New Mom

[SandraGroom]

I posted last week about getting a Jenday Conure and how excited I was. Buddy will be one year old December 31 and has spent his time in a pet store since April. The girls at the pet store have taken good care of him. I brought Buddy home last Wednesday. He is eating well, playing, bathing, and taking food from my hands. I can reach in his cage and change things around without him getting upset.

He was used to getting out of his cage at the pet store and by his actions, I knew he was wanting time out of his cage. So I let him out two days in a row. He was acting like he wanted to get on my and last night so I stuck my arm out to him and he jumped on me. I was delighted, but scared. I have never owned a bird before and now I got him on me. I know he can bite and bite hard, so this made me a little fearful. However, he enjoyed being on my shoulder and I could walk around with him. He would touch my face and tried to touch my lips, but I wouldn't let him. He did this behavior with Amanda, the person who handled him at the pet store.

The hard part was getting him back in his cage. He didn't want to leave me and I couldn't get him to step up. When I tried, he would bite my finger. Surprisingly, he was nice about it and only held a tight grip letting me know he didn't like that. He kept nipping at him every time I tried. I would in a deep voice and scowling face tell him "no bite"! Every time I tried to get him on my fingers he would nip at me. I even tried using his favorite treat to lure him. One time I did get him on my fingers, but when I tried to get him back in his cage, he ran back up my arm to my shoulder.

Finally my husband thought to take his ring out of the cage and offered it to him and he stepped onto the ring and we transferred him to his cage. He was so upset that I put him back in his cage he threw a temper tantrum.

Ok, with all that said, what did I do wrong? How do I teach my bird to step up? How do I handle him without losing his trust?

I would appreciate any and all advice. I want to do what is right by my new friend.
Thank you
Sandra

 

[Flboy]

Cage time is always met with a treat! New house rule! Never as a ‘time out’!
I have dowels all around the house, and JoJo doesn’t think twice about stepping up on them. I use yardsticks, brooms, anything! Suck up the fear of the bite, it won’t kill you!
A bite, nip is ALWAYS for a reason! Your job is to understand the reason! It can be anything, I’m tired, I’m bad, I want that, that is mine, you’re in danger and going to die, come near me again and you will die! Hey did you see that? Oh wow that’s cool! Oops I almost slipped, and I need to bite on to you to hold on and look at that you pulled away so I need to hold on a little tighter so that you don’t pull away!
There are times, when I am a bit out of line with JoJo, and he will show it by nailing me a bit harder than usual. I feel in these times he has that right and he is just letting me know what I should have already known!

 

[SandraGroom]

Thank you David!

 

[MonicaMc]

Are you sure the treat you used was his favorite?

Or is it possible you asked too much too soon?


He's telling you that he feels safest and most comfortable on your shoulder and he doesn't want to come down. You may need to start exploring other treat options with him and perhaps change your training strategy.

Instead of allowing him on your shoulder and doing nothing but sit, make it into a training session. Work on target training with him, and teach him to walk down your shoulder for a reward. If he looks at the target, reward, repeat. If he moves his head towards the target, reward, repeat. If he steps towards the target, reward, repeat. Etc

Working on this you can teach him to step up off your shoulder without biting because he'll learn that stepping up equals good things. If you put him back in his cage, try leaving him with a special treat he only gets for going back in his cage.

 

[SandraGroom]

thank you, you're right. He did like being on me and hiding in my hair. I will work with him on this and try to teach him. I really appreciate you taking the time to help me. I think I need to relax and let this be about him and not me!

 

[MonicaMc]

Keep us updated and let us know about any progress or struggles! Sometimes it helps to have some extra minds with different ideas to try!

 

[LordTriggs]

agreed with above, keep out of cage active for now so he's engaged and not just hanging out. I'd keep off the shoulder for the moment just until he's better behaved

What I would do when getting back into the cage is let them see a treat in my hand, break a little bit off to give to them, then after that put the rest of the treat in the cage where he can see it. Hopefully that should keep your guy's attention long enough and give enough incentive to get him in the cage

 

[SandraGroom]

I can let him hang out on his cage without getting on me and try to teach him to step up. thank you for the support!

Sandra