Hi guys,

So quick background: I haven't had any birds since Finches when I was a child. My partner has had her cockatiel for 9 years now (she got her when the bird was 8 weeks old) and she's incredibly well versed in anything I'd need to know from 8 weeks onwards.

However, I just got Bambi today. I rescued him from this lovely family. They were foreign - not a huge deal at all, but just created a bit of language barrier with some of the questions I had asked. Bambi is four weeks old. He was being a little bullied in the cage from other birds, and from what I gather they left him in there until 3 days ago and he's been in a box the last three days and they've been interacting with him. They described him as scared (obviously) and he has a small bald spot from the bullies. They said he'd spent most of the time on the floor of the cage in the corner.

When I got him today, he instantly bonded with me. Cuddled right into me, sat on my neck and ate from a small dish I held up to him. Then he tried to sleep curled up on my neck. I removed him to place him in his new cage (set up with water, a toy, a perch and calcium perch). He chilled on the big perch for about 10 seconds, then jumped onto the grated floor of the cage and curled up for sleep.

I decided to turn his box into a little nest for tonight, and am hoping tomorrow he's happy to hang in his cage. But I am just curious if anyone has experience with one this age not wanting to perch and if I should be worried? He does perch on my hand, fingers, shoulder, but is it possible I have chosen a perch too thick (the adult cockatiel uses the same sized one fine) and he's little feet aren't big enough for that to be comfortable yet?

Thanks!