roxynoodle
04-20-2013, 02:51 PM
Pete came to live with me in November of 2011. He is a wild caught male Yellow Crown at least 30 years old. He lived in a tiny cage with no toys in his previous home and ate a poor diet and as a result has fatty liver disease.
He is still afraid to try some fresh foods that I would like him to such as some veggies. He did convert to pellets quite easily along with some other fresh foods. He will try others sometimes if I eat them in front of him and make a lot of yummy sounds and say things like, "ummm, this is soooo good!" Others I've gotten him to try by first rubbing them on my face like I was in love with them I've gotten him to accept some toys by rubbing them on my face, too.
He does now play with toys and chew wood, but he's still afraid of rope in any way, shape or form. He has gone from being a complete perch potato to swinging upside down from toy to toy like Tarzan. He's still less active though than any other bird I have or have had. Also he is afraid of the play gyms and believes the couch is a perfectly fine play gym for him.
Some days he is extremely cuddly and wants to spend a lot of time with me being petted and held. Other days he wants to run and climb all over the couch, wrestle with my hands and play fetch (he throws and I fetch ). He is the only bird I've had who wants to wrestle and learn tricks. For the most part I let him invent the tricks and then I just act pleased and praise him and give the tricks names. So I can say things like "Big wings!" and he will fully extend his wings. Or I can say, "Batman!" and he will hang upside down and flutter. He's also learned to hold a spoon, and to unroll some toilet paper and wipe his beak. He's definitely a ham.
He is luckily usually well behaved even when he's very excited or wound up. He has only bitten me hard once and it was my own fault for getting impatient with him for not wanting to take medication. And afterwards while I was in the bathroom washing off the blood and bandaging it, I heard a very sorry sounding, "I love you." I looked up and he was on the floor at the doorway of the bathroom apologizing to me for it So after 2 hours of refusing to come out of his cage, I believe he felt bad for biting me for trying to grab him out with a towel. He came out on his own and climbed down to find me.
When he is upset about something he's quite obvious as amazons tend to be. He shakes his head, flares his tail and angrily says, "What?! What?!" So I know just to let him be until he's in a better mood. Amazons definitely have moods that last longer than other species. My conure is also very moody but she changes moods in a few minutes. Pete's can go on for hours, and once he was mad at me for 3 days after a vet visit where we had to drive home in extreme winds. I'm pretty sure it was the wind that was upsetting him as he was ok at the vet's until it started howling between the buildings. Then driving home it sounded like a tornado going around my truck and we actually saw 2 trucks on the highway get blown over sideways. After that he threw pellets at me for 3 days and kept saying, "I good boy!" I believe he was telling me he didn't do anything to deserve that trip
He doesn't scream a lot, but he is definitely the loudest bird here when he does. Mostly it happens when I'm preparing dinner and he's excited about the food. He first screams and then begins barking like a dog. And now that we have a dog here, whenever she barks he barks back. And that makes the dog bark again and they keep going back and forth barking at each other and that can go on for half an hour or more But, mostly he talks, in a soft high pitched voice, or makes cute little cooing sounds and "Whoo!"s and some that sound like "A bah bah bah! A bear bear!" He does make some really cute, sweet little sounds for such a big bird.
He is the neatest bird I have in his cage. He also tries not to poop outside his cage, which is very nice but I do have to make sure I take him back every once in awhile so he can.
He is not territorial about his cage or things. He's also the friendliest to other birds and tries to woo every female bird he meets. None have been other amazons yet, but Pete isn't very picky He also likes to meet animals he's never seen before like sugar gliders or lizards or whatever shows up at the exotic vet's.
He has a very funny and strange sense of humor. He giggles and openly laughs in this maniacal, loony way and yells out, "I LOVE it!" He enjoys watching TV shows where people are being attacked by serial killers and movies like King Kong.
He loves to watch farm equipment and ATVs through the window. I think he would like a ride on an ATV and am going to ask one of the neighbors if I can borrow one for half an hour or so and take him He reminds me very much of a young human boy with the things he enjoys.
