Hello! Just adopted a 3yo female lacewing and saying hi

[kimmellee]

Two weeks ago we welcomed Topaz into our family. I'm a single mom of three kids (although my oldest is gone to college). A friend of the family had been working at a pet store and Topaz lived there for at least 2 1/2 years before she bought her. She had her for 6 months but felt she wasn't giving her enough attention and freedom due to having 3 cats. So she gave Topaz to us.

Topaz was abused in the pet store. Apparently the employees would hit her with the feeding cup or their hands for biting them. She was hand fed as a baby. She speaks several different phrases and whistles the Andy Griffith theme song. She's settled down a lot in the last two weeks. I thought she was scared of hands until today when she flew off of her cage. She seems to bite and flee whenever your hand comes near but today when she was on the floor (3 different times) she had no issue stepping up to my hand and going back to her cage. I'm now wondering if maybe she's just cage aggressive then? (Any opinions on that?)

I'm slowly gaining her trust by standing closer and closer to her watching her body language. I'll spend a few moments standing by her as close as I can, the. Use my clicker to click and move away. The next time I move a bit closer and do it again. I'm almost touching my shoulder to her at this point. But if I put my hand near her she scrambles into her cage. Tonight, however, I was able to stand that close and offer her some dried mango treats at the same time! That was progress. She only took four of them before she went into her cage but progress is progress!
She also seems to really like cucumbers and the green pellets in her food. I'm offering her pellets, her seed, all kinds of veggies, and her treats. All in moderation and making sure she eats some of everything. I would try to train her on a stand, and I fact today when she flew off her cage I put her back on a stand before putting her on her cage, but she did not take that well. She stayed for a bit but then fluttered towards her cage and was quite ruffled for a while after. Too many changes at once I think.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to exploring this forum! I'm new to Indian Ringnecks but not birds. I grew up with a squirrel monkey and a blue fronted amazon as my siblings!

[GeveZe]

Oh poor little Topaz welcome to the forum.