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Sulphur Crested Cockatoo - Triton

BrianB

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I may be acquiring a sulfur-crested cockatoo, specifically the triton subspecies. A friend of mine was breeding the galerita subspecies and is the original breeder of the cockatoo that lives at the store and has been such a butt-head lately. He was a wealth of knowledge about cockatoos, but he passed away last year. I find conflicting information everywhere so I turn here for advice.

Does anyone have info or advice? This bird is currently a "pet" but is pretty aggressive to humans. I say pet in quotes because the woman that owns him is great with cockatoos, but this boy is beyond her. Others that I've talked to feel he would be better off as a breeder or possibly going to a sanctuary. That's always an option. He has had great vet care and is fully feathered. At least I know he's got no self-destructive behaviors.

This may all be premature, and maybe it won't happen, but the bird is being given to me, so I would like to know as much as possible before it happens. I've read the good/bad and ugly posts. Those are always a great source for different species.
 

April

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I'll tag @JLcribber for you since he's the master of spicy Male Toos!
 

JLcribber

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How old is this bird? More importantly what level are your parrot husbandry skills because that is what it will boil down to.

A big male cockatoo is probably the most formidable creature you'll ever encounter.

If the bird is an adult (5-7 yrs old) then hormones are going to dictate a lot of behaviour. If the bird is not an adult it will be and the behaviour will reveal itself eventually.

Give this a read. Lots of insight.

 

BrianB

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I freely admit that the bigger cockatoos are the few birds I’m afraid of. I’ve only met one Moluccan that I wasn’t scared of. We have two in the store at the moment that each have their sad histories. I give them a healthy amount of respect and I’ve been slowly introducing myself to them and taking it in their terms. As for the Triton, he’s in his mid teens - 15 or 16. The people who currently own him have done well with him, but they introduced several more cockatoos into the environment and now he’s jealous. I have mixed feelings about that. They love him but his jealous rage is something they’ve inflicted upon themselves.

I’ve been breeding macaws and conures for the last few years. Aside from a tragic mishap with the red fronted macaws I’ve had good luck. Breeding cockatoos is a whole different beast as I understand it. As I said before it may be that he’s better suited to living out his life in a sanctuary and I’m ok with that if it comes to pass. It’s about what’s best for him.
 

BrianB

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The Triton male has yet to materialize. I understand it's a difficult decision for the family who owns him. I'm in no rush to add a breeding pair of cockatoos to my flock, but staying open to the possibility of it happening.

Someone surrendered a female galerita to us yesterday. We believe she's the Eleonora sub subspecies. The poor girl is only 7 years old and mostly naked. She's had 3 owners in her short life and her first owners kept her alone in a room with no entertainment. I don't know the story with the second owner. The last family had her for 2 years and she was very well bonded with the husband, but never cared much for his wife. He passed away a few weeks ago and the woman has been unable to handle her. The poor girl is grieving and lashing out at her. We set up a cage for her with some of her toys and a few new ones and I didn't have any problems getting her out of the carrier and into the cage. She lunged at me, but I spoke to her calmly and told her it was ok, and then she stepped right up for me and I was able to get her into the cage. The family didn't know if the bird was male or female but then mentioned that she lays a few eggs each month. I had to keep from laughing out loud. The lack of knowledge over basic biology that I hear from some pet owners just makes my brain hurt. It was obvious that she had an egg almost ready to drop so I expect it will be waiting for me when I get to work this morning.

I had two weird interactions with the moluccans yesterday. The female is hard for me to read. The others are afraid of her so when it comes time for her to go to her night cage they ask for my help. I just pick her up and away we go. Part way to the cage she starts to twitch and gets that look in her eye like she's about to rip me open. I told her to watch herself before she gets dropped on the floor. She stopped long enough for me to get her on the perch in her cage and then she lunged at me. I was already out of range, but she was going to bite me. The male is the nicer of the two, but still a different experience for me. He's cuddly and will sit with one foot on my arm and the other on my chest and he leans forward to put his head on me so I can scratch his neck. He does this with everyone who holds him, and I've taken it as just how he is. Yesterday he stepped up for me, then grabbed my finger in his mouth and started rubbing his bottom on me. He didn't bite me, but he was nibbling and chewing on my finger while going to town on my arm. I started laughing because I knew what he was doing. He really likes one of the women who works there and she wants to take him home. I guess at that moment I was the object of his desire. Such a very different dynamic between the two birds. The one thing I've learned about cockatoos is to expect their behavior to be consistently inconsistent.
 

