Welcome NAVROH

[oblivion]

Edit: Turns out, it's "Navroh!" I can't change the thread title, though.

 

On Thursday, we brought home a 5-year old-ish Quaker who had just been returned from is second, but very brief home. I started typing a HUGE version of this, but I decided just to post a short version first. We brought him home 'under no obligation,' and since we'd had a few small issues - notably between he and my wife - I didn't want to post this thread until I was sure he was staying here. It looks like unless he robs a bank in the next day or two, he's in.

 

As I said, he's about 5. I have very few details about his past. His first home was a family of unkown size. His reason for leaving is also unknown to me. From what I gather about his second home, he was recently adopted as a companion for an older Quaker as the woman who adopted him worked nights and thought her first bird needed company. As close as I can understand, Navaro was returned because instead of befriending the other bird, he always wanted to be with the woman. The horror, right? Oh well.

 

For some silly reason, I don't have a ton of pictures yet, but I'll work on that. I did post one in my 'Which bird?' thread but I'm due for more. He's quite yellow (the pallid mutation?), and a real looker. Though he was VERY sweet the first night with only one errant nip due to a hand-off mis-cue with my wife, he's gotten a little more assertive here at the house. I've found he can be quite possessive of his food bowls, though luckily his cage has good swing-out food doors. He's also nailed me once or twice when not wanting to step up for one reason or another. He had one tense moment today when he flew (despite a pretty sever clip he came with) into the kitchen and quickly found his way into Spencer's food on his kitchen play stand. I got nailed keeping them separated, luckily not by Spencer, but everyone calmed down quickly.

No blood, no foul.

 

So, as you can tell from that last bit, I opted not to do a strict quarantine. Both birds have full blood and fecal panels from the last 6 months and though Navaro was in a house with another bird for a time and spent a couple hours at the vet, I decided to go half-assed. I use hand-sanitizer between food/water prep and handling of each, am trying not to let them share toys or perches yet, etc., but I'm not deluding myself that it's real precaution. Calculated risk. I'm actually more cautious with Anya's old toys and perches - I bleached them all last week - since, though I ASSUME I know why she died, it is, of course, possible she had pick up a secondary illness along the way.

 

The really cool thing is that my daughter, nearly 6, is LOVING this new bird. She can not handle Spencer at all (heck, neither can I), and Anya was SO MUCH my bird that any time she would hold her, she'd just up and fly to me. AND Anya was scared of everything - and a 5-year old is capable of EVERYTHING. Navaro, though, is a REALLY good sport and she's quickly learned not to be timid on step-ups and how to keep her elbows low to keep him from creeping up to her shoulder. He can be a bit of a snot on the shoulder - in fact the one issue they saw during his brief stay at the vet's was getting nippy about shoulder removal. I'm not big on shoulder birds anyway, so we are being firm with keeping him off until a latter day, if ever. Typing this out, I wonder if that was the second-owner's main problem. She said he always flew off his gym to her. I discounted that story because the play top was TOTALLY spotless, like he was never up there. But if he DID always fly to her, I bet he landed on or charged up to her shoulder, and then she couldn't handle him. Ah, the mystery of a re-home.

 

My wife, who unfortunately met with TWO early nips and had me worried was going to call the whole thing off, stipulated that "As long as he's nice to my kid, he can stay." you tell me, how are we doing?

 

 

Just before that, we also had him playing peek-a-boo with a towel and was TOTALLY cool with it. Also, I already know he's a sucker for safflower seeds, as Spencer is, so training treats are figured out.

 

He's not (yet) big on toys, but I'm expecting he's still got some shell to come out of and will get even more out-going. And one other small thing - it's so funny to actually see a bird heat with its feet. Spencer only does VERY rarely since he's so lacking of toes, and neither Anya nor our old budgie Nim did at all.

 

Anyway, so far, so good. Tomorrow I'll call the lady we got him through and at that point she'll push the adoption paper and he'll be ours.

 

(And yes, believe it or not, this is the SHORT version.

Edited July 23, 2012 by Dave007
Spelling change.

[Darwinsmom]

Congrats on the new kid, he's very handsome.

[birdhouse]

EXCITED...? WHO'S EXCITED??

 

So cute! All of you, actually. lol Very encouraging start. Think we'll be seeing a lot of pics of Navaro in the future. Doesn't look like he minds a bit.

[Ray P]

I think your little girl is going to be a quaker lover for the rest of her life.

[Wingy]

They both look very happy together. There is an excellent book on Quakers by Mattie Sue Athan. It might be available at your local library. If you don't see it ask the librarian.

[oblivion]

Wingy, I saw that book referenced elsewhere, but our small-town library is lacking. I have her "Well-Behaved Parrot," and I LOVE having animal books on hand, so Amazon is putting it in a box for me as I type. Thanks for the recommendation.

