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Anonymous
Yeah, pet birds that weren't hand-raised or who didn't have hand-raised parents tend not to like contact with humans they didn't initiate. So no petting, most you'd see is them sitting on your shoulder, finger, head etc. I wouldn't push it unless he gets really comfortable around your hands.
So the answer is kinda... "ask the parrot, he knows". All of them are individuals, with their own quirks and (if he was indeed neglected for a decade and a half) sometimes neuroses.
But really, lots and lots of being around him should do just nicely. Remember to greet him by name whenever you come into the same room, tell him good morning and good night and whatever, stuff like that; they learn from context and most parrots find that very rewarding. Might not want to babble like at a baby or a dog though, some parrots can catch when you're doing that and act pissed off if not given the proper respect.
Also, get a proper lock on the cage. Amazons have a beak that's well-suited to manipulating and/or tearing apart a naïve or flimsy locking mechanism, it won't take very long before he learns to repeat the moves you'd do to open the cage door. I once heard a story of a thirty year old parrot who could open a 3-digit combination lock on her cage door, from having watched her owner turn the bits.
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