In this thread, I asked for advice on how to work through the fear and get my new cockatiel to love me, and at what pace I should expect this to play out.
Well, we are moving right along! So far, he begs for super-healthy, low-salt Kasha “triscuits”, so that is the tool I’m using. Today when he grabbed the triscuit, it fell out of his beak and to the cage floor. He leaned over, opened his wings all the way up, spread out his tail, and hiss-chatted at the bottom of the cage- I think he was pissed that he dropped it! It was cool to watch.
I’ve tried moving his cage to the floor for door-opening sessions, but this freaks him so much that he never gets out. So I’m doing it in his “home” location, which is about 5 ft high, but his wings are freshly clipped, so, like today, when he tries to take off, he goes straight down and lands softly on the floor. It’s all I can work with right now.
He mostly stays near me when he’s on the floor (I’m sitting on the floor too), he comes and takes triscuits from me. He complains and nips my finger (not hard at all) when I extend it without a triscuit- he’s not ready to get on my finger yet for sure. I let him walk around and explore and come back for a triscuit. I talk to him and whistle our “call”.
He flapped a little when I put a perch in front of him, but he got on it, I held him in front of me for a few minutes and talked softly (he just sat and checked me out), and then I put him back in his cage.
While eating something cockatiel safe offer him some. Even if he doesn’t take it from your fingers, put it in reach of him. Eating together is something flockmates do, food is a Good Thing for little birds, and it will help him bond to you. Yes, I know you’re feeding him - the point is for you to eat with him
Keep offering him food. It’s ok for birds to have some seasoning - mine LIKE strong flavored foods like garlic and hot peppers. They also like most dry cereal (one of them gets ecstatic over Cheerios). If you have the “Forbidden List” of foods dangerous to birds then you’ll know what NOT to give them, and everything else is more or less OK (just go real easy on things like chips - that’s a very occasional treat).
Keep offering It’s the thought that counts in this case, not the quantity.
My bird would travel to the edge of the earth for scrambled egg. He only likes showers when he thought of it-- had to be in the mood. Then he’ll start bathing in his water dish and I’ll bring in the sprayer to “help”.
You know, already, the big no-nos, I presume? (teflon, anything aerosolized, avocado, those turkey-baking bags, oven-cleaning, philodrendrons, galvanized metal, zinc)
very cool. My last bird was never completely finger tame. I got him to be comfortable sitting on my shoulder with blackmail: I took his seed cup out of his cage and only allowed him to eat from it when I held it on my lap. After that, if I was home he was on my shoulder.
Now I’m in the process of syringe feeding a baby parrotlet. She’s about 3 weeks old and loves to sleep squished under my hand on my belly, or curled up in my shirt pocket. Just yesterday for the first time she crawled up my shirt to my shoulder and spent a few minutes grooming the back of my head. She also tried to fly today for the first time.
I’m aware already of several of those no-nos (and now all of them-thanks!). So, about this non-stick thing: are we talking about Teflon ™ or any kind of nonstick? I have 2 nonstick pans which I use maybe once every 2 weeks. Give me an example of galvanized metal…I’m coming up blank on that…
We have a cleaning lady that comes every 2 weeks- I already have a plan to keep Cricket in the guest room with door closed which cleaning lady will not enter when she’s here.
Tonight Cricket came out of his cage, fluttered down to the floor, rested about 5 minutes, and then immediately walked over and climbed up onto me, eventually making it up to my shoulder. We’re going to work on this every day, and try to get finger step-up in there too!
My avian vet also included garlic and onions on the list of no-no’s. Scrambled eggs, peanut butter, and nuts are also severely restricted because of the fat content, but your birds may never develop problems with these foods.
For galvanized metal, think hardware supplies. Also watch out for lead paint and lead curtain weights.
xanthous and lissener, I am so glad that your birds have found such loving homes! Now just you wait until your new Avian Overlords start training you!