aooratrix

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A friend of mine raised white cockatoos and rosies for decades. From her, I learned that cockatoos pretty much stop breeding around 20, in her experience (outdoor flights in Texas). Also, sulfur crests can be notorious for violence towards mates which would be a consideration for me. Even with a T nest box, frustrated males have killed/maimed their mates.
 

Hankmacaw

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Just to add some verification of what @aooratrix said about sulfurs being violent to their mates. The sanctuary where I volunteered had what they called murderers row. It consisted of eight sulfur crested toos that had killed their mates - some more than one. A couple of breeders had agreed to turning them over to the sanctuary rather than having them euthanized.
 

BrianB

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My friend that bred galerita's and rose-breasted has some amazing pairs. I think his flock was the exception to the rule. He never had an issue with mate aggression and that was probably a result of decades of careful selection and curation of individual birds. They weren't friendly by any means, but he didn't have any issues with mates killing each other. They were great breeders, but not always great parents. The rose-breasted would crush the eggs getting in and out of the nest box, so he incubated them and put the chicks back in as they started to hatch. For one pair of galeritas he would incubate and hand-feed from day one. His last clutch of 5 chicks basically ruled his life for the first 2 or 3 weeks after they hatched. His day was mixing baby food, feeding, cleaning, then a 15-minute nap before he started the process all over again.

We may end up passing on the whole experience. Our concern is that adding a loud pair of cockatoos to the mix will destroy the dynamic we have right now and completely disrupt the breeding season for everyone else - in addition to disrupting the work from home jobs that we now do. If nothing else, then I've managed to learn something new and hopefully made a better decision for it.
 

BrianB

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This is Daisey. She's the female that was surrendered to us. The poor girl is naked except for her face, neck, and wings. She's even managed to mangle her crest. One of her wings doesn't extend properly and I guess that she was kept in a very small cage and not able to get proper movement. She's a complete mess and I hate it that humans did this to her. Daisey steps right out of the cage for me and buries her head in my side while clicking her beak. She just wants someone to love her and she really does prefer men over women. I try to take her out several times each day so I can rub her head and reassure her that she's going to be just fine. From what the last owner told us she sounded like she couldn't be handled and was borderline violent towards humans. We had considered offering her to a breeder or sanctuary, but that won't be happening. I know the perfect human is out there just waiting to meet her and she will get all the love she deserves.

IMG_4665.jpeg
 

April

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This is Daisey. She's the female that was surrendered to us. The poor girl is naked except for her face, neck, and wings. She's even managed to mangle her crest. One of her wings doesn't extend properly and I guess that she was kept in a very small cage and not able to get proper movement. She's a complete mess and I hate it that humans did this to her. Daisey steps right out of the cage for me and buries her head in my side while clicking her beak. She just wants someone to love her and she really does prefer men over women. I try to take her out several times each day so I can rub her head and reassure her that she's going to be just fine. From what the last owner told us she sounded like she couldn't be handled and was borderline violent towards humans. We had considered offering her to a breeder or sanctuary, but that won't be happening. I know the perfect human is out there just waiting to meet her and she will get all the love she deserves.

View attachment 402533
Oooh her sweet is so sweet :heart:
 

JLcribber

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She's in good hands now. :hug8:
 

scrape

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:swoon: Aw she looks like a doll.
 

