Reasons for a bird sitting in the same spot?

I got a 4 year old tiel as a re-home from someone that was no longer able to keep them. He was very aggressive and scared of my hands understandable. So while I tried to give him food from my hand or any other way of getting him accustomed to me he simply didn't seem to get any better. I have now also noticed that he just sits in the same spot of the cage seemingly all day based on where he is pooping. He seems to only leave that spot in order to eat and drink. I have tried to change what is in that spot or leaving it empty ,but no matter what is or isn't there he will sit in that spot all day. He does not seem anymore accustomed to me or being less scared or aggressive. Since I got him i have been able to give him millet on the sprig if I kept my hand as far away as possible. I started to target train him and he seemed to understand but always like lunged and bite down on it instead of touching it. We were getting better at him not biting and instead touching it and seemed to let me get my hand closer than normal ,but seemingly out of nowhere he had a really bad day and has been in this state since. I have no idea what occurred that day that maybe could of triggered this. He that night seemed to have not left his water bowl and even pooped into most of the night. I have tried to do what I could find in videos or other forum posts and blogs but I am really at a loss for how to make him feel more comfortable here now.

How long have you had him? It may take a couple of months to get through to him. My son's cockatiel also sits in the same place aside from going to eat and drink. Even when she is brought out of the cage to go on the play gym or to be with him she will stay in one place and just chill. I think it may be a personality thing myself. I have had a few other cockatiels and some have been the same and others have been energetic and playful.

All you can do is be patient and persevere with trying to get through to him.

I have had him for 2 weeks now and I am mostly concerned because he spends most of the time when I am in the room with him screaming and I cant let him out of his cage to play around because he doesn't step up or go to a target or anything so I have no way of putting him back in the cage.

Will he step onto a short branch/dowel instead? I had a young male 'tiel that needed to be re-tamed as he had been neglected. He absolutely refused to step up on a finger or hand but would use the piece of dowel.

After 2 weeks he will still be uncertain of you as it is a very short time for a parrot. You just have to keep at it. It will get better in time. You just have to show that you are trustworthy and not dangerous.

When you are taming a bird you are trying to convince it to go against its instincts. To a bird, instinct says that an animal with forward facing eyes is a predator and wants to eat them. You are trying to convince it that its instincts about you are wrong. It is hard work that takes a lot of time and patience.

Does he have a treat that he goes nuts for? You may be able to use it as a lure to get him back into the cage if you do let him out.

Every treat I have tried other than Millet does nothing for him and I keep buying other treats trying to see what he likes. But like I said earlier today he was attacking the millet instead of eating it as though it was my hand or something.

Do you cover him at night? How many hours of sleep does he get? They need at least 10 hours of sleep. My wife's conure is the most vile evil little b*tard when he doesn't get enough sleep. Bites constantly and will chase your hand to bite you.

Are you putting your hands into the cage when you offer treats? At this point I wouldn't be putting my hands into his cage unless absolutely necessary. The cage should be where he feels safest so every time you are putting your hands in you are invading that safe zone and making it so it doesn't feel safe.

Have you read through the thread here? It has some useful tips that may be of some help. I'm no expert with taming/building trust with birds. Hopefully someone with more experience will come along and offer more advice.

Welcome to the forum , and thank yiu for taking this guy in.

It sounds like he is shutdown, It’s were they retreat into themselves poor thing
Time patience a lot if encouragement, talking , whistling , a good diet , a nice large cage set up with lots of perches and things to chew.

If you can zip tie all doors, and I do the bottom tray zip tied too, and take his cage outside to a shaded area and sit with him don’t leave him alone....it can be therapeutic and do wonders for their soul to get outside. That helped me with my shut down parrot ... as did really praising her for the every little thing,

This is a link to a great article , I like to shape behavior, but I don’t use a clicker I just say good birdie as the bridge
https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/stress-reduction-for-parrot-companions/

That article Laurasea gave you is very good, also keeping your hands out of the cage and just sit close to the cage. You might get on the internet on youtube.com and type parrot trust in the search window. Watch those video's and be prepared for a couple of months to go by. Use a ball point pen as a clicker too if it's more comfortable. Feed treats from a spoon and never raise your voice. jh

The treats on a spoon trick doesn't work since he seems even more afraid of the spoon then me since he will run away from the spoon.