I need help

Foxicus

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Aug 24, 2019
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Almost two years ago, my mom got a Green cheek Conure. She said she'd owned birds before (zebra finch) and claimed that It would be the exact same. I assumed she'd done research and learned how to properly care for the bird. I was wrong.

It took me over a year to convince her to get even a light for him. I should have don't more research myself and I feel guilty about that. Currently, the bird lives in a cage (a large one, with toys, ladders, and a bed) with three sides of the cage covered with blackout curtains, and he comes out for maybe an hour every other day. I've tried to talk to my mom about this, telling her that he's not happy. He screams when he's alone, which is always, and when someone else goes near him, he attacks them. He was trained with a leather glove and only one person ever went near him because he wasn't trained not to bite.

I've decided that I'm going to bond with him and try to make his life better, because he is depressed. We were making a little bit of progress but then my mom took him out and put him on me and he bit my finger then attacked my face; bloody lip and everything. Unfortunately grabbed him and pulled him off me. I'm afraid he's not going to trust me anymore.

I don't know what to do. My mom won't put in the effort, or admit she's wrong and rehome him. But I don't know that he'll trust me now.

His name is Hermie.
 
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Laurasea

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Wow what a story. I worked with a parrot rescue for a while, it happens a lot. People get the bird, bird bites, they leave it o
Alone in isolation and say no one else could help..and they won't relinquish the bird ......
You can make a difference, you can undo a lot. Take a breath and reset.
Can you take the bird home with you, and have a safe environment and keep? It's a long term commitment to rehab his behavior, win his trust.
If you are able to take the bird home, I think a fresh start new environment might make it easier.
But you can still help if had to stay at Mom's. Start by moving cage so had a view out a window, and uncover the cage , still leave the back of the cage covered. You can set up a treat dish, and everytime you walk to the cage say hi, and put a treat in the dish, then wk away, repeat often like every 15 min, or every couple of minutes in several "training times" and all day long when you pass the cage. If the bird will take a treat right from you then do that, if not work up to that. Spend time sitting next the cage and read out loud to the bird. If he comes out of his cage you can set up perches on top of the cage and have a treat dish there to. I use the white safflower seeds as treat.
Many people will help you, lots of different ways to help. But the goal is to earn trust. Read the blue sticky on the top of the Amazon forum by sailboat, I think the title is I love Amazon an ongoing journey. He talks about rescue birds, birds that are shut down emotionally ect it's worth reading every page, even though you have a GCC the same things apply for the most part.
I'm sorry you got bit, everything about that was wrong and scary for the bird. Yes you can overcome that and have him learn to trust you with time and patience.
 
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Foxicus

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Wow what a story. I worked with a parrot rescue for a while, it happens a lot. People get the bird, bird bites, they leave it o
Alone in isolation and say no one else could help..and they won't relinquish the bird ......
You can make a difference, you can undo a lot. Take a breath and reset.
Can you take the bird home with you, and have a safe environment and keep? It's a long term commitment to rehab his behavior, win his trust.
If you are able to take the bird home, I think a fresh start new environment might make it easier.
But you can still help if had to stay at Mom's. Start by moving cage so had a view out a window, and uncover the cage , still leave the back of the cage covered. You can set up a treat dish, and everytime you walk to the cage say hi, and put a treat in the dish, then wk away, repeat often like every 15 min, or every couple of minutes in several "training times" and all day long when you pass the cage. If the bird will take a treat right from you then do that, if not work up to that. Spend time sitting next the cage and read out loud to the bird. If he comes out of his cage you can set up perches on top of the cage and have a treat dish there to. I use the white safflower seeds as treat.
Many people will help you, lots of different ways to help. But the goal is to earn trust. Read the blue sticky on the top of the Amazon forum by sailboat, I think the title is I love Amazon an ongoing journey. He talks about rescue birds, birds that are shut down emotionally ect it's worth reading every page, even though you have a GCC the same things apply for the most part.
I'm sorry you got bit, everything about that was wrong and scary for the bird. Yes you can overcome that and have him learn to trust you with time and patience.

