Zada is home!

Have a conversation with her as often as possible. Just sit with her while she's in the cage. You can open the door and show her that she's not "caged" but don't force her to come out. Then just talk to her as if she were a scared child because that's what she is. She went from knowing nothing but her breeder, who was warm and comfy, to a new, huge cage full of stuff she's never seen. Its like sending a child to school for the first time. they have no idea what to do and are terrified and Zada's only defense is to be angry. So just talk to her, ask her about her day, talk at length about yours and what you did as if she understood you. After a time, offer her some treats by hand. Nuts and fruits are good for this (not too many nuts though). You do have to do it from the start though. Don't get discouraged, it will take time.

Once you do get her out, take her to a separate room, perhaps your bedroom, where you can close your door. Its a room you are comfortable in and she will pick up on that. Let her roam around on the bed, play with her, talk to her. You'll get the hang of it. Never train her near her cage though. They relate their cage as their safe zone and if something bad happns during training, she'll never want to come out and will be very angry.

And by the way...macaws do have a great smell. I always inhale on Sebastian when I'm hugging him and he makes a loud snuffling sound, LOL

Sooo we can take her out and sometimes she actually steps up without a problem. She does try to chew on everything haha, so we have to be very persistent. Tonight we tried to introduce her to a shower, didnt go so well. Hopefully we didnt scar her for life.. ! She was in no mood for a bath so we sat her on top on the shower rod and just turned the water on hot and let her have some steam, better than nothing! After her shower she roamed around and she let me and Patrick give her some rubbing on her head and back. She also lets me pet her through the bars, and she grabs my finger and bobs, its super cute. But we are making progress!

And man she is one huge chewer! She has almost completely chewed up one of her toys within 3 days!

I'm so happy for you!!

If she bobs her head when she has your finger in her mouth, she's imitating being fed by her momma, that's a love/comfort thing. Good job. And macaws are natural wood chewers and it helps strengthen their beaks so make sure you always have wood to chew. After a while it gets expensive so check your local lumber yard and such for scrap hardwoods (make sure its not treated) and its easy enough to drill a hole and lace it with a chain or rope. Also, our macaws love the straw preener toys. Get one for her, she'll love it.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_SPM5027467801P?prdNo=10&blockNo=35&blockType=G35

Zada is absolutely gorgeous!
Congratulations!

Margaret wrote:

Zada is absolutely gorgeous!
Congratulations!

Thank you! She is a lot of fun!

Vikki wrote:

If she bobs her head when she has your finger in her mouth, she's imitating being fed by her momma, that's a love/comfort thing. Good job. And macaws are natural wood chewers and it helps strengthen their beaks so make sure you always have wood to chew. After a while it gets expensive so check your local lumber yard and such for scrap hardwoods (make sure its not treated) and its easy enough to drill a hole and lace it with a chain or rope. Also, our macaws love the straw preener toys. Get one for her, she'll love it.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_SPM5027467801P?prdNo=10&blockNo=35&blockType=G35

We went to home depot and they said they have untreated wood they will give us for free! She loves to chew. She got a hold of my window and cracked it like it was a piece of paper haha

Yeah, sorry, should have warned you. When you have her out, keep her away from wooden furniture and molding unless its easily replaced. I've replaced the molding on my window a few times already. The harder the wood, the better. Believe it or not, Sebastian's favorite chew toy is a discarded handle from an old ax. Its super hard so it takes him longer to gnaw on it.

Haha yeah I've learned my lesson! But she is obsessed with the windowsill. She runs as fast as she can to it and I have to pick her up and the process repeats itself till she gets tired haha. She's learning that she cant eat the windowsill, slowly but surely haha

It seems like JJ's favorite chew-toys are softer woods (she's a small conure, after all) that she can perch on and chew at the same time. Right now I can't keep her off of our stair rail and a picture frame ... it's making me nuts. The picture frame isn't a big deal - it's the principle, but to replace on stair rail, I'd have to replace ALL of them, and THAT's a pain!

I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't be looking for longer pieces of soft wood that I can put in her cage (and around the house) as a perch rather than the small chunks of wood that come in the toys.

her colors are so stunning! shes so gorgeous! it seems like things are going great!

she is beautiful


dusty

Too much fun! Did the breeder harness train her for you? She really seemed very good with it.

She's definitely a beautiful, colorful girl. Was just telling Bryan he should get on here since he's the one that owns our Catalina. I always loved how Catalinas look like their heads are tie dyed.

ScooterNScotty wrote:

Too much fun! Did the breeder harness train her for you? She really seemed very good with it.

Nope! That was only her second time wearing it. We just gave her a lot of blackberries when we were putting it on her and I think that helped haha.

Vikki wrote:

She's definitely a beautiful, colorful girl. Was just telling Bryan he should get on here since he's the one that owns our Catalina. I always loved how Catalinas look like their heads are tie dyed.

Yeah she has cute litte green speckles on her head! And she does smell good haha. I was in my room and was by her cage and I couldnt figure out what I was smelling and then I smelt her and the good smell was her haha.

I want her!

Zaza can we share? i want her to!

hannah can we have more pictures?

She is incredible!

zazanomore wrote:

I want her!

Im watching you!

coral wrote:

hannah can we have more pictures?

She's gorgeous!

yay pictures!!! shes so pretty!!!!