Normal Amazon??

[Nev]

I don't know if this is normal behavior for a 'zon, but my OWA (15 yrs) is not very playful. After three months she shows little interest in toys or playing. She does like to cuddle and get lots of head scritches, or just sit on my shoulder and observe her surroundings. All the seemingly normal bird behaviors are absent, like playing, tearing up toys and paper, loud singing and calling, etc.. she is so mild and quiet and just perches in silence most of the time. Anyone else have a bird like this?

 

[Wasabisaurus]

Do you know if she knows how to play with toys? You might have to show her. Has she been vet checked?
I cannot say I know of the disposition of an OWA. It could be that type of Amazon is one of the more quiet ones. I have a rowdy DYA.
Someone with an OW will be by to help. Welcome!

 

[Nev]

Thanks for the reply Wasabi! No, I guess I really don't know if she knows how to play. When I got her she had old, dull toys and was uninterested in them. I have replaced her toys and she did inspect them after a couple of weeks. She was afraid of them at first. Other behaviors like bathing and preening are rare too. I take her to the shower once a week, as she is fearfull of using a bowl, sink, or misting bottle. I cannot use a towel to help her dry off, either. She is terrified of them. So she shiver and drips afterwards... breaks my heart!

 

[Wasabisaurus]

Can you put her next to a heat source when she dries? Maybe don't soak her to the dripping point. She might not like it. Although my Amazon is not shy in the least, I have to let him look at anything new I put in his cage for at least 4-5 days. Does she know how to forage for food? Do you have any foraging toys for her? Does she love to eat?

Here is a very simple foraging idea that my Amazon loves.....twice a day I put some treats in a paper cone cup, twist it shut and show him. Then it goes in his bowl. He knows the good stuff is in that cup. I buy a yummy blend of food from one of the vendors here and Wasabi gets it only in that cup. He gets a few nuts in the cup, plus some small pieces of fruit of dried vegetables that are in the blend I buy.

What food do you feed her? Will she eat fruits and vegetables?

 

[roxynoodle]

Pete was terrified of toys at first. I think he mostly learned from Rowdy.

He's not into shredding, but he likes to chew wood, likes bells and swinging from those Kladders (Petsmart).

 

[MommyBird]

I have an older OWA female in her 40s.
She likes shreddables like the seagrass mats and softer woods, even balsa.
Cardboard boxes too. oh and the large cork bark pieces available lately.
Try some of these softer/shreddables with yours.

She likes to do most of her chewing on a flat surface like the floor or playtop.

She likes spray baths or showers with me but will also take a bath in a large dish.
I can dry her with a hairdryer (held at a distance and moved constantly so not too hat).
Some birds are stimulated by vacuum cleaners to take baths.

She also loves to sit quietly and cuddle but also to start singing and dancing with me.
Most amazons love singing, have you tried that?

 

[Nev]

Ezzie has been vet checked and has some liver problems due to her previous diet of peanuts and seeds only. She has converted to Harrison's High Potency now and will eat a few other things, like millet, dried fruits and cheerios, and a little chicken too, but no luck with veggies or fresh fruit yet. She tries to get in my mouth to get anything I am eating, but I have been putting her back on the cage when I eat to deter that. I do have a foraging toy/wheel but she is not too interested in that either. I love the paper cone idea! I must try that!! I will try playing with her toys to show her too. Maybe she just needs to see how fun it is, lol.

 

[Clueless]

My amazons were without toys. Their first things were "little pops" from Parrots Treasure

they could hold them (and did).

I would suggest foot toys of some sort. One of my amazons chews pine and the other amazon goes after the lighter wood - balsa. I Got A Woody has some great wooden stuff for parrots. Secret had a balsa toy called the "venetian" from them that she had a great time with (currently has a shredded rope so the pieces are in a sandwich bag until I can restring it).

She will learn to play, just give her time and work with her.

 

[Nev]

Thanks for the responses! I will try the vacuum cleaner and the other ideas too.

 

[macawpower58]

How long have you had her? If not too long, I'd just keep offering new toys, play with them yourself a bit so she gets the idea. Try ringing toys, jingling toys, chewing and shredding toys, fuzzy toys, etc..

Try different sizes too. My biggest bird likes smaller toys (be careful of small beads), and my medium Zon loves big wood chunks. So your Zon may like smaller thinner wood, at least as a introduction to chewing.

Just keep offering her new things. Does she like to travel about the house with you? The more you take her with you, the more she'll open up to new things. Hopefully she's not phobic about new things.

I'd even try some foraging toys. Most Zons love food, and will work forever to get their favorite treats out of a puzzle toy.

I also have a sedentary Amazon, but he does have his moments of silly crazy play, and once I found the size wood he likes, he turned into a chomping machine.

I think most Amazons like to play and explore, different amounts for different birds, and even the couch potato ones will do so. Your baby just may not know how.

 

[Gen120]

My amazon, Sammy is like this. She doesn't really like playing with toys either- she didnt know how actually when I first got her. I had to teach her. She likes thin wood toys, & foraging toys, & loves showers with me too. I would follow the others suggestions- I make paper balls for Sammy sometimes, just printer paper cut up into squares with almonds or some other treat twisted inside- she loves these. She also prefers smaller sized toys too- I think they are less intimidating probably- like conure sized toys, obviously with no super small parts. The barrel of fun forraging toy is a good one- Sammy loves to play with that one- I put almonds in it, I had to show her how to do it the first few times but then she got the hang of it & she lvoes it. I would also suggest a skewer, does she like any kind of veggies/fruits/nuts?

