Hello there! 
Last week (Tuesday 4th February) we got a Lutino Cockatiel, Lumi. We got him from another family who had 2 other cockatiels; Lumi was the youngest of the 3, around 3 months old. His feathers are clipped, was hand reared and lived outside the cage.
Since Lumi lived outside the cage we let him roam around (only in one room) to get acquainted with his new home. We put him in a cage when it’s time for him to go to sleep (we also place him in a quiet room so that his sleep is not interrupted).
He didn’t want to interact with us the first two days, which is understandable. Around the third day he started eating from our hands and even climbed on our heads/shoulders. Sometimes he’s a bit crabby, other times he’ll spend hours on us. We built him a small playing area for him; we made him a perch, some toys, a swing (which now has been substituted for a ladder which he really likes) and he has food there too. He spends most of his time in the playing area; nibbling and hanging about. We think he likes it. We also play birds sounds (usually female cockatiel sounds) and he shows interest in them, he usually responds and listens attentively (not sure if this is bad practice or not..?)
Now here’s what I’m trying to understand, every time we try to pet him he get’s nippy and/or hisses. He doesn’t want us to touch him or anything. But then again he has no problem getting on us and staying there for hours. His crest is usually up or flat and down. I don’t think he’s ever been relaxed since we’ve got him.
I fear that we may have let him roam around before he got used to us. The problem is that when we got him, we left him in the cage and he went into panic mode, hence why we let him out of his cage…
Any ideas on what we can do? I’ve tried to bribe him with food/treats but that doesn’t seem to work (he usually does that biting motion).
Last week (Tuesday 4th February) we got a Lutino Cockatiel, Lumi. We got him from another family who had 2 other cockatiels; Lumi was the youngest of the 3, around 3 months old. His feathers are clipped, was hand reared and lived outside the cage.
Since Lumi lived outside the cage we let him roam around (only in one room) to get acquainted with his new home. We put him in a cage when it’s time for him to go to sleep (we also place him in a quiet room so that his sleep is not interrupted).
He didn’t want to interact with us the first two days, which is understandable. Around the third day he started eating from our hands and even climbed on our heads/shoulders. Sometimes he’s a bit crabby, other times he’ll spend hours on us. We built him a small playing area for him; we made him a perch, some toys, a swing (which now has been substituted for a ladder which he really likes) and he has food there too. He spends most of his time in the playing area; nibbling and hanging about. We think he likes it. We also play birds sounds (usually female cockatiel sounds) and he shows interest in them, he usually responds and listens attentively (not sure if this is bad practice or not..?)
Now here’s what I’m trying to understand, every time we try to pet him he get’s nippy and/or hisses. He doesn’t want us to touch him or anything. But then again he has no problem getting on us and staying there for hours. His crest is usually up or flat and down. I don’t think he’s ever been relaxed since we’ve got him.
I fear that we may have let him roam around before he got used to us. The problem is that when we got him, we left him in the cage and he went into panic mode, hence why we let him out of his cage…
Any ideas on what we can do? I’ve tried to bribe him with food/treats but that doesn’t seem to work (he usually does that biting motion).
