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New bird advice? :)

Newbie1000

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Sounds like you're making excellent progress!

Like most new cages, Mango's new home has come with dowel perches. These aren't very good for birds' feet because they're too uniform - birds need the irregularity of natural branches to keep their feet healthy, let them move to more comfortable positions and avoid putting pressure on the same part of the foot all the time. I would recommend getting some natural wood perches of different diameters so that Mango has some perching options. I would also suggest a flat platform perch, again just to give him more of a choice about where to hang out.

If you're in the US, @Macawnutz has some nice full-length perches: Parrot Perches from Seriously Nutz! Large Bird Perches, Custom Sizes
Thank you!! The cage did come with 3 large dowel perches that go from one side of the cage to the other. I put all 3 in there and he additionally has 3 other perches (2 wood and one is like a plastic-y one) all different sizes. And then he also has one of those rope style perches too!
 

Newbie1000

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A quick picture of all the tiny feathers starting to come in! Way more than he came to my house in. He’s definitely been plucking less today and just enjoying his new huge house with all sorts of toys and his favorite— swings!! Can’t wait to be able to post a picture of him fully feathered hehe
 

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Leih

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He needs a boing! Some people have had problems with their birds eating the fibers in them, so you have to watch, but birds tend to love them! My lovebird likes to hang upside down on hers and ring the bell :)
 

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Newbie1000

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He needs a boing! Some people have had problems with their birds eating the fibers in them, so you have to watch, but birds tend to love them! My lovebird likes to hang upside down on hers and ring the bell :)
He has one very similar to this!! It’s a bit dirty though and worn I will be getting a new one for him very soon :)
 

tka

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Thank you!! The cage did come with 3 large dowel perches that go from one side of the cage to the other. I put all 3 in there and he additionally has 3 other perches (2 wood and one is like a plastic-y one) all different sizes. And then he also has one of those rope style perches too!
I would replace the dowel and plastic perches as soon as you can to prevent foot problems. Bumblefoot - sores on the feet - is very painful and difficult to treat.
 

Newbie1000

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I would replace the dowel and plastic perches as soon as you can to prevent foot problems. Bumblefoot - sores on the feet - is very painful and difficult to treat.
Okay, so the cage shouldn’t have any of these dowels? It should only consist of wood/natural branches for perches?
 

tka

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Okay, so the cage shouldn’t have any of these dowels? It should only consist of wood/natural branches for perches?
I'd try to have as many natural perches as possible. The really key ones to replace are the ones your bird spends most time on. They usually prefer to sleep on the highest perch available so that one really should be changed to a natural perch as soon as you can. You can get away with having a dowel as a low perch to help Mango get across the cage.
 

Newbie1000

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I'd try to have as many natural perches as possible. The really key ones to replace are the ones your bird spends most time on. They usually prefer to sleep on the highest perch available so that one really should be changed to a natural perch as soon as you can. You can get away with having a dowel as a low perch to help Mango get across the cage.
Okay thanks so much for the advice!! I’ve got some shopping to do :)
 

JoJo&Loki

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It’s always best to have a variety of perching widths. If you really want to keep them, there is a “hack”. I liked having them esp as my birds’ wings were growing back, since they ran the full length of the cage. I shaved them down a bit in some areas to make different widths throughout.

I recommend a boing as well, not only is it soft for their feet- it’s sooo fun watching them hang from it or even just scoot up and down on it in the sideways waddle they do. I call it their escalator :lol:
He’s still adjusting so it’s good to introduce these things at his pace, you’ll get there though! And he’ll make it known what he likes, and certainly what he doesn’t :p

And thanks for the pic! He’s beautiful!
 

JoJo&Loki

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Forgot to add a pic of my birbs “escalator”. I keep it by the cage door and they always use it to take off from and then to land back inside the cage. I think it was a great help as they were learning their way. As someone mentioned above though- as w all rope perches they need to be replaced as soon as they start showing any wear.
1FC9C052-F05D-4191-928B-50A11FB57CFC.jpeg
And I also agree with @tka , Seriously Nutz has some seriously nice perches :cool:
 

Leih

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Awww you two are going to be good friends!
 

Newbie1000

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Hellllloooo everyone!! I’ve recently taken out all the dowel perches from Mango’s cage and replaced them with natural wood perches of different styles/sizes! Just a quick update on that :)

Also, Mango has officially been here for 2 weeks and is getting a lot more comfortable with everyone in the family. However, as he may be comfortable he’s not very trusting still. This is understandable and I don’t want to rush him, but he’s starting a habit of biting us pretty roughly to get us to back off. I have a feeling we may have been pushing him a little too much to get him to like us and be comfortable standing on us and it might have pushed him to start biting us.

