One of the early Christmas presents I received this year was a home-manicure set. Thomas has become enthralled with the buffing block. It's kind of hard to tell from this picture, but his fingernails are really shiny!Last night, he got the wonderful idea to buff and shine Rocky's beak, since parrot beaks are made of similar substance as human fingernails. Here is Rocky receiving the treatment.
This is the after picture -- note how shiny his beak is! Rocky is such a good sport for Thomas's experiments. He actually likes participating in them and revels in the one-on-one attention.Yesterday was not a good day for Rocky and me and our relationship. We had been making progress, but then I made the mistake of sitting next to Thomas while he played videogames. This is considered by Rocky to be part of his nest, so he jumped on me and gave me a bite through my shirt. Good thing I was wearing layers! He just made a small mark, and Thomas was able to remove him. This is about the only reason that I am happy it's so cold right now. I'm going to have to be extra careful around him in the summer when I start wearing tank tops again.
In this picture, you can see much of the wood chipping that had been accompanying Rocky's afternoon. This was about one hour of chipping wood surrounding Thomas. I didn't realize until I was jumped that this is an extension of his nest. We sweep up the wood chips several times a day, but Rocky is determined and continues to rebuild.
2 comments:
I have a severe macaw too and I can really relate to Rocky's tendency to charge and bite, even people who he knows... Friends are afraid of him and I'm trying to get him to be nicer and know that nipping and biting is not acceptable behavior, though he rarely nips me, he shouldn't do it at all...
I am very impressed he lets you file his beak, that's beyond Sparky's patience. Rocky does have what we call the "Evil Eye" in that first picture, when he narrows his eyes and looks evil...
Good luck in making progress with your severe! Rocky loves my husband and lets him do anything with him -- it's a different story with me! I handled him only with a stick for well over a year, and have just started feeling comfortable enough to have him step up on my arm.
I understand your friends' fear. I have a few scars on my hands from bites from Rocky in 2006.
I feel certain that Rocky knows he shouldn't nip and bite, but he does it anyway.
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