Parrot Forums - TalkParrots banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

Malibu in the sun

3K views 25 replies 11 participants last post by  Oni 
#1 ·
We had some good weather before and while I was in Tenerife so a few of the birds got to get a bit of sun on their backs

Here's Malibu











:sulpher too:
 
See less See more
5
#5 ·
Thanks! He IS plush. You can sink your hands into that big puffy head
 
#7 ·
Awh thank you :D Malibu is gorgeous, I have to admit. When I saw him on the rescues website I foolishly went straight for him even though I knew they didn't choose adoptive homes for the cockatoos very lightly at all and they really want you to have previous too experience. Although I had a bit with a baby bare eyed, it's nothing like having an 18 year old LSC2! I thought everything went really well on the phone interview which lasted about 2 hours and then when I had my home check I thought I did awful and then they went to see my bird rooms and were like whoah okay :lol: I got an email not long after saying I'd passed and all that needed sorting was paperwork. Then I had to get the long journey to meet him and fell head over heels when I saw him hehe

Here's a bonus photo, just for you ;)

 
  • Like
Reactions: clawnz
#14 ·
I hope you do not mind me commenting on this?

Most birds are predictable, as long as you can read their body language and take notice when they do warn you.
In most cases. A bird will give you warnings before it bites.
The ones that become unpredictable are more than likely the ones where the owner did not take notice. This ends up with a bird that seems to strike out of the blue, with no warning signs. I have actually seen this in the flesh and it is not easy to deal with.
The other bite that can be very hard is when they put on the death lock bite. This is the one where they are freaked out and think it is a matter of life or death.
 
#12 ·
I have found Malibu easy to read and so far haven't actually been bitten at all! Honestly, they ARE manageable :)
 
#15 ·
I have to completely agree with what clawnz put below

I only had a tiny bit of cockatoo experience and that was when I was a lot younger than I am now. That was Eddie, my BE2, that never came home with me in the end. I went to see him every day on the way to and back from school and the store got him out for us where we could handle him for about half an hour. He was crazy and somewhat nippy but only a baby. I can imagine had I had him then I may not have understood how to cope with the behaviours he displayed as I wouldn't have known how to manage them. However, having Malibu has really opened up my eyes a bit into the don't-go-there birds and has made me feel far more comfortable handling them and understanding how they work

Malibu is quiet almost all day every day. He has toys to shred, foraging toys and cardboard boxes etc. that he loves to play in. He gets fed twice a day and eats almost everything given to him. He spends almost all day every day out of his cage too and can return to it whenever he wants to. I think, personally, that having things to do has kept him lovely and quiet. By all means, when he does scream it is extremely loud but he isn't excessive and only has his moments. I think that my orange winged Amazon parrot, Clyde, is far worse for his screaming habits but other Amazons I have met are no-where near as loud or as frequent as he is. As I type this, Clyde is flapping his wings, bouncing up and down on his boing screaming the house down in a hormonal tantrum while I'm sat watching Malibu. Malibu is inside a cardboard box foraging for chick peas and dried fruits that are wrapped in paper

What I think helped me the most with Malibu is I had prepared my self for the worse. And probably the best thing is it turns out to be not as bad as you would think. He is cuddly, loves a good tickle under his wings and his head but he isn't a lap bird and can be fairly independent playing with his toys or sitting quietly on top of his cage. He screams, it's loud, but he's a bird and at the end of the day all birds make noise. He does it in short bursts that are ear splitting but then that's it. Excessive screaming would be a behavioural issue probably taught to a bird by getting everything it wants. Malibu makes this almost like "oi! ooi!!! oi!!" sound whenever I'm eating and if I don't give him any of my food then he will scream like a toddler throwing a paddy because they can't have something they want. He has done this less and less over time but still makes his 'oi!' sound :lol: He has a little feather damage under his wings which I think is due to the irritation of having his wings clipped (thank goodness the rescue are allowing me to let them grow out!!!) but he isn't a plucker and even if he was I know I would try my best to tackle it by seeing what was influencing it

Malibu has a disability, however is isn't noticeable to most people! He can't use his tongue properly and struggles to eat and it's almost as if he gets groggy and upset that he drops his food a lot because of it. His tongue is turned all the way upside down so the muscles are completely twisted (odd huh!?) and he clearly gets frustrated over that. That is one of the times where I won't try and handle him. He's in a 'I can do it myself!' kind of mood then. At other times, he can be easy to read. A crest up with a hiss means 'I REALLY DON'T LIKE THAT', a crest up but with nothing exciting around is usually a good warning to back off too. Puffy cheeks back towards the eyes and a clicking sound with his beak means he really wants a cuddle. I think you just have to learn from watching the bird and me, nor Jack have actually had a single bite from him. Even when he is over excited, he doesn't bite. He just has a really good time!

My friend recently house sat for me while I was in Tenerife (she's on this forum as Hernonymous but was only on for a little while) as she is an animal person and has birds too. She took loads of cute photos and videos of Malibu while she was here and regardless of being a new person he was absolutely fine with her! As long as you understand they are loud, easy to upset and very intelligent then I think most people would cope with one. I can definitely understand why people don't have them and give them in to rescues etc. but that is because most people usually see the cuddly baby cockatoo having scritches. Malibu is 18 years old, so we've gone through the stroppy teen phase luckily. As well as my friend, he has been held by Jack's younger brothers (one is 13 and the other 11 I think, terrible at remembering as he has such a large family over such a broad age range!) and Jack's step dad. Now Paul was the only person to get bitten by Malibu and that is because he didn't understand when Malibu wasn't enjoying something. He did what nobody should do, stroke their front :rolleyes: it serves him right! I told him not to and he got over confident because Malibu was giving him kisses and cuddles. I most certainly would never ever ever touch him on his front at all, even though I can stroke his beak and everything. Ah well, a bloody finger served the trick and he hasn't tried to touch him since. He couldn't believe how hard the actual bite was!