I took the blinders off the cage, and he's now near a sliding door. But as soon as he bit me, I had my mom put him back in his cage and cover it up with a blanket, (I saw somewhere that the best way to teach them that what they did was wrong is to cut them off from their flock for a short time)

I live in the same house as my mom, just a different part so I can spend a lot of time with him as I work from home. I'm just honestly scared of him now. He thinks biting is a good thing, and when he does bite someone he says "ow". A vet on YouTube said that's a bad sign, because he's associating biting with getting attention from his humans.
Can this be fixed? I'm leaving in 14 days for a vacation, will all my work be erased when I come back? I'm willing to put in the work. It's not his fault his primary parent sucks.

I also read that I can try to introduce a friend once he knows better and is socialized properly.
 

fiddlejen

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You might try reading about "Target Training" as well. It seems like after starting with some of Laurasea's suggestions, then moving to Target Training might be a great way to work on interacting without any fear of biting. This will be good for both you (decrease anxiety twards the bird) and also for the GCC (relieve boredom, get to use its natural intelligence & energy). And Target Training can give the GCC ways to safely interact & communicate, so the biting might decrease naturally.
 

Laurasea

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Yes I am a firm believer in most anything can be fixed, with time. It is going to have an impact with you leaving for vacation as this bird has trust issues already... And even those of us who have loving trust bonds with our parrots, can get a cold shoulder or acting out after having been gone. See birds don't leave eachother ever, flock mates stick together or die. So they have a hard time with us humans, myself I think they think we died, then all of a sudden we show up again lol. But amends can be made.
Anyway go ahead and start , but wait for the in intense work till you get back from vacation.
Yes if s bird is driven to be with you and bonded with you, a very brief time out can work. But that isn't the case with you guys, he bites for you to leave him alone, or as entertainment for himself. So you are going to work really hard at reading his body language, not pushing his space and prevent bites from happing in the first place. You are going to teach him he can trust you, that you are a good thing, that you bring treats, that you aren't going to give up when it gets hard. And as you progress you are going to have backides and misunderstandings as well.
Talk to him, explain what you are doing, and if you get frustrated stop , regroup. Birds are excellent at reading body language, they read pupil size as part of their communication!
You aren't going to force him to do anything, after you progress some you are going to ask. I still ask my birds to step up to v
Come out of the cage, rarely am I ever refused. And if I am I can come back in couple big minutes and ask again. But you aren't there at this time. Right now you are bringing a treat a d saying hello, you are spending time just sitting and talking to him. Maybe you can sit next to him when you eat and offer to share tidbits. Take time to read and research as much as you can, be flexible, be committed, be patient. It's just to hard to write everything that I can think of to help, you need multiple inputs and carful observation of your bird to start making progress. But can you, absolutely! I myself have made mistakes, I tried harness training, I didn't take the time to research, i rushed it, I made my green cheek mad, and distrustful of me..she would run to me just to bite me. It took me six months to get her back to being freinds and trusting me. Then last year I accidentally made her fearful of hands as well as not letting her get ten hours of sleep, she was biting and drawing blood and not letting me near her again. This last time I had a better understanding of my mistakes and after a week I had her back to myove bug. My rescue Quaker Penny and I had some rough spots when I first brought her home, and she is the sweetest gentle girl now.
You are starting a conversation with Hermie and it goes both ways, pay attention to his boundaries.
 

fiddlejen

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Sunny the Sun Conure (sept '18, gotcha 3/'19). Mr Jefferson Budgie & Mrs Calliope Budgie (albino) (nov'18 & jan'19). Summer 2021 Baby Budgies: Riker (Green); Patchouli, Keye, & Tiny (blue greywings).
Also. GCCs are smaller than Sun's. I know you're not at this level of trust yet. But Conures are small enough for careful bite-pressure-training to be fairly safe, once you've got some trust going on. ((Definitely wait until you have TRUST!!))

