So things with Rico have been really great. We've decided not to worry about the stepping up for now. He seems quite comfortable and content with us just scooping him up when we're handling him. Emily can even scoop him up in her hands when he's on or in his cage. Last night I was sitting on my bed, with him laying on my chest, relaxing as I pet and scritched him. When he'd had enough, he gently grabbed my finger with his beak and held it there. I put him on the bed and he wandered around, playing with a few toys I had sitting out. It's made me wonder though - is Rico really this sweet of a bird and the previous owners were just inexperienced and assumed since he would bite them if they tried to handle him while he was on/near his cage, that his overall personality was that of an "untouchable" bird? Or are we just still in the honey moon period and eventually his true colors are going to shine? He seems so relaxed here - that I like to think he's really just a sweet bird overall who was misunderstood in the previous home. Which makes me really sad for him and other birds that are in situations like that. Wanting and craving attention from their "flock" but being misread and suffering because their humans just don't get them. I sent the previous owner an update the other day and included the pictures of Emily giving Rico scritches. She responded back that seeing someone being able to touch him made her cry and that it really made her feel like she did the best thing for him, by re-homing him to us. I guess I know we're probably still somewhat in the "honey moon" phase of things and there may be some things we'll have to work through. But, for now, I'm going to continue treating him like the sweet bird he is.

I do think that there are probably a lot of cases where the bird is misunderstood - what a sad thought thinking of many birds who have so much potential that is never realized until (hopefully) they find the right home. A lot of times I think there are people who don't take the time to learn about bird behavior, body language, etc. - I think that a lot of people assume that birds are similar to cats or dogs when they are very different.

How long has Rico been home now? You may still be experiencing the Honeymoon period but I do like to think that he IS a sweetie and he knows what a loving home he is in now.

That behavior to me sounds like he is just a sweet bird that was missunderstood. Maybe he bit once or twice and they gave up, labeling him as mean and untouchable. It doesn't sound like honeymoon to me at all because he seems so comfortable. We went through the honeymoon thing with Danny for a few days. He sat on my shoulder and hand but you could still tell how nervous he was. If you can sense that Rico is calm, I would assume he is just that calm and content.

Rico has been home with us for 1 week and 3 days. (it's funny, it seems SO much longer) So not very long and I know we may still have some problems to work through that haven't come up yet. He has and will bite me if I'm touching his cage or touching him when he's on his cage. And those have all been my fault for not believing him when he was telling me he was NOT in the mood for me to be touching his cage. LOL He's also bitten me when I've tried to have him step up (again, my fault for not listening). But he's never bitten once when we've offered petting or scritching and he's away from his cage. He'll gently grab our finger when he wants us to stop, but doesn't apply pressure, unless we're rude and don't stop after he's asked us too. (only happened once - I was really just curious to see what he would do if I ignored the warning. Stupid, I know. But I wanted to see if it was a real warning or a bluff.)

He's really gotten into playing with the toys and it's so much fun to see him bouncing on the boing and exploring everything.

It's great that you're getting so good at reading his warning signals - a lot of times I think that's a misstep where people either don't take the time to notice or they want to insist that the bird does what they are told every time.

This is what I was going to say until I saw that Tiffany beat me to it! It's great to hear that things are going so well!

Sounds like you're doing great! It could well be that because Rico is so cage protective that his old family never tried doing anything with him away from the cage, and he was misunderstood. After the honeymoon he may get a little rowdier, but I think the main issue is territorial. Good job of learning to read his signals!