I can honestly say if somebody offered me another cockatoo, regardless of behavioural issues I couldn't say no. They're truly amazing and completely unique and I think any cockatoo could be worked with as long as you learn to understand what is going on in their head. When I eventually become a safe house (foster home) for the rescue I got Malibu from I know I am going to be given cockatoos. They have so many that come in it is unreal. But I think having them around is fantastic and I honestly wouldn't change them for the world

Kate (as in, Kate here on the forum but not katew) always said to me that they weren't as bad as people made them out to be and I completely agree with that too

Now I'm really sorry for rambling on, it probably wasn't remotely structured at all because I was just enjoying talking about him :lol: but here's a video from when my friend house sat Malibu. He didn't like the TV show that was on and she was forced into changing the channel, I thought it was pretty hilarious! [nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bebZsjCghZM"]Malibu - YouTube[/nomedia]

I think if you were to get one and were worried about behavioural issues then I would go for an older bird in a rescue :)
 
#16 ·
Thanks for all of the info you two! And Daisy, no worries about rambling or anything. ;)
That makes me feel a bit better about them, I definitely know with any bird you need to know how to read them, even small ones.
I just remember when we still had Hermes and I had him on my shoulder and he was fine an then all of a sudden he just started completely spazzing at my earring. Was weird because he went from 0 to freaking out in a second.
I can't imagine that would turn out well if it was a larger bird! (Even though I wouldn't let a larger bird on my shoulder)
Just that type of thing. Hermes didn't bite but he went crazy "beaking" at my ear.
I think once I get more experience handling larger birds I'll be more confident. For some reason the thought of a Grey or Caique biting doesn't scare me but thinking about a Cockatoo biting makes me nervous! I think it's all of the stereotypes of Cockatoos being unpredictable biters that's got me thinking like that. :/
 
#17 ·
Kayla, I would rather a grey or a caique trust me :lol: have you SEEN the cockatoo beak! I've noticed the corellas, Major Mitchell's and galah don't have very intimidating beaks but the yellow crested and black cockatoos beaks are really something else. I would really, really, really love a red tailed black cockatoo but that won't be for a few years yet :rolleyes: Jack lets Malibu on his shoulder because it doesn't bother him, whereas he tries to even go near mine and I go into a silent panic mode where I'm dying to shout 'get away from my face, ears and neck you monster!' haha. I can only imagine it would take seconds to cause permanent damage to say an eye!
 
#19 ·
See now although they can, do and will bite and they DO hurt I would not be wary of handling the corellas, galahs and MM2s just because their beak is so much less threatening. My vet always laughs about how on earth can I keep lories. He thinks that they're nasty, bitey and very sharp and yeah they can be but so? They're quirky, silly, cute and very loving too :p
 
#21 ·
Definitely! I also just noticed the title of my thread sounds like I've been living it up in the sun with some drinks :lol:
 
#24 ·
Thank you :) yeah my lovebirds go right through me! The black cheeked are far less loud than the peach faced though!
 
#25 ·
Experience with my Ducorps taught me never take your eyes off them!
They are loud and funny.
Think can opener for a beak. But toos are messy birds.
I.love them. But couldn't have one with.kids and I'm allergic to dust.
They really love a good cuddle.
Their eyes will give away a bite, they will bite unprovoked.
But I always err on the side of caution and remove my.hand rather than risk a bite.
I always, always tickle any toos I see at bird parks or pet shops.
Birdworld told me I would get bitten but I didn't.
Also toos are very clever.
I had a toilet roll with a not in an a very long Hemp rope attached to.the cage.
She would pull.it and manuver it to get her beak in.
I would test her intelligence at every opportunity.
I am glad Malibu found you.
Especially with.his tongue thing as tongues are such a useful tool for toos!.
My Luna picked the lock on her cage with tongue and claw. We had to cange from key to combination.
 
#26 ·
I've been warning a couple of times lately about how unpredictable Galahs can be, fuled by my super sweet cuddle bug turning into a face charging screaming beast almost over night and also a friend giving me a lot of links about toos in general being unpredictable when I was looking to adopt a durcorps not long ago. He really wasn't keen on me having a lot of them and the dander they kick off had him worried too.

That being said Sydney is now back to his Velcro self and spent a full 20+mins doing nothing but rub up me and preen me making soft clucking noises which mean he's happy. Unfortunately he didn't want to go back and was being a right monkey gripp with both feet a beak onto me so that if I freed two I was still latched on by the third! Lol.

Hubby came to help and got instantly charged at by flying in the face! Then syd instantly flew onto my head and fanned out his tail and wings screaming at my hubby before launching at him again....so it seems the rush of hormones aren't completely gone yet and even though he wants to be with me again he isn't prepaired to share me!

I admit I find reading him a little tricky sometimes and he could do with more focused training. I think what caught me out was he's only just 2yrs old and shouldn't really be hormal yet but I think the new lizard and puppy have him a little rattled, although he's starting to accept them better now.

I think they are harder work than some zons and things like most small conures... But if you know what to expect and put the work in then any too can be totally worth the hassle :)

Sent from my SK17i using Tapatalk 2
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top