Senegal Parrot Question

[1MrsMagoo]

So, until Labor Day last year, I had never even seen a parrot up close, let alone thought about owning one; then I went to visit a friend who lives about 4 hours away for the holiday weekend. When I was getting ready to leave she took me aside and said..."my husband says that if you don't take this bird he is letting it go outside. You have lots of animals and you'll take him...right?" So, now I have a very interesting, but slightly attitudinal little guy we named Shiggle: We have no idea how old he is...only that he was purchased from a breeder with a mate that died from smoke inhalation a couple years ago.
I have never had a parrot before and despite his attitude absolutely love him. I read what I could find about Senegals and made sure he was placed where he would be the center of attention. He was very mean when he got here: He had been terribly harassed by my friends youngest son. He has calmed substantially, but I am not brave enough to put my hand in his cage for more than a second...he lunged at me and bit me the first week he was here.

So, what is the best way to go about handling him, or will that even be possible now? Also, he occassionally has "fits" where he flaps his wings and shrieks for up to a minute: They don't happen often, but worry me that he is hurt or something. Is this normal? He doesn't seem to be uncomfortable...have mites or anything (I got some spray and treated him and his cage according to directions).

Any advice you have will be greatly appreciated.

So here he is.....

He plays a game with my daughter. If you put the end of a pencil in his cage, he goes to the bottom and plays dead. Then he will stand up and wants you to stroke his head with the pencil. We discovered this by accident because he had become very protective of his bathing crock and would not let us take it to clean it. We used the pencil to tap him and get him to move.

After his bath....

On his swing....

 

[jason_mazzy]

Sounds like normal sengal behavior to me. he is most liekly a spoiled bird and misses his mate fircely. They will bond with members of the flock. I have raised many parrots and adopted out them over the years. I try not to take them in, but sometimes you must LOL. I am glad you did.

#1 thing you need to do is build trust!!!!!

#2 use a small stick and reinforce the step up and step down command.

#3 don't let him on your shoulders. Ever. period.


Trust is obtained by you feeding him, talking to him, watering him, and training him the step up and down stick method. When he fully trusts you he will be more likely to listen to you and behave. But he will most likely have a lil attitude still. Look for visual clues he doesn't wat to be bothered. Pinning eyes, head bobbing, fluffing, or a step away. A crank parrot is only gonna make you angry. he won't be cooperative, and may well bite or start screaming. Please invest in a quality parrot feed. Seeds are not parrot food. It will over time kill them. They require a balanced diet and seed mixes as treats. Look up lafferty's it is pretty good. I have also used katy rainbow mix only for the price.................


If you have any questions I will do my best to help.

 

[jason_mazzy]

ps reaching into a cage is risky. remember he thinks this is his home, and will act much differently in the cage then out. It is natural instinct to guard his home.

 

[1MrsMagoo]

Quote:
Thank you very much for your response. I think he was more mistreated than spoiled at his last home. After the mate died, they stuck him in their teenage daughter's room and she hated the bird. She confided in my daughter that she had withheld food and water from him a couple times trying to kill him till her mom caught her. Her little brother and his friends would come and hit his cage with things and he seems to particularly hate baseball caps. Being that he seems to love attention, being confined in the dark, by himself and then being tortured and starved would give anybody a bad mood for a very long time. It certainly wouldn't make me want to trust the next food people very much either. We don't get upset about his bad mood...he kind of reminds us of my dad in a bird form with better language....lol. However, it would be nice to be able to touch him or get him a bigger cage with the open gym type top.

I am picky about our animals food, but my 12 year-old daughter is a stickler about pet food....we have to buy her guinea pigs the timothy based food only...lol. So, when he came here she read about the parrots and picked two kinds of parrot foods for him out of what was available locally. We mix them in a small mini tote with a lid so he gets variety (I try not to get too much at a time since feed loses its nutritional value with storage): one is Xupreem Fruit blend and I can't remember the other off the top of my head. I will see if anybody locally carries the two you mentioned. Price is no object when it comes to feeding our furry or feathered friends so it doesn't really matter if it is too expensive: Their is no point in having the animal if you aren't going to properly care for it. So far his favorite treats seem to be peanuts, crackers, bread crusts, banana chips and apple peels. If he sees me get some bread he walks to the closest corner of his cage and holds up his claw while leaning forward....I call it shaking me down.

Thank you for the instructions about the stick; we've been accidentally doing something like it except saying over. We will get started on that one right away. So, about the shoulder....do they tend to attack your face or ear? Just curious. I'm not sure I'd want him up there anyway....I am much more comfortable with having him on my hand or arm if we can get to that point.

Also thanks for the tip about the home invasion. We never outright reached in...just opened the little doors to remove his food dish and water crock. He seems to guard the crock he bathes in so we started using the pencil saying over to nudge him off it. At first, when we tried to take it... he would grab the rim with his beak and attempt to pull it back in, which usually ended up launching the water at whomever was trying to get the crock: He always seemed very pleased with himself when that happened. Actually, come to think of it...he hasn't done that in several weeks now....just sits on it and makes us nudge him over now.

