Sigh. As if I could resist such a gorgeous, sweet little bird?

 

As discussed in a previous thread... I was thinking about adopting a conure from a person that found he no longer had time for it, so it became a bit nippy. I felt a little too rushed, suddenly taking on a bird and I've been putting off getting a tiel until I graduated. Well, I went there with the thought that I would check it out and decide later. But how could I resist? The owner was also going away for two weeks and needed a bird sitter anyway. He obviously loves this bird to bits. He has also insisted that should I have any doubts, or find that I don't have time either, that he will happily take the bird back and find another home. These two weeks are a sort of 'trial' period but at any time the owner said I could return him. I feel a little bit better knowing this, because I may sometimes have time issues. But I will see what happens.

 

The owner said to give Ozzie a wing clip. I thought it might help with his biting issues. I've never owned a clipped bird (birds explore their world in 3d - I don't quite like the idea of taking it away from them), however, I thought I would learn and see the difference for myself. I felt a bit sad cutting the gorgeous blue feathers. I'll let them grow back fully next moult.

 

I am smitten. He loves head scritches, will eat anything I offer him, and will lie on his back happily recieving belly rubs. He has also decided that my hair makes a nice hidey place. He is such a sweetie. I am thinking he is a bit tired and maybe nervous so I will give it a few days before I judge. But right now there is a bird snuggled next to my neck squeaking happily. It is a lovely feeling.

 

 

 

Edited December 14, 200816 yr by Chrysocome

Very cute :hap: has such interesting eyes :hap:

Haha. What a cutey.

Very cute! :hap:

So cute!

Awesome to hear you got him! Green cheeks can be soo lovely! He is so cute!

oh my, he is adorable.

Glad he won you over, hes lovely

What a sweetie ,

 

You can tell just by the photo's that he's going to have a real personality. :chickendance:

I love him and he couldn't have gone to a better home :budgiedance:, congrats.

He is adorable!! I am so glad you decided to take him on, conures are great little parrots :rofl: :rofl:

More photos of Oz

 

 

 

 

 

I've started clicker training and captive foraging, and it's going well. He will now head bop on command and I've almost gotten him to say "hello" on command.

Edited December 19, 200816 yr by Chrysocome

oh my goodness he is so handsome, have you started foraging with him too?

He is so Divine!!!

Ozzie's favourite pastime is being ridiculously cute: Video

 

Elly - yep, he worked it out pretty fast too, shredded a skewer in about twenty minutes and is already onto the foraging roll that the budgies are using. I'm going to make/buy him more durable foraging toys because his beak is pretty strong and I think it's a little too easy for him to get through paper and cardboard.

Edited December 22, 200816 yr by Chrysocome

A cheapish, easy foraging toy for larger birds are the treat balls they sell for dogs and cats that they roll around and the treats drop out, you can put things like sunflower seeds or pellets(if they eat them) and small gumnuts into them or if they get the bits out fairly quickly use tougher vegies that won't go off too quickly like carrot

Edited December 22, 200816 yr by melbournebudgies

Making toys is the way to go, my King Parrot Elmo just destroys all of his and people keep telling me how parrot toys are a waste for him as Kings don't play/chew them more fool them!

 

Very cute, I hope to one day be able to scratch Elmos head but not sure this will ever happen

But at least in destroying his toys he has something fun to do.

Agreed SW. I've bought/made him lots of toys to destroy/look for food in/both.

 

I might be spoiling all my birds just a tad... they all got new toys, they're foraging, shredding things and two out of three are clicker training (the third will start soon - she's getting jealous of Squee and tries to butt in!). My newest endeavour is a harness and leash for Ozzie. It's an aviator harness like this . He's currently clipped so he won't be flying in it... yet. The main reason I want it is that when uni starts I'll be gone 9 to 5 and a lot of the times more than that. So I'm hoping that if I can have him on the leash, he can stay on my shoulder during class (that's pretty much all he does at home) and not go mad with stress/boredom at home. My main concern (fear!) is that occasionally the odd person brings their cat to uni as well... so I will be extra, extra careful. But I'd also love to take him for walks and basically allow him to be with me most of the day.

