Getting Bandit to step up

[Bandit]

Hi all!

I got my very first green cheek conure on Wednesday and so far we're doing really well. He's still a bit wary of me but now he's starting to warm up to me a lot.

When I walk up to his cage, he'll climb over to meet me, which is adorable haha. When I put my hand inside his cage, sometimes he'll move away (which is fine, it's only been a few days, we're still learning about eachother). Other times, when I offer my finger and say "step up", he'll put one foot on my finger and that's it. And it's always his right foot.

While he's got his foot on my finger, I can rub his belly and neck with my thumb and he LOVES it. Also, when he's out of his cage, I can pick him up with no problems at all although I try not to. He's not a biter in the slightest, which is a pleasant surprise lol. He doesn't seem to have a problem with being touched, he just doesn't want to step up.

Earlier on I enticed him on to my arm with a piece of apple (he goes nuts for apple!), but he won't step up onto my fingers.

Do you think it would help if I wrapped my fingers with something to make it seem a little more stable or secure for him?

 

[LoveMyParrots]

No, don't wrap your finger. You can't always wrap your finger, and you'll need to teach Bandit that fingers are safe to step up.

You can try to rub his belly, and just gently push a little bit on his tummy, see if he will step up. If he doesn't, you can do target/clicker training. It is very helpful when comes to step up training

 

[MonicaMc]

Pushing into the stomach is forcing/coercion. Not recommended.

It's better to train a bird to do something you want it to because it wants to, not because it has to. In this case, if you want the bird to step up, teach the bird to step up because it wants to. Don't teach the bird to step up because it has to.

Here's a couple of pages on step up.

Good Bird Inc Parrot Training Talk: Help! My Parrot Wont Step Up!
Living With Parrots Cage Free: Bucky and Strider - Millet Eating Fiends!
A Question About an Issue with Nipping | Lara Joseph

 

[Bandit]

Thanks

I've been trying not to use 'force' to get him to do things. I'd much rather he do it because he wants to. Mainly because he doesn't currently bite, and i'd like to keep it that way rather than end up with him biting in defense because he doesn't want to do something i'm asking of him.

Earlier on I bribed him with some millet and he stepped up a few times in a row. Then he looked like he was getting bored so I stopped. I'm going to try again soon.

My biggest problem right now is he's so active all the time. He's not over-the-top crazy, but he doesn't sit still for very long. When he's in his cage he's climbing everywhere and moving around at a billion miles an hour, and when he's out he's more interested in exploring than anything else.

Do I just persevere with him do what I can in the short sessions that I can keep his attention? I have a room with not much of anything in it so it wouldn't be very exciting to explore, should I take him in there to minimize the distractions during training sessions?

Also, I was going to try touch/target training with him, but he freaks out a little when I move the stick (it's a blunted chopstick) in his direction. I don't want to frighten him by 'chasing' him around with it so I ditched that idea. I was thinking of putting some pieces of his favourite fruits on it (kind of like a fruit skewer) to get him a bit more used to it before I go any further with that.

He's a really smart bird and I think he'll pick things up in a snap, it's just a matter of holding his attention for long enough to teach him!

EDIT: Scratch that afraid-of-the-stick part. I did what I said i'd try and he's now touching the stick without fruit on it. He's finally grasping the whole click = reward thing! Yay for progress.

 

[MonicaMc]

Try different rewards. Sunflower seeds, safflower seeds, healthy nuts, dried fruit, etc. Anything he loves! In fact, a variety of rewards is better then one or two. Also, keep the rewards tiny, such as a sunflower seed split into 1/4's or even 1/6's. Millet is great because it's already small!

A good time to train is right before he eats, so you may want to train him first thing in the morning, and sometime in the evening before he eats dinner.


The target doesn't have to be a stick. It can be your hand, an empty pen, or any other non-frightening object.