Life with Pico

May 12th

2006-05-24T08:52:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share my day yesterday...its a story of stupid me.

after work, my hubby and i took pico, our amazon, to the vet for a follow up. apparently during the new-bird checkup, they found elevated levels of a certain type of bacteria so we had to administer antibiotics to pico for the last 10 days. so yesterday the vet took some swabs of his mouth and vent to test if everything is now in the norm.

anyways, while on the drive there, i had pico in the carrier on my lap, and the carrier is a cage that has a pretty big open slot on the bottom of all sides where pico stands...anyways i have been accidentally placing my fingers there to hold onto the cage and pico has nipped my fingers twice to say "hey, this cage isnt big enough for me and your fingers...get outta here!", but they were not hard at all. this time, i AGAIN (*DUH*) unknowingly placed my thumb in that slot area and wham! he nearly bit the top of my thumb off!

ugh, i could just kick myself....hubby, pico's favorite person, gave him a stern NO and BAD BIRD, and pico tried to look as innocent as he could as blood was running out of my injured thumb and dripping down my hand. when we got to the vet, i washed it out, put antiseptic on it and put a bandaid on and the bleeding finally stopped.

pico's following "punishment" was being handled by the vet (you can tell that you have a good avian vet when they know exactly how to handle them and without fear!), getting swabbed at both ends and getting his toenails clipped.then dropped hubby off at his next stop and i went home with pico.

i didnt have any bad feelings with pico (the hateful blood-hungry thumbbiter!!!!!!) because he has warned me on previous occasions. i put him on his playstand, spent time talking with him and he calmed down nicely. he let me scratch his head for a while as i "cooed" to him.i find that between pico and i, i first must calm him before he allows me to pet him - with hubby, pico will allow him to pick him up, scratch him, do anything at anytime. its okay. i am just happy that pico doesnt go in full aggressive display anymore when i approach him (which he did in the beginning).

well, since getting my thumb bit, i realized how much i need my right thumb...opening bottles....turning the car key in the ignition......getting the car key out of the ignition......typing.........lol, okay, so much for my rambling.

love your birds, no matter what.

k

Day 25

2006-05-05T10:54:00.000-07:00

Looking back on all of my previous posts, I have to say that from biting the heck out of my hand at the pet store and on the 2nd day at home, Pico has become a much better companion to me. And only after less than a month of daily "training". it was amazing, and i grew a lot from this as a bird lover and owner.

i see that Pico has great potential to be a friendly bird to family, friends and strangers. the big test is still to come - and that is to have our friends come over to our place to visit; on Pico's home turf. we will be getting visitors in july and september. we'll see how that goes.

what i have learned during this journey:

1) pico is moody and you have to respect that. some times he is just a preen-junky; he would bow his head and want a good preen for a good half an hour (or longer if your legs dont ache). other times he is just not in the mood to be touched. i never push him to allow me to scratch him on his body. its up to him and i want him to feel comfortable.

2) eye contact when handling and playing with pico is VERY important. it serves to be aware of what pico is doing and what he is planning to do (like lunge for a finger) and lets him know who is top bird - namely ME. if i pick him up on to the perch and i feel he might be feeling a little feisty and may want to gnaw on my hand thats holding the perch, i give him the evil eye. he would see it, stop and his whole body language would change and relax.

3) in the beginning and on a daily basis, just talking to pico helped immensely. i talked to him softly and animatedly (not monotone, and mostly using excited, high-pitched tone) using his name often for at least 15 minutes at a time. passive interactive "games" also helped - like the blinking game, stretching when he stretches, shaking of the body when he shakes out his feathers, etc. if he sees that you feel comfortable, he will feel comfortable. its small things, but it helps build the bond.

4) playing with pico and offering him his favorite treats are also powerful bond-makers.

5) having his favorite person in the room (my hubby) praise him when he steps up nicely on the perch in my hand and when i doing things with pico that normally he only allows my hubby to do with him makes pico more accepting of me. praises from favorite person works wonders.

i dont have pico where i want him exactly yet - i still dont feel comfortable having him step up onto my hand yet - but we have many years ahead of us to get both of us there.

i am summarizing here because i think i will stop with blog-writing from now on, unless i have a "first" about pico to tell. it just seems that my posts are becoming boring and redundant.

till next time!

Day 24

2006-05-04T08:20:00.000-07:00

I didn't come home till about 7pm...*sigh*

but once i came home, i took pico out, talked with him, gave him some apple juice and took him around the apartment. actually, i tried to place pico directly on his play stand after taking him out of his cage, but he didnt want to. it seems that i have started a routine when taking him out of his cage - walk around the apartment into the different rooms and take him upstairs to see if the big bird is set outside of his owner's apartment to say hi. then i come back down and then pico goes happily onto his play stand. very interesting.

i made some pasta for dinner, so of course all birds got some noodles - they just inhale it.

pico thought he needed a really good full body preening session, so i left him to his handiwork.

hubby came home and i talked to pico more - i think just talking to pico softly and animatedly (using his name often) has really brought him around to trusting and liking me more. he listens so intently and shakes his head occasionally. and then when he is ready, he bows his head in my direction to let me know that he wants a head scratch.

today was the last night for his meds...yay! he'll go to the vet again to check to see if everything is okay and then thats it. (hoping!)