I wrote this post for another forum so I hope it's ok that I copied and pasted it here.
154
He is still afraid to try some fresh foods that I would like him to such as some veggies. He did convert to pellets quite easily along with some other fresh foods. He will try others sometimes if I eat them in front of him and make a lot of yummy sounds and say things like, "ummm, this is soooo good!" Others I've gotten him to try by first rubbing them on my face like I was in love with them I've gotten him to accept some toys by rubbing them on my face, too.
He does now play with toys and chew wood, but he's still afraid of rope in any way, shape or form. He has gone from being a complete perch potato to swinging upside down from toy to toy like Tarzan. He's still less active though than any other bird I have or have had. Also he is afraid of the play gyms and believes the couch is a perfectly fine play gym for him.
Some days he is extremely cuddly and wants to spend a lot of time with me being petted and held. Other days he wants to run and climb all over the couch, wrestle with my hands and play fetch (he throws and I fetch ). He is the only bird I've had who wants to wrestle and learn tricks. For the most part I let him invent the tricks and then I just act pleased and praise him and give the tricks names. So I can say things like "Big wings!" and he will fully extend his wings. Or I can say, "Batman!" and he will hang upside down and flutter. He's also learned to hold a spoon, and to unroll some toilet paper and wipe his beak. He's definitely a ham.
He is luckily usually well behaved even when he's very excited or wound up. He has only bitten me hard once and it was my own fault for getting impatient with him for not wanting to take medication. And afterwards while I was in the bathroom washing off the blood and bandaging it, I heard a very sorry sounding, "I love you." I looked up and he was on the floor at the doorway of the bathroom apologizing to me for it So after 2 hours of refusing to come out of his cage, I believe he felt bad for biting me for trying to grab him out with a towel. He came out on his own and climbed down to find me.
When he is upset about something he's quite obvious as amazons tend to be. He shakes his head, flares his tail and angrily says, "What?! What?!" So I know just to let him be until he's in a better mood. Amazons definitely have moods that last longer than other species. My conure is also very moody but she changes moods in a few minutes. Pete's can go on for hours, and once he was mad at me for 3 days after a vet visit where we had to drive home in extreme winds. I'm pretty sure it was the wind that was upsetting him as he was ok at the vet's until it started howling between the buildings. Then driving home it sounded like a tornado going around my truck and we actually saw 2 trucks on the highway get blown over sideways. After that he threw pellets at me for 3 days and kept saying, "I good boy!" I believe he was telling me he didn't do anything to deserve that trip
He doesn't scream a lot, but he is definitely the loudest bird here when he does. Mostly it happens when I'm preparing dinner and he's excited about the food. He first screams and then begins barking like a dog. And now that we have a dog here, whenever she barks he barks back. And that makes the dog bark again and they keep going back and forth barking at each other and that can go on for half an hour or more But, mostly he talks, in a soft high pitched voice, or makes cute little cooing sounds and "Whoo!"s and some that sound like "A bah bah bah! A bear bear!" He does make some really cute, sweet little sounds for such a big bird.
He is the neatest bird I have in his cage. He also tries not to poop outside his cage, which is very nice but I do have to make sure I take him back every once in awhile so he can.
He is not territorial about his cage or things. He's also the friendliest to other birds and tries to woo every female bird he meets. None have been other amazons yet, but Pete isn't very picky He also likes to meet animals he's never seen before like sugar gliders or lizards or whatever shows up at the exotic vet's.
He has a very funny and strange sense of humor. He giggles and openly laughs in this maniacal, loony way and yells out, "I LOVE it!" He enjoys watching TV shows where people are being attacked by serial killers and movies like King Kong.
He loves to watch farm equipment and ATVs through the window. I think he would like a ride on an ATV and am going to ask one of the neighbors if I can borrow one for half an hour or so and take him He reminds me very much of a young human boy with the things he enjoys.
I wrote this post for another forum so I hope it's ok that I copied and pasted it here.
154