Eclectus behavior issues.

[Wesbrown30]

Hi I’m new to forum and just became a owner of a five month old eclectus. I work during day and my wife is a stay at home mother we both spend lots of time with bird and maybe only in cage couple hours out of the day. My wife is having a problem with him biting when trying to get him back out of cage but he does not do this with me we’ve had him for a week now and this just started I know he’s young and needs some learning still is there any pointers I don’t want the bird to hate her and she’s getting a bit discouraged.

 

[Dopey]

This is typical behavior of the ecklectus.
My young male does it (11 mos). I know they grow out of it so I just keep trying everyday. I don't push it. Some days he steps right up...other days he wants to bite me. If I put on my brown winter coat he steps right up. I have no clue why. BUT he doesn't bite my bird sitter where as my female tears her up a new one.

Keep trying different things and different times during the day.

He is just young. Keep working with him.

 

[Violet_Diva]

Firstly I'd say don't try to get an eclectus to step up from inside their cage.
If you are relatively new humans to him, his cage should be his castle and a place to feel safe. If people reach hands or arms in, it is very easy for him to feel threatened and lash out if he hasn't bonded yet.

Her best bet is to form a bond with him so he trusts her more. Will he take treats through the bars from her fingers without biting?

 

[Wesbrown30]

We haven’t really tried with treats yet once he’s out he’s an angel will put beak around you but it’s more feeling you out. But we will start trying the treats for sure and will go from there I’m in the process of building an external perch/play gym which was told that would help also

 

[Violet_Diva]

My guys get a veg chop in the morning, a fruit snack in the afternoon and a teaspoon of seeds at bedtime.

If you have a seed mix, next time you feed seeds, see what he picks up and eats first. It will most likely be his favourite. Then take that particular thing out of his mix and use it for training.

I'd advise target training him around his cage. While he's caged, have your wife feed him a treat through the bars (just to show him she is a source of tasty things). If he's aggressive at all, have her show him the treat and post it through the bars into his bowl so it makes a sound. If she then says 'come here' and taps the edge of the bowl, he is most likely going to go to get the treat. Once he arrives at the bowl say 'good boy'. Once he has eaten it and is engaged, have her tap a perch nearby and say 'come here' and hold the treat visible at his head level above that perch, so that if he goes there he gets the treat. Once he steps both feet onto the perch say 'good boy' and give him the treat.

Repeat this process with other perches around the cage, and increase the distance he has to travel to get the treat (but make it easy at first). Once he gets the idea he will be keen to go where she asks him to within the cage. This process will help build trust.

Always have a perch affixed to the inside of his door.
Once he can go to different locations in the cage on request, have training sessions where the cage door is open. Have him go to all different perches around the cage including the the perch on the open door.

Have him step-up from the perch on the open door being sure that he's not being 'closed in' - I mean have the door open wide and be stood to the side of the open door as possible so that the body language doesn't block off the doorway opening. Use the same tapping signal as the 'come here' request on the arm, but say 'step up'. Hold a treat above the arm (with the other hand). Have the arm directly infront of the perch he is on.

She must prove she is a steady perch, if she flinches or pulls away it will create mistrust and make him very reluctant to step up onto her.

This training should be done in steps and each step could take days or weeks depending on the individual bird. If done daily, he will definitely build a positive association with your wife as she will be delivering treats frequently

Hope this helps

Here's the links to my threads about my 3 Eclectus

http://www.parrotforums.com/eclectus/64083-my-first-parrot-female-vosmaeri-eclectus.html

http://www.parrotforums.com/eclectus/65457-my-second-parrot-male-red-sided-eclectus.html

http://www.parrotforums.com/eclectus/72275-my-third-parrot-male-vosmaeri-eclectus.html

My first is a female I had from a few months old. She was a bit nippy to start, so it might be worth having a little read through her thread earlier on.

My second was a 2 year old rehoming. It didn't take too long to have him warm up to us.

My third is the sibling to my female, he was being rehomed as he was plucking. He was rather... Erm... Feisty! Much growling and nipping!

All tame now