Day 23

2006-05-03T08:08:00.000-07:00

today i sorta followed pico's lead.

i took him out of his cage on the perch and walked with him around the apartment. he was so into it, so i also led him out in the hallways of the apartment building. we also went upstairs to visit the big bird and his owner. pico wanted to go right up to the big bird's cage, but i pulled back and pico tried to bite me for that. a NO and a perch wobble corrected him and he behaved after that.

the other bird (big bird i will call him), was also very interested, but didnt know what to do. he got a little closer to pico in his cage, but then went to his food bowl where he was dining on fried egg. wow.

after the visit, we went back down to our apt, and i put pico on his play stand. that was good timing because holding him on that perch for that long was killing my hand and arm. once pico stepped off, i could hardly open my hand that was holding on to his perch. ack! i hope he is not gaining any more weight....vet said he was a little overweight so we have been limiting his seed/nut intake.

pico hasnt taken a mist shower in a week or so. i tried putting him on his perch in the shower, but he didnt want it. if he doesnt take a shower by the weekend, we will have to do something.

after putting pico on his playstand (and working out the kinks in my hand!) i spent some quality time with him just talking to him. when he starts shaking his head quickly at certain familiar words and closing his eyes a bit, i can tell he is mellow and calming down. he then, if he wants, will lower his head for some preening.

i do sing to him - so far its only one song - and when i do, he wakes up a little bit and listens very intently. its interesting. i guess yna's generally do love songs.

oh, and while walking up to visit the big bird, pico usually gets exciting and blurts out some english words. this time was no different. he said a phrase that ive heard before, but couldnt understand. this time, i listened carefully and found out that pico has been saying "help me up". thats so funny because it was at the exact moment that we were climbing the stairs when pico said that. it was awesome to me.

another funny story. hubby called me to pick him up from his night class and pico was still out of the cage on the play stand. (i was into my second quality time session with pico). i decided to lure him back with some dried apricot. i ate a piece in front of him and made some "mmmmmm" noises. i gave him a piece and he gobbled it up. i showed him that i placed a few more apricot pieces into his food bowl. then i picked him up on the perch, placed him into his cage with no fuss, closed his cage, and as i saw him not going for his food bowl, i took out a piece of apricot from the bowl and handed it to pico. pico took it and promptly dropped it. it was a clear sign of "just go pick up 'daddy' and get me outta here. i dont want no apricot! i just want to go on the play stand". too funny.

well, daddy came home and pico got his meds. we allowed him some time on the play stand and it was then way past his bedtime so into his cage he went.

Day 22

2006-05-02T07:39:00.000-07:00

had my night class tonight. i didnt come home till around 9pm; hubby came home around 11pm, but he was home most of the day.

i talked to pico for about 20 minutes and i got some head scratches in. he so mellows out during our one-on-one conversations.

we heard the big bird upstairs squawking up a storm. i also unfortunately heard his "mom" yelling at him. i hope she knows that she is reinforcing the yelling behavior of her bird....

anyways, hubby came home and gave pico his meds. almost done!

Day 20 - 21

2006-05-01T07:47:00.000-07:00

The weekend was full of firsts...i hope i dont forget anything.

SATURDAY - started off slow. Pico doesn't seem to be a morning bird. we feed him his breakfast and as soon as he is done with that, we put him on his play stand. he immediately lifted one of his legs and closed his eyes. so we let him be.

hubby went to school, and soon after Pico woke up. i played with him and talked to him. we did some step-up training. he responded quite nicely. no problems to report.

when hubby came home, we tried to give him a mist bath, but he wasnt interested at all. we took him around the apartment and went upstairs to see if we could get a look at the large bird upstairs - but he wasn't out, so we went back to his play stand.

more attention - head preening, talking (me to him), and playing.

after dinner, Pico was really active and wanted to do something. we took him to our bedroom where he walked around on our bed and found some paper towel which he ripped to shreds immediately. after that, he was still looking for something to do, so to save our sheets, covers and pillows, we took him to the dining table where he found an orange. he gently touched it with his beak and once he punctured the skin, he smelled the orangey smell and delved right in. he did such a great job at peeling back the rind! after peeling away half of the orange rind, he enjoyed the orange inside. it was so cool to watch him work so hard to get the fruit that we took a few pictures of the process.

he ate half of the orange and hubby and i enjoyed the rest. thanks Pico!

he then got his meds and went to bed.

SUNDAY - it was such a beautiful day! the sun was shining with its full warmth and with a few cool breezes. it was so perfect. we went to a friends house and took pico along. we have really wanted to start socializing pico so that he feels more at ease with strangers. it couldn't have gone any better.

we brought along his play stand for him. at the beginning, he was a little hesitant and was just looking all over the place. Pico didnt really want to go on his play stand. so we took him around our friend's apartment (with his allowance) - he seemed to love it with wings slightly open and fluttering, eyes just wide and interested, and leaning his body out in front, just trying to look around the corner. after looking around, he allowed hubby to put him on the play stand.

