Check out the new resident of Paradise!

Okay all, I'm really in it now! Yesterday, I convinced my wife to come with me to the Edmonton Humane Society to check out that Red Bellied Parrrot that they had available for adoption.

I spent about an hour interacting with him. He is 2 years old and had obviously been handled, as he would let me give him scritches, would let touch everywhere, even extending his wings (which have been trimmed horribly, by the way. He has all his primary feathers, but they trimmed the 7 or 8 ones closest to his body, which means lift but no real control, right?).

However, he has no idea how to step up, nor even the instinct to do so when I tried to "lift" him into a step up. He did it once or twice, but that's it, no consistency. He is a little nippy but most of it is bluffing, as when he does bite it is minor pressure only and nothing really serious.

The shelter staff knew way less than I did after a couple of days of research, they were calling him a Red Bellied Senegal, which I guess is close, but knew nothing about any of the Poi's. I felt like I was telling them about the bird!

Well, I am a softy and my wife must relly love me, cause if you haven't noticed my bio on the left yet, I (of course) ended up bringing the little guy home with me! So now I am a 2 bird guy, no longer a one bird guy! I called a friend of mine from my local bird club who owns a store where I buy my food and toys. She has loaned me an 18x18x24 cage that will get me started until I can get something better. I already had toys and perches, so I can at least get started on the taming process.

That is where you guys and gals come in. When I got Merlin he already knew how to step up and bonded to me within a day or two. Something tells me this guy is going to take a little longer. So I will have lots of questions I am sure regarding taming and training. I will also need help not expecting too much too fast I am sure.

For those of you already in you heads going "pictures, pictures please!" , I snapped a couple of quick ones this morning with my phone. They are in my gallery, because I can't seem to figure out how to make the pictures in the post thing work.

Wish me luck guys, I hope the road is not too bumpy, cause it's a long one!

CONGRATS! CONGRATS!!!!

And he sounds FANTASTIC! Not knowing how to step up, but otherwise good with you - he's great! As far as I'm concerned, he IS tame. You guys just need to get to know each other.

So excited to keep hearing updates!!

You SO totally scored!

Thanks Roz! I'm gonna be relying on you and everyone else here in Paradise for help here, because I'm feeling like this could be an uphill battle for a while. However, it is only the first day.

I'm excited and scared at the same time.

Congratulations! Neither Scooter nor Scotty was a blank canvas when we got them -- we just started handling at the level that seemed comfortable, established a routine and attempted any changes gradually from there, FWIW. Some people suggest starting from scratch as if the bird was completely untame, but I don't think that's necessary unless there is a problem, just start where things are reasonably comfortable.

Thanks Deb! Your current situation may very well be the closest to mine now. How well do Scooter and Scotty get along? Right now, due to quarantine, I am dividing my time for the next month. However, I am hoping that I can eventually have them both out at the same time without them wanting to kill each other!

Because of the size differential, I've never allowed them to directly interact. They seem to have "grown accustomed to your face" with each other, but show no real desire to be in the same space that I've detected. Although both are rather flighted at the moment and I'm a little worried about that dynamic -- earlier today Scotty wound up on the bookshelf adjacent to Scooter's cage and I don't really know what he had in mind.

Size doesn't seem to be as big a deal for my two, the Red Belly is about the same size as Merlin if you include his tail. It's not quite the same as your two, with Scotty being much bigger. I hope mine will get along at least well enough to tolerate each others presence. We'll see, I have a month to try to work with the new guy to socialize him (he really needs a name, having trouble finding one I like that seems to suit him).

I'm open to ideas for names if anyone has any.

Awesome!!! Congratulations ;o) Pictures Pleeze

Aww congrats and I DEMAND pics!!!

Congratulations!

