Simple Toys Bring the Most Pleasure
May 17, 2012
It has been a while since I have posted about Oscar. We are getting along quite well. He looks forward to me coming home. He sits on my arm or on a perch nearby and whispers and talks to me. He even comes to the side of the cage I am on frequently. He lets me mess with his feet now, pet his beak, and scratch under his wings. We have been improving out relationship more and more.
I’ve written before about toys and wanted to share one I made recently that he just loves. A comparable toy at the store costs around $40 and is made of fake materials that are destroyed fast, and colored with dyes and other additives that I am not so sure is safe, or at least not good for him.
Materials:
1 piece of firewood. Preferably the whole round pieces, not the split. But either can work. $0.00
1 threaded rod cut into 2, or about 2- 4 inch pieces $2.00
A drill or drill press
Gorilla glue $4.00
2 Wingnuts and washers $2.00
How to make:
Drill 2 deep holes on one side of your wood the same diameter as your threaded rod pieces, spacing them wide apart, one on top of the other
Drill several wide holes in various places on the wood. Wide enough to hide things in and for your parrot to be able to get them out with a little work
Drill several narrow holes in various places all over the wood
Drop some gorilla glue inside the deep holes you drilled and insert the threaded rods. Give them 48 hours to set solid.
Attach your toy to the side of the cage, using the threaded rods and the washers/wingnuts. I put mine resting on the floor of the cage, just in case he get it loose and it falls
Inside the small, narrow holes, insert bunches of twigs so they stick out.
Inside the larger holes, hide peanuts, pecans, food, fruit, and other random small toys.
You’re done. For about $8.00 you’ve made a large foraging toy he can chew on, find neat things in, and shred twigs out of. He’ll have it forever as it is hard to completely destroy, but gives him things he can tear up and be satisfied. Oscar plays with it everytime I fill it up with things. He never touches store bought toys. And it’s fun to make!
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The Things We Say
February 18, 2012
Most of the week, I spend long hours in classes or studying. A friend of mine posted an article the other day about stopping and admiring beauty. The gist of the article was that we spend so much of our time rushing from point A to point B that we never stop and notice beauty and art around us. I don’t think about it most days, as I am sure most don’t, but the article did make me think about it a bit. Now, sitting in the office, checking Facebook, email, etc, I am getting a small taste of the point of the article.
Oscar is in the other room in his cage. He’d rather be in here with me, but I wanted to wait until I had a few moments to just focus on him. It is truly amazing the sounds that bird can make. Sounds I have never heard before out of him. Occasionally I respond to him to encourage the odd noises and keep him from getting frustrated and turning it to screaming. But I am enjoying just sitting here and listening to his sounds, songs, and funny behaviors.
Up Close and Personal
I have heard everything from barks, to child giggles, to even a goat call. Occasionally I hear the sound of something falling and see cats running out of the room. He likes to throw toys at them. But the point is that beauty is everywhere, even in something as close as a pet parrot. It is nice and sometimes fun to just sit back and listen to the things he says or the sounds he makes. True, he is no award winning vocalist. But his performance certainly makes me happy.
Now if only I could convince him that weekends are for sleeping in before we sing….
Like Nothing Ever Happened
January 26, 2012
Content Oscar getting use to the camera
After last semester ended I flew to NYC to be with Chris. I was worried because I read horror stories about people whose birds became aggressive, stressed, or fearful when their owner left for more than a week or so. My trip was around three weeks. Even those who have had their birds for years said they faced some aggression or bad behavior when they returned, even if only temporary. Oscar and I have made some big progress, and since we have been working so hard to trust one another, I was afraid that my extended vacation would negate all the work we have done. I believed I would have to start over from coaxing him out of the cage again.
Thankfully this wasn’t the case. The night I returned I immediately talked to Oscar and was able to pet him easily. The next day I opened his cage and he climbed to the bottom as usual and stepped onto my arm right away. I petted him and we talked and it was like nothing had ever changed. I believe having him use to me and my mom both lessened the affect of one of us not being there.
That’s not to say it didn’t go without incident. While I was gone, Oscar did begin to show aggression. He would lunge at the side of the cage when my mom walked by. Particularly the side of his cage that is near a corner where nobody really goes other than to get a DVD off the shelf or feed him. He attempted to bite her when she handed him fruit or nuts. It was almost like he was being spiteful and aggressively rejecting my mom to try and get me back.