Pico seemed interested in our friend (male) and as soon as this friend gave him a treat, Pico was so okay with him. he would've even allowed our friend to pick him up with his hand! the friend passed near pico's play stand and pico stretched out a foot to him, as if to say "hey, you can pick me up!". so cute.

it was so great. i am so looking forward to more socializations with other friends - if they are willing. pico sure had a great time and he was just full of energy. needless to say, he sure had a great sleep.

wonderful weekend! woohoo!

Day 19

2006-04-29T17:22:00.000-07:00

today both hubby and i were home this afternoon till sleep time. pico and i played around as usual and he allowed me a long preening session on his head and neck.

not much else for me to report about today. pico was a good bird today.

finished off the evening with pico's meds.

Day 18

2006-04-28T13:39:00.000-07:00

Today, we had really great weather! a warm day finally! we took the opportunity to take Pico on a car ride. i had to drop hubby off at a relative's house and Pico tagged along in his carrier cage.

he looked really excited and interested as the scenery zoomed passed him. i had his carrier on my lap and he had a great view around him. i forgot to bring him a fluffly pillow to place under the carrier so that he could see the environment on the way home, so he didnt look to happy on the way home. during the car ride, i swear he looked at me with an irritated look like "you are soooo cruel. how am i supposed to view the scenery sitting this low in a car seat?!?" i felt guilty. *sigh* next time.

when we got home, i played with him on his play stand and talked to him a bit. he also enjoyed a long head-preening session by me. consider it a "sorry for not bringing a fluffly pillow to prop your carrier higher in the car seat" thing. he looked very comfortable with me being so close and my fingers preening his head and neck.

its amazing that its only been 2 1/2 weeks and he has really come around to trust me a lot more. im so happy!

he did try to test my "dominance" when he kept climbing to the highest spot on the play stand where he is not supposed to go. i first gave him the benefit of the doubt by trying to lure him down with a few toys. that worked for the first try, but after that he just didnt want to move. so i gave him a new command "come down". i said this a couple of times and then had him step up on to the wooden perch to bring him back down to the play stand perch. he didnt quite like that and tried to lunge for my hand. i promptly said NO and gave the perch i held a little rumble.

i had to do this 3 times. after the third time, it seemed that he got the point and stayed on the areas where he is allowed to go.

he had some rice and corn as i ate dinner, came back out for some time on the play stand before sleep time, and relaxed.

when hubby came back home, he gave Pico his meds and it was off to bed.

Note: for feeding, i make Pico "forage" for his food to expend some energy by covering his food dish with some newspaper. at first he didnt know where his food was (even after showing him the food being covered with the newspaper), but after 3 days, he knew to rip the newspaper off to get at the goodies.

i am also trying to teach him colors and names of things by saying the colors and names over and over to him while holding and playing with that certain object. i dont know if that will bring anything, but i thought it couldnt hurt. its like teaching a toddler to speak.

Day 17

2006-04-27T07:44:00.000-07:00

After work, i had some freelance work to do so i came home a little later than usual.

i again took pico around the apartment, he again said a couple of english words, but i couldnt quite make it out. i think this will probably be a routine before i put him on his play stand. he loves it a lot! i cant wait till the weather gets warmer so we can take him outside - possibly on the weekend!

he loved getting his head scratched on his play stand today. i just love how he has come around to trusting me more. im wondering if i should continue my step up sessions. i dont allow him to get away with anything i dont want him to when i handle him on the wooden perch - that in itself is something like a training session, right? if pico starts acting up again, i would do the sessions again.

when hubby came home, it was meds time again. ack!

Day 16

2006-04-27T07:38:00.000-07:00

For some reason, I was pooped when I got home from work today. ugh....i know i should have did some step-up training with Pico, but I didn't want to handle him too much in that tired state. thats only asking to be bitten, and it would be completely my fault.

i did take Pico out and on to his play gym. before i did that, i took him on the wooden perch (not attempting to take him out on my hand yet...maybe soon) and walked with him around the apartment. he loves it and get so excited. he even said a few english words! among some amazon trills. i talked to him and introduced the rooms to him and he was just constantly looking around with big eyes. so cute! but boy is he heavy! when i stepped him up on his play stand, my hand that held the perch was just aching! that boy needs to lose some weight.

i played with him with his favorite toys, gave him some leftover spaghetti noodles and left him a few minutes on his own before going to his cage for bed.

when hubby came home, he gave pico his meds. it cant taste good, but he obediently drinks it down (my gccs would just sneeze it out).

Day 15

2006-04-25T08:53:00.000-07:00

Not much done with Pico today. I had a night class which ended at 10pm. usually Pico goes to bed around 8:30pm, but hubby came to pick me up from school (he had the car to take Pico to get his meds), and when we got home, he administered the meds to Pico.

so far he is taking the meds okay without any negativity towards hubby and me. poor thing! but he got some yummy apple juice and cooked pasta to wash away the yucky meds flavor. then he went straight to bed.

one on one time with Pico and i will be done tomorrow.

