The Adoption of Scooter

For many months I had been getting my husband use to the idea of having a "bird" in the house. While I was growing up I had raised a number of budgies. My husband had no experience with raising birds. The fact that I had received my first issue of Bird Talk (June 1993) featuring Quaker Parakeets helped me introduce small interesting facts that caught his curiosity. At the end of June (on our ninth wedding anniversary and just past my birthday) Larry arranged for me to receive a "surprise" present. We paid a visit to my favorite place in Greenwich Village to bird watch, Bird Jungle. It was love at first sight, "Hope," my three-month old Quaker Parakeet was all cuddles and kisses. But by the time a few months had passed it was obvious that a major problem had developed. Hope had bonded with my husband, Larry.

A short time after Hope had joined our family one of the staff members at Bird Jungle informed us of a great place to make new "human" friends and learn about our feathered ones, B.A.B.A. Larry and I felt completely at home on our first meeting and became members right there and then. Among the many friends we have made, Carole Campbell made herself known to us right away, and that she was the adoption chairperson. She educated us about the importance of adoptions to the club and the overall bird community. Little did I know how much she would influence our lives.

A short time after our discovery of Hope's preference for Larry I received a phone call from Carole. She called to tell me about a two year old Quaker parakeet called "Scooter" and how unhappy he was in his present home. It seems that Scooter was having his problems with his "mommy" who was busy taking care of two little twin boys. After several phone calls back and forth between the adoptee and the adopter, a date was set to meet Scooter.

On December 5, 1993 Larry and I went to pick him up. Scooter's mommy told us that until recently Scooter had been allowed to freely fly through out their townhouse and he was still very upset about being clipped. It didn't take long for Larry and I to see that this was not the only thing that was wrong. When his mommy brought Scooter out he was very quiet and there was no visible sign of affection between him and his mommy. When I gave Scooter the "up" command (I was informed that he was never trained), Scooter came on to my hand without any hesitation. A little more conversation filled us in on his "diet". Other than seeds, all other foods were hand fed only. As Scooter's mommy went down the list of foods Larry and I got a good picture of the days to come. Straightening out his eating habits was going to be a long, slow process. Scooter was fed chocolate, cookies, ice cream, spaghetti, french fries, and rice. They did not subscribe to any bird magazines nor have any bird books on basic care. I decided that I could not leave Scooter there for another minute. Larry "carefully" grabbed the cage, as it was so filthy it was slimy. I put Scooter in my carrier and we were off.

Before going home we decided to stop and see Ford at Bird Jungle. I felt that a thorough grooming by someone other than myself would start Scooter and I on a better footing. Upon arriving home we placed him back in his cage in a quiet corner in our bedroom. A few more days in his dirty cage were not going to make any difference, and I felt it would give him some feeling of security to leave things as they were. Scooter shrieked for three hours straight while nervously shifting his weight from foot to foot without a minutes rest. Covering his cage and closing the lights in the room did not help. Even Hope's calling to him did nothing to make the situation better. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, my continual soft words spoken in the dark quieted him down for the night. The next morning found Scooter a little calmer inasmuch as he wouldn't shriek while Larry and I were in the bedroom, but just watch out if he was left alone. Scooter remains greatly insecure. Our first day together revealed his aggressive defense of his cage. Refilling his food or water cups always resulted in painful bites and fresh food (which was never previously served to him in his food dishes) was thrown out of his cage. On December 12th, one week later, the work began! As soon as my children were on their way to school and my husband out the door, I took a deep breath (maybe two or three) and I set to work. I brought a small T-stand and Scooter in his cage, into the bathroom. I then closed the shower curtain and sat down in the tub with his cage in front of me. With the T-stand within easy reach, I opened the cage door, quickly got my hands out of the way and just watched him. It took about three minutes before I saw any movement from Scooter. He hesitantly took a step closer to the door, (he was sitting on the bottom of the cage) and then another. As I held my breath, Scooter took the remaining steps and climbed up on my leg. From that point I knew I was home free as I found out that Scooter's aggressive behavior ends when he is out of his cage. I gave the "up" command and Scooter came up on my hand. We laddered until I was sure he understood what I wanted. From his T-stand just outside the bathroom door (where he could not inhale any fumes from the detergent and bleach) he watched. I scrubbed and washed and scrubbed some more. I noticed 2 bars on his cage were broken so I temporarily wound galvanized steel wire through the open space so to stem any ideas he might have about escape. When I was satisfied that I hadn't missed sterilizing any part of the cage, it was time for re-decorating. I threw out the two worn out toys (for two years the toys had not been changed) and put in two, new, natural wood perches and four colorful and different textured toys. I carried Scooter back to my bedroom and set the cage back in his quiet corner. He was not troubled by the new toys and changes as he hurriedly climbed back in. The first thing he checked out was his food dishes and then began to preen.