All nonstick is bad. It contains PTFE which can outgas when heated – exactly how hot is a subject of dispute, but it’s worth noting that if an oven is set for 350 degrees, the elements in the oven can individually be over 800 degrees, and if they’re PTFE-coated…suffice to say you can’t use cooking temperature as a guide and be completely safe.
PTFE poisoning is very fast and has affected birds far from the source – I’ve read of one lady who lost birds five floors away from the frying pan in question; a lady on one of my bird forums lost all her birds just minutes after plugging in a new toaster oven. Even having it in the house can be dangerous if YOU never use it; in one case, an overnight guest rose early and burned a frying pan full of eggs, killing the family pets.
Take PTFE very seriously. Most bird people I know wind up donating their nonstick stuff to (birdless) relatives.
Good to hear you’re making progress. Go slow. Spend time in his presence reading or watching TV and appearing to be calm and happy (i.e., don’t read the BBQ Pit in front of him). He will want to be with you; he has a flocking instinct.
Do you mean oven-cleaning, or oven-cleaners? Because my oven needs to be set on the oven cleaning function & have all the crap burned off (no chemicals)- is this a no-no?
Where can I find a comprehensive list of bird no-nos? I’d like to print it and put it on the fridge so that manthous can see it too.
What about a toaster oven is bad? I don’t have one, but I’m curious…
A lot of fumes that are safe for humans are lethal for birds. Picture a canary in a coal mine. It’s possible there was teflon in that particular model of toaster oven; heated teflon gives of a fume that’s extremely dangerous to birds.
I once had three nightingales, perfectly happy and breeding, die within minutes of each other one sunday morning at 5am. I never found a clue what killed them, but it was probably a neighbor spraying or burning something that I couldn’t see or smell.
How tragic! That scares me to death! Well, our cleaning lady is a fan of the cleaning products, so I’ll make sure Cricket is enclosed safely in the guest room with a towel pressed up against the door until the downstairs has had a chance to air out.
The toaster oven contained PTFE. Your oven’s heating elements probably do too, and the extreme temperatures of self-cleaning are likely to cause outgassing.
Wikipedia has a very incomplete partial list in the properties section on PTFE.
The makers of PTFE have been hawking it for a lot of uses, and it’s starting to seem ubiquitous in our lives to this bird owner.
Items of note that PTFE has been added to:
Gore-tex clothing
waterproofing, including boots, carpets, couches, and stainguard-type fabrics
men’s pants
ovens, toasters, waffle irons, cookware, heating elements
umbrellas
plastic packaging from retail stores
wires
computer parts
PTFE aside, certain other things like fireplaces, new carpeting and painting can pose fume safety issues. Then there’s also gruesome physical hazards like flying into ceiling fans or onto stove burners, perching on top of doors that get slammed, and walking under the mechanical parts of a recliner.
My recommendation is to Google up some dedicated bird forums. I sometimes use the (abominably outdated software of the) birdsnways.com Tiel Talk page, or upatsix.com, but you should look through a bunch of bird forums and decide which ones you prefer.
Also, essential oils are bad for birds – this includes scented candles and those Glade plugin things.
Maybe look up some bird-safe cleaning products on the bird sites (or post there asking) and you can ask or insist that the cleaning lady use them. If you pay for/provide them she might not mind. It might even ultimately be something she could promote about her services – pet-safe products only!
:eek::eek::eek::eek: we waffled it up last weekend! :eek::eek::eek::eek:
I’m totally ready to get rid of my nonstick stuff (I don’t have much, but dangit how will I do a good omelet or a parm-crusted chicken breast now? How do I replace a waffle iron? Aren’t they all nonstick?
Getting non-stick cookware is a pain in the butt but it is out there. Oddly enough, I find most of mine at Wal-Mart.
I learned to cook before telfon and non-stick became ubiquitous and manage to do omelets without burning them just fine. Either use well-seasoned cast iron, or, before you add the eggs to your non-non-stick pan heat the oil until it flows easily and then tile the pan gently this way and that until the entire bottom is well coated with the oil.