Day 13 - 14

2006-04-24T13:47:00.000-07:00

It was a great weekend! The weather could've been better, but with Pico, things couldn't be better!

on saturday, we did more playing on his playstand, and i did a step-up session with him, but it didn't go too well. i think it was because he was more interested in playing than the step ups, so we cut that short, but I made sure he stepped up when i wanted him to.

i tried to give Pico a mist shower, but he wasnt really into it. hubby gave him a mist shower 2 days ago and i guess it was just too early. (Pico also has very think down feathers - i think they could still be a little damp or "humid-like".) so i stopped.

i decided then to just show him around the apartment. he seemed very interested. he looked at everything thing with alot of interest as i pointed things out to him, told him it was okay, and where we were. he is so into anything new. (i cant wait for warmer weather so i can take him outdoors).

sunday, i volunteered at an animal sanctuary (what i usually do on sundays), and when i got home, it was more interaction with Pico. Play time mostly. and he allowed me to scratch him all over his head again on the play stand! i think he is slowly trusting me more each day. it is SO cool.

we had spaghetti for dinner so i gave him some spaghetti noodles. he just gobbled them up!

hubby took Pico to the vet today to get some antibotics. the vet said that he probably ate some food that was contaminated with rodent feces (must be from the store we bought him from) since a certain bacteria found in Pico's tests were elevated. we (hubby rather) will have to give this oral antibiotics to Pico 2x a day for 10 days. i hope Pico doesn't get scared/upset with hubby so much that he doesn't want anything to do with him. ack! that would be bad.

Day 12

2006-04-21T08:41:00.000-07:00

I had a midterm test to go to today, so i had less time to interact with Pico unfortunately.

My husband was home the entire day, so Pico wasn't alone. I found out that he took another mist shower, which he absolutely loves! i haven't seen him get one of these since coming to our home, so maybe i can sneak one in tomorrow. not sure - i've read that too much showers can spark breeding aggressive behavior.

once i got home, i changed into my normal "poop-able" clothes and sat down next to Pico in his cage. I talked to him, preened his head and just kept him company. seems like he is going through a small molt since during a few preening moments, my finger accidentally touched some hard plastic shafts, which Pico didn't really enjoy and backed away with beak open. i don't blame him. i apologized each time; poor Pico.

he decided to eat dinner, so i let him be and i went to eat my own dinner.

after that, Pico seemed to wake up with a lot more energy so i set up the chair for his training session - this time, in our second bedroom just to change the scenery. i got some corn for his reward (he only gets corn now during our training session), picked him up on the wooden perch (no lunge-biting, yay!) keeping good eye contact with Pico. I brought the him closer to my side and carefully made my way to the bedroom.

we did the step ups with rewards. after a few times, it seems that he gets a little bored now because i tell him to step up with the perch and he doesn't move his foot to step on after doing a few repetitions. i've had to push gently on the lower part of his stomach near his feet and insist on a step up with a firmer voice. (he's not going to get away with not following my command). he does follow through, now mostly without attacking the perch with his beak which he used to do.

i dont know how to make our sessions a little more interesting for him. maybe bring in a favorite toy and play with that in between a few step ups?

if he continues to consistantly step up on the wooden perch without attacking it with his beak, i will start moving my hand on the perch closer to where i ask him to step up on the perch. maybe soon after that, ask him to step up on my hand... wow. when that happens without a bite, i can say that my training has paid off. :-)

after our training session, i took him to his play stand where he could chill out a bit before going to bed. he started his "huh"s and "what"s..i even think he tried to say "whats up", which is what we have been trying to teach Pico to say since coming home. cool!

great (short) day with Pico. no problems to report.

oh, we got the results from the vet (we had a whole bunch of tests done on him, being that he is a new bird) and everything turned out okay except that he had slight elevated levels of bacteria, caused by food contaminated by mice droppings. probably he was fed some contaminated food at the bird store - they have a lot of birds and probably buy their food in bulk. i have to write them an email letting them know. next week, hubby will be going to the vet to pick up some antibiotics to give to Pico. Good luck to him on administering that to his amazon! ;-)

**Note to me: I have talked to hubby about not allowing Pico to go on top of the highest arched part of his play stand. he suggested possibly making the stand shorter some how. i said maybe we should just cut that arched part off and cover the cut ends with some kind of hard plastic cover-stopper thingy. we have to do something soon.

Day 11

2006-04-20T08:22:00.000-07:00

today's training is pretty much the carbon copy of yesterday, i just realized.

we started by me reading chapter 3 of my parrot behavior book to Pico (we are both learning while bonding, how nice!). Pico really calms down while i read to him. he would intently look at me and slowly his eyes will start to close - never completely but more to show "this is calming..." (or it could just mean "darn, this is boring! when is she going to let me out?!").

after about 15 minutes of reading, i take him out of the cage. i kept eye contact with him and he behaved quite nicely on the wooden perch i picked him up with. he didnt even try to lunge.

i then played with him with his favorite plastic jingly ball and a rattle toy. he was so active and wanted to play with everything i showed him (aggression?). i have tried to preen his head, but i havent had much success since i was successful when my husband was there.