Here's how I do pressure-training with my Sun Conure. Basically every night, and at other times also, I LET her chew on my fingers, and tolerate it as much as I can. But, when she bites Too Hard (or tries to determinedly to remove those pesky pinfeathers at the end of my fingers, aka fingernails), I say "Be Gentle," and I twitch my fingers away. Trying for my fingers to act the way my budgies act when not-quite-happy with each-others grooming. Then I let her try again, but if she continues to bite TOO hard then I say "Be Gentle" more sharply, and gently take my hand away entirely, possibly even leave the room for a short while.

But ALWAYS there's a "Be Gentle" command, maybe Said Gently or maybe said slightly sharply, BUT NO EXCITEMENT. No anger nor excitement nor upset.

Now, I've only had my Sunny Conure for several months. So don't know if this will always work permanently, but so far it seems to be working really well. Even if she bites me from anger (doesn't want to come out of cage but must, etc), it's a Hard Pinch and not a chomp. ((Also when that happens I do Not react At All, just continue as if that bite had not happened at all.))

And of course all birds have different personalities and you might not want to do this as much as I have with my Sunny, or in a different way. But still, working to use a "Be Gentle" command rather than an "OUCH" command, will probably be quite helpful. It can change your own (and perhaps your mom's) response to the biting in a way that can be quite helpful to all of you.
 
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Laurasea

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You might try reading about "Target Training" as well. It seems like after starting with some of Laurasea's suggestions, then moving to Target Training might be a great way to work on interacting without any fear of biting. This will be good for both you (decrease anxiety twards the bird) and also for the GCC (relieve boredom, get to use its natural intelligence & energy). And Target Training can give the GCC ways to safely interact & communicate, so the biting might decrease naturally.
Excellent!!! Yes you need to provide outlet for energy. Conures love to untie knots. Make some forage toys.
Also some birds become aggressive defender's of their cages. But once you've gotten some trust, you might see him improve away from the cage. You can set up the top of the cage as a play area. I have perches attached to my doors when I swing open the cage they can sit right on that perch. For my Quakes defender's of their homes, this works wonders.
 

RemiBird

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I think it can be done. Remi was a terrible biter when I got him. I believe he was not handled well and he went through a lot before I adopted him, hence the biting habit.
At first, my hands were covered in scars from his beak. But with patience and persistence, here we are a year later and he lets me scratch his pinnies on the head, and rub his beak, give him kisses.
You just need to give him a lot of time and approach without force but with treats and positive energy.
 

MykaMom

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Ditch the blanket: he's already way too isolated. When he bites, do NOT react. Yes, it hurts but he is fear biting, not trying to kill you. He is afraid so he's on the defense.

But please, ditch that blanket. He desperately needs sunlight.
 

wrench13

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Good advice above, all of it.

You can not "punish" parrots like you would a dog. They react 180 degrees different. Yelling at them, squirting them with water, or any of the other insane things you miht read about are so wrong and will only make your parrot trustyouless. They are all about trust, as many have said above. Patience, patience, patience will win in the end.
 

CallumConure

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(nonparrot friends include rats, a dog, and a few reptiles :))
I know this a far cry from Hermie, but Callum likes to bite my finger when I'm not paying attention to him. It's not remotely hard enough to draw blood. My huge thing with Callum is not reacting at all when he bites me. I don't make a sound, move, etc. Only when he stops, do I immediately give him pressure.

For the blanket, PLEASE ditch it. Being in dark "dens" (caves, hides, etc.) can cause a bird to become hormonal and more prone to biting. The blanket does nothing but make it dark and confuse his day-night cycle and make him hormonal.

You can interact with the bird without opening the cage door. You can sit by Hermie's cage, softly talking, singing, etc. By being near him, Hermie will get used to your presence and become more accepting of you.
 

barclay2018

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Hi
Just wondering as you were saying you work from home have you got an office or a area of work ? Have you tryd maybe taking your mums conure in with you will work , in have cage and talking to him and letting him just be around you. Regard letting him/her get used to your voice and and constant daily interaction with you might help as a start towards trust you? When I first got bash he was hand raised so he was used to people which was great but for the first week I sat with him and just talking to him so he got use to me would give him a wee treat if he came over to see me in the cage x I used dried chillies and he loves them. Always could be worth if yous are going out put a radio on to help with him not feeling so alone ? Hope this maybe helps.

Elaine & bash
 

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