Monday, August 16, 2010

Steve at seven weeks

Steve continues to make small progress. Over the weekend, I put a new toy in his cage, as you can see here. It has clear plastic cups for foraging. He worked hard, but kept dropping the nuts to the bottom of his cage, so I ended up moving it down so he could get at them from the cage bottom. I didn't want him to get too discouraged!He mastered that, so this toy will slowly be migrating back up, incrementally increasing the level of foraging difficulty.

This morning, he spoke to me in context for the first time. As I was leaving for work I said, "I'll be back!" and he responded with "I'll be back!"

On Sunday, I was out at a play, and Thomas was upstairs doing practice test questions (he has to take his board exams later this month). He said that Steve chattered pretty much nonstop for a couple of hours.

Now we've just got to get him wanting to come out of his cage, but we'll get there!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good for Steve! It seems like he's making positive changes pretty quickly - considering how long it could take.

Your photo of you with the macaw totally fooled me :) In the fraction of a second between seeing the photo and reading the text, I thought how crazy it was that you were cuddling with Rocky.

And no, your prior post did not sound like you were asking for compliments at all.

Thanks!

-E.R.

belovedparrot said...

I can't tell you how delighted I am to read of Steve's continuing progress. And I just love his little face.

belovedparrot said...

Have you checked under his wings lately? Any chance he's healing?

Michelle said...

Steve is adorable. My grey, Timothy is a feather plucker that I adopted one year ago. He does not want to come out of his cage. But I will never give up on him, I'm going to work with him and help him each step of the way through his healing. I look forward to hearing how Steve progresses with his challenges.

Love the toy he is playing with. Did you make it yourself?

Blessings,
Michelle

The Homeless Parrot said...

You know that you're going to wind up keeping him, right?

Mary said...

E.R. -- when my husband walked in and saw me with the other sever like that, he asked me why I don't do that with Rocky. As if he had to ask :) So I had him take a picture as I thought it was pretty funny!

BP -- even more progress to report on today. His new home is going to have their hands full keeping him mentally stimulated!

He hasn't been out of his cage in quite some time, so I haven't been able to see under his wings. I haven't seen any blood in his cage or on his beak, so I'm hoping he's leaving it alone?

Michelle -- best of luck with Timothy. He is very lucky to have an understanding owner that isn't pushing him before he's ready!

I did not make that toy; I purchased it from the bird rescue where I volunteer (they have a retail store attached to the aviary where all proceeds support the rescue, so I buy a lot of toys there!)

The Homeless Parrot -- that's what Thomas was worried about at first, so I was determined to prove him wrong! Though, until this great home appeared, I still thought it was a possibility. After turning him around, I was going to be very picky about where he ended up!

Anonymous said...

What company makes that foraging toy? I've been looking for it!

Mary said...

Anonymous -- I'm not sure as I got it from the bird rescue where I volunteer and I don't remember who was the manufacturer!

I will ask them and get back to you but just wanted to respond here so you didn't think I was ignoring you!

There are actually a few different variations of it -- Max has one with three cups hanging vertically. It's a great foraging toy, especially for birds new to foraging since they can see what they're working for!

I'll post the manufacturer as soon as I can find out who it is!

Mary said...

Got an answer quickly on that foraging toy. It's by Superbird Creations. I googled their website, and if you click on their link for foraging toys, it's on the bottom. Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Thank you very much Mary!