**Note to me: there is a round frame around the play stand where when Pico stands on it, he is almost 7 ft off the floor - much higher than my head. Pico likes to climb this to be "above" everything and sometimes even just sits up there. I will have to talk to hubby and agree that he is not able to sit up there. allowing Pico to go up there gives him the false idea that he is dominant. that may be making it difficult to progress in my training with him.**

i gave him some time alone as i did some homework for my night class. he contentedly preened and napped.

then i did my set up with placing a chair in a section of the hallway i used yesterday so that i can do my step-up training. i am not doing this to teach Pico to "step up" (he already knows the command), but rather to let Pico know that he is not dominant; that he should follow my command.

we did the step up session for about 10 minutes. i used corn and my praises as rewards. i stopped again at 10 minutes because Pico lunged once for my hand, which i had to correct with a perch rumble and a firm NO. we did a successful 2 more step ups and we called it a day. he was then placed on his play stand, ate the rest of the corn i had and enjoyed the rest of his free time till he had to go to his cage for "nite nite".

great day in all. i would like to extend the training sessions to 15 minutes, but it may take some time. i will definitely extend it next week, if i have no opportunities this week. i dont want to rush things and i definitely want to keep this experience as a positive one to Pico.

Day 10

2006-04-19T08:06:00.000-07:00

Today was a start of the next phase of Pico's training.

I started by reading another chapter of a parrot behavior book to him in a soft, animated tone. He calms down nicely, as i preen his head on and off as i read to him. Very important to add his name in every once in a while. I say his name every time i come across the word "bird".

After about 10-15mins of that, I took him out of his cage to his play stand (he lunged, i did rumble stick) where i played with him with his favorite ball and a rattle toy. Pico has done a good job at gnawing on these things and its cool to see all the gusto he puts into this "work".

Pico is quite an intelligent bird - as i believe are most birds. he show a lot of interest in my playtimes with him and when i speak to him. im sure its a matter of time till he starts talking back...but even if he never decides to talk, he will always be a wonderful bird to me.

Well, i tried to give him a slice of cantalope - i ate some in front of him, made "mmmm" sounds to show i enjoyed it and offered him some - but he just took it from me, bit it a couple of times and dropped it. i tried giving him more, but he promptly dropped it without a fuss. it could be because its something new - i will have try it again!

i gave him some down time to himself on the play stand where i did my own thing. he slept some and when i got out of eye-shot, he would start saying "huh" "what"...funny. we are trying to teach him to say "whats up", so to let him know where we are, we answer his huh's and what's with "whats up". so far, we've only got "huh huh" out of him. progress maybe? at least he knows its two syllables, i guess. :)

okay, then Pico pretty much "woke up" and was showing a lot of energy. so i decided to take the next step in his training. i placed a chair in an unfamiliar area of the apartment (in the hallway where he couldnt see his play stand and cage), had Pico step up on the wooden perch and brought him to the chair.

i made Pico step up from the perch to the chair for about 10 - 15 mins. i think i needed this just as much as Pico because this time, i really worked on keeping eye contact with him. this really helped (including the unfamiliar area) with him focusing on my voice and the training rather than going straight for my hand to bite. not once did he lunge for my hand. i praised him each time he stepped on and off. i stopped the training after he showed a slight aggression to the whole thing - cant quite remember what it was, but it was clear he wanted to stop. he was doing so well, so i didn't want this to become a negative experience for him.

i took him to his play stand and he didnt go to bite my hand(!). a small step, yes, but it was sooooooooooo cool to me. such a good bird and a great 1st day of training in an unfamiliar setting. i decided to give him some corn - loves this - and gobbled it up.

well, i learned to give more attention with my eyes to his eyes while having him step up. before this, i involuntarily kept my eyes on my HAND to be aware if Pico goes for my hand or not. this time i mentally thought about keeping eye contact with Pico. it worked a lot. i know i should have done this in the beginning, but i just couldn't seem to pry my eyes off my hand...i guess his bite was more sore than i thought.

Day 10 was great! i am looking forward to tomorrow's session. this time i think i will have some corn on hand during the session.

Day 9

2006-04-18T08:16:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately not much to report. I had a night class last night and didnt come home till after 10pm. I did get to see Pico though, and he came right up to me in his cage and bowed his head to get a good-night preen.

awwwwwwwwww................

hubby was home today and he said Pico was a sweetheart (well of course, he's the favorite person!) and gave Pico a nice mist bath. LOVED IT. one of these days i will have to take pictures of him during his misting...he's so funny.

i will get some one-on-one time with Pico today.

