I bought a batch of fresh, organic broccoli today and steamed it. I took a piece over and ate it in front of Mango, then I tried to get her to taste it. She came over and touched it with her tongue and ran away. She wanted nothing to do with it. I tried again and again, nothing.
In frustration, I stuck pieces of the broccoli all over her cage, between the bars, on top, etc. Later, while I was sitting on the couch reading, I glanced over and she was eating a piece!!!!! When she saw me looking at her, she stopped. I looked away, and a few minutes later she was eating a different piece!!! Once again, when she saw me looking at her, she stopped. It almost felt like she did not want to be seen eating it, BUT SHE DID EAT SOME!!!!!!!!! I am soooooooooo happy! I am going to continue to steam more broccoli and other veggies to see if I can't incorporate this into her diet.
Also, it is so funny that now she appears to be trained to lift her leg any time she sees a sunflower seed and I say "step up." During our training session today, I approached the cage holding a seed visibly in my right hand, while holding out my left hand and saying "step up!" Mango, upon seeing the seed, started walking toward me, but the funny thing was that about every 5 steps, she would stop and hold out her right leg, then take 5 more steps and stop and hold out her right leg, then, when she got close enough, she stopped and grabbed my finger. Then I gave her the seed and lots of praise. I wish I could have gotten it on video. I can't believe how quickly she learned this. After she is very comfortable doing this, I am going to start withholding the seed until she steps onto my hand with both legs. But I want to take this slowly. I am soooo proud of her. To me, it is so sweet that she is responding to training like this. What a wonderful little bird!!!!!
Overall, I am very excited though. She is showing signs of being willing to add some veggies to her diet, and she is responding to training.
Right now, she has gone to bed, but she is doing this routine where she calls me, then when I go to see her, she gives me the go-away dance. She does this almost every night. I wonder if it is possible that it is not me she is calling, but maybe a friend that she was once bonded to who she was split from when she was sold to a pet store. Also, when I show her bird videos, she only seems to respond to videos of other conures. It is really making me wonder if she has a broken heart and still remembers a mate or friend that she misses and calls for, especially when she goes to bed each night. That makes me feel so sad because that would be a lot of hurt that she carries with her all the time. I would love so much to be able to give her another conure friend. I just don't have the space for another cage. But I care about Mango so much that I would love to be able to give her what she needs to be happy. How much I wish she were able to tell me her story!
Oh well. We do what we can!!!!
Hope everyone is doing well. I enjoy sharing the progress!!!