Trust games?

[rosewith2thorns]

Hi there, in my previous post I explained that I adopted a 16 year old Lilac crowned amazon. Anywho, I am mostly giving him his space to adjust, but he is very social and seemingly wants to be with me, just afraid because he doesn't know me. I was wondering if any of you have any ideas for trust building "games" he and I can play together? So far one cute thing he likes to do when he is sitting on my knee is I will hold a clenched fist with my index finger strait out. I will touch my nose and then I will touch his beak, over and over. He seems to get a big kick out of it. Once again there is no way under the sun he will step up onto my finger, hand or arm, but he will step up onto a perch and then interact with me ok. So far the most physical interaction he will allow is the "game" I just described and he will "kiss" me (his kiss is he presses his beak, close to his nares, into my lips) we only do that when he asks me "gimme a kiss" or if he leans to me for one. He is a sweet pretty trusting guy, I just need some ideas to help him build some trust when it comes to my hands/arms. Thanks!!!!!

[kateBird]

that is so cute with the kissing thing!

The touch nose - touch beak thing sounds interesting..i think i will try it with my YNA...:)

I sometimes just mimic him - if he yawns, i yawn. if he sticks out his tongue i do it back. if he makes a noise, try and copy that back to him. (make sure it is a "happy" noise. ;-) ).

I sing and talk to him a lot which I can tell he is really into. He sometimes even makes his own noise with my singing.

take him around the house in the perch (if he allows you) and talk to him. "introduce" him to all the rooms you go to, "introduce" him to the stuff that is in the room...he probably wont understand, but hearing your voice and seeing that he can trust you with transporting him to new rooms will definitely help build a bond.

"coo" at him...my amazon loves words that have an "oo" sound like in the word "poor" or "beauuuuuuuuutiful".

some ideas..

kate