Hello from Pennsylvania!

[Kiltsrhott]

Hey all! I'm new to the forum and sort of new to bird ownership. I'm a married woman in my twenties. We have 2 horses, 3 cats, a dog, and now a parrot of unknown species.

Miss Yzma came to us from a friend who kept a room full of rescued parrots in a barn at a nearby wolf sanctuary. All of the other birds had been rehomed and she was all alone. She had been abandoned in a home after her previous owner died. I'm told she's a Rosella and was used for breeding in the past, but I'm not sure if she's really a Rosella. Her coloration doesn't quite fit. She has a leg band but I haven't been able to read it. she's quite shy and I'm limiting my handling of her until she has time to settle into her new home. I hate to stress her out more than I have to!

This is the first bird I've personally owned, but my parents have had birds that I cared for and interacted with throughout my life. They now have a Congo African Gray named Charlie. He's a fun bird with a great personality and a huge vocabulary.

I started another thread looking for help identifying Yzma. I'll be looking for tips on how to gain the trust of an adult bird that hasn't had much handling. I'm also eager to share photos and stalk threads to soak up new information!

[Dragonlady2]

:pp_welcome: Thanks for sharing.

[Casper's 2nd best friend]

You have to wait for them to decide they trust you. However, with Casper we cheated a bit: He was happy to be handled by Margaret when he came to live with us but had not had good experience with the man at his previous home so was aggressive towards me. One day Margaret had Casper on her lap giving him head tickles and he had his eyes closed because it felt so good. I took over doing the tickles and when he eventually opened his eyes and realised it was me being kind and gentle his attitude changed. It took a bit of time but gradually he bit less and less hard and stopped drawing blood. They do know exactly how hard to bite to break the skin!
Visitors: Casper is rarely shut in during the day. Some visitors he just ignores, some (not too many fortunately) he tries to kill, and some he flies onto their shoulder and settles down as though he has known them for years. He seems to know instinctively some of those he can trust straight away. Others it takes him a while to suss out.

[luckyandjenn]

Welcome to the flock When i got lucky i did just alot of being in his eyeshight and taliking really sweet like to him i think that help alot in our bonding and it deff helped in him learning that this new person (me) was ok to be around

[Kiltsrhott]

Thanks guys! Yzma is already warming up. The first few times I opened her door to change her water she flew to the back of her cage. She is now at least holding her ground and not running away. Her cage is in a corner of the dining room where she has a clear view of the dining room, living room and kitchen, so she'll be able to see us most of the time. I'll continue to stay in her line of sight and talk to her. I'll keep you posted on her progress.

[Quakerella]

Welcome to PP, sound like it won't take too long for Yzma to get accustomed to her new surroundings. Looking forward to hearing the updates.

[Dragonlady2]

Just a question because I am a bit of a worrywart, are your cats around when you let yzma out?

[Kiltsrhott]

Just a question because I am a bit of a worrywart, are your cats around when you let yzma out?

The cats get locked in a bedroom and the dog goes in his crate when she's out. Thus far Yzma hasn't spent much time out because she doesn't want to come out. I'm hoping time will ease her fears. Don't worry I would never leave her out unattended or let her out with the other animals, especially while she's still shy and unpredictable and she's still new to the other animals.

[Lady]

:th_hi:and welcome to you both~

It's great to have you here. How long has Yzuma been with a part of your family? I can hardly wait to see some more pics of her, she looks pretty. It's interesting that you have some background info on her, maybe you could even check out the local avian vet offices to see if you can locate the person who use to tend to her when she may of had visits to the vet.

How cool would it be to one day get to meet some of her off spring too!

Looking forward to hearing all about your adventures with her.

[Casper's 2nd best friend]

That's a good idea about the vet surgery. When Casper came to live with us we started using a surgery that were avian specialists but didn't have any records for him. I popped into the other surgery in town and the girl on the desk was able to tell me Casper's date of birth in seconds. The name and address of the previous keeper was known, he was on file under his name and their surname. I am not sure if it would have been possible for her to do a search of all the Amazons... but as your bird is so unusual it might be a possibility to search by type of bird and bird's name.

[Kiltsrhott]

Great idea guys! The man that gave her to us said that he looked up her band number and found out she was bred in California, but he doesn't remember exactly when. There aren't many avian vets out here, which should make it easy to find her records since she came to PA, if she has any. I don't think her species is super common. TBH I had never heard of a Rock Pebbler before now. I'd like to make her an appointment for a check up soon. I'm not sure when she last saw a vet, if ever.

Yzma didn't have a name when we got her. She may have had one with her owner that died, but her name went to the grave with that owner. We named her Yzma. The story behind that is kind of a long one...

We adopted a puppy of unknown breeding at a local shelter. We decided to call him Kuzco because he wasn't very good in the house and we kept "throwing off his groove" with his training. He was also tall, lanky, black, and awkward like Kuzco in his llama form. After much debating as to what kind of dog he was, we had him DNA tested and found out he was actually a wolf dog. This explained a lot of his behaviors, and DNA confirmation of what he was meant we couldn't keep him. Wolf dogs are illegal to own in our state without a wildlife license. They're also banned on a township level where we live, and he violated the terms of our homeowners insurance, so we had to make the difficult decision to surrender him to a sanctuary. He is now living at the same sanctuary where Yzma came from, so in a way, we made a trade, a bird for a wolf dog. Yzma was the antagonist in that movie who was always trying to take Kuzco's throne, so I figured it was fitting in the situation.

There's a little part of me that wants to get a male cockatiel to house next to her, just so I can call him Kronk. lol.

[Dragonlady2]

Wow, what a story. Very interesting about the wolf dog. I don't know if we have that law here, I must investigate. It would be nice for Yzma to have another bird to see and hear as she probably misses that from her last place.

[Casper's 2nd best friend]

Ooh, an Australian parrot also known as a Regent parrot, Wiki says
The parrot is also known variously as the rock pebbler, rock peplar, black-tailed parakeet, Murray smoker, Marlock parakeet and sometimes regent parakeet.
So many names for such a small bird :)

[Kiltsrhott]

Yzma is getting more friendly. We've only had her for a few days. Last night and this morning she was chattering to me. I gave her a piece if banana last night and she was too shy to come eat it while I was watching, but she came to the front of her cage and ate some seeds while I was eating breakfast near her cage this morning. Before I left the house this morning I sat by her cage and talked to her. She came over to me and chattered back for a minute before remembering she's supposed to be afraid. Haha. I uncovered her cage and opened the blinds on either side of her cage this morning, so now she'll have clear view of the back and side yards and all the outside birds. I've been keeping her mostly covered to keep her calm, but she seems to be settling down now.

She and the dog seem to be making friends too. We have an older Rottweiler. Her cage is on a table above his head so he can't get to her, but he lays in the living room and listens to her talk. He also stopped whining at night since we brought her home. He can't go upstairs due to his arthritis and he's never been happy about staying downstairs at night, but now he seems not to mind. Every time he walks by she goes to the front of her cage and looks down at him with one eye as if she's curious but not afraid.

So far I'm pleased with her progress. I think she'll fit in well with the family. She just seems happy to have company. She really is a sweet bird.