[magdalena]

Amazons are louder than U2's and yell the same word over and over and over when they aren't making siren noises. Ours screams HEY BOB and HELP. A lot. I wonder if my fiance got her as punishment for something I said. He gets to be gone all day while this is going on and is only here when she's settling down for the night. I suppose I knew I wasn't an Amazon person. The things we do for love.

At least she is coming out of her shell but now she is refusing food (she did eat when she first got here Saturday night so I don't know why she's decided the same food the last two days is evil). I have tried giving her mash, adding juice to her pellets and fruit mix, soft food on a spoon, soft food in a syringe, birdie bread dry, birdie bread wet, food on a kabob, food from my hand, fruit, veggies, pellets, sunflower seeds (!). No go. Maybe that's why she is yelling HELP.

We are picking up some Zupreem Fruity pellets today since her last owner didn't want to give us any to transition her from and I'd hoped she, being an Amazon and all, would eat anything. She has eaten mashed potatoes, some steamed broccoli and carrots and some cooked chicken the past couple of nights, she seems to prefer dinner to breakfast. Nutritious I know but at least she ate something. She stares at her bowls of food. While she sits on her perch not moving.

My fiance has enjoyed giving her a shower (at night no less which I asked him not to do) and talking about how he will make her foraging toys. I suppose he will get around to that when he stops playing EVONY. I kind of feel like some child's mom when they bring home a pet and promise that they 'will totally take care of it!' He wants her to bond to him but told me I'm 'allowed' to play with her during the day, which is a relief since he isn't here except at night and only talks to her or let's her bite him a little. I get yelled at for trying to feed her if he is here though. This from the man that stole the bond with my african grey LB by bribing her with cheese and other goodies daily btw. :D

She likes to bite, especially the bite and switch. She'll say UP like she wants to go up and then bite or lower her head for scratches and then bite. I am on to her but my fiance has taught her that biting him means he yells OW which must be very exciting for her. How do I train him? Is there a forum for that? :D I mean other than telling him 50 times a day not to react if he insists on getting bitten, how do I train him.

We will probably get kicked out of our apartment if she keeps yelling. Or I'll kick them out. :D It used to be peaceful here I think.

Good news, her plucking seems to have stopped with 12 hours of sleep and full spectrum lighting, only noticed a few crusty down feathers dropped since she's been here and one old ready to go feather. She is covered in pin feathers too and I mist her all the time. She is sort of ambivalent to the whole thing.

I don't want to sound like I hate her (or him lol), she's just not doing anything for me bird-wise. I still spend hours talking to her and interacting with her since someone has to, moving her to different play areas, trying to get her to eat or play, etc. She's just kind of boring when she's not yelling. Though I will take boring over yelling.

Any tips? On the food thing anyway? Hopefully when she sees the wonderfully colored toxic pellets she'll dive in. She's in the other room for quarantine so I can't spend every second in there with her without ignoring Zooo but she seems needy like a 'too so should I treat the yelling like behavioral screaming?