HELP!!! My GCC doesn't like me...

Hi. I bought a hand raised GCC from a breeder about 3 weeks ago... when I went to see them there she assured me he they were hand raised, just unsold so had gotten a bit nippy/less tame, and woudn't take more then a few days to settle down, she also said they were about 7-8months old. She caught one of them after chasing it around the cage for about 3mins which I will admit kind of worried me... not only because the bird looked upset but I thought how tame is this bird if it needs to be chased arond its cage...?

I got to hold him and pat him a bit and he made little meeping nosies and looked so cute I thought I would buy him and be up to the challange of taming him but... it is not going well... he seems first of all to be TERRIFIED of hands... every time I hang his fruit kebab or change his water he freaks out, even after 3 weeks... I speak softly and sweetly to him but he doesn't seem to repsond to anything. The only thing he eats is his pellets and apple, I have tried about 20 different types of fruit and veges but he will only eat apple. He also doesn't like nuts/treats/sunflower seeds, so I have nothing to temp him/train him with...

I've tired taking him into a quiet room and holding out apple but he is not interested, if I put the apple on the table/bed he will eat it but he will only nibble at it then try and get away from me. His wings are clipped but the whole time he is out he just wants to get back to his cage.

When we first bought him home we left him in his cage and were very quiet and sweet and gentle and spoke to him sweetly and we let him get used to his cage and his surrondings for a few days before even thinking about getting him out... he seemed to relax instantly and he seems very placid, and was playing with his toys, but the second you put your hand near the bars or try and feed him something through the bars he just runs away.

I don't know what to do, I've tried so many different things, he is not interested in taking treats/food from us at all and doesn't know how/want to step up on fingers. I haven't forced anything, when ever he gets flighty and starts looking upset I take him back to his cage so he is happy... also he left his door open to see if he would come out by himself and he wont, we left it open all day on the weekend and he just stayed in his cage...

does anyone have any ideas? I am at a lost and do not know how to get him to want to be near me or even stop being scared of my hands. He is completey relaxed around us and the dog when he is his cage and eats happily and stuff but he just doesn't want to be touched or perch anywhere on you. I've tried holdinghim and putting him on my finger but as soon as you let go he just flies away. I've tried holding perches for himtoo but he wont even stay on them...

Thanks

give him some time and space, pit his cage in an area where he can see you, but not where ppl will be passing all the time

by the way it reads at the start, i'd say hand reared but has no contact, (possibly for a while) and for a lack of a better discription, its gone feral

so your starting from basics

be patient

dont be over familiar, his cage = his space
when you try to give it apple etc, eat some your self, so he can see

keep up with chatting to him etc

slow contact, he will get comfortable with you, but he needs time to adjust to his new home etc, try not to force contact as this could lead to a biting problem, if he wants to sit away from you, let him be, eventually he will stay near, when this happens try contact then

Hi
We have a three month old coure. Just give him time... be very gentle....time will be best

suebee said:

give him some time and space, pit his cage in an area where he can see you, but not where ppl will be passing all the time

by the way it reads at the start, i'd say hand reared but has no contact, (possibly for a while) and for a lack of a better discription, its gone feral

so your starting from basics

be patient

dont be over familiar, his cage = his space
when you try to give it apple etc, eat some your self, so he can see

keep up with chatting to him etc

slow contact, he will get comfortable with you, but he needs time to adjust to his new home etc, try not to force contact as this could lead to a biting problem, if he wants to sit away from you, let him be, eventually he will stay near, when this happens try contact then

Click to expand...

Thank you I will try these...

his cage is in our lounge room/dining room, we have a open plan house. He can see everyone when we're in the kitchen, dining room or lounge room but doesn't have people walking past him all the time.

is there anything I can do to get him to stay where he is when hes out? he just keeps wanting to fly off and when he does he will just hid on the top of the fridge or cupboards or hat rack and wont come down for anything. he stayed up there all last night and we had to try and get him down with treats but he wouldn't budge so we had to get a towel and catch him and put him back to bed which I felt un did everything...

Do you have a playgym or interesting toys on top of his cage? That may keep him busy and happy on top of his cage. He should also have a play stand or tree with toys away from his cage so he learns to be comfortable in another area of the house.

3 weeks is not a long time to get used to a new environment and new people. Also he might miss the other birds. It is nothing personal and not that he doesn't like you, he just doesn't know you or trust you yet.

When my 1 year old conure came home she had spent the previous year in a cage in a pet store. I worked for a good month straight, every day just getting her to come over to me for a treat while in the cage and letting me rub the top of her head with my pinkie. I put it on cue after awhile with, "Moxie want scritches?" If she did she'd come over and offer her head. Then when she started feeling comfortable enough to explore outside her cage I would ask her before I approached, "Moxie want scritches?" if she didn't move I'd very carefully offer my pinkie for head rubs. If she moved away I just let her be.

