Maybe he just needs a quiet place to hang out for a while. Pet shops are busy places, and I'd imagine he's out in the open for all to see, right? Go for it Vicki!

He might be pacing because he needs to fly. From all the links i just went thru, that Tara posted, they seem like big Budgies. Laker was a pacer & still does if left for very long in his cage - he likes best to be out. Most do not like 'touching' either. The link that talked about the tame Rosella - after some work - seemed very happy with him.

I talked to a breeder of Swifts - when I fell for one at the pet store. Same scenario - aviary bird- needs to be with its own kind - never really tame.... it went on. i was very sad to leave him there but i haven't been back there since I got Laker. The thing that contradicted the 'expert' was that the little Swift would follow me along the cage wall & seemed so personable. There was no literature available on Swifts at the store.

If they sell an animal they should know about it.

I just don't know what to do. I went in there again today. I'll probably go back again tonight. When I walked in today he did a little head bob thing, so I thought, "Oh, that's promising..." So I went over and stuck my hand in his cage, I didn't go for him, just sat it in there to see what he did and he went for the wall! So I waited a minute and inched over to him a bit and he reached out and bit the Sh*t out of my finger!! So my first thought was "oh yeah? Well forget you then..." But then I thought about it and it WAS something. Some reaction. Better then what it was before. Which was, "Don't even look at me...I may just have a heart attack!" If I take him, I have to know that he may end up to be just one that I can't touch, which is so sad to me.

Do any of you guys have birds that you just can't touch? How do you cope with that?

Well I can't really touch Danny, he hates me. He looks for an excuse to bite me. Probably because he knows I am afraid of him. He adores my husband though. He didn't used to like him. He would bite the crap out of him too, but Evan never gave up on him and just kept taking the bites, after about two months Danny quit biting and started coming to him on his own. I mean he would have huge welts on his arm from Danny, but he never let Danny know that it hurt. It can be done (socializing them that is). Sarah (svolk) socialized Jerry and I believe he wasn't very tame at all, I may be wrong about that.

Oh and I take it pretty well. I know a little bit of what Danny went through and he deserves to be happy now. I talk to him and stand near his cage. Very rarely he will step up for me, maybe once a month. I wish he would trust me and love me, but maybe one day.

Yep, that's right. But Jerry was a very scared little guy when he came home but not aggressive. He was completely wild when we brought him home. He has never bitten us hard to this day - some hard pinches, sure, but never truly hard with intent. So on that front, we've been very lucky. It took us about two months to tame him - literally, inch by inch everyday getting our hand slightly closer to him without him freaking out.

We're working on Mr. Winston now and it's going in a way similar to Jerry - he's afraid but has not bitten us at all. There have been a couple times where I'll have my hand next to his feet and he will dart his head down and just brush his beak against my hand, but no bites at all. He didn't even bite the vet tech who restrained him during his visit. But it's a slow go taming him, but I expected it. We don't like forcing them beyond their comfort level.

Actually I've been talking with someone on another board about the "eye method" when taming and I tried this last night with Winston and I think it will be a very useful tool. When you are having a taming session, don't smile at him because that can be mistaken as a snarl from a predator, and the eye contact is most important. Once eye contact is made, you begin to squint your eyes and/or blink/wink slowly. This shows them that you are not afraid to close your eyes in front of them and are comfortable. They should then start to blink/wink back or squint their eyes - and this happened with Winston last night. I had my hand in his cage and next to his foot (touching it) and I began blinking slowly at him and squinting and soon he was squinting as well - and based on his body language he was very calm and relaxed. And it seemed as though we took turns slowly blinking back and forth. I will definitely be continuing this thing with the eyes!

Wow Sarah that eye method makes alot of sense. I'll have to try this with Danny.

Chaska was not that cuddly when I first brought her home, believe it or not! She's now very much a mommy's girl and I just found last weekend that she will go to other women, she just doesn't like men! My two new conures will go to both of us equally but Ixchel is more cuddly. One thing that really helps with a shy bird is if they can see you playing with another bird. This makes them realize you won't hurt them. Right now, this little guy doesn't know you are spending hours on the internet trying to figure out how to make a good home for him. You are just another big featherless creature who comes into the pet store.

When you get him home and he sees you with your other birds, I think his attitude will change.

I think this eye thing makes a lot of sense and last night Winston and I had a very good little session of blinking and winking.

Once I got his attention (he was kinda flighty and playing with his mirror for awhile), I began to slowly wink at him. He was looking at me very intently. He then began to slowly blink back at me, and then we took turn very slowly blinking at each other. The whole time he was calm, relaxed, and very focused on me.

I definitely suggest trying this with Danny. I'll start a new thread about this too and see if others have used this technique.

Vicki- Are you any closer to making a decision?