Foraging success! (videos)

[chris-md]

I'm so proud of Parker! He finally mastered some basic (and no so basic) foraging.

First one is simply an almond sliver in a toilet paper tube. Leaves it standing up (how polite!)...did that a couple times.

[ame="https://youtu.be/KztWdrv4KsY"]https://youtu.be/KztWdrv4KsY[/ame]

Second one I made a little more difficult, folding one end of the tube over so that the almond can only come out one end. He got this one just as quickly as the first.

[ame="https://youtu.be/Qs_vpNE3xd0"]https://youtu.be/Qs_vpNE3xd0[/ame]

I'm beaming a little!

 

[Allee]

Parker's videos have me grinning from ear to ear! You're making wonderful progress and it's easy to see Parker is having a good time. Will he be enrolling in gifted and talented classes soon?

 

[DexMom]

So cute. I would forage for an almond, too My Dexter, on the other hand, would leave the almond and tear that tube to pieces. He's a destroyer.

 

[chris-md]

Thanks allee he's doing alright, but he's biting my partner more and more lately, I'm a little concerned he's starting to over bond despite my partners best efforts to insert himself. We will also be boarding him for 12 days when we got to Europe, so I'm hopping I don't come back to a bird who has developed a seriously regressive trust issue!

Dexsmom, I wish Parker would destroy MORE! He's got a number of shredding toys he barely touches, though you can tell in the video he had some fun with the tube. But the flip side is I don't have to worry about him ruling things like curtains and baseboards!

 

[Anansi]

I love how much you're working with Parker, Chris! If his plucking really is behavioral, you're doing all the right things to both distract him from the habit and develop a strong bond with him.

As you continue to do these foraging exercises with him, you'll find that you'll be able to increase the difficulty further yet. His initial successes are a good sign of things to come.

As for the issue of Parker's biting your partner, I'm having the same issue with Maya and my wife. I'm fortunate in that it's not a jealousy thing. She shows no aggression toward her at all for being close to me, and does no displacement biting. She really only bites her if she knows I'm nearby. Like she wants to get to me and Aida is the obstacle. So that's a work in progress.

Is the situation with Parker the same? Or us it more of a jealousy thing? Does it happen more frequently around the cage? Is Parker drawing blood? Is there displacement biting? How you approach it will largely depend upon the details of how it's happening.

 

[chris-md]

Thanks Stephen! He never really showed interest in foraging until I introduced a little coconut hut where I can hide mutton errors in. Now that he got he hang of that, he's showed interest in shredding a corn husk to get to the corn, and now this. It's wonderful!

As far as the biting, I'm still trying to find commonality. He bites whether I'm there or not. But it's not every time. It's more around the cage and play stand, but even then again not every time. There might be a slight cage territoriality issue since it's more often around these two locations, but he's also bitten when he's sitting in me or the couch.

 

[Mango121913]

He may be biting unintentionally. Is he lunging, or just attempting to touch? Pressure taming is what I taught Mango. Using the word gentle whenever he grabs too hard, and he releases pressure immediately. How I did this was to grab his beak and work my fingers between his mandibles, gently working them apart.
He bite hard sometime when we rough house, but hasn't drawn blood. He just does it accidentally when trying to grab his toys fast and my hand is there too!

 

[chris-md]

Hi Mango. It's definitely biting, hard quick lunging. Parker is well known here for using his beak to steady himself, as many birds do. It's pretty easy to tell the difference with him.

 

[GreatBlue320]

Great job, Parker! Looks like he is ready to move on to Foraging 201! It is so rewarding to see them figure things out, isn't it?

I feel Baxter is also having an overbonding issue. Trying to resolve it by having my son take him out of his cage in the mornings and do training with him after school and by having my husband and son take him out of his cage in the morning and spend time with them without me being in the room.

 

[Taw5106]

I've been putting treats in Venus' mega blocks, this is new for her but she knows the drill. I also put bottle caps in a bowl and mix treats in them. That keeps her busy for quite a while.

 

[RavensGryf]

Great job, Parker! Looks like he is ready to move on to Foraging 201!

Lol, Foraging 201 . I agree Chris, he's got the basics down and he's ready!

 

[Anansi]

As far as the biting, I'm still trying to find commonality. He bites whether I'm there or not. But it's not every time. It's more around the cage and play stand, but even then again not every time. There might be a slight cage territoriality issue since it's more often around these two locations, but he's also bitten when he's sitting in me or the couch.

Does he draw blood when he bites? And does he displacement bite?

 

[chris-md]

Never blood, not sure it's displacement bites since it happens whether I'm there or not. I don't get bit unless I push him too far, but even then it's more often than not the typical polite eclectus "push the finger away" move.

 

[Anansi]

Displacement bites are when he bites you because someone/something that he deems a threat approaches you. But since you only get bitten when you push him too far, I don't think that's happening in your case.

Sounds like he may be testing your partner. I'd say he should work more one on one with Parker. (If he's willing.) Parker's favorite treat should also only be available via your partner. I think he needs to make an association between your partner and good things happening. And your partner should work with Parker on bite pressure training.

Bites should get him timeouts. He needs to know those are not acceptable.