I completely understand what you are dealing with. Guido is in almost the exact same situation that your GCC is in, but he wont let me even touch him. He was for all intents and purposes feral when I brought him home. Above all be patient with him he WILL come around, it will just take a lot of time and effort on your part. I had to be very patient with Guido just to get him to take a sunflower seed from my hand. He was very skittish when ever I had a hand in his cage and would run away in a panic. After 3 months I now have a very calm bird that readily lets me hand feed him. I even "trained" him ( if you want to call it that ) that a certain bell in his cage is a "treat" bell and that when he rings it he gets a small treat. He now comes out of his cage and plays on the play set on top of his cage. When I get a hand close to him he still shy's away and wont let me work with him on Step up or any other training that requires handling him, but it isnt in a stark panic at all any more. He now is starting to give me the "playmate looks" Cocking his head at me, racing back and forth on a perch when I get close to him, and making chirping nonsense noises. He even give me a flocking call or 3 when I get home from work As I write this he is out of his cage and no more than 6" away from my shoulder perched on the open door of his cage. It seems like he WANTS to be close and cuddle and be doted on, but just hasn't convinced himself that Im an ok guy yet. I am working on that Just one thing, and you seem to have seen it already to a degree, prepare to be bitten. You will be gently exploring his boundaries of trust and its easy to push beyond what he wants to allow. Above all do NOT over react. Just remove yourself from the bird. Hes reacting the only way he knows how, but he WILL get over it. Guido is to the point that even when we have to towel him to get him back in his cage when he has flown into a bad spot, he doesn't even get to over excited. I hate toweling him to get him in is cage but he still wont let me pick him up, and it happens so infrequently since he only occasionally tries to fly. The first thing he does when he flies from his cage top is walk back to it and climb back up it. Its a slow process, but in the end I think it will be a highly rewarding experience for me and Guido both Take what I have said with a large grain of salt I am a complete newb with birds but I think I am doing ok with Guido so far

i would keep his wings clipped, this way he will relize that you get him where he wants. also "I've tried holding him and putting him on my finger but as soon as you let go he just flies away". it sounds like you grab him and place him places. if this is the case this is verry frightening and could be why he is afraid of your hand (im sure its the pet stores fault as you said). im not saying you grab him but thats what it sounds like so i am speaking accordingly. instead of grabbling him you could target train him heres a link to learn how, its a little different from what you tried, i hope it works and good luck!
its good he ended up with you because you care btw he does like you hes just scared because of how humans treated give him time. we feed a feral cat, for four years now, and it took a few months for her to warm up to us.

Tori wasn't my biggest fan for quite a while. When I would go near the cage he would retreat to the other side. I found out that he really likes papaya, and started offering it to him through the cage bars. Eventually he started taking it from me. when I was trying to train him to step up I would just put my finger near the entrance of his cage and hold a piece of papaya where he couldn't get it unless he stepped on my finger. It took a little while to get him to step up, but he did eventually. I noticed that you said you don't force him to interact with you, which is a good thing. Just take it slow and you'll be fine.

I honestly had the same exact problem. I had gotten a green cheek about a year old who was hand fed and but completly mean from lack of attention. I actually posted in another forum for help on this bird. I was told to take his cage into a quiet place and just sit there next to it and read a book and talk softly to him for about an hour a day. After that get a towel and take him out in a dark room and set him on like a bed or couch next to you with no cage in site. Just let him walk around and get use to being out and not seeing his cage. After that try to get him from the couch to your hand. (I scooped mine into my hands and then said step up untill he would perch on my finger) this was a nightly routine and sometimes a couple times a day and took a couple months but slowly worked and got him to stop biting me and wanting to be held.

Thank you all for the replies.

I have tried a few of your suggestions and today I didn't give him any apple during the day for once (gave him corn on the cob instead... which he didn't eat) and got home and hung some apple on the outside of his cage door so he had to come out to eat it, after an hour he came out and sat there eating for about 30mins then flew to the kitchen He flapped around for a bit but then he landed o the lounge and I go home, I spoke sfotly to him and calmed him down and helf him close to my chest then he climbed up slowly to my shoulder and stayed there about 15mins and softly nibbled on my hair and ear it was very cute and a big break through I think... he let me scratch his head also

Awww, it sounds like you're doing great!! :-D

I JUST remembered... When I was growing up, we had a few cockatiels. When we first got them and they were getting used to us, we'd put them on our shoulders and pin a spray of millet to ourselvesd (they looooved millet and would eat it all day if we let them), and walk around like that. It seemed to help quite a bit with the bonding.

There you go! BREAKTHROUGH! Just don't push it too fast. From here on out you can take a bite as a sign of,"Not ready for that quite yet." Or, "Hey buddy, don't like that!" Just go with your instinct and stay patient!

thats great:jumping40!!!!!!!!!!!!!! just be careful the chewing does not become an unwanted behavior, but it sounds like your well on your way to a wonderful companion!

I was just reading through this post...YEAH! Im so glad you two are making progress!! Good luck! I hope (and know) everything will eventually work out to be wonderful!

I have had my conure for 8 months and when he steps up he bites my finger really hard does anyone know why he would be doing this?

When I adopted my GC, she was approx. 6-8 months old. She had been seized in an animal abuse case and was being kept in what equates to a transport cage. She would more often bite me or act aggressively as a fear response rather than just fleeing, and she wouldn’t even let my husband walk past her cage without trying to attack him (her abuser had been male). Gaining her trust was a long process and at almost a year of having her, she finally trusts my husband enough to step up and occasionally will present her head for scritches. Mostly what we did was leave her cage open when we were home and about once every hour or so, go see how she reacted. If she didn’t run or lash out, I would just stand and talk to her and as long as she stayed relaxed (feathers not pinned or flared tail, etc.) I would slowly put myself or my hand closer. Example: I was standing at her cage door, she started preening with me near so I moved my hand from my side to resting on my stomach, then to resting on the table by her cage, etc. Some days this process would take 30 minutes or more. If She moved away at any point, I would go back to what I was doing. Eventually she learned that when my hand was near, it would bear yummy things like sunflower seeds. It’s a lot of trial and error so don’t give up!