Since I have been back for a few weeks, we have picked up right where we left off. He now talks to me a bit. He makes all his cute noises. I can pet and cuddle him pretty easily. We’re now working on letting me hold his foot or a toe. The idea is to eventually be able to file his claws down a bit. He is nicer to my mom. She can give him treats again and pet him outside the cage, but right now he seems to only let me reach inside. I believe I have successfully gotten him to bond with me. We’ll work on being more social later.
So as it turns out my fear was for nothing. Oscar has again proven me wrong. I am very happy I decided to keep him and try to work things out. I love him a lot. Someday I’ll have him performing neat tricks.
A Time Apart
December 22, 2011
One of Oscar's favorite perching spots
Oscar and I made some great progress. He is now stepping on my arm whenever I ask, though he does have a day here and there where he really doesn’t want to, and I let him have his days. He’s started talking to me again and making cuddling noises. We’ve become buddies again.
For the Christmas and New Years holiday I have come to NYC to be with my soon to be husband. I of course enjoy my time here, but I find myself thinking about Oscar a lot. Will he be upset that I left? Will he act differently when I go home? Will I have to take some steps back and do some training over? Most of all I really do miss him. My mom says he has been acting up quite a bit. I can assume it’s because he is not happy I am gone. I love all of my pets of course. I miss my dog who runs happily next to me outside, and my cats who snuggle me every evening while we watch a movie and when I sleep. I love all of this, but Oscar is almost like having a person right there. He talks to me while I play my games. He reacts to action, or scary scenes in movies. He cuddles under my chin and gives me a kiss when he is being sweet. I miss scritching his soft feathers, especially under his wings. Giving him sunflower seeds for behaving so well. Seeing him light up at a new toy. Yes, I miss my animals and would never in a million years wish any of them gone, but I have a special place in my heart for Oscar.
Before I left I was having a pet/cuddling session with him. He started talking to me and after a bit he laid his head on my chest and said, “Awww”. It was quite adorable. No matter how he acts when I return, we will be fine. Even if I have to start his training back further than I’d like. Hopefully Chris can come to Missouri soon and I won’t have to leave Oscar for so long anymore.
Making Great Progress
December 5, 2011
Oscar curious about the camera
I’ve done a lot of work with Oscar the past couple of weeks. Oscar now stands on my arm whenever I ask. He is still afraid to do it from a perch. Often he goes to the bottom of his cage and asks to step up. I have gotten him to step from his perch a few times though. Again, baby steps. What’s even better is he cuddles again. Not long after my previous post about him, Oscar stepped from the back of the couch and cuddled under my chin, making the kiss sounds. It was adorable. Since then, he has taken to occasionally doing the same thing when I approach his perch in the office that he is standing on in the picture.
Because of his change of behavior, I have made sure to give him more attention as a reinforcement. I get him out of his cage nearly everyday and make sure to interact with him quite a bit, using sunflower seeds and cuddles to reinforce when he is being good. The hardest part now is to not cuddle him too much. I love scratching under his wing and snuggling him, but doing so too much could lead back to the same behavior that started this whole mess. So I make sure a lot of our interaction is from his perch or on my arm. I still use my braces to handle him. I believe I could do it without now, however he is use to them and I don’t see a reason to take a chance and change something that has become routine.
So what’s left? A whole lot more. Yesterday I began asking Oscar to let me hold his wings. It took a little work and right now I can do it when he cuddles. I can’t stretch a wing out just yet, but we’ll get there. Once he becomes more comfortable with me handling him a lot, I’ll get some toys that we can play with together outside his cage. We’ll start out small.
Overall I am really excited about the progress he and I have made. It gives me confidence that we’ll build a good relationship for years to come. I also want to mention a new author and avian expert I have been reading. Her name is Sam Foster and I read her article about aggression and biting. I learned a lot from reading her articles and it gave me more knowledge to work with when dealing with Oscar, who is apparently the hardest to handle given his gender, age, and species. You can read about her and her articles here. In trying to get what looks like the sweetest and easiest bird to handle, I actually got the hardest. That’s ok though. All it takes is a little understanding on both sides and it’s not so hard in the end.