Senegal Parrot I rescued

[birdlover337]

First Post long time Reader:

I have a senegal parrot aprroximatly 10 years old, gotten from someone that was selling him on craigslist. The lady said she believe he was imported. I look at his band and it is split, and read up that he was a imported bird. When we gotten him from the lady she wasnt taking very good care of him, he was never let out of his cage, which was a breeder cage. I have him in a huge cage that he can run around in approx. 36x24. Of course the lady wasnt feeding him the right food, she was feeding him cockatiel food.

The bird been with us for about two months now, he lets me pet him, of course he been showing his mating dance to me, which i ignore but doesnt see to stop him, in fact he was doing this when we gotten him. I can let him out of his cage and let him play but not when my husband is in the house because he will attack him. He will actually dive bomb my poor hubby. The bird doesnt go after anyone else just my husband. But when he is in his cage my hubby can pet him through the bars and he doesnt attack him. I cant get him to step up or anything, but i believe he is happy and content then where he was previously. He likes to attack things as well in his cage. We given him small little dog toys look like birds. He will attack them and tumble around on the bottom of his cage, which i assume he is having fun. He goes after bowls, and his cutterbone too.

Does anyone have any similar issues with there senegal? I just curious if there is anything else I can do, or let me know if I am doing anything wrong? Thanks

Senegal Rookie

[Cpip]

he sounds like he is being a typical sennie :) my sennie thinks he is the biggest bird in my house.. he will also chase my bf.. i just try to ignore it. Is it possible your sennie does not know how to step up? I would suggest trying to get him to step up on a stick.. make sure to praise him a lot, and give him time to get used to the stick before trying to make him step up on it.. you dont want to scare him. With the amount of time you have had him.. it sounds like he has come a long way, thanks for taking him in. Senegals are such great birds :) It sounds like you are doing everything correct.. what is his diet now..? he should be getting a pelleted diet, fresh foods and some seed and healthy nuts ( almonds etc.) Sennies like to wrestle ! mine is always at the bottom of his cage fighting with his toys :) does he have a lot of stuff to shred and many wood toys? My senegal also loves to play on his boing swing. It sounds like you have made great progress with your sennie :)

[Cpip]

this is my sennies cage -

and the little man himself :)

[birdlover337]

my bird is on pelleted food, zupreem, plus all my birds get a morning of fresh food. I plan on getting mine a boing, for his cage an more toys for him to chew on.

[Izzy]

Hehe, sounds like a typical poicephalus! I share my life with a meyers parrot...I like to think of them as a slightly tamed down senegal!

Have you considered clipping his wings so that he can't attack the husband? That might help, and you can always let them grow back later once he learns the husband isn't a chew toy. Have your husband give him his favorite treats. Since you don't have him on a seed mix, you can use seeds as a special treat that only the husband can give him, as well as using them for training step-up.

My poi loves foot toys, so look into getting him some of those. I get her a lot of toys at the dollar store, she loves little rubber duckies. Untreated wicker baskets are a hit too, as well as paper dixie cups (no wax coating) with treats hidden inside.

Check out Good Bird, by Barbara Heidenreich, as well as The Parrot Problem Solver, also by Barbara Heidenreich. She's a GREAT trained who uses all positive reinforcement, and it's all based upon the SCIENCE of behavior. I think these two books would be a HUGE help, and would help you raising your younger birds too.

Be very careful if you let the sennie out with the other birds...poicephalus are known for being nasty to other birds - mine would eat my cockatiels in a heartbeat! I keep their cages across the room from each other, and the tiels are flighted so that they can escape (this also means they sometimes try to land ON the meyers...it's a work in progress!).

Let us know any other questions, and we LOVE pictures if you have any!