Nightstar
Meeting neighbors
- Joined
- 9/21/20
- Messages
- 32
Hi, I'm new here. I was recommended this forum after looking for advice on reddit's r/parrots for my blue front amazon's aggression issues. This is essentially what I posted there:
It's been almost 3 years since we took in Loro. He is a 40 year old blue front amazon that was originally my grandma's, and when she died he was passed down to my aunt. 15 years later, my aunt died as well and loro was passed down to my father. Unfortunately, when we saw him in my aunt's care he was in an absolutely terrible state. We bought a bigger cage for him, gave him a proper varied diet and plenty of enrichment, so now he is much healthier, stronger and energetic.
There's one big issue, though. Loro can't really spend time outside the cage, or at least not the right amount of time. He only trusts my father and is extremely aggressive, so whenever he is let out, he attacks everyone else in the room. I've had my hands and feet chewed up really badly several times. Loro's aggression is due to all the abuse he endured in my aunt's care. He generally feels safer inside the cage because he used to be beaten with brooms whenever he sneaked out at my aunt's house ¬¬. When out of the ''safety'' of his cage, he is always on edge. Back when my father brought him here, I did research on the subject and it seemed that rescued parrots this old are very hard to socialize again. We tried many things, mainly spending a lot of time with him talking and doing positive interactions. My mother even keeps his cage roofless while she does laundry, so she gets to talk/sing to him, give treats and also let him enjoy a little bit of freedom. We thought this could warm him up to us while at the same time help Loro relate the outside to positive experiences... but honestly? He has only gotten more aggressive. He stares at my mother and I with murder in his eyes, and whenever we walk close to the cage he literally slams himself on the bars, trying to bite us. He got me once on the arm and it was awful.
To make things worse, I think that, after feeding him a proper diet and providing enrichment/exercise, Loro is stronger than ever and consequently wants to get out more than ever as well. So this only made him even more aggressive due to frustration. I'm getting really concerned for him, because in the past few months I've been really thinking that Loro may just... never have a good life with my family. When we took him in, I brought up the dreadful topic of putting Loro in a sanctuary and the reaction I got from my father was NOT good. That parrot is his very last memory from his mother and he is extremely attached to him, so he is completely against it even if it's for Loro's good. So it didn't surprise me that he was even less open to that option when I brought it up again last night. I recently told my mother about the minimal time outside a parrot requires and now she feels super guilty, even agreeing that a sanctuary could be the best option for him. Unfortunately she can't convince my father. He insists sanctuaries are ''organizations that secretly sell donated birds to the ilegal pet trade''.
As a second option, I mentioned the possibility of building Loro an aviary in our yard. My mother has plans for renewing the house and yard next year, and using that space for building a wider, more enriching space for Loro could be a great idea. She likes it, but is hesitant about the costs of this investment. I'm not quite sure of the materials needed to make something like what we've had in mind, and how much it would add to our current expenses(covid screwed up our finances, plus my mother will lose her job pretty soon). It's also so hard to properly discuss this with her because she has this maddening habit of switching sides whenever my father is in the room. When I talk to her she mostly agrees with me, but when she is with my father he very easily fills her head with insecurities about the whole thing and makes her discard everything I proposed. Overall, he argues Loro is ''used'' to living in the cage as it is and spending money on an aviary is foolish. I refuse to let him keep living like this, regardless. If the sanctuary is truly out of question(I haven't given up on it yet), then we WILL have a decent aviary whether my father likes it or not.
Anyway, with all this rambling done... I really wanted to hear what you guys think. If you have some advice on toning down Loro's aggression, what to consider for an aviary or sanctuary, tips on the materials to use for an aviary, the ideal size, etc. I'm just so frustrated with this whole situation and I feel super lost on how to approach it at all. Keep in mind we had zero experience with parrots before Loro ended up in our hands, so we are still learning. I just really want him to have the best life possible with us. It's the least he deserves after so much abuse.
It's been almost 3 years since we took in Loro. He is a 40 year old blue front amazon that was originally my grandma's, and when she died he was passed down to my aunt. 15 years later, my aunt died as well and loro was passed down to my father. Unfortunately, when we saw him in my aunt's care he was in an absolutely terrible state. We bought a bigger cage for him, gave him a proper varied diet and plenty of enrichment, so now he is much healthier, stronger and energetic.
There's one big issue, though. Loro can't really spend time outside the cage, or at least not the right amount of time. He only trusts my father and is extremely aggressive, so whenever he is let out, he attacks everyone else in the room. I've had my hands and feet chewed up really badly several times. Loro's aggression is due to all the abuse he endured in my aunt's care. He generally feels safer inside the cage because he used to be beaten with brooms whenever he sneaked out at my aunt's house ¬¬. When out of the ''safety'' of his cage, he is always on edge. Back when my father brought him here, I did research on the subject and it seemed that rescued parrots this old are very hard to socialize again. We tried many things, mainly spending a lot of time with him talking and doing positive interactions. My mother even keeps his cage roofless while she does laundry, so she gets to talk/sing to him, give treats and also let him enjoy a little bit of freedom. We thought this could warm him up to us while at the same time help Loro relate the outside to positive experiences... but honestly? He has only gotten more aggressive. He stares at my mother and I with murder in his eyes, and whenever we walk close to the cage he literally slams himself on the bars, trying to bite us. He got me once on the arm and it was awful.
To make things worse, I think that, after feeding him a proper diet and providing enrichment/exercise, Loro is stronger than ever and consequently wants to get out more than ever as well. So this only made him even more aggressive due to frustration. I'm getting really concerned for him, because in the past few months I've been really thinking that Loro may just... never have a good life with my family. When we took him in, I brought up the dreadful topic of putting Loro in a sanctuary and the reaction I got from my father was NOT good. That parrot is his very last memory from his mother and he is extremely attached to him, so he is completely against it even if it's for Loro's good. So it didn't surprise me that he was even less open to that option when I brought it up again last night. I recently told my mother about the minimal time outside a parrot requires and now she feels super guilty, even agreeing that a sanctuary could be the best option for him. Unfortunately she can't convince my father. He insists sanctuaries are ''organizations that secretly sell donated birds to the ilegal pet trade''.
As a second option, I mentioned the possibility of building Loro an aviary in our yard. My mother has plans for renewing the house and yard next year, and using that space for building a wider, more enriching space for Loro could be a great idea. She likes it, but is hesitant about the costs of this investment. I'm not quite sure of the materials needed to make something like what we've had in mind, and how much it would add to our current expenses(covid screwed up our finances, plus my mother will lose her job pretty soon). It's also so hard to properly discuss this with her because she has this maddening habit of switching sides whenever my father is in the room. When I talk to her she mostly agrees with me, but when she is with my father he very easily fills her head with insecurities about the whole thing and makes her discard everything I proposed. Overall, he argues Loro is ''used'' to living in the cage as it is and spending money on an aviary is foolish. I refuse to let him keep living like this, regardless. If the sanctuary is truly out of question(I haven't given up on it yet), then we WILL have a decent aviary whether my father likes it or not.
Anyway, with all this rambling done... I really wanted to hear what you guys think. If you have some advice on toning down Loro's aggression, what to consider for an aviary or sanctuary, tips on the materials to use for an aviary, the ideal size, etc. I'm just so frustrated with this whole situation and I feel super lost on how to approach it at all. Keep in mind we had zero experience with parrots before Loro ended up in our hands, so we are still learning. I just really want him to have the best life possible with us. It's the least he deserves after so much abuse.