Tiel Feathers

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Awww, I’m so glad she has you to be her friend right now.❤
 

BrianB

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Our little Daisey had her vet visit last week. The vet said the issue with her left wing might be from past abuse. We know she was kept in a room by herself with no entertainment or stimulation. She was probably in a small cage, but someone may have hit her too. She has destroyed some of her feathers and I had to pull a blood feather from her wing the other day. It was just hanging there by a small thread of skin. Luckily it only gave a drop of blood before it clotted. The level of damage she's done to her feathers makes me think she might progress to self-mutilation. It makes me so angry that humans do this kind of thing to helpless animals for just being what they are. I've made progress getting her out of her cage on the days that I work. At first, we could get her out on a tree but the next day she would refuse to come out of her cage. Now I have someone leave the cage door open and wait for her to come out and then I'll come to get her and take her to her tree. She won't step up for anyone else so I take her out and put her back. I fear that she's emotionally damaged and we have yet to see all that she is. At the moment she just wants to cuddle, and I give her the time that I can spare, but I think she's going to unpack her bags and we're going to see a much different side of her. I really hope I'm wrong. In the future, I hope we can find the right person who will do their best to make sure she feels loved for the rest of her life.

IMG_4875.jpeg
 

April

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Our little Daisey had her vet visit last week. The vet said the issue with her left wing might be from past abuse. We know she was kept in a room by herself with no entertainment or stimulation. She was probably in a small cage, but someone may have hit her too. She has destroyed some of her feathers and I had to pull a blood feather from her wing the other day. It was just hanging there by a small thread of skin. Luckily it only gave a drop of blood before it clotted. The level of damage she's done to her feathers makes me think she might progress to self-mutilation. It makes me so angry that humans do this kind of thing to helpless animals for just being what they are. I've made progress getting her out of her cage on the days that I work. At first, we could get her out on a tree but the next day she would refuse to come out of her cage. Now I have someone leave the cage door open and wait for her to come out and then I'll come to get her and take her to her tree. She won't step up for anyone else so I take her out and put her back. I fear that she's emotionally damaged and we have yet to see all that she is. At the moment she just wants to cuddle, and I give her the time that I can spare, but I think she's going to unpack her bags and we're going to see a much different side of her. I really hope I'm wrong. In the future, I hope we can find the right person who will do their best to make sure she feels loved for the rest of her life.

View attachment 403754
Aw she's beautiful. It's OK little one you're safe now :heart:
 

Sparkles!

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@BrianB there’s no room for her to stay with you until she can settle in a bit? I agree with the assessment that escalation is close at hand. I know you’re probably very busy but if she has chosen you- you’re very likely her lifeline at this moment. I’ve seen mutilating toos crash and burn being fostered too quickly after an intake. Sometimes those white ghosts need very slow steps or they’ll fall.
 

BrianB

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@BrianB there’s no room for her to stay with you until she can settle in a bit? I agree with the assessment that escalation is close at hand. I know you’re probably very busy but if she has chosen you- you’re very likely her lifeline at this moment. I’ve seen mutilating toos crash and burn being fostered too quickly after an intake. Sometimes those white ghosts need very slow steps or they’ll fall.
I wish there was, but I'm stretched really thin and I think it would make things worse for her. On the days I don't work at the store I'm very busy at home. At least at the store, we can help keep her on a structured schedule, and hopefully, that will let her unpack and settle herself. It's easier to keep a schedule at the store than it is at home. Our goal is to get her out on a tree as often as we can and start socializing everyone else with her as she allows. When I'm there I can make a few minutes here and there to go over and talk to her. Sometimes I pick her up and walk around the store with her, sometimes I scratch her head, and sometimes I just stand there and talk to her. We've agreed that she won't be adopted by someone that doesn't have a lot of cockatoo experience, and they will really have to put the work in to win her over. She gets to pick her next family. If she ends up being a permanent resident, then so be it. We've always got room for one more in our rag tag group of birds that live at the store.
 

Mockinbirdiva

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I knew a lady who raised several species of parrots including a couple of pairs of Eleonoras…. One male savagely killed his hen. The bigger the flight the better but not enough for escape from a determined male. Some parrotlet’s are mate destructive too. Years ago I had a strong interest in the Cuban Amazon until I heard they were very mate aggressive.

hoping you find the best devoted home for Daisy!
 

Kassiani

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Poor little girlie! I hope Daisy settles in with time. I think structure and routine will be very helpful for her to learn that she can trust her new situation.
 
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