also: he said "hello" while actually looking at us today! As opposed to in the wee hours of the morning when he thinks we're asleep, haha.

~Nuri