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| Name: |
Mojo
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Age: |
Four years old
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| Gender: |
Male
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Kind: |
Blue and Gold Macaw
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| Home: |
Deltona, Florida, USA
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This
is Mojo. He has a wonderful story that starts out with neglect, health
problems, and malnutrition, all of which he has put in the past because of
his extreme love for attention and affection. I've taken in birds in
similar situations but never have I seen a bird turn around this quick.
When we first got him, we took a picture and his crop in it is huge because
we gave him Zu-Preme pellets and an avicake, and he ate like he was
starving. His beak was over grown and starting to grow crooked because he
had no toys to chew on. His left eye was pink and puffy. His previous diet
was cereal and his treats were candy corn. His prior owner said "sometimes
he will let you pet his back but he tries to bite when he's had enough."
She also told us "He never comes of his cage, won't step up, and is very
cage aggressive to the point where he will lunge at anyone who walks by."
He got a shower only once a month when they rolled his cage outside to
rinse him and the cage.
As you can see, he isn't the ravaging beast they thought he was. My wife
spent hours working on his cage getting the perches and toys just right.
The vet gave us oral antihistamine and topical antibiotic ointment for his
eye. I was petting him and when he turned to bite I didn't move, he grabbed
my finger and licked it, when he let go he said "ouch ouch ouch" and
grabbed it again for another lick. I did endure a couple bites getting him
to step up but as you can see in the picture, I won.
On day twelve, he visited Petsupermarket, the park, and PetCo. He is
comfortable enough that he allows me to put a harness on him. He loves
attention so we went to the pet stores so he would associate the harness
with going out to have fun. The visit to the park was to allow him to fly
and burn off some energy.
On day thirteen we got the camera out again to record some of his progress. (See
Mojo lovins video). He is now my snuggle bug. He is starting to warm up to
my wife as well, she is able to pet him and change his food and water
without being the target of intimidation. I still need to work on a bad
habit of his though, He will pinch me with his beak, no hard enough to
leave a mark, and then say "ouch" followed by a laugh. His beak is shorter,
not as sharp, and we are hoping that with toys to chew and a proper diet it
will straighten up on it's own.
Two weeks, some understanding, and lots of forgiveness is what it took to
turn a beautiful four year old blue and gold macaw named Mojo into a
lifelong friend. But I have to give credit to Puffers the Quaker and Papito
the Congo African Grey. These two wonderful members of our family in my
opinion are the true heroes here, They set perfect examples for Mojo. I
truly believe that Mojo envied these two and showed him how great life can
be for a pet bird.
Periodically I would pickup either Papito or Puffers and stand a few feet
away from Mojo's cage and give them scratches, praise and treats. I would
tell them "step up" from one hand to the other and give them a treat each
time. I would also do my bedtime routine with puffers in front of Mojo.
During all of these "show-n-tell" sessions Mojo watched intently, he even
started to say "step up" and lift one of his feet, this is also how he
picked up the kissing noise.
Mojo never will have to suffer neglect and malnutrition again, he is now a
loving and much loved bird.
View more images of Mojo!
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