He bit my dad a few days ago and did not want to let go. We have no idea what to do in these situations and since his bites definitely hurt I’m scared someone may react quickly and he could get hurt. What’s the best way to get him off of us if he bites and won’t let go?

I’ve already told my family we should back off for a while and give him space, he should come to us when he’s ready to love us and not the other way around. I’m not sure why but I think once Mango realized he could bite us and 1. We won’t hurt him and 2. We essentially leave him alone, he’s begun doing it more often. It happens most often around/inside his cage and I’m assuming this may be a territorial behavioral that we need to stop somehow. If you guys could give me some advice that would be greatly appreciated!

So far we have been giving him his distance and letting him explore without us bothering him, but he even flew up to my dad’s big toe and bit him! He’s confident in his biting abilities lol. I keep a thick pen nearby just so if he tries to bite my rubber phone case (which he loves doing for some reason, he’s already ripped a little piece off) I just put the pen near him and say “no” and he backs off. It’s not super effective because he goes right back to it but I try making it more of a lesson than a scare tactic. He sees the pen won’t cause harm it just pushes him back but it only happens when he does something bad, ie biting my case. I just want to make sure this is okay and not bad for him in any way... I’m always worried something we do might be dangerous and we don’t even realize it.

Thank you!!
 

Leih

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Lovebirds are pretty stubborn! I've gotten a big toe bite, it hurts! Mango is likely giving you body language signals that indicate he's going to bite, or thinking about it. Try to read him and avoid the bite to begin with because once they do it and they get what they want (for you to back off) that's reinforcing that behavior. When Aoife is going to bite, the feathers on her back just below her neck will ruffle up and she'll be in a more horizontal position. Have you started any clicker training? It will help you positively reinforce good behaviors and weed out the bad because "discipline" really doesn't work, but for now just backing up and learning his signals is a start. I've also had the bite where it's like they're stuck to you, usually they're really mad at that point and you panicking just makes it worse which I know is hard because it hurts! So #1, everyone back off and avoid bites. Just remember to keep your interactions on his terms. We have to earn a birds trust, they're very different from cats and dogs in that way. It's kind of like they have a safe radius and if you overstep it too soon then they're going to bite. As time goes on, the radius will decrease, but only if the humans respect his boundaries. My Aoife was so scared it took her 3 solid months to sit on my hand. Now, I kiss her on her face and she loves it, but it took a year to get there.
 

Leih

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This woman isn't an avian behaviorist or anything, but long before I knew about this forum, I used her tactics with Aoife. I was a first time bird owner with no clue what I was doing! But I found her info helpful.

 

Duel

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My bird was territorial about his cage when I first got him but then I got him used to me sticking my hand in his cage by feeding him. I used to take out his food from the cage when hes asleep and then in the morning fill my hand with food and stick it in the cage then wait for him to come eat from me. Just to be clear I already had to get up at 6am at the time so I was able to do it. If you regularly wake up after your bird then do something else (like stick your hand in with treats) so that he doesnt have to be hungry and waiting for his food.
 

Newbie1000

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This woman isn't an avian behaviorist or anything, but long before I knew about this forum, I used her tactics with Aoife. I was a first time bird owner with no clue what I was doing! But I found her info helpful.

Thanks!! We’re learning his warning signals so far and are able to figure out when he’s gonna bite most of the time. Sometimes he nibbles softly on objects to play and/or figure out what they are (I think) and that’s how my dad’s big toe got bit. I’m wondering if nibbling is okay because it’s a bit scary to not know whether his nibbling is going to turn into a bite. Mango’s warning signal includes the same ones as your lovebirds but with the addition of 2 possible noises: 1 sounds almost like a bird growling (but more of a whistle) and the other sounds almost like a clicking or kissing noises quickly and repeatedly! The noises definitely help us know when we’re too close for comfort
 

Newbie1000

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My bird was territorial about his cage when I first got him but then I got him used to me sticking my hand in his cage by feeding him. I used to take out his food from the cage when hes asleep and then in the morning fill my hand with food and stick it in the cage then wait for him to come eat from me. Just to be clear I already had to get up at 6am at the time so I was able to do it. If you regularly wake up after your bird then do something else (like stick your hand in with treats) so that he doesnt have to be hungry and waiting for his food.
Thanks for the advice! We’ll probably try that one day but for now we’re just giving him space. He was pretty good with everyone around his cage for a while but I think we were invading his personal space too much because he sort of snapped and that’s when all this biting and territorial behaviors started happening. He will take treats that I’m holding for him but I haven’t tried putting them in my palm yet, that’s a step for the near future (when I’m not a scared chicken that he’ll bite me lol)
 
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