Lessons Learned on Day 1

1. Mango loves me, and hates everyone else. Loki tolerates everyone, and hates Mango. This is nothing new. I let Mango out to play and Mango just desperately wants to be on my shoulder. Even being on my hand isn't good enough, he's anxious and nippy until he's on my shoulder. And then he's impossible to get off my shoulder without sustaining serious bites. It's a problem we're going to work on.

Loki, on the other hand, spent his entire time out of the cage trying to intimidate Mango with displays of strength (i.e. shredding his new hardwood perch and throwing the pieces on the floor in the general direction of Mango's cage). Sorry, bro, Mango isn't going anywhere. To his credit, Mango completely ignored Loki and happily munched away at some dried banana chips during this whole ordeal.

It was like watching twigs go through a wood chipper.

My solution? I installed a "let's be friends sheet." Now they can't see each other, but they can still hear each other. As far as I can tell, Loki is happy and Mango is completely oblivious.

Let's Be Friends Sheet Level: Working

2. As I suspected, Mango's love can be bought with millet. D attempted to touch Mango a couple times, ending up with some bites. Then out came the millet. Oooooh, we do loves the millet, don't we precious? After some serious bribes (and millet all over the floor) Mango was happily munching while perched on D's finger. And then he bit D again. And then he ate more millet and everything was ok. It's going to take time, but I think they can be friends.

You can't see the blood on D's fingers in this pic.

3. Loki has gone into Dinosaur Mode of Destruction. It's like he's trying to make up for the last several years of boredom in one day. He has completely destroyed one entire toy, half of a wood perch, one quarter of this awesome rope wall thing, and part of his rope perch. In less than 12 hours. To everyone who thought I was going WAY overboard on buying toys and perches, I say this: Everything I bought him will be completely destroyed in less than a month. I guarantee it.

Admiring his destruction.

4. The super awesome hanging perch I made out of weathered manzanita I found while hiking in Joshua Tree a couple years ago? It is hot lava. Mango happily perched on basically every surface I set him down on today: actual perches, his cage, the window sill, the bathroom counter, the floor, D, my bed. This perch was evil incarnate. He screamed at it, bit it, postured at it, bit some chunks out of it, and then screamed at it some more. Sigh.

Looking at it from this angle, I can see how mortally dangerous it is. Not.

Today was a good day. I wasn't really expecting Loki to jump into my arms, and he didn't. Tomorrow is another day. I know how sweet he can be, so it's just a matter of building trust. Mango has some anxiety issues, and we're going to work on those too. Goals! I think by the end of the week I'll have a good idea of what things to tackle first. And I'll have bought a clicker.

And here's another picture because he's the most adorable dinosaur: