Post by jessjarbinks on Sept 5, 2018 19:21:45 GMT -7
Hi! I'm new to the forum but I noticed that it was pretty helpful so I decided to give it a try (:
As a bit of preface, I've had birds before; I've had 3 lovebirds in the past and a sun conure. For some reason, whenever I'm away for an extended amount of time, my birds pass away ): My first lovebird was a plucker and one day when I came home from school she wasn't there (parents still haven't explained this one to me). One of them was sick when we bought him but hadn't realized before he was sold to us. My 10-year old lovebird passed away on January 1st of this year (when I was away from home for about a week; my older brother was acting as a caretaker). My 9-year old sun conure passed away earlier this summer while I was away at summer camp, still don't know what could've happened to him, he was healthy when I left. I currently have a 7-month old Peach-faced Lovebird named Luna and a dog (shiba inu) named Leo. (:
Anyway, I got a (now) 5 month old Congo African Grey named Larry for my 17th birthday last month! I love him to death but I'm worried that he doesn't feel the same about me haha. I take him out all the time whenever I'm home from school; we're together from when I wake up at the crack of dawn till I'm going upstairs to bed at around 10pm (I'm super scared that he'll start plucking from lack of attention). He's mostly on his play stand unless I'm just watching TV (he'd be in my hand or sitting with me on my chest; the people who sold him to me said not to put him on my shoulder). I take him outside whenever we have good weather and we walk around the house together whenever my dog is outside. I give him fruits and veggies and he's taken a liking to strawberries and carrots (: along with seeds and soaked pellets. I sing to him and talk to him whenever he's out and he doesn't seem to detest my presence; he readily obeys the "up" command and everything! But he doesn't let me touch him! I'm able to touch his beak with no problem but whenever I (slowly) try for his neck, he makes this kind of "don't touch me" sound and moves away. I know that bonding takes time and everything and I've been trying to read his body language and wait for whenever he's relaxed to try to touch him but he only ever allows it if he's sleepy or nibbling on something. I was ready to be patient and just accept that I'll have to keep trying but today my dad just walked up to him and scratched his neck with no problem! I was in utter shock because my dad literally does nothing for Larry! And the next time my dad came around, Larry bent his head and cooed! I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong and he just doesn't feel comfortable with me? I'd appreciate any advice as to what I should do to fix this!
Also, I noticed that sometimes Larry will jump from his play stand or he'll jump from people's hands onto the floor and I'm worried that he'll hurt himself! I read that you shouldn't make a big deal out of them jumping because they might just keep jumping because of the kind of attention you're giving them, so I've been trying to just calmly pick him up and putting him back on his play stand or trying to catch him if I'm able. Is that like the right way of going about it or should I be doing something else?
Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for any replies!
As a bit of preface, I've had birds before; I've had 3 lovebirds in the past and a sun conure. For some reason, whenever I'm away for an extended amount of time, my birds pass away ): My first lovebird was a plucker and one day when I came home from school she wasn't there (parents still haven't explained this one to me). One of them was sick when we bought him but hadn't realized before he was sold to us. My 10-year old lovebird passed away on January 1st of this year (when I was away from home for about a week; my older brother was acting as a caretaker). My 9-year old sun conure passed away earlier this summer while I was away at summer camp, still don't know what could've happened to him, he was healthy when I left. I currently have a 7-month old Peach-faced Lovebird named Luna and a dog (shiba inu) named Leo. (:
Anyway, I got a (now) 5 month old Congo African Grey named Larry for my 17th birthday last month! I love him to death but I'm worried that he doesn't feel the same about me haha. I take him out all the time whenever I'm home from school; we're together from when I wake up at the crack of dawn till I'm going upstairs to bed at around 10pm (I'm super scared that he'll start plucking from lack of attention). He's mostly on his play stand unless I'm just watching TV (he'd be in my hand or sitting with me on my chest; the people who sold him to me said not to put him on my shoulder). I take him outside whenever we have good weather and we walk around the house together whenever my dog is outside. I give him fruits and veggies and he's taken a liking to strawberries and carrots (: along with seeds and soaked pellets. I sing to him and talk to him whenever he's out and he doesn't seem to detest my presence; he readily obeys the "up" command and everything! But he doesn't let me touch him! I'm able to touch his beak with no problem but whenever I (slowly) try for his neck, he makes this kind of "don't touch me" sound and moves away. I know that bonding takes time and everything and I've been trying to read his body language and wait for whenever he's relaxed to try to touch him but he only ever allows it if he's sleepy or nibbling on something. I was ready to be patient and just accept that I'll have to keep trying but today my dad just walked up to him and scratched his neck with no problem! I was in utter shock because my dad literally does nothing for Larry! And the next time my dad came around, Larry bent his head and cooed! I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong and he just doesn't feel comfortable with me? I'd appreciate any advice as to what I should do to fix this!
Also, I noticed that sometimes Larry will jump from his play stand or he'll jump from people's hands onto the floor and I'm worried that he'll hurt himself! I read that you shouldn't make a big deal out of them jumping because they might just keep jumping because of the kind of attention you're giving them, so I've been trying to just calmly pick him up and putting him back on his play stand or trying to catch him if I'm able. Is that like the right way of going about it or should I be doing something else?
Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for any replies!
