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hi all, im after a bit of advice for a tiel.

we have just adopted a 16year old tiel, his owner is to old and ill to look after him, and he has spent the last 5 weeks stuck in a cage on his own.

i need to get him a bigger cage, the one he is in he barely has room to stretch his wings, and his nails need clipping, one is so long it has twisted and causes him problems with climbing.

my question is this, his owner put a mirror in his cage, and that is all he focus's on, put the mirror outside the cage and he will come out and sit next to it, put it inside and he will go in the cage. as far as we know he speaks, but wont step up.
due to his age should i leave the mirror in his cage(new one) or get rid of it?

i would like to lose it and have him step and and interact with us more, but im worried that at his age, moving home etc will be stressful enough with out removing his "friend"

is it going to be worth teaching him to step up or should i just carry on with what he is used to?



he is in another room from my Sky, but Sky can hear him and suddenly wants lots of petting and talking to. when the tiel has settled in and im happy there is no problems i might introduce them and see if the tiel will teach Sky to talk.

freaky wrote:hi all, im after a bit of advice for a tiel.

we have just adopted a 16year old tiel, his owner is to old and ill to look after him, and he has spent the last 5 weeks stuck in a cage on his own.

i need to get him a bigger cage, the one he is in he barely has room to stretch his wings, and his nails need clipping, one is so long it has twisted and causes him problems with climbing.

my question is this, his owner put a mirror in his cage, and that is all he focus's on, put the mirror outside the cage and he will come out and sit next to it, put it inside and he will go in the cage. as far as we know he speaks, but wont step up.
due to his age should i leave the mirror in his cage(new one) or get rid of it?

i would like to lose it and have him step and and interact with us more, but im worried that at his age, moving home etc will be stressful enough with out removing his "friend"

is it going to be worth teaching him to step up or should i just carry on with what he is used to?



he is in another room from my Sky, but Sky can hear him and suddenly wants lots of petting and talking to. when the tiel has settled in and im happy there is no problems i might introduce them and see if the tiel will teach Sky to talk.

Wow...personally I am very inexperienced with birds but I just wanted to say that taking on an older bird and helping someone out is a great thing to do. Kudos to you - you gave help not only to the birdy but the former owner. Hopefully someone will come along and give you some advice soon.

i would leave his mirror in till hes with sky & they are getting on well other wise he migh frett for his friend
general would be devestated if he lost "mirror bird" at the momment but after hes out of quarantine im hoping hell be too interesed in the real birds
and wont think about it

Leave the mirror with him as it has been his source of consolation
for many years. After he bonds with another bird, then perhaps
he won't miss it much.

i asked my local pet shop, the lady i spoke to breeds them.

as he was being put in a bigger cage, her advice was to leave the mirror out and see how he went, if he screams/mopes/stops eating then give it back to him.

we moved him to his new cage yesterday mourning and he hasnt had his mirror yet, when he was out the cage he took notice of where he was and actually flew around the room, when in his cage he is slightly more active.
with his mirror all he did was lay there looking at it.

he steps up on to a perch/ladder every time, so at least he is easy to handle.

his nails have been done, he made no fuss and let me clip it back, now he is climbing around his cage a lot faster and looks comfy when perching.

the only downside i have found is the 2 birds have started yelling at each other, and at 6am, its not funny.