Post by siobhan on Jul 23, 2015 13:28:40 GMT -5
Rocky 'Too had a bad weekend. He chomped his daddy badly in two places, in spite of a month of Bill petting him while he was on his cage or on me, and offering treats, and not insisting on handling him. Rocky leaned out and lifted a foot, so Bill offered an arm and Rocky stepped up and chomped and while Bill was trying to get him off, he chomped a second time. This happened in less time than it takes to tell, because I wasn't 10 feet away and couldn't get there before it was all over. This is the third bad chomp Rocky has given Bill, and he's given me a couple of nasty bruises but not broken the skin. He's made Bill bleed every time. A 'too bite is nothing to sneeze at.
I waited until I thought Rocky had settled down and then offered to take him out on the enclosed porch (which is what Bill was trying to do; Rocky is accustomed to spending some time every day out there with me) and he went, but he was tense, and not long after we got out there, the garbage truck came and Rocky freaked out, though he's seen it before, and chomped me. Just enough to bruise and be sore, not enough to bleed. I took him back to his cage and he was flapping and displaying and ended up hanging upside down from my arm before I could get to his cage. He climbed up on it and kept displaying and doing his car alarm impersonation and was tense and crabby the rest of the day. He was better on Tuesday. Not good, but better. I didn't try to handle him. We both just petted and talked to him while he was on his cage. Yesterday he wanted to snuggle and was pretty much okay. We can't decide whether we should give up now, before he really hurts Bill, or keep trying and assume that this is all part of a long adjustment process that might take months or even a couple of years. I have options. I know a parrot rescue nearby that will take him. I have a friend who knows a couple who already has a rescue 'too and they said they would take him. But on the other hand, I love the little brat and he's had so many homes already, and I hate to give up on him. We've had him three months, and in the first two, he was fine with Bill. He sat on his arm, he never chomped, and though he wasn't as snuggly as he is with me, he didn't seem to have a problem with him, either. Then came the first chomp, which was bad enough that it took weeks to heal. Bill still has a little scar where the deepest gouge was.
We could live with the shrieking. Rocky doesn't actually shriek that much. We can handle the mess and bother of a large bird. When you have this many birds, mess is just part of life. The dogs have mostly come to an understanding, though we have a very elderly, half-blind and arthritic Lab who can't move fast enough to get away from him and sometimes he gets on the floor and goes "on the march" as we call it, and we always fear that he'll chomp her and as laid back as she is, she might chomp back.
Then there's the fact that Rocky is so demanding of time and attention that I am afraid the others are getting neglected. Since Bill can't handle Rocky other than talking to and petting him, any real one-on-one attention has to come from me, which means that combined with my work hours and other responsibilities, I have even less time to spend with Clyde and the Horde and with Ringo Starling. All of them are increasingly clingy when I do spend time with them, and starlings are not known for being clingy. Yet even Ringo is doing it. They miss me. I miss them.
I waited until I thought Rocky had settled down and then offered to take him out on the enclosed porch (which is what Bill was trying to do; Rocky is accustomed to spending some time every day out there with me) and he went, but he was tense, and not long after we got out there, the garbage truck came and Rocky freaked out, though he's seen it before, and chomped me. Just enough to bruise and be sore, not enough to bleed. I took him back to his cage and he was flapping and displaying and ended up hanging upside down from my arm before I could get to his cage. He climbed up on it and kept displaying and doing his car alarm impersonation and was tense and crabby the rest of the day. He was better on Tuesday. Not good, but better. I didn't try to handle him. We both just petted and talked to him while he was on his cage. Yesterday he wanted to snuggle and was pretty much okay. We can't decide whether we should give up now, before he really hurts Bill, or keep trying and assume that this is all part of a long adjustment process that might take months or even a couple of years. I have options. I know a parrot rescue nearby that will take him. I have a friend who knows a couple who already has a rescue 'too and they said they would take him. But on the other hand, I love the little brat and he's had so many homes already, and I hate to give up on him. We've had him three months, and in the first two, he was fine with Bill. He sat on his arm, he never chomped, and though he wasn't as snuggly as he is with me, he didn't seem to have a problem with him, either. Then came the first chomp, which was bad enough that it took weeks to heal. Bill still has a little scar where the deepest gouge was.
We could live with the shrieking. Rocky doesn't actually shriek that much. We can handle the mess and bother of a large bird. When you have this many birds, mess is just part of life. The dogs have mostly come to an understanding, though we have a very elderly, half-blind and arthritic Lab who can't move fast enough to get away from him and sometimes he gets on the floor and goes "on the march" as we call it, and we always fear that he'll chomp her and as laid back as she is, she might chomp back.
Then there's the fact that Rocky is so demanding of time and attention that I am afraid the others are getting neglected. Since Bill can't handle Rocky other than talking to and petting him, any real one-on-one attention has to come from me, which means that combined with my work hours and other responsibilities, I have even less time to spend with Clyde and the Horde and with Ringo Starling. All of them are increasingly clingy when I do spend time with them, and starlings are not known for being clingy. Yet even Ringo is doing it. They miss me. I miss them.
