Not knocking on wood just yet!

It's only been a few days but a few days has made a noticeable difference!

In the past few days (4) Viggo has been using a sleep cage at night. I put him in at 8:30-9pm and in the morning I bring him out at 8:30-9am. Today was the most noticeable. NO funny business if you know what I mean. He hasn't been growling, no attempted humping, no chasing my daughter. I am knocking on wood but won't say I have discovered the answer just yet.

In addition to his wonderful saving grace sleep cage I have also altered his diet. No cooked foods. More vegetables than fruit (80% veg-20% fruit). He still gets his sprouts.

Viggo is still spending lots of time flying around. He's testing his own skills which is noticeable when he does a sharp turn and takes another direction.

The one thing I often wonder is if male Eclectus as they mature play and chew less with toys? Viggo has an abundance of soft wood toys, shreddable toys and foraging toys. In the last 2 years especially I have noticed a decline of his desire to chew. He's been focused on hormones perhaps. Maybe with the recent diet changes and sleep cage he will return his attention to chewing and toys. It would be nice if he did. I put a lot of thought into what I buy him. As a baby he chewed a lot, not so much now. To keep his beak busy though I have weaved beet root leaves through his bars which he happily pulls out and nips apart.

We are just waiting on the Clicker Training book which should be here today as shows the tracking page. So my next post will be an update on his hormones continued and how the initial days of clicker training are going.

As for the harness I have been doing lots of reading about them and 'How to" get it on an older bird. The recommendation is to leave it in view initially and let the bird see it and even touch it. After some time move in steps, place harness over head and position on neck, treat and praise. Then move to next step if able or remove and praise again and do the step another day to show that the harness is ok. I'm glad we have lots of time before spring and summer. As we are planning to buy a hard walled trailer this year we have considered possibly bringing him camping. We could easily bring his sleep cage and it would do for the weekend, as well as his harness and pak-o-bird carrier. Like the book the harness should arrive soon and we will start the steps.

I am so pleased that this update was a positive one showing progression and in such a short time. Additionally the steps taken were not difficult by any means.

I'm starting to once again consider full spectrum lighting for Viggo as well so if I do go forward with that I will share that as well. So lots to look forward to. I'm smiling huge today.