Hello everybody
I am seeking advice for myself and my cockatiel. The bird is around 8 or 9 years old, was not hand raised, and is extremely attached to his mirror. I've searched through the forums and read most that I could find on mirrors.
Let me begin by saying that I have owned several other tiels before. However, my previous tiels were all hand raised, and quickly formed a bond and strong trust with me.
When I got Charlie I was in high school, I knew he was not hand raised, but chose him anyway. We had a rocky start, in the first few years I failed to gain his trust and could not handle him, perhaps due to my lack of experience with un-tamed birds. He formed an attachment with his mirror, and I went away to college while he remained at my parents house. The only thing I was able to accomplish with him is that he likes to come out and step onto his seed dish, and I bring the mirror, and the “three of us” spend time together. I was never able to handle him. Of course I came home multiple times each year and spent limited time with him in this fashion. We even began some flight training, where I had him do short flights from the perch to the seed cup for a treat.
Now it is seven years later. I am done with school and am at a crossroads with the bird. I have spent the past six months trying to make up for lost time with him. I have spent every day with him and his mirror, he loves to come out on his seed cup with the mirror, and I have a perch stand which he and the mirror will sit on. In this fashion, we hang out together, and he has gotten used to eating every meal with me. I hold him on the seed cup with one hand while I eat with the other. He will scream if he hears me getting food ready and I don’t come to get him out of the cage.
One day during flight training he accidentally landed on my hand. Since, then, he has learned to do a short flight or jump onto my hand from inches or feet away from the perch, for a treat. That is, he comes to me. If I move my hand toward him whatsoever, he becomes defensive and violent, and ignores the treat I am holding. When he does jump onto my hand, he eats the treat quickly and flies off, or sometimes even bites my hand once he is on it and draws blood. At one point he held his wings up the whole time like an eagle, as if completely disgusted by the fact that he was on my hand.
Progress seems to have stopped there. I make it a point to do training sessions every evening. But he won’t allow me to approach him with my hand. He seems to possess a strong natural fear of human hands which I can’t override no matter how much training we do.
I will be moving again in the near future, and am determined to either win him over (I really do love him) or try to place him with someone in an aviary so he can live a fulfilling life.
I guess my question for everyone is, What do you think is the best course of action from here? The real dilemma comes when considering taking the mirror away, in hopes that he might look to me for a bond. Charlie has been with his mirror mate for almost eight years, and right now he cannot be more than two feet distance from the mirror before he has an anxiety attack. I am terrified that taking it away will either kill him or emotionally damage him for the remainder of his life.
Does anyone have experience taking away a mirror in such a case and how did your bird fare through this process?
Thanks for any advice you might have.
I am seeking advice for myself and my cockatiel. The bird is around 8 or 9 years old, was not hand raised, and is extremely attached to his mirror. I've searched through the forums and read most that I could find on mirrors.
Let me begin by saying that I have owned several other tiels before. However, my previous tiels were all hand raised, and quickly formed a bond and strong trust with me.
When I got Charlie I was in high school, I knew he was not hand raised, but chose him anyway. We had a rocky start, in the first few years I failed to gain his trust and could not handle him, perhaps due to my lack of experience with un-tamed birds. He formed an attachment with his mirror, and I went away to college while he remained at my parents house. The only thing I was able to accomplish with him is that he likes to come out and step onto his seed dish, and I bring the mirror, and the “three of us” spend time together. I was never able to handle him. Of course I came home multiple times each year and spent limited time with him in this fashion. We even began some flight training, where I had him do short flights from the perch to the seed cup for a treat.
Now it is seven years later. I am done with school and am at a crossroads with the bird. I have spent the past six months trying to make up for lost time with him. I have spent every day with him and his mirror, he loves to come out on his seed cup with the mirror, and I have a perch stand which he and the mirror will sit on. In this fashion, we hang out together, and he has gotten used to eating every meal with me. I hold him on the seed cup with one hand while I eat with the other. He will scream if he hears me getting food ready and I don’t come to get him out of the cage.
One day during flight training he accidentally landed on my hand. Since, then, he has learned to do a short flight or jump onto my hand from inches or feet away from the perch, for a treat. That is, he comes to me. If I move my hand toward him whatsoever, he becomes defensive and violent, and ignores the treat I am holding. When he does jump onto my hand, he eats the treat quickly and flies off, or sometimes even bites my hand once he is on it and draws blood. At one point he held his wings up the whole time like an eagle, as if completely disgusted by the fact that he was on my hand.
Progress seems to have stopped there. I make it a point to do training sessions every evening. But he won’t allow me to approach him with my hand. He seems to possess a strong natural fear of human hands which I can’t override no matter how much training we do.
I will be moving again in the near future, and am determined to either win him over (I really do love him) or try to place him with someone in an aviary so he can live a fulfilling life.
I guess my question for everyone is, What do you think is the best course of action from here? The real dilemma comes when considering taking the mirror away, in hopes that he might look to me for a bond. Charlie has been with his mirror mate for almost eight years, and right now he cannot be more than two feet distance from the mirror before he has an anxiety attack. I am terrified that taking it away will either kill him or emotionally damage him for the remainder of his life.
Does anyone have experience taking away a mirror in such a case and how did your bird fare through this process?
Thanks for any advice you might have.