TAMING A FIERCE *WARRIOR PRINCESS*

By Dr. Jeff Schweitzer

Not so long ago, I arranged to pick up my recently weaned handfed 4 1/2 month old female Vosmaeri Eclectus baby from a very reputable breeder. I assumed that 'hand fed' meant hand tame, but that was not the case. Evidently hand feeding alone does not mean that a bird is socialized to humans. I picked her up at a mutually agreed upon location (a local pet shop doing a favor for the breeder).

She was a beautiful, large bird and was sitting on a perch stand in front of the doorway, but when I approached her she panicked and flapped about the store. Her wings were clipped so she didn't get far. The pet store owner offered to clip her nails, and to do so he grabbed her by the feet, explaining to me that female eclectus parrots were strong willed and needed to be handled firmly. The bird shrieked and tried to bite him. A few minutes later I had her in a travel cage and was on my way home. She showed no fear inside the cage, and vocalized a few times during the car trip home.

But she was clearly fearful and suspicious of being handled. So fierce did she look when I reached into her cage that I decided to name her Xena, the Warrior Princess. Offering my hand and waiting patiently seemed not to help. I was heartbroken that this gorgeous bird, whom I had expected to be gentle and tame--having been hand fed--was nothing of the kind. I had spent plenty of time on the Internet before this purchase and I knew about the Land of Vos web site. I decided to ask Carolyn Swicegood for advice. I was pleasantly surprised that Carolyn took the time to write several long and detailed replies to my questions. She suggested the 'intensive love method' for taming, which was something new to me. I thought that taming involved getting birds to perch on sticks, then later on the hand. But Carolyn's approach was quite different. She advised me to towel Xena, and take her into bed with me, under the covers, where she would feel calm and protected. I took this advice. To my delight, Xena responded well. She was silent and still under the towel, and when I gently pulled the towel back from her head, she stared at me but did not panic or bite. We spent 15-20 minutes like this while I praised her and stroked her through the towel. Then I returned her to her cage.

I began using these sessions twice a day, morning and evening. After just a few days it was no longer necessary to get into bed; just bringing her into another room was enough. I began to slowly pull the towel away and touch her head, chest and beak, also imitating her "caw" sounds; as long as my movements were gradual so that she could see what I was doing, she accepted this well. When she became nervous she "struck" with her beak and mouthed my fingers a few times, but never bit or even exerted enough pressure to hurt. Within two weeks I had stopped using the towel. When I put my hand into her cage Xena would now give me a warning look and a pretend strike, but then would step right up on my hand. I started to walk around the house with her, one hand behind her back in place of the towel, finally settling in front of the TV where I would let her perch on my hand while I talked to her and praised her. By this time she was quite relaxed, and I extended the sessions to 1 hour in the evening. She still became very anxious if I brought my other hand up to pet her, but if I did this slowly she would tolerate it.

By the end of the fourth week Xena was completely tame. Now she would call loudly whenever she wanted 'out' of her cage, and even more loudly if I left the room without playing with her. She would wander about exploring the living room, then walk over to me and wait to be picked up. She completely lost her fear of my hands and in fact, is interested in finding out whether they--and my nose--are edible! (I am trying to convince her they are not). The whole thing has been a delightful experience, the more so because I know that it was I specifically who won her confidence, not the breeder or anyone else, and because I did so by being gentle and patient, using love, not intimidation, to tame her."