Day 6 - 8

2006-04-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

over the weekend, it was pretty nice.

i've spent a lot of time with Pico, talking to him, and playing with him.

i did try the idea of having my husband (Pico's favorite person) say "NO" to Pico when he lunges for my hand, but, probably because hubby was watching, he didn't have to say "NO" because Pico was so NICE. he didn't lunge for my hand as i had him step up on the stick.

he loves his red plastic ball (with a smaller ball in it that jingles) and ive been dropping it, giving it to him, letting him drop it, etc. he was so alert and interested! it was wonderful.

a big step that occurred this weekend...he allowed me to preen his head while he was on the play stand! he never allowed me to do that before....it was something only allowed when he was in his cage and me on the other side of the bars.

a step forward? well, being that it has only been the first week, we are still in the honeymoon phase. let's wait 2 more weeks!

oh, also, we did try to give him a bath this weekend - didnt go so well as i hoped. we put him on a bath perch in our shower and turned on the lukewarm water in a way so that it seemed to be like rain, but Pico didn't like it at all. poor thing! we know he likes being misted, so we bought some spray bottles and we plan to try that out one day.

i plan to work more with Pico on the step ups (probably continue with the stick until he stops lunging for my hand) and maybe even bring him to a neutral room and work with him there.

Day 5

2006-04-14T10:43:00.000-07:00

okay, today was a little weird, but I place full blame on the fact that my significant other was in the room for the first 1/2 hour while i was interacting with Pico plus the fact that he went to see our avian vet for the first time for a complete check up.

Pico was very calm...almost tired-looking. this is probably due to the fact that we went for his first visit at our avian vet. we had the "new bird" check up done and all these other tests done to make sure he is healthy in every way. it was expensive (over $500), but you can't put a price on peace of mind with a new "baby".

he sat on his sleep perch as i approached. no large display of eyes and tail and no scramble to come to me as i have witnessed these past few days. it was amazing - almost alarming (healthwise).

once hubby went out, i sat down next to his cage and started talking to him softly and animatedly. i got some new parrot behavior books so i also read the first chapter of it to him - informing both of us along the way. he eventually made his way to where i was very calmly. while reading, he would look at me intently - almost mesmerized by the sound of my voice - and pushed his head to the bars of his cage to beg for me to preen him. (Cute!). absolutely no display of aggression. i know i cant really consider this a step forward, because the trauma of the vet visit probably took a lot out of him (which was about 5 hours previous to our reunion). but it was great to see him so calm.

well, after reading chapter one. i preened his head one more time and decided its time to take him out on his play stand. i stood up and he made his way not to the door of his cage, but to his sleep perch. i opened the cage and i asked him if he wanted to come out. he leaned toward me, which i took as him wanting to come out so i offered him the wooden perch and a firm "step up". he actually lifted his foot this time and placed it on the perch! usually he would attack the perch with his beak before stepping on. (calm down, its just the effects of his vet visit....) i was almost expecting him not to attack my hand this time!

well, the key word there is "almost". i moved Pico out of his cage and he then went to attack my hand. i did the perch rumble thing and gave a firm "NO". he caught his balance and quieted down so i took him to this play stand. i praised him a lot when he stepped up on the play stand after i gave the command. he looked quite calm - very little eye pinning and no tail flaying. i offered to preen his head, but he didnt want any of it so i backed off. i moved my chair about 2 - 3 feet away from him and sat next to the play stand reading (this time quietly) my book.

the book talked about passive interaction with a parrot like blinking your eyes and see if the parrot will blink back which would be a sign that the parrot is contented (a nervous, aggressive bird would stare at someone with an unwavering, unblinking look) and wow, Pico blinked after i blinked! how cool is that. also, the book had something about stretching when the bird stretches. which i did, and he was so mellow.

yeah, yeah. he expended all his energy at the vet. but to see him like that was wonderful and a big honor for me. we'll see how he is today and during the weekend while i work with him. i plan to give him a shower today. he was given a good misting at the bird shop and he just LOVED it. it was so comical and funny. Pico would open up his wings and use them to wipe his face and groom all over. anyone who has never seen a happy amazon during a bath should definitely try and witness this. its awesome and hilarious!

no more bites today to report. as soon as my injuries from his previous bites heal, i may try to get him to step up on my hand. we'll see. i should eventually do this.

in one forum, a person suggested that i try to pick up Pico while my hubby (his favorite person) is in the room. and when Pico tries again to bite my hand, hubby should be the one to give the firm "NO". Pico would probably react more profoundly to his favorite person saying "NO" than me. great suggestion, huh? i cant wait to try that out.

Day 4

2006-04-13T15:42:00.000-07:00

Hubby again had school so I was home alone with Pico and the rest of our birds.

