# Update on Mercedes



## Noxiousted (Aug 4, 2018)

It's now official, Mercedes has been hand trained completely around the house. He doesn't nip anymore and comes straight to me. He used to be aggressive and lazy. When we first got him I didn't pay much attention to him. I just fed him and let him do what he wanted which was mostly sleep. I could be 1 foot away and he would nip at me through the cage. He also screeched loudly whenever he heard any noise. He wouldn't let out a peep either or play with toys. 

Now, he is a TON more active. He plays with toys and works his way around and doesn't sleep as much anymore. He actually refuses to sleep and would rather be noisy and playing. He steps up without problems and will even run to my hand from the other side of the room. He trusts me now and comes to me when he doesn't feel safe. He also has started flying to me. Though he completely ignores I have a hand and lands on my head. He used to nip and aggressively bite or make angry noises. He rarely makes angry noises unless he is grouchy or tired. He has stopped biting and only nips when he is playing around. Though he still is aggressive towards his cage. At certain times when I come over randomly he will nip at me through the cage. Mostly because he is not active and that's his territory. He thinks of my whole room as his territory and nips people who try to come in the room. He also flies to my room on his own and gets in his cage on his own. I take him out in the living room often and he hangs out. When he is hungry or bored he just flies back into my room and eats. He hasn't yet came out of his cage on his own. Mostly because I take him out everyday anyways. He does come out and sits on the edge or flies out because he gets scared. 

He is a chatterbox though. He used to be silent. Now he chatters and make all the noises he can make. He screeches, chirps, and he is even starting to talk and repeat sounds. He makes kissy noises sometimes. We've also noticed him saying things. But it's pretty hard to understand what he is saying. He says a sentence but its hard to make it out but he is definitely trying. He can also whistle and whine. He makes a soft whining noise whenever someone isn't paying attention to him. 

As for training it's been easy. After bonding with him for a while and teaching him I wasn't a bad person he easily comes to me. He even lets me scratch his head and fluffs up. I also help him with his pin feathers since he is going through a ongoing molt. It's not a bad molt just a here and there pin feathers growing type of molt. I've also got him to love water. He will drink from any water container you put in front of him. He will drink no matter what time it is or whether he already had a drink. He also tries to take a bath in it and play in the water. I'm currently trying to teach him to fly to me since his wings have grown back and he is able to fly better. I've found the trick on how to do it.

A week ago I decided to change his cage layout. Moving things around and making it less boring since I noticed he just slept and was getting less active. I added toys and made it more where he had to climb to get places. I put in balls that he can tear up which he is currently destroying. I found out he loves scavenging and tearing things apart. Since whenever you place him on the carpet he starts looking for any crumb he can find. Even if he just ate a ton he will still look for crumbs. I made another toy out of shoelace, cat balls, and rings. He doesn't even care about the shoelace. He actually hates anything with cloth and tends to like hard things. Meaning he'd rather sleep on a hardwood floor than a soft blanket. The second toy I made was a bell. It came from a toy I tore apart because it was garbage. He actually was afraid of it and ran away and actually flew and ran. Like a duck when someone runs at them. I thought I would try it anyways. So I hanged it up in his cage with a shoelace. He immediately ran over and started beating it with his beak and chattering to it. I was amazed because something he was so afraid of became his best friend. He won't leave the bell alone honestly. Since I gave it to him and just plays with it. He chatters to it, makes it ding, punches it with his beak, and grabs the little thing on the inside. He won't even sleep, and even under the blanket you can hear him still dinging the bell. Yesterday I got tired of it and took it away. The next thing I knew he was on me trying to get it. I then put him far away and he flew right to me trying to get it. I realized that if he wants the bell he will go there to get it. Since then I've been putting him in far away places and teaching him to fly to me using the bell. It's working really well. Though there is an issue, today instead of flying to me he sits there and makes a low whistle like a whining noise. He won't fly to me and when I say the command which is "come here" he just sits there and whines. I'm just confused what he is trying to tell me by whining. 

On another note we've become so close he sleeps on me. Puts his head on his back and everything and goes right to sleep. He doesn't even mind me anymore. I've still be having issues with feeding veggies. He refuses to take a bite even when its a leaf or the smallest thing. He won't even try to Zupreem pellets and just spits them out on the floor. Even when I put them in his food he still does it. I'm afraid he isn't getting nutrition in that way. I even found his mineral block is chewed to death. The whole corner was taken off. He wouldn't even touch it before. He is healthy though, I'm just afraid sooner or later the no veggies will effect his nutrition. I've tried everything from leaving it in a bowl in his cage to trying to hand feed him. I can't find nothing that works. Another problem is his night terrors. It's very rare but it happens. He knocks into something and starts flying around the cage and sometimes will fly out and be in shock for a few minutes. I normally hold him until he is okay again and then put him back in. Instead of putting the blanket on I've tried putting a blanket on my window instead. It works a lot better and he can actually see a little instead of it being pitch black. Apart from that its going really well.


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## sweettreat (Jan 3, 2014)

Sounds like he's a happier bird. Do you get concrened you might roll over on him when your sleeping? I'm glad you have such a good friend.


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## Noxiousted (Aug 4, 2018)

sweettreat said:


> Sounds like he's a happier bird. Do you get concrened you might roll over on him when your sleeping? I'm glad you have such a good friend.


I make sure not to sleep when they are close or out. Though they do fly out on their own now and play on the floor together.


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## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

Sounds like you have made great progress with him. If he is having night frights you may want to consider leaving a night light on for him.


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## RavensGryf (May 8, 2015)

I’m so glad you’ve made such progress with Mercedes, and you were able to bring him out of his shell. Good job . Nice to hear you made it work with him, and now you have a great little friend!


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