GoDiego

Jayd I really can't tell you how thankful I am to have found you on this forum, your advice is amazing! I will do as you say with the formula and introducing the other foods. I have read the posts you gave me links to and have read a lot of information regarding this prior to getting him. I think I was desperate to see him eating that I was trying everything to entice him. Sorry one more question, is the smash recipe the formula or is this an addition? Unfortunately here in Spain sweet potatoes are difficult to come by, instead they have something called a yucca. This is not a form of potato but a root of a tree and if not cooked properly contains cyonide. I'm not happy to give him this so is there something else I can substitute the sweet potato with?

OK, I really took on board what you said about the formula feeding I had an idea. I thought I would try giving Diego some mushed up banana in a plastic syringe. Banana is a food that he will not eat and has many times taken it from me then once it's in his mouth he literally throws it at me. My thinking was that if he took it from the syringe willingly then this may indicate that he wants some formula. So I gave it to him and he went mad! When he had finished it (it was only a small bit) he was almost frantic when I took the syringe away. I had an idea as it is late here in Spain and so I cannot get any formula until tomorrow but he was obviously ravounous, so I blended into a pureé the following: Some soaked organic branflakes A few soaked cranberries and sultanas 1 Brasil nut which had been ground into a powder Some banana A little warm pre boiled water I used these things as they were included in the fruit and nut mix the breeder gave me to give him. I gave it to him in a syringe and he went mad for it, I could have cried as he was sooooo hungry! I'm thinking that he must have digressed with his eating on his own or the breeder has not properly weaned him before selling him. My questions now are: Would you from this also think he has digressed? If yes can he be fed pureéd food of what he should be eating or would it be better to give formula again? Can I overfeed him whilst being given formula, or will he stop when he has had enough? (even though he seemed like he could have eaten much more I stopped, scared that he could be overfed) How long does a digression like this normally take, will it be days before he's eating on his own again or much longer? How do I start getting to eat food on his own again? Thank you so much for your replies Jayd, I feel you could have saved the day on this one as I would hate to think what would have happened if this was not spotted! By the way after his feed he seems a very happy and contented little boy

Thanks Jayd for your response. I kinda thought it was his way of begging for food. When we first got him the breeder kept saying to me make sure he has his apples and melon. I was like ok, but what else are you feeding him? He kind of skirted around this question and kept mentioning the apples because he is used to a fruit diet. As I was not happy giving him just fruit, the breeder gave me a bag of dry fruit, nut and seed mix. Going away I said to my husband that I would be happier if he was on a pellet based diet but I would give him the mix the breeder had given me for a few days so it was not such a huge change for him. Since then, he has refused to eat pretty much anything we have put in front of him, including this fruit and nut mix. The only things he eats and absolutely loves is apples and melon oh and a few chickpeas. Because I knew that he could not live indefinitely on just apple and melon I stopped giving it to him during the day and now only give it to him as a treat when training. Quite a few people have said to me that going cold turkey and not giving him any is the best way otherwise he will know that if he keeps holding out I will eventually give in and give him his favourite foods. Today has been the first day that I have not given in, I've not even given him any of his favourite foods as a treat as the training was non existent, just him desperately trying to get into my hand to find where the treats were. He has eaten a little of the fruit and nut mix that I have given him as well as some green and red peppers and chickpeas. This is really interesting what you have said Jayd, as I actually said to my husband today that I wondered if he was weaned to young. I think I will leave it one more day with cutting out the favourite foods and see if he starts eating more otherwise I will start on the formula. I'm loving this forum by the way, it's got loads of great advice and info!

Hi Brogers7684, I know exactly how your feeling, I'm also a new mum to a Blue Fronted Amazon called Diego. He's 4 months old and is generally very sweet natured. Diego often gives me very mixed signals to how he is feeling. He will often fluff up his feathers, flutter his eyelids and then close them all together when I am talking to him so I feel we are going the right way with his trust. However, he could be giving me all of these signals and then out of the blue with no warning he could decide to give a slow quiet bite without any aggressive body language. I'm putting this down to him testing me on how far he can go before it is unacceptable, a bit like my young children who test me constantly on their boundaries. When he does act like this I simply walk away which he hates, when I return I do see a change in him at that moment. However, he will often try it again on another occassion, so I think it will be a slow process. I have been doing a lot of research on bird behaviour so that I can understand him a lot better, hoping that by breaking a communication barrier we can live much happier together. I found some really good training videos on bird behaviour on youtube there are 11 videos in total and I found it really enlightening to some of the strange behaviour Diego often gives. Here's the link to the first video which may help All of the searching I have done on parrots it always goes on about the importance of training the bird. I'm finding out though that it's me that seems to be learning from Diego rather than the other way around lol.

Hi everyone, Diego and I are new to the forum so would like to first say hello or in Diego's case Hola! Diego has not been with us for very long and so we are all still getting used to each other. He is 4 months old and is very sweet natured. Ever since we got him he has always made very strange noises with head bobbing and I have been searching every day for video clips on youtube for Blue Fronted Amazon parrots making the same noise, without success. Can anyone tell me what his behaviour means as with the strange noise, he makes lots of head bobbing but not all of the time. I'm wondering if it is because he is hungry? At the moment we are having a battle with food as Diego only wants to eat apple and melon and will not consider eating anything else. Before I was giving in worrying that he was going to be ill not eating and giving him a bowl full of his favourite food. Now, I have restricted these foods as a treat only, but he is really not wanting his normal food no matter how many other fresh veg or fruit I give him. I've uploaded a video of Diego, so that maybe someone may be able to shed some light on it. I also know that African Greys can be picky eaters so maybe someone maybe able to help me with getting Diego onto a varied diet. Here's Diego's video, his wings are a bit wet as he had not long before had a mist Thanks everyone