# How long did it take you.......



## Fifi28 (May 19, 2013)

to tame your tiels? I would love to know how long it took you to tame your birdies. I got my first tiel at 11 weeks who was parent raised in an aviary he was tame in 2 weeks and loving an affectionate in 3 weeks and not scared of anything. Spike, my new baby, is sitting on my finger and enjoying me talking to him. He is 11 weeks and again was parent raised in an aviary. He is not brave enough to come to us just yet and does not have the same confidence that Jo had, so he will need more time. So I was just interested in your stories of taming and how long it took you to go from your tiel being wild, to them being utterly in love with you.


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## Ghosth (Jun 25, 2012)

I got Cara at a pet store, and it happened right there in the store really. Clerk opened the back of the cage, unlocked the door, I put my hand in, Cara walked over, tasted my finger, jumped up onto my hand and started walking up my arm to my shoulder, eyes locked with mine all the way.

He had been hand raised, was probably about 2 months old, he'd been in the pet store less than 24 hours, and I think he was ready to go home with the first person who could speak parrot. 

Since then there are things I do that he doesn't like, things he does that I don't like. So it is a continuing journey much like any long term relationship.


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## BirdCrazyJill (Apr 23, 2013)

Mine is similar to Ghosth, Muffin was at a pet store and I reached my hand in the "tank" and she stepped up after little refusal and it took me about 5 minutes to decide I was going to take her home  only because I had planned on going there to get a love bird


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## Tequilagirl (Mar 4, 2013)

Tequila was hand tame within a few days, she was parent raised but very young.

Nelson is still a work in progress after 4 months of working with him several hours every day (between 2 and 6 depending on work). He started getting close to me all by himself 2 weeks ago and on sunday he stepped on a perch for the very first time.


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## CaliTiels (Oct 18, 2012)

5 minutes. When I adopted him, his old owner brought him to my house. She said he had been only semi-hand trained and hadn't been handled in who knows how long, when she left, I took him out, let him look around for a few minutes and had him hop on my hand


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## TJSueBee (Mar 19, 2013)

TJ adjusted to finger hopping / handling a few weeks after bringing him into our home. He is now 6 years old - and quite the snuggle bug.


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## moonchild (Jul 29, 2012)

I didn't have to tame any of the ones that are tame now...they came that way. Astrid is the only one that isn't tame, and I've had her for three months and am only just now starting to see improvements with her. She is far from tame still, but she is beginning to trust me and show signs of actually liking me.


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## bobobubu (Dec 12, 2011)

With my first, Bubu, it took about 1 hour. He was born and raised in an aviary and still he was such a friendly little boy once he got here! We have been inseparable since then.
Yoghi isn't tame at all, he had a horrid previous life so I think he suffers of post traumatic stress and will stay that way. Sometimes he likes to perch on my laptop lid and look at me, also he steps up [on a stick, absolutely NO hands], that's all I have managed in one year. But he's a very gentle boy.


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## stevechurch2222 (Sep 25, 2011)

Snickers is our male white face split to pied male my wife and I got from breeders here in Iowa.Snickers was a breeder bird and it took about 6 months to get him to step up on our hand and finger and sit on our shoulder.Snickers has been with us all most a year and a half and is doing really good with his training and is much tamer than when we first got him.Cinnamon is our white face cinnamon split to pied female and was all ready hand tamed when we got her,she came from our local pet store here in Oskaloosa,Iowa and she picked my wife and I and so of course we had to take her home.She does really well with her training and her and Snickers can fly to our shoulder from up to 30 feet away.Snowflake is our white face cinnamon lutino female and she came to our home at the end of January of this year and had a blood feather removed by the vet when it got caught in a wire carrier when she was transported from Missouri to Iowa,her training has gone much slower but in the past couple of weeks she seems to be getting better with her training and she all most stepped up on my hand and finger the last couple of days and my wife and I can get a lot closer to her than when we first got her.Oreo is our white face split to pied male we got in March of this year,he wasn't handled or let out of his cage for over 30 days because his former owners got sick and couldn't care for him any longer.In the past month Oreo is getting out of his cage everyday and enjoys it and steps up for me and my wife and sits on our shoulder and loves his head scratched and loves to snuggle and cuddle.My wife and I are proud of all four of our cockatiels and their progress with their training,we go at the bird's pace and that works out much better.


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## hysteriauk (Jun 24, 2012)

Not long as he was already used to stepping up when I got him as the breeder I got him from handled him alot , with stuff like picking up tunes he is quite a fast learner as well


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

tsuka was our parent raised tiel. we got him at 5 months old. he was never handled before and within the first while he was stepping up. we had him stepping up and hanging out with us right away. it took 3 weeks until he started asking us for scritches though.


first few minutes home and he was already sitting on my husband's shoulder





and in 3 weeks he was asking for scritches


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## ollieandme (Mar 25, 2013)

Ollie was my aviary girl - so totally unhandled. i think that she was stepping up reliably within 2 weeks or so, and she was also starting to adventure and show her true personality. it's always hard to remember but i'd say she was settled in by a month with us. 

Bjorn was handled so he only took a couple of weeks to settle in. and he was asking for scritches within the first day :lol: still is too


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## Fifi28 (May 19, 2013)

Oh your stories are wonderful. I have really enjoyed reading them. It just shows you how different tiels are from one and other. x


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