# cockatiel EXTREMELY scared of everything!



## honeylights (May 23, 2021)

hi there! my whiteface tiel, toby, is awfully terrified of everything! when i'm changing his food and water, he constantly flies around his cage, kind of like thrashing around but not extreme thrashing. while he does this, he lets out high pitched screeches and gets really scared. when people come a little too close to his cage, look at him for a while, or if there are outside sounds he doesn't like, he screeches and tends to pace around his cage, all terrified  i feel terrible watching him get absolutely horrified, though he recovers shortly after, but only if you pay no attention to him. i just really need help on taming an extremely scared tiel! i don't want to stick my hand in his cage and _make_ him get used to it, that seems a little too cruel to me, especially since he gets scared from people just standing close. 
heck, i don't even need him to like come to me, i just want him to know that it's okay.  i could use some advice! please do help! <3 i appreciate any response given <333
also, he isn't enticed by millet in the slightest ( surprise surprise )

this post seems like a downer- on the bright side, he's been adjusting well to diet transitioning from seeds to pellets and veggies! :") he chirps as he eats and it always warms my heart <3


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## smelko47 (Jul 20, 2021)

I am having same prob. with my white face. I am not use to this behavior. Had 2 priors and they bonded with us in a week or so riding on our shoulders and couldn't wait to come out of cage and were out all day with us and ate table food. This one will not even try anything. Have had him since March. I dont know if this good but I make him come out at least twice a week.


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## Robert Seale (Sep 16, 2017)

It's really sad to say that in BOTH these cases these birds were NOT tamed properly by the breeder or pet store. I see new stories like this almost every day on this website and it breaks my heart that people sell or give away birds that were NOT trained to be around humans! I have three babies right now that are a little over 2 weeks old and it doesn't take much at all to hand feed and just HANDLE these birds so they get use to being around people and are much happier pets. The bad news to this is that once a bird gets a certain age and is still terrified of hands ( or humans ) It's THREE times as hard to correct this as it would have been to do it RIGHT in the first place! About all I can tell both of you is to take it slow and easy. You just can't rush things when you have birds that are half wild due to other peoples laziness! Smelko47: This may or may not help but I would try letting yours out of the cage AT LEAST and hour every day. This gives them free flying time and birds are ( in most cases ) happier when there not lock in a cage for days on end.


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## smelko47 (Jul 20, 2021)

Robert Seale said:


> It's really sad to say that in BOTH these cases these birds were NOT tamed properly by the breeder or pet store. I see new stories like this almost every day on this website and it breaks my heart that people sell or give away birds that were NOT trained to be around humans! I have three babies right now that are a little over 2 weeks old and it doesn't take much at all to hand feed and just HANDLE these birds so they get use to being around people and are much happier pets. The bad news to this is that once a bird gets a certain age and is still terrified of hands ( or humans ) It's THREE times as hard to correct this as it would have been to do it RIGHT in the first place! About all I can tell both of you is to take it slow and easy. You just can't rush things when you have birds that are half wild due to other peoples laziness! Smelko47: This may or may not help but I would try letting yours out of the cage AT LEAST and hour every day. This gives them free flying time and birds are ( in most cases ) happier when there not lock in a cage for days on end.


His cage door is open all day he will not come out on his own. I have trained him to get on the handle of a wooden spoon but soon as I move it towards the door he gets off. I force him to come out about twice a week by lifting cage off stand and put on the floor and go in with spoon and he gets on and I bring him out. I cant stand for him to be in his cage all the time. We always talk to him and whistle and play music for him. He has learned a lot of different whistles and becomes quite verbal with them. He also sometimes yells when we leave the room especially when my husband leaves room. I dont think he likes me because I'm the one who makes him do things.


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## Robert Seale (Sep 16, 2017)

From your above post, it sounds like your doing everything right! Someone is obviously making progress with him if he's verbal and whistles. Is this your only bird? By yelling when you leave the room he is probably bonding with you (and or) your husband.


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## smelko47 (Jul 20, 2021)

Robert Seale said:


> From your above post, it sounds like your doing everything right! Someone is obviously making progress with him if he's verbal and whistles. Is this your only bird? By yelling when you leave the room he is probably bonding with you (and or) your husband.


This is our only bird.Someone mentioned taking him back. I can't do that we fell in love with him. I admit the first couple weeks I thought about it but I decided no I am going to win this fight. My husband seems to think he may have been traumatized.I want to take him to our Vet Dr Dorn to get his nails and wings trimmed and physical. I just have to figure out how to get him in the carrier without going to Hosp. To get a Blood Transfusion LOL He has a mean bite. It's nice getting advice from you since I never dealt with this type of behavior from my other teils so want to thank you and if you have any other suggestions like how to get him to eat real food I keep trying and keep trying
Thank You 
Sandi


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## Robert Seale (Sep 16, 2017)

I'm glad to hear you decided to keep him. If one can ever get them calmed down and not scared of everything, there really great pets! A little trick you might try to get him in that carrier. There are VERY few cockatiels that can resist millet. To them, that's almost like popcorn to us! They love it but should only be given once in awhile as a treat because too much can make the over weight. Also, as I'm sure you've heard, it's an excellent choice to get tiels to eat veggies. We feed our broccoli. Some will eat it, others won't but it's very good for them. Good luck with your little guy.


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