Follow us!
By:

Re: Red Belly Behavior

Posted by Sheila on 8/07/07
(13) Comments
Like
Share


    >> Wanda,
    Gizmo is not talking yet, but every now and then I hear sounds that sound
    like they could become words. The only other experience I have had with a
    parrot talking was my blue headed pionus. I would say he was somewhere
    between six months and a year when he started talking. He was about 3
    months old when I got him and I did not spend an excessive amount of time
    talking to him. He gradually picked up household conversations that he
    heard over and over. The first thing he said was "Chi Chi come on". Chi
    Chi is our female Chihuahua whom he later developed a "crush" on, and of
    course we call her quite a bit - you know, to go outside to potty and things
    like that. Gizmo is not being too head strong, though he definitely wants
    anything I am using! I have bird toys for him, but if I have anything in my
    hands, that's what he wants! I'll pick up his toys and play with them and
    then sometimes he'll become more interested in them. He mostly likes to
    hang out on his play gym area and of course flies to me when I'm cooking in
    the kitchen! (His wings are clipped, but he can fly in a straight line for
    some distance, but he rarely gains altitude.) I've had to put him back in
    his cage several times because of this and I think he's starting to get the
    idea that if he flies to me in the kitchen he'll get put up! He seems to
    only get angry at me if I try to get him off of something he wants to be on,
    but something I don't want him on, such as on my school stuff. (He doesn't
    like for me hold him, such as with my hands enclosing his body and holding
    his wings down.) School starts next week and I'm trying to get lesson plans
    done and he wants to chew on the textbooks! (It's funny...I got my
    education degree when I was 45 and this will be my 5th year to teach! I
    teach sixth grade math at a rural middle school, but live in a larger nearby
    city.) Gizmo pretty much seems to love me at this point - he tries to feed
    me and makes little lovey clucking sounds to me...I just hope it lasts,
    because males can loose this sweetness as they become sexually mature! I'll
    enjoy while it lasts! I've owned several parrot type birds throughout my
    life and he is the first one who has ever really seemed to like me! If you
    would like to see some pictures of him, go to birdchannel.com - I have a
    blog there of him under Species, then red-bellied's.