Post by d6x6e on Jul 15, 2007 3:55:01 GMT
Hi there, my husband and I just adopted a two-year-old, double yellow head Amazon, Rocco.
He has been with us seven days tomorrow and began picking up sounds and words almost immediately...he came with a great vocabulary and likes to sing, La, La, La, and whistle tunes. He will hum Beethoven's Fifth, loves opera and Celine Dion.
This is the first big parrot we have had. We have done a lot of research in the past six weeks before we picked him up and brought him home. (Of course we don't really know if Rocco is a man bird.)
We visited Rocco at his house and did a lot of Q and A before we felt we would be a good match. If he didn't work out the previous owners would take him back. In fact they would take him back years from now.
However, even though we have done a lot of homework we still have a lot to learn. And the best way to learn it to chat with people who know this type of bird.
Rocco started out in a pet store. A man who kept seeing him finally broke down and bought him. Then the man became very ill and had to be hospitalized. At that point he gave Rocco to neighbors who had him from January until last Sunday, July 8 when we brought him home.
Rocco came with his cage, toys and food so he had familiar things around him.
So far he has been a very good guy. He was driving the "transition home" people kind of nuts with his calling in the a.m. and around dusk.
He started to call Monday evening and I took his mind off it with a treat. He really hasn't wound up since then. Instead he talks, sings and dances.
In fact he doesn't even seem all that interested in his toys...he was very dependent on them at the last home. But here he would rather sit on top of the cage and visit with me and my husband, Bob.
Rocco is in our bird room which is a sun room. We have three Indian ringnecks, in separate cages, a very big flight cage with a few zebras, budgies and a female Rosy Bourke, plus, a male Fischer's and female peach face in another big cage.
I believe that Rocco is so entertained and stimulated by the other birds, the near constant presence of me and Bob, watching our dogs and TV that he's never bored.
I publish online news for my community and the bird room is also my office, so I am in the room most of the day. He is thriving on the company.
Rocco has been very well mannered when out of his cage and he gets out for several hours a each day.
He doesn't like to me touched, and hasn't in the past. His first owner thought this came from the time spent in the pet store. This is something I need to work on. I don't have a pressing need to pet him, but he will have to be handled for wing and nail clips at some point. He doesn't need any work for awhile. He doesn't seem to know he could fly and doesn't try.
Needless to say we are very taken by this beautiful, comical guy. We want him to continue to be happy and stable for his sake as well as ours. He's not shown signs of aggression at either place he lived in before, and he's not shown any signs here.
We don't want to mess him up, so right now it's live and let live. We are still in a period of adjustment and Rocco doesn't yet think he's cock of the walk.
We would appreciate knowing about good books that will help us. And knowing what to expect from this funny guy in the future from people with experience we don't have.
Thanks for reading. Dixie Walter in Eatonville, Washington State.
He has been with us seven days tomorrow and began picking up sounds and words almost immediately...he came with a great vocabulary and likes to sing, La, La, La, and whistle tunes. He will hum Beethoven's Fifth, loves opera and Celine Dion.
This is the first big parrot we have had. We have done a lot of research in the past six weeks before we picked him up and brought him home. (Of course we don't really know if Rocco is a man bird.)
We visited Rocco at his house and did a lot of Q and A before we felt we would be a good match. If he didn't work out the previous owners would take him back. In fact they would take him back years from now.
However, even though we have done a lot of homework we still have a lot to learn. And the best way to learn it to chat with people who know this type of bird.
Rocco started out in a pet store. A man who kept seeing him finally broke down and bought him. Then the man became very ill and had to be hospitalized. At that point he gave Rocco to neighbors who had him from January until last Sunday, July 8 when we brought him home.
Rocco came with his cage, toys and food so he had familiar things around him.
So far he has been a very good guy. He was driving the "transition home" people kind of nuts with his calling in the a.m. and around dusk.
He started to call Monday evening and I took his mind off it with a treat. He really hasn't wound up since then. Instead he talks, sings and dances.
In fact he doesn't even seem all that interested in his toys...he was very dependent on them at the last home. But here he would rather sit on top of the cage and visit with me and my husband, Bob.
Rocco is in our bird room which is a sun room. We have three Indian ringnecks, in separate cages, a very big flight cage with a few zebras, budgies and a female Rosy Bourke, plus, a male Fischer's and female peach face in another big cage.
I believe that Rocco is so entertained and stimulated by the other birds, the near constant presence of me and Bob, watching our dogs and TV that he's never bored.
I publish online news for my community and the bird room is also my office, so I am in the room most of the day. He is thriving on the company.
Rocco has been very well mannered when out of his cage and he gets out for several hours a each day.
He doesn't like to me touched, and hasn't in the past. His first owner thought this came from the time spent in the pet store. This is something I need to work on. I don't have a pressing need to pet him, but he will have to be handled for wing and nail clips at some point. He doesn't need any work for awhile. He doesn't seem to know he could fly and doesn't try.
Needless to say we are very taken by this beautiful, comical guy. We want him to continue to be happy and stable for his sake as well as ours. He's not shown signs of aggression at either place he lived in before, and he's not shown any signs here.
We don't want to mess him up, so right now it's live and let live. We are still in a period of adjustment and Rocco doesn't yet think he's cock of the walk.
We would appreciate knowing about good books that will help us. And knowing what to expect from this funny guy in the future from people with experience we don't have.
Thanks for reading. Dixie Walter in Eatonville, Washington State.
You've got many years ahead with your new guy, and I'm sure that all your patience with him (or her!) now will pay dividends.
s/he sounds adorable!! looking forward to seeing pics and hearing more on your progress 
.... I can't wait to see loads and loads of pictures of him! 
