A frustrating day.

Zack has been rather bitey the past few days so I haven't let him out for a few days. Today I let him out and when I did I got bit when I approached him. I left him alone on his cage for a while then tried stick training but it didn't go so well, he seemed afraid of the stick. I tried giving him a treat and when he dropped it, I bent over to pick it up when he flew over to my head and started biting me on the head. I pushed him onto the floor and left him there until he started climbing back up his cage. I managed to get him into his cage again.

He was soooo good last week, thought we were past the biting stuff but apparently there is still more work to be done.

Aw, I'm sorry Doug that can be discouraging I know, but just remember that with patience and diligence little by little you WILL get there. Some days you take steps forward, some days like today you'll take steps back. That's normal. Would you be open to giving Zack a bit of a wing clip at least until you stop having these problems, so that he can't fly at your face? Good luck

I still have to use a perch to put my Bluefrnt back [or I will get bit]. Keep trying with the perch . Remember hold it at their ankle or a little higher [then say step up]. Sounds like a moody guy. I would go to his cage . If he wants to come out [great ] if not try later. No pressure or expectations . Be happy with what hes willing to give . Be really happy around him .Make him curious about you. Im sure you will be able to win him over [just could take awhile].

Aww. Sorry to hear about this little setback. Please don't get discouraged. It's true, like the others say, there will be good days & bad. I know it's hard not to take it to heart when they behave like that. It's good you just put him away. Try again tomorrow, and go slow. I'm confident you guys will soon be back on good terms.

Thanks all, just needed to vent I guess. I don't have a problem getting him clipped, at least until we get past the biting. I need to get his beak and nails trimmed anyway as soon as I get something better than the box he came to me in for transport.

Getting him out of the cage is no problem, just open the door and he will climb out and to the top of the cage. Getting him back in is sometimes the problem.

I don't have a portable perch for him, I was going to make one from some old wood from my trees but read that I should take a lot of precautions before I let him use it. (This might make me stop using them as playthings, he LOVES strip the bark from them.)

I'm going to keep working with him, nowhere near ready to give up on him! I'm picking up a book on training tomorrow from the library, got a couple of more on order from them as soon as they get checked in.

And of course after all that today, I went to talk to him a couple of hours later and he let me give him scritches, not as long as he had been but he didn't try to immediately try to bite!

Thanks again all,

I'm not a fan of petco, but they carry a pretty cool, and also pretty inexpensive bird carrier. They're like $20, and good enough for a trip to the groomer/vet.

I love the idea of fresh branches, but I'd have to go through the whole tree identification process of what's good, and what's not, and what kind of tree is this anyway. You can find the list of good trees to use on the Internet, as well as some awesome training videos.

I'm so glad you guys made up!

Keep on trying with the training stick. Use two of them of you have to! Put one in front of him and if he tries to go backwards, put the other perch behind. Then ask him to step up. Once you get him on the perch, then practice between the two perches to step up back and fourth between the two. Keep working with him as he will step up good for you one day!

My zon is protective of his cage. However, once he's away from it, he becomes a little love bug. The key to success with these amazing parrots is to take things slow, and eventually they will come around!

When Harley first arrived here, we couldn't touch him without him wanting to nip us. I purchased a java tabletop stand, which I pushed next to his cage, and then once he climbed onto it I'd push his cage away from it. This is when I'd practice step ups using his favorite treats: sunflower seeds. It took us two weeks, before he felt comfortable enough to step up.