We'll see how it goes, it will arrive on Monday and I'll have to clicker train him to accept it, hopefully teachign that harness = fun time.

That sounds so cool. we're not allowed pets on campus ground unless they are being treated

oh my goodness he is so handsome, have you started foraging with him too?

 

 

ha ha Elly look at this! it sounds like you were expecting her to forage with him!!!!!!!

Time for an update. I took Oz on a beach trip to Dromana (three hours away) with me. The first new thing I found out about him is that he gets motion sickness! I thought it was a little bizarre, though I suppose not unheard of. Still, this was me: you’re a bird for crying out loud, you can fly, how can you get motion sickness? I suppose it’s something to do with him being clipped for most of his life. Oh well. Now I know to take out his food so he has an empty crop before travelling.

 

Another thing I learnt about Oz is that he loves my boyfriend Taylor, possibly more than he likes me, and he sees any females other than me to be a threat. He has varying degrees of tolerance, from nippy to outright puffy, angry, screaming, sprint-over-and-eat-you I’M A FREAKING VELOCIRAPTOR mode. This makes me sad, because of just how adoring he is with me. It's unfortunate, he must have been poorly socialised with his previous owner. It’s another thing to tackle; it’s a nuisance having an angry parrot because they do this displaced-anger thing where, if they can’t kill the thing that’s bothering them, they try to kill the closest thing – ie me. I figure that with his previous owner, rivals for attention would probably have been females and that’s why he acts this way.

 

We made some progress, though, he had bitten and attacked my friend Jo the week before but we managed to get him on her hands and chest for a cuddle, I refused to let him above her chest. I was proud though, and pleased that Jo got to hold and snuggle him for a time. Taylor got immediate love, which is interesting. It’s either because he reminds Oz of the previous owner, or perhaps because I relax and maybe showed Oz that Taylor is a ‘flock member’. Whereas I tense up when Oz is near other people, ready to grab him if he bites, and maybe he senses my stress and fear.

 

The harness training is not going well. He’ll tolerate me slipping it over his head (normally the hard part) because he’s used to being cuddled that way. But as soon as I let go and he realises the harness is around his body he just loses it. I was foolish and I feel ashamed; I got impatient and put it on him before he was ready for it. Between struggling, screaming and trying to kill the evil harness, he went completely limp, closed his eyes and pretended to be dead for a while. He gave me the worst bite I have ever received from him – he literally took a chunk out of my finger. I felt he was completely justified. I am NOT going to do that again. I’ll do it the right way this time, taking it slow and letting him decide when it’s okay, not me forcing it on him. Sigh. It’s not like he’ll be going to uni with me at this rate, other than completely freaking out over the harness, I have a feeling he’ll go into velociraptor mode when confronted with the other students.

 

Wet birds are hilarious. There's just no way they can look dignified.

 

But so pretty otherwise. I'm intrigued that he's the same size as a cockatiel, but his head (and BEAK) is twice as big.

 

You can see the pretty red feathers around his nostrils here

 

He is otherwise doing well. He adores me, eats his veggies, and pretty much has free reign of the house while I'm home (except when the budgies are out). I've got him captive foraging to keep him busy when I'm not around. I'm pleased that he took to the Foraging Log (see my foraging with Squee thread) instantly, he's moving miles ahead of the budgies in that regard.

 

 

He is obsessed with carrying it to the high perches to munch on. He'll spend hours doing this.

 

 

Here is a video of him trying to figure out how to carry it to the top, hold it and eat it at the same time.

http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a14/Chrysocome/pets/bbf/2008/?action=view&current=ozcaptive1.flv

 

He figured out the best way is on his boing rope, although he still drops it a lot.

http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a14/Chrysocome/pets/bbf/2008/?action=view&current=ozcapt2.flv

Edited January 22, 200916 yr by Chrysocome