Mr Tee progress

So Mr Tee moved in a few months ago, and was deathly afraid of hands....all hands, doesn’t have a clue how to step up. We’ve been working on getting used to hands and I’m so proud of his progress. When I put my hands in his cage now, he runs over and lays in them. He will not let go of his cage for anything (always has one foot firmly hanging on), but he snuggles right into my hand and rubs his face on my thumb. He only comes out on his own currently, not riding on “the hands” and will step onto my shoulder from the top of his cage.....

We’re moving at his speed, so perhaps next year we’ll learn how to step up lol

Attached picture of the fearful little turd laying in my hand

Oh he’s gorgeous, and hasn’t he come a long way?! I can tell how proud you are of him My Lilly was completely terrified of me at first too but now she’s your classic “velcro-bird”. Even so, she’s not crazy about getting on my finger for me to take her out of her cage and prefers to climb out on her own - go figure!

Cute bird! I have a feeling that your little feathered friend will soon be letting go of the cage.

My own GCC will use her beak to pry/nipple her way into my hand, where she just lays, her head dangling off the edge of my hand. Only, she does this after she is out of her cage and snuggling with me in bed. It looks like yours wants the best of both worlds: security of holding onto the cage, along with warmth and affection of hands. I’ll be praying your little one lets go of the cage.

Funny name for a conure. I was expecting to see a mohawk coloration but didn’t.


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Orin2017 said:

Cute bird! I have a feeling that your little feathered friend will soon be letting go of the cage.

My own GCC will use her beak to pry/nipple her way into my hand, where she just lays, her head dangling off the edge of my hand. Only, she does this after she is out of her cage and snuggling with me in bed. It looks like yours wants the best of both worlds: security of holding onto the cage, along with warmth and affection of hands. I’ll be praying your little one lets go of the cage.

Funny name for a conure. I was expecting to see a mohawk coloration but didn’t.


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I hope you’re right....I want him to let go of the cage eventually . He’s actually very snuggly and he loves to talk. I know his name is funny but he came with it - we think he’s around 2-3 years old so I didn’t change it. A bit of backstory: His owner left him for short term boarding at the rescue that I volunteer at, then said she was coming to take him so she could sell him (because she was broke). I gave her the $50 she was going to sell him for, and he came home with me.

Good on you!!! Take things at his pace and you can't go wrong.

Thanks for the rescue! Great job! You should share your training techniques to help others!

Laurasea said:

Thanks for the rescue! Great job! You should share your training techniques to help others!

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He was absolutely terrified of hands coming toward him in any way, whether there was food involved or not. He would freak out and hit the sides of the cage trying to get away from them, I was actually pretty scared that he would get hurt or have a heart attack. So with him my training technique consists solely of being patient and watching for visual cues that he wants to interact, letting him initiate or investigate me whenever he wants to - which may be why it takes so long lol .

He and I have lots of great conversations through the open cage door though and he’s very animated in those chats! We’ve progressed to hands being acceptable in the cage now - and being fun things to lay on and rub his cheeks on. I’m still trying to find a treat that he likes enough to consider it a bribe - no luck so far

My GCC Baci, when I had him (God rest his precious little soul) would do ANYTHING for a sultana or a dried cranberry, up to and including tolerating my husband who he had total disdain for, maybe you could try those?

Jen5200 said:

[I’m still trying to find a treat that he likes enough to consider it a bribe - no luck so far

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Mine likes safflower seeds as a treat. You might try that as a bribe. I use those as a reward for not leaving little curls of green stuff on my blanket.

Also, there are times when my conure will act like she wants to be left alone at certain places, when I am trying to get her to step up and she stubbornly refuses. What I do is say “Okay..... I go bye bye then! I go bye bye...” as I leave the room. This evokes a a high pitched calling call, which I translate dramatically as my conure sniffing and sniveling “Don’t leave me!” So I go back, put my finger up, and give her the option again of stepping up. She steps up eventually rather than being left alone.

I watched a youtube video of a lady training her parrots to fly from point A to point B, and it all starts with bribery and making the bird stretch just a little bit further, or take just another step, or a hop, and increasing the distance between the bird and bribe. You might try the same principle to get yours to let go of the cage? My conure also likes apples and grapes and strawberries and raspberries. Might work as bribes but probably not as well as seeds.




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