Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We have had our male Eclectus for just over a month now; he is four years old and came from a home where the owners no longer had the time they wanted to devote to him. We work from home so he can be out most of the day.

We were new to owning a parrot and I must admit I was scared of birds but my wife talked me round. I have bonded with him big time, I was really nervous at first and got nipped several times but stuck with it and now we are best of friends. He no longer tries to bite as he knows it’s me and will push me away with his beak rather than bite, on the occasions he does want to give me a nip there is no force behind it.

My wife on the other hand is unsure of him and tends to want him to step up onto her sleeve, he does like give her a painful nip. I thought Eclectus did not bond to anyone in particular but it appears that he only has eyes for me; if he could he would sit on my hand all day cooing softly.

Apart from sweet corn, pomegranate and the odd Soya bean we have difficulty getting him to try new things so any advice would be appreciated.

The other thing we have noticed is that he is not interested in his toys.

Your wife needs to bit ethe bullet & ignore the bites & interact with your ekkie more often.

Ekkies are family pets. They do bond more to one person than the other, however they are very family orientated & enjoy ALL family company, not just one person. As long as your wife is nervous around your ekkie, he's gonna pick up on this & react to it.

Personally I would get rid of the corn as a part of a regular feed. It's a popular food for them but increasingly becoming well known to cause allergies in ekkies. They need a good source of vits & mins. This site can tell you how to do this naturally. http://eclectusextras.bravehost.com
As wide a range of fresh fruit & veg & cooked foods is a must for ekkies. They have a longer digestive tract than other parrots so require a proper diet. Pellets are a big no as they can cause long term health problems.
This might help: http://www.eclectusparrots.proboards79.com

How old is he? Has he played with his toys in the past? What kind of toys are they? If he's not lethargic & eating & moving around well then it may be he doesn't like the choice of toys. You can try big bells, large macaw toys, interactive toys, toys that make noise, toddler toys are good too & a toy box for them. My guy loves to scrounge around in his toybox everyday.

Ekkies are known for not showing interest in many of their toys. many of the older websites and books even claim they will not play with any toys but this is of course not true. Your bird may either not like the selection or have never learned to play with toys. Sometimes by their favorite person playing with new toys and showing how fun it is they will learn to like their toys. Our ekkie seems to like noise making toys better than others and will chew on wood toys if there is a bell attached. She also likes balls with bells or music playing toys. I don't know if this is commonly what other people have found with theirs but it works with her.

We had always heard that ekkies were a family bird as well and many will be but it does somewhat depend on their upbringing and who they have spent their days with or been socialized with. Our ekkie used to live in a zoo we believe her female caretaker was very rough with her and didn't know how to treat her. She now has a strong dislike for women. I can handle her, I do pick her up and work with her daily but I have to watch her closely. She may happily step up onto my hand take a treat and then reach over and nip. With my husband it is the opposite, he can clip her nails lay her on her back and do anything with her and she has never nipped. If you don't already know your birds full background you might check it out to see if she has a reason to be distrustful of women or if maybe she isn't used to women. Also your wife showing fear of her may be enforcing this behavior. If your ekkie knows she makes your wife nervous and thinks of it as a game she will nip more than to someone she knows trusts her and feels safe around her.

Good luck and keep trying.