As I approached Pico, I talked to him constantly in a happy tone. He became excited (aggressive?) as usual with the tail flayed and eyes pinning and trying to get to the highest point in his cage closest to my position. I spent some time talking with him and spending time near his cage to calm him down.

about 30 - 45 mins later, i decided to get him out of his cage. i picked up the perch, opened his cage and told Pico to "step up". he got on quite quickly, and of course made a bee-line right to my hand holding the perch. i lowered the perch, gave a short, firm "NO" and a short, firm perch rumble. he backed off and i let him compose himself for about 10 seconds, then seeing that he wasnt going to lunge at my hand again, i walked to his play stand and told him to "step up" on it which he did obediently.

i stood there talking and singing to him a little more. he looked a lot calmer than yesterday. (btw, i was singing "take me out to the ball game", and thank goodness for all of you that you didnt hear it!). i gave him some pieces of cooked lasagne noodles (since we were told that he LOVES pasta) and he actually took it gently from my fingers and ate it! the last time i tried to offer him something to eat was a peanut and all he did was take it from me and promptly drop it. i was quite happy with this new turn of events.

i sat about 5 feet away from the play stand and he calmed down so much that he fell asleep on one foot with his head tucked under his feathers on his back! cute! im hoping that this "training" is going the way i think its going and one day i will be able to carry him on my hand like my husband.

a couple of hours later, he got a little hungry and started getting restless. i got him on the perch, still has the feeling of getting a piece of my hand, so i had to do the little shake and "NO" routine. he backed off and i stepped him up into his cage. i had his pellets waiting for him.

after eating, i approached his cage again and he let me scratch all over his head and the back of his neck. he seems to love that so much. talked and sung some more to calm him and he would make these "purring" sounds. i've heard that Amazons "growl" and im not sure what that sounds like, but growls and purrs can sound similar, right? i like to think it was "purring" - call it positive thinking.

anyways, it went a little less aggressive than the day before - maybe because it was not so sunny out therefore felt like it was sleep time all day. (hubby told me that Pico didnt feel like getting out of the cage for him and just kinda slept all day). he sure displayed some energy every time i went close to him (typical tail and eye reaction towards me) but his lunging to bite me was half-hearted i felt. its too early to detect if my attempts to train him are working so im tending more to the fact that the weather outside was so depressing.

one step at a time. i read a step-by-step taming process for amazons and for the first 5 days im not supposed to hold him at all....well, oops! too late. i'll just extend my interaction with him the same way for the next few days and see how Pico reacts each day. i just hope i am not scaring him and bringing out fear aggression - that would be bad. i just want to firmly set rules with him in a nonabusive and loving way so he respects me as much as i respect him. id never hurt this guy - he is too adorable (however he might want to take one or two of my fingers off!).

he has gotten to like chewing leather strips, rope and wood. at least he takes out his energy on those things and not all at once on my fingers. :-)

Day 3

2006-04-13T15:27:00.000-07:00

My husband had school this evening so when i came home, i had the birds to myself. i thought this would be the perfect time to try some one-on-one with Pico.

i gave him some space for about 15mins after i came home to settle myself as well as him. then, I sat next to his cage, talked to him, and scratched his head and face - whatever he allowed me.

at this time, he still pinned his eyes, flayed his tail, etc. im wondering if this is part of the mating season hormones coming out....

anyways, i gathered all my courage, grabbed a wooden perch (one that has not been used in Pico's cage - aka a neutral perch) and opened the cage door....

****WARNING - due to graphic violence, you may need to turn away and ignore the following text till the next "****" line.

i got him on the perch all right - he grabbed it strongly with his beak, walked on it, and just as i brought the perch out of the cage, he attacked my hand. i lowered the perch to about knee height, not knowing what to do next and he kept on attacking my hand with his beak. it did hurt, but i was more concerned about keeping and showing dominance over the bird and not showing aggression or fear.

then i remembered reading if a bird starts attacking your hand while on it, shake your hand a little - enough to make the bird lost a little balance, therefore needing to stop biting and find balance again. i did that, and it worked. i slowly raised the perch again toward his play gym, and then he tried to attack my hand again. i firmly, but very briefly, rocked the perch he was on and he stopped again to rebalance himself. each time i rocked the perch to stop him from biting, i gave him a firm verbal "NO". then i was successful in getting him on to the play gym. i gave him a praiseful "good bird! good boy, pico!".

i then looked at my hand and it was literally dripping in blood. i cant quite remember feeling a whole lot of pain - weird, huh - but it was getting swollen, so i washed that out with soap and water and placed an icebag on it. i sat down and watched pico on his stand.

****OK, the gory part is over, i wont go into any more details from now on**

there is a part on the play gym that is quite high, so my husband and i have decided that pico is not allowed to go up there. he did go up there twice and i gathered my courage to say a firm "NO" and get him on the wooden perch to place him back to the lower part of the play gym. he went after my hand again (i got him with my non-chewed up hand holding the wooden perch), and i gave a firm "NO" and briefly shook the perch. he stopped nicely and i gave the command to step back up to the lower part of the play stand.

im trying to mentally make note that i am not shaking the perch too hard and too long. i dont want to frighten him - this will make more problems than solve them - i just want him to know that certain behaviors are not allowed with me and should know that i am flock leader - next to my husband who he obediently goes to - on his hand.

well, after getting pico back to the lower part of the play stand, he calmed down - even slept in that comfortable stance on one foot and with his beak tucked in the feathers on his back, so i know he's okay even with me being only less than 5 feet away. i got to also tend to my bitten hand. i found out that none of my wounds were deep - all skin scrapes. amazing! he gnaws on my hand and all i got were skin scrapes, swelling and bruising. i think my conure inflicts more harsher cuts on my hands than pico. (you think pico hasnt shown me how much he actually can do? hum...)