I tend to end up with unwanted animals....among my rescue adoptees are goats, guinea pigs, dogs, a cat, the parrot, some chickens, a rabbit, and a horse or two through time. People know that we have a big place and take in animals so they tend to just figure I'll take them. We set limits on how many of each type animal we want/can afford... so some of them are only here till I can find them a good home. So far, I've only ever had problems with one of the horses being unmanageable: The rest turned into very nice critters and she went to a breeding farm where she is doing very well.

Again, thank you for all your suggestions. I really do enjoy him and since he could be here a very long time figured I better know a bit more about him. Have a super day.

 

[bagendhens]

the flapping and shreiking is absolutly normal lol, infact i havent yet met a parrot who doesnt have what i call "spaz attacks" at least once during the day...
id definatly suggest just talking to him, being neer his cage and reading to him, talking to him, singing to him ect...getting him used to your voice is wonderfull.
once he seems interested in you and your voice you can start feed him treats by hand, never through the cage bars simply open the cage door and hold the treat at the door...apple is a favorite in this house with the birds, particularly granny smith and honey crisp.
i never feed through the bars as ive found it tends to teach the bird that fingers neer the cage = treats and they tend to bite through the bars looking for goodies.

essentially you want him to associate your hands with good things.

teaching basic commands like step up onto a stick is something to work towards, birds tend to be cage defensive, so stick training in the cage will keep your hands safe while teaching him manners and respect for you.

being he was a breeder bird itll take some tiem for him to bond to you, but with lots of time and patients he will get there, they desire companionship

sennies are "silly" birds, once he realy settles in, youll find he does the silly things that make you laugh ALL the time!

 

[1MrsMagoo]

Quote:
Thank you so much for your input. I have already notice some of the silliness and enjoy it very much. We all talk to him all the time and my daughter sings to him daily...he even has a theme song and dance...the Shiggle Bop! We have an open floor plan: The center 1000 sq feet of our house is kitchen, dining, and living room. He was on the kitchen island till Christmas when I needed the area for cookie prep. Now, he is on the wheeled legs that came with his cage right beside the island. We wanted to keep him where we spend the most time.

Ohh....I have been feeding him treats through the bars after losing a bit of my finger early on..so will have to stop doing that. I have noticed that he grabs the bars with his beak whenever we approach now. We used to think he was being mean, but then my daughter starting petting his beak as long as he didn't have the beady laser eye going on. After we work with the stick for a while we'll start doing treats at the cage door instead. I'll get my husband to do it the first time...he's braver than me...lol.

Again, thank you for taking time to respond.

 

[jason_mazzy]

Use a stick and say step up. then use the stick like you would your finger under his breast until he does. When he does, say good bird (or whatever u call him/her). Then bring the stick over to a "neutral place" perhaps your counter. Then reach in his cage and remove the bowls and tidy up. Then replace him using the same method but in reverse. Soon he will associate this with haveing a good time away from his cage or as a neutral act. Neutral acts are very good for birds because they do not have the urge to get aggressive. Agressiveness in parrots is 99% defensiveness. They lash out in defense. Which leads me to shoulders

Never shoulder a bird. Birds bite instictively.

If he is scared he wil bite your face.

if he is mad he will bite your face.

if he is frieghtened he will bite your face.

if he sees someone he likes more than you he will bite your face.

if he sees someone he likes less than you he will bite you face.

if he wants a treat he will bite your face.

if he wants your attention....you guessed it , he will bite your face.

Bites are very common for parrpts, some are attention getters, others are leave me alone, others are run for your life. But all hurt and many on the face require plastic surgery.

 

[1MrsMagoo]

Quote:
Okay, that is what I was afraid you guys would say..... After what he did to my finger the one and only time he has bit me (once was quite enough for me btw)...and what you just said above

....he will never be allowed near anyones head or shoulders. We are mainly interested in allowing him access to a cage-top playground and petting/touching him not getting eaten.

I guess all animals are the same. We have horses and de-spooking them is a life-time undertaking. We are always finding out the hard way that something new scares the heck out of them: they have a very strong flight mechanism, so therefore run down anything/anyone in their paths. Animals can be wonderful, but have to be handled with respect and understanding. If we assume they think/act like us that is when somebody gets hurt.

Again, thank you for taking time to help us...I will be reading this to my husband and daughter in the morning.

 

[chick rehab]

Looking for brahma hens or pullets but saw this and I am in pretty much in the same spot with a amazon parrot that has sunk his beak in me twice in one attack. Was just putting his water back in cage and he came off the top and attacked. My question is. If I get him to get on a stick what stops him from coming up that stick and attacking my arm again? Everyone says I just have to bite the bullet and show no fear but those bites really hurt so hard to do.I got this bird because my handicapped sister had him and left him at my house and he is really nice to her. I guess parrots just don't like me. He tickles me to death talking (very good English) and I would love to make friends with him. The way he hollers "Hey girl every time he hears me and talks to more than my sister I think we get along as long as he can't get to me.

 

[Stacykins]

Just curious, what size is his cage (length x width x height)? It looks far smaller than the recommended minimum for a senegal