Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, i just recieved my new baby Girl!! I named her "Zoe" and she is quite the cheeky little parrot. She was hatched in late june of this year. The vet gave her a very good bill of health and he was very impressed with how well behaved she was. She stepping up already pretty well and is already trying to speak. I catch her practicing "words". She is very mischievious and that is very charming to me. I have hwe in a 3 by 3 by 3 foot cage with a playpen on top. I got a a lot of toys , no plastic ones, and untill i start back to work again, i spend a lot of time with her.She will live in my bedroom. She is eating very well. I switched her to Hagen pellets which took me 2 days. She was eating Kaytee brand, which i am sure is decent food, but a breeder told me that the Hagen is the very very best. She eats a lot of different greens, likes kidney beans, and other fruits although i can tell she hasent been exsposed to a lot of them. I give her a lot of different things cept absoululty no meat!!!
Considering i have had her week she is an absoulute doll Baby as far as getting her to eat.Like typical amazons, she lets ME know she wants attention and when she come over to my bed to "hang out" she purrs like a Cat. Amazons are a lot like cats in that 'They" decide when they want attention and i never Force myself on her unless its for her own safety. She gets a shower every other day and she does not mind the hair dryer one bit. I would like any advice anyone could give and i will post pictures soon.. Take care all !!!

It sounds like you have a new sweetie As far as suggestions, well DYHs are considered one of the "hot" three in amazons or even in most any birds. Once they hit maturity they have a tendency to want to test their boundaries even more than other birds and want to "try" to exert their dominance over you. As long as you are consistent in attention, rewards for good behavior, ignoring bad you should do fine.

I know it will be very tempting to spend lots of time with your baby before you go back to work but try not to get her used to you being their constantly if that is not something you can always do. I always try to keep play schedules a bit "mixed up". In other words we do not have playtime every day from 1-3pm instead if at all possible I try to keep plenty of playtime but may one day have playtime from 10am-2pm, maybe the next day from 1pm-3pm, the next day from 2pm-6pm that way your bird gets used to having playtime and a lot of it but not always expecting the exact same schedule every day, that way if you ever have to be somewhere else or work hours switch it won't cause problems with your bird because believe me if you have a consistent schedule your bird will learn it. We have many birds in the rescue and at home but one in particular was on a set schedule in her old home.

DJ the U2 here at the rescue was uncovered at 7:30am and now every day at 7:30 if she is not uncovered she screams loudly until she is. She had a fresh veggie and fruit salad at exactly 11 am if she does not have it she will say DJ eat 2-3 times if it is not there by the 3rd time she screams, she has the same schedule at supper. How she tells time I am not certain but her "inner" clock must be pretty much set with real time because her hollers are always on time We still uncover her at "close" to the same time. Every bird in the rescue gets birdie salad for dinner between 11-12 but not exactly on her schedule (the same with supper) and she is slowly starting to learn that she still gets what she wants but may have to wait a while. So for this reason I say it is great to have a "loose schedule but try not to get so set on exact playtimes or food times that she is upset if you can't keep to this schedule for some reason. Even if most of the time you can keep the same schedule for her try to mix it up a bit at least part of the time it will really help her be more adaptable.

Toys are great, make sure you have plenty of foot toys besides hanging toys they learn to love playing with their feet. When you do have to be away at work try to keep some kind of television or radio on for "interaction" Our birds love cartoons and music LOL!

If you have any questions let me know and I would love to see pics. I will try to get out a few of our variety of amazons