well, a few hours later, he got interested in the food i was placing in his cage so i decided it was time to get him back into his cage. it was nearing his sleep-time anyway. so i got the wooden perch, asked pico to step up. he lunged for my hand, i quick and firm rumbled the perch, he stopped and got him nicely into his cage.

he was pinning his eyes and flaying his tail feathers a little as i closed the cage. but he calmed down as i offered to scratch his head. he leaned his head toward the cage bars to invite me to preen his head and i enjoyed that. he would literally allow me to preen his head for hours! its cute.

i think - im hoping!!! - that this will help him realize that i am in charge. any opinions, comments, etc. on this? it will probably take a couple of weeks though. i also found out that his favorite foods are pasta, corn and strawberries, so i have been offering some of these to him to help things along.

Day 2

2006-04-13T15:23:00.000-07:00

Second day at home.

I had to go to work, but my husband was home and fed him cooked pasta and fresh veggies for breakfast.

He was also able get Pico to step up on his hand and take him to his play gym with no bite marks (im jealous!). Im just glad that my husband is the one he likes more than me since Pico is for my hubby.

Pico's favorite toys - those that make a lot of noise! hasn't done much of wood chewing on his wooden toys, but loves the plastic toys with bells in them.

Once I came home, Pico was in his cage, door closed because he was hungry. I approached his cage slowly and said "hello Pico". he made his way up to the highest part of the cage (which comes up to my chest) and the closest corner to me. He scratched his head, talked to him softly, sung to him (i read that yna's love to sing).

I noticed the entire time he splayed his tail, pinned his eyes and lifted the feathers on the back of his neck....no time to be picking him up, from what ive read on many sites.

I backed off, ate dinner with hubby and tried again with Pico. Again he crawled up to the closest, highest point to me, pinned his eyes, splayed his tail and lifted his neck feathers. although he allowed me to scratch his head and cheek - he would allow me to do this for hours if i wanted to. what does this mean? he seems like a really loving bird - allowing me to touch him, but he shows all the signs of aggression when I approach his cage. How am I supposed to take him out of his cage when he always shows aggression to me?

I then sat next to his cage and softly talked to him. I didnt sit too closely so as to give him space. I also started to read a book near him and he soon calmed down. I wanted to try and get him to step up - either on my hand or on a wooden perch. but once i reached for his cage door, all signs of aggression again was displayed in Pico's stance. I thought I'd just let him cool - since it was almost his bed time anyway and I will start fresh tomorrow.

Note: before getting Pico and during the past few days, I have been scouring the web for informational websites on amazons and behavior and taming. That's when I found this site. I also found a few other sites that may help others if they have, or are considering to buy one of the "hot 3" amazons (which are yellow headed amazons, yellow naped amazons, and blue crowned/fronted amazons), this will be helpful:

http://www.parrothouse.com/jdoss.html - check out her articles and the FAQs section.

http://www3.upatsix.com/liz/ - this is a website of a parrot behavior consultant. she travels all over to help private birds and lead parrot behavior seminars. check out her articles. wonderful stuff!

http://zachary.avianavenue.com/frames.html - great information. id recommend reading the entire site.

Well, it is actually a little early to say if what they are all teaching me work, but I will try it.

Day 1: April 9th - Pico's home-coming

2006-04-13T15:22:00.000-07:00

We have been visiting this bird since two days ago. His name is Pico, a 17-yr-old yellow naped amazon. Not sure how many homes he's been in, but I know of at least 2 (one of which is the bird store we bought him from). Not sure of sex, but i think its a he (no eggs yet).

We were told that he usually likes males (I read somewhere that they cant tell between sexes of humans), but it seems correct. I have attempted to have him step up on my hand about 4 times, 3 of which he has bit me - one harder than the other. On the other hand, my husband has picked him up more than 5 times and he has not been bitten once! I dont really mind because Pico is being bought primarily for my husband. If it was up to me, we would stick to smaller beaked bird species. :)

Pico is actually a really good bird. He allows pretty much anyone to approach his cage and scratch anywhere on his head through the bars, including me. At least I have that!

I am fully dedicated to make this bird a more sociable bird. on this site, http://zachary.avianavenue.com/frames.html, Zachary's (who is a double yellow headed amazon) mom writes that a healthy, trusting bird will be friendly to many people. Pico may have a favorite person (my husband), but all amazons live in flocks - humans will be his flock.This will be my journal of my learning experience with Pico to get him to become a more social bird. I may fail, but I will do my best to reach this goal since I will probably be living with him for a very long time.

First day bringing him home, I could tell he loved the car ride. We will definitely be bringing him along on car trips in the future, when we get some warm weather! We got home, put his cage together, and placed him in his cage with his usual pellet/seed mix, fresh water and some of his favorite toys. We brought him home around 4pm so we just let him relax and get used to his new surroundings the rest of the day. He was so pooped.

No holding today, besides my husband getting Pico on his hand to transport him into his cage.