Simourg
Meeting neighbors
Hello everybody!
I was gone from the forums for a while trying to gain trust of my rehomed CAG Jo-Jo. It's been already almost two months since he is at our place, and now he is more comfortable with me being around and he is even accepting treats from the open palm of my hand (before he would take them only when between my fingers). I also keep target training him daily, but my lack of experience and difficulties with motivating him to train makes the progress really slow, if even present.
We have different kind of minor problems, but my biggest concern is his horrible diet. He eats only dried corn and shelled sunflower seeds. He also loves grapes, but it's a seasonal fruit, so we can't find it fresh in the markets anymore.
I cook buckwheat, chop some green, yellow or red bell peppers and carrots and mix it all with sunflower seeds and serve in a bowl everyday. I found similar method of converting in the internet, and it said that the this way the parrot would try other stuff eventually while searching for seeds. But I feel like he is only picking seeds from the mix. Maybe I missed some important step in this method?
I also provide him with pumpkin seeds, corn and pellets altogether in a second bowl. He ignores pellets and pumpkin seeds and eats only corn. (I will try a new type of pellets, it's just a bit expensive to ship it in our country, so I have to choose wisely). I offered him pistachios (other nuts, too), and he would throw away the nut and chew on the shell only. I sprouted sunflower seeds for him, but he also would reject them as soon as he realized the texture of the shell and seed itself is different.
I tried turning his pellets into a wet mash and mixing it with sunflower seeds, but is's always the same: he picks sunflower seeds and leaves the mash.
I can't scale him because he doesn't come to me (I don't have bird scales, too), so I need to be really careful to not leave him starving.
I know the main thing is to never give up and keep offering him new foods in various forms and trying to attract him to it somehow. But it's a very generalized piece of advice, and in my case he just walks away when I try to offer him something new. And because he doesn't trust me that much, I feel really restricted in the means of creativity.
Also, searching the web I could only find methods that usually apply to parrots that are bonded with their owner, and those methods usually are not appliable to my still untame feathered friend.
So you're very very welcome to share your experience! And it would be even more fantastic if it was as specific as an everyday routine with gradual changes!
I was gone from the forums for a while trying to gain trust of my rehomed CAG Jo-Jo. It's been already almost two months since he is at our place, and now he is more comfortable with me being around and he is even accepting treats from the open palm of my hand (before he would take them only when between my fingers). I also keep target training him daily, but my lack of experience and difficulties with motivating him to train makes the progress really slow, if even present.
We have different kind of minor problems, but my biggest concern is his horrible diet. He eats only dried corn and shelled sunflower seeds. He also loves grapes, but it's a seasonal fruit, so we can't find it fresh in the markets anymore.
I cook buckwheat, chop some green, yellow or red bell peppers and carrots and mix it all with sunflower seeds and serve in a bowl everyday. I found similar method of converting in the internet, and it said that the this way the parrot would try other stuff eventually while searching for seeds. But I feel like he is only picking seeds from the mix. Maybe I missed some important step in this method?
I also provide him with pumpkin seeds, corn and pellets altogether in a second bowl. He ignores pellets and pumpkin seeds and eats only corn. (I will try a new type of pellets, it's just a bit expensive to ship it in our country, so I have to choose wisely). I offered him pistachios (other nuts, too), and he would throw away the nut and chew on the shell only. I sprouted sunflower seeds for him, but he also would reject them as soon as he realized the texture of the shell and seed itself is different.
I tried turning his pellets into a wet mash and mixing it with sunflower seeds, but is's always the same: he picks sunflower seeds and leaves the mash.
I can't scale him because he doesn't come to me (I don't have bird scales, too), so I need to be really careful to not leave him starving.
I know the main thing is to never give up and keep offering him new foods in various forms and trying to attract him to it somehow. But it's a very generalized piece of advice, and in my case he just walks away when I try to offer him something new. And because he doesn't trust me that much, I feel really restricted in the means of creativity.
Also, searching the web I could only find methods that usually apply to parrots that are bonded with their owner, and those methods usually are not appliable to my still untame feathered friend.
So you're very very welcome to share your experience! And it would be even more fantastic if it was as specific as an everyday routine with gradual changes!