Congrats on the new fid, Your starting to catch up with the rest of us,LOL.Guess the new guy is a male. Are going to stick with the wizard theme ? Gandalf ? Maybe he'll be a mamma's bird. good luck and keep us posted (now you'll have more reasons to post)

Here is one of the pics Roger posted in his Gallery. Rog, if you look below the pic in the gallery, there are two lines that say BBcodeblahblah above them, with a copy button to the right. If you click on that copy button on the bottom one (Full size image) and the paste it into a post, it will display the image inline like this:



The text that actually does that is this:

Code:

[img]http://www.parrotparadiseforum.com/users/3115/15/24/08/album/img_0611.jpg[/img]

P.S. I vote for "Albus"

Oh that is a pretty boy----pretty boy Floyd ?

Thanks for the assist on the picture Deb!

I am trying to narrow down a hatchday for him. I know that he is 2 years old but I am hoping that you band experts out there can give me some more details. His band says the following:

PF ONT 09 27

I am interpreting that as the PF being the breeder or aviary. ONT would likely mean Ontario, as there are no breeders of Red Bellies in Western Canada that I am aware of. Which leaves 0927. Since I was told he was born in 2009 (09) can I take that to mean second month, seventh day? Or am I reading more into the banding than is there?

Capt, I actually considered Floyd because his belly reminds me of the moustache of Floyd, the Muppet guitar player from Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. I also considered Beaker from the Muppets. I don't think I'll stick with the wizard theme, so Gandalf is out, but I considered following the King Arthur theme; something like Percival (for Sir Percival, Percy for short)?

I don't know, I am still trying to see what "fits"

RogerP wrote:

Thanks for the assist on the picture Deb!

I am trying to narrow down a hatchday for him. I know that he is 2 years old but I am hoping that you band experts out there can give me some more details. His band says the following:

PF ONT 09 27

I am interpreting that as the PF being the breeder or aviary. ONT would likely mean Ontario, as there are no breeders of Red Bellies in Western Canada that I am aware of. Which leaves 0927. Since I was told he was born in 2009 (09) can I take that to mean second month, seventh day? Or am I reading more into the banding than is there?

2009 is most likely the hatch year. If Canada's like the US, then there's no real requirement in terms of any sort of consistent banding. If that's the case, then he could have been born the next year 2010, depending on whether or not the breeder uses his bands until he runs out. 27 is just the band number, next in line after chick number 26. Yes, PF would be the breeder or aviary. Again, if it's like here in the US, then there's no central data base registry to look up who "PF" is.

RogerP wrote:

Capt, I actually considered Floyd because his belly reminds me of the moustache of Floyd, the Muppet guitar player from Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. I also considered Beaker from the Muppets. I don't think I'll stick with the wizard theme, so Gandalf is out, but I considered following the King Arthur theme; something like Percival (for Sir Percival, Percy for short)?

I don't know, I am still trying to see what "fits"

AWESOME!!! A muppets fan!

BTW - Deb's on the right track about just go with what feels right in how you progress with birdie.

congratulations roger...he is beautiful...i would be proud to own him...just give him love and he will come around...they may fight, green cheeks are notorious for that, keep them separated for a while...good luck...how about arthur, he is very regal looking...i just love the looks of your new bird....glad u got him

i am jealous...lol

dusty

Congratulations! !he's beautiful!

If you can't figure out his hatch day use his adoption fay to celebrate that's what im gonna do

coral wrote:

If you can't figure out his hatch day use his adoption fay to celebrate that's what im gonna do

Thanks Coral, that's what I plan to do. I found an Ontario based aviary called the Parrot Farm. I am hoping that might be the "PF" on his band. I sent them an e-mail to check things out. If it is them, maybe they can give me some information on him. If not, I will proceed with what I know so far. I will let everyone know if I find out anything.

Any of you from the Ontario area know anything about this aviary?

I want pics

GlassOnion wrote:

I want pics

I have only taken two or three pictures of him so far, because he won't come out of the cage. There is one earlier in this post and all three so far are in my gallery. When I get him friendlier I will take some more.

HE IS GORGEOUS!

sorry roger i have never heard of them


dusty

GlassOnion wrote:

HE IS GORGEOUS!

Thanks Anita, I think so too!

dusty wrote:

sorry roger i have never heard of them


dusty

Thanks Dusty, their information says they are in York, Ontario.