 

Speaking of "Well-behaved," we flipped through that just before making the video - I was teaching Em about the index and how to use it to find everything the book says about Quakers. Based on what she mentions there, she's clearly a fan of them. Makes sense she wrote a whole book about them!

 

Thanks, everyone else, for the kind words.

 

I just put the boys to bed (the birds and I are the only males in the house!) - Spencer was grinding away at his beak while Navaro was doing that purr thing he's done while I was petting him. It doesn't get much better.

 

BTW, I'm still not sure about that name, but he seems to know it (as I was told he does). Earlier today he was out on a boing and nodding off. I quietly said, "Hey, Em, look at Navaro." As soon as I got to his name, he popped awake and got to looking busy. Pretty funny.

[Wingy]

Your small town library may be lacking but it should be tied in with your state library. The head librarian should know how to obtain lending books from the state.

[oblivion]

Oh sure, they do lending, but Em made some good money with a lemonade stand on Saturday, so we're going halvsies on the book. She even helped me feed him this morning, and she's NEVER helped with the birds, so that's something. We are going to check out some other parrot books, but this one seemed like a 'buy.' Thanks for the tips.

 

As he's settling in more, Nav is proving to be fairly cage-aggressive. Though he still had pellets from last night, he was FRANTIC for his Nutraberries this morning and wasn't very nice about it. I may try doing his initial morning feeding up on his play-top to get him to 'forage' away from his 'roost' and try to disperse some of that aggression. It's amazing how quickly the fight/flight responses kick in on prey critters that are otherwise so sweet. The good news is that before we had to leave for the day, I was able to easily get him out of the cage and have my daughter hold him a bit - good for both of them. She recognized him getting crabby again, and after he tried marching up to her shoulder, she calmly had him step down on his cage door, gave him a treat, and we closed him in and said good day. I'm really impressed with how she's working with him.

 

So far he's had zero interest in toys/playing, but I know it's early, so I'm not fretting that.

[oblivion]

I found out today that "Navaro," is actually "Navroh." I still have NO clue where such a name comes from, but it turned up some interesting google hits. Without speculating too much, the dude's recent past looks really shaky. I'm amazed he's as sweet as he is and think it explains some of his trust issues with the cage, etc. It's always a mystery with these rehomes. Always.

[katana600]

What a delight you are having with Emily and Navroh. It is just amazing how far he has come already. She really is a natural and the two of them are fast friends. Heck, I can't even get Java to come running for any kind of treat. We are going to have a lot of fun watching your videos and I am guessing Spencer is going to want to get involved too.

[judygram]

It looks like you have another bird lover in the works with Emily and how she is doing with Navroh, she looks confident working with him and he is adorable, I too look forward to seeing and hearing a lot more from Navroh.

[oblivion]

Dave, thanks for the title change.

 

Today was MUCH better as far as trust/cage aggression. Hopefully it is just a matter of settling in more. He's still skittish of toys and such, but I can walk around the house with him with little nervousness. It's really quite a sight when I take them down to the kitchen in the morning to prepare their and the bunny's veggies. In one hand, I have Spencer's "gettin' around" cage, with Navroh perched on that wrist. My other hand will have last night's bowls to take downstairs to clean, perhaps with my cell phone, etc. I think it shows a fair amount of trust that he doesn't freak out nor try to work up to my shoulder from there - even Anya was nervous about it from time to time. He stays pretty reliably on a play gym while I do my kitchen stuff, munching on morning treats, etc.

 

He definitely likes me, seems to love my daughter, and for whatever reason, does NOT like my wife. he'll tolerate her most times, but when she simply walks by him on a stand, he'll get defensive and open is beak towards her. I don't know if it's her clothes, jewelry, hair, or just HER, but hopefully that will work out in time with treats, food prep, etc.

 

I'm going to contact the shelter that had him before he got shuffled through his last home and see if they can give me any more information about him, especially toys and play styles he might like. He's still eating well - better than the first day - and he's actually added about 4 grams. I'll make sure he doesn't bulk up too much, but I think he had a rough week last week, so I'm sure he was a little light.

[birdhouse]

I'm thinking you're right about Navaroh being lighter than normal under the circumstances. But they are very busy birds & he's going to get plenty of exercise. If Charm is any indication, I'd just feed him healthy & let him decide his daily intake. Charm really can "eat just one" of something she likes & maintains her own weight.

 

The cage aggression is a very definite Quaker thing. Charm can do quite the little hissing spit when people approach. It would be funny except she's bitten me twice. Both times during breeding season. Her beak is always razor sharp from constantly playing & btw, she hangs on like a bulldog. Surprisingly painful. I still laugh at her posturing, but respectfully. lol