 

[petiteoiseau]

Ezzie has been vet checked and has some liver problems due to her previous diet of peanuts and seeds only. She has converted to Harrison's High Potency now and will eat a few other things, like millet, dried fruits and cheerios, and a little chicken too, but no luck with veggies or fresh fruit yet. She tries to get in my mouth to get anything I am eating, but I have been putting her back on the cage when I eat to deter that. I do have a foraging toy/wheel but she is not too interested in that either. I love the paper cone idea! I must try that!! I will try playing with her toys to show her too. Maybe she just needs to see how fun it is, lol.

High Potency and Cheerios are real bad for liver problems. If she only had a seed and peanut diet, she most definitely needed the extra vitamins in the pellets but she does NOT need the high protein (zons are all lower protein birds but most especially the ones that have liver issues precisely because of a high protein diet). High Potency is never meant for long term feeding, it even says so on the box. And Cheerios (or any other human cereal) are not good for any bird but especially bad for birds with liver issues because of the inordinately high content in iron (another liver destroyer!) meant for humans dietary needs and not avian ones. Please do some more thorough research on a liver diet for zons (I have a 40+ one with a nearly gone liver and she is on gloop with supplements, water with supplements and just two tablespoons of budgie seed a day) and take her back to the vet to get a bile acids test done if she hasn't had one done in the last 6 months because although zons do tend to be couch potatoes the not chewing or preening and lack of vocalizations are all symptoms of liver malfunction (is she on supplements for it?)

 

[Clueless]

Yikes! I give my Amazon's an occasional cheerio

 

[Nev]

Oh my, yikes is what I am feeling too! Our vet said she has liver issues due to abnormal droppings, but no, she has not had a blood test. She has been on High Potency for a little over six weeks now. What is gloop? Is there a website you can recommend to educate me? Thank for your insight. I have a lot to learn and little Ezmerelda was not in the best condition with I got her to begin with. She is physically looking better and new feathers are in much better condition too. I want her to be the happy and healthy bird she deserves to be.

 

[Nev]

No supplements. The vet wanted to get her diet changed first.

 

[pacoparrot]

My amazon Paco doesn't really play or cuddle so at least you have one of them, haha. He will occasionally take out his anger on a toy or rip apart some wood or a box but he doesn't really interact with his toys that much. It may not be a toy but he really likes the platforms in his cage.

 

[petiteoiseau]

Oh my, yikes is what I am feeling too! Our vet said she has liver issues due to abnormal droppings, but no, she has not had a blood test. She has been on High Potency for a little over six weeks now. What is gloop? Is there a website you can recommend to educate me? Thank for your insight. I have a lot to learn and little Ezmerelda was not in the best condition with I got her to begin with. She is physically looking better and new feathers are in much better condition too. I want her to be the happy and healthy bird she deserves to be.

Well, avian vets are not trained in psittacine diet and most of them don't know about alternative medicine (although there are some good holistic ones out there now) so it's not surprising. First of all, you NEED blood work because, in my personal experience, by the time you can tell by the droppings that there is liver malfunction, you are talking BAD liver damage. Sheesh, the liver can be working at barely over 25% of capacity and the enzymes levels on the regular chem panel would still appear normal! You need a CBC, an avian chem panel and a separate bile acids test because it's the ONLIEST test that gives you liver function accurately.

Gloop is a dish made of cooked whole grains (I would do the ones with lower protein like brown basmati rice -could do black or red rice, too- soft spring wheat, oats, barley and some millet), pulses (but I would not add any at the beginning while she is on a detox treatment -which is what she needs until her levels go back to normal) and cooked and chopped/diced veggies (I use corn, peas, carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes, broccoli, white hominy, butternut squash and, for liver diet, artichoke hearts). I give mine a small amount of a budgie mix for dinner and an occasional nut like an almond or half a walnut but only about twice to three times a week.

Now, my detox treatment consists of:

A) supplements in their water: half a dropper of both liquid, non-alcoholic milk thistle and dandelion root extract in a 4 oz bowl with 2/3 spring water and 1/3 aloe vera juice (not gel and not from the whole leaf but juice from inner filet) with a teaspoonful of lactulose prepared fresh twice a day (morning and evening)

B) low protein, low fat, high fiber, high moisture diet: gloop with supplements (1 capsule each of milk thistle, dandelion root, artichoke extract, methionine and 1/2 of vit B6)

None of the herbs mentioned can be overdosed and have no counteractions with any of the others so they are safe and, once her bile acids levels go down, you can then put her on a maintenance supplementation because, in my personal experience, if you stop them completely, the liver starts deteriorating again. Also, they need everything organic because you don't want the liver having to work unnecessarily which it would have to do if it needs to filter all the chemicals on the regular food.

 

[Nev]

Bibi, Ty, ty, ty for all this good information! I am printing your post and heading out to shop.

 

[Wasabisaurus]

Oh my, yikes is what I am feeling too! Our vet said she has liver issues due to abnormal droppings, but no, she has not had a blood test. She has been on High Potency for a little over six weeks now. What is gloop? Is there a website you can recommend to educate me? Thank for your insight. I have a lot to learn and little Ezmerelda was not in the best condition with I got her to begin with. She is physically looking better and new feathers are in much better condition too. I want her to be the happy and healthy bird she deserves to be.

I LOVE her name! She most definitely needs blood tests. That will help determine what she should or should not eat from a nutrition standpoint and can give indicators of illness or early onset of things that lead to disease.

 

[Nev]

I agree! We will be seeing vet next week. Update on Ezzie's foraging wheel... she is now working on it! I played with it a few times in the past few days and now she is interested in getting the dried fruit out of it, which she promptly drops in her water bowl!