From this point in time I took Scooter out of his cage every day after the children were in bed. To my surprise, Scooter continued to respond to the "up" command without any aggression as long as I immediately took him out of the cage. Any digression on my part resulted in a bite. I quickly learned to take him out of the cage and place him on his T-stand whenever I had to change his food and water. We were both learning our new lessons well! For the next week I kept him right beside my bed and talked to him whenever there was time.

On December 19th, Scooter began to preen my cheeks and chin. He accepted food from my hands if he was hungry but would bite my fingers if he wasn't particularly interested. There was no sign of his playing with any of his toys (it was my impression that he did not know how to play), I also kept braided cotton twine in Scooter's cage as we discovered he would savagely tear up the twine whenever he was upset. I contacted his vet and requested a copy of his records; Hatching date: April 4, 1991. I brought these with me when Scooter paid his first visit to Dr. Haddock at St. Marks Veterinary Clinic for his general check-up. Everything went well.

I had some luck with getting Scooter to eat a variety of dry cereal in his food dish and sharing a banana with me each morning. During one of our practice session Scooter began to repeat "up" too!

December 26th, I moved Scooter's cage to the main room of our apartment diagonally across from Hope where they could see each other quite well. There was a great deal of whistling and chirping from Hope but Scooter remained quiet. That week I had some success with touching him on his neck. Scooter allowed me to scratch with one finger for a few seconds at a time. Bath time was another experience we both learned from. Scooter needed me to watch quietly and motionless for his first few baths otherwise he would have hysterics. He still would ignore or throw the fresh veggies out of his cage, although rice and macaroni, and bread were accepted voraciously. Scooter constantly called to have me hand feed him and begged for food anytime anyone ate something.

By January 2nd, 1994, we were on our way... Scooter was eating baked seed cake (mostly tearing it apart for the few sunflower seeds that were mixed in), and some fresh vegetables from his own food dish. While I washed dishes he sometimes asked for a bath by bobbing his head and puffing up. He resumed going potty to the command "poop" (he had done this with his previous mommy but had stopped until now). I discovered that my shirts were considered his to chew up any time he felt his territory was being invaded by the children or "Hope" (I now wear Scooter shirts when at home). Scooter calmly accepted Hope as long as she remained two feet away but he was kind enough to teach Hope his two "Jungle" calls and his "growl", but best of all I heard his first "Hello"!

In the following weeks Scooter continued to adjust. This does not mean that we were finished with his nervous dance. It was at this time that I observed Scooter in one of his more anxious moments where he "twanged" another bar to his cage a few times and successfully broke it. It was time to find a stronger cage! He now calls to Hope and answers her calls (this does not mean they are on "sharing space" terms). Scooter does not step onto Larry's finger yet but he will kiss Larry while I hold him. Scooter remains very defensive about his cage but I can occasionally reach in and scratch him if he is upset.

One year after his adoption, Scooter still lets loose with a high pitched, loud urgent call if he feels he is missing anything, especially food; I am allowed to preen his head, with caution (he chews up his towel) as I slowly and gently move around his head. I get to stroke his feet while softly and sweetly talking to him. Grooming. I have learned, takes a lot of patience and determination as we regularly have a tug-of-war game with the nail file. I have noticed him making attempts at playing with his toys (other than preening soft toys). He's begun to chew the soft wood toys as well as pecking at colored beads. Scooter is still very cautious and takes perfunctory baths, but best of all he accepts my kisses and is jealous if I'm kissing Larry. He wants his kisses too, from both of us! So we make it a threesome!! We have successfully weaned Scooter off seeds to pellets and he now eats his fresh food from the dish in his cage. The highlight to the end of Scooter's first year with us was his attendance at the B.A.B.A. summer picnics. We still have a long way to go but I feel that with time, Scooter will shine!