Comments | parrot_lovers: Asking the Brain Trust

slaneyder in parrot_lovers

Asking the Brain Trust

Mar 21, 2011 21:34

You guys might be tired of hearing from me by now, but I definitely need some help on this one.

First of all, it's worth noting that my husband renamed the newly adopted blue crown conure Beaker, due to their striking resemblance from the front.

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Comments 9

spyderqueen March 22 2011, 02:40:35 UTC

Woody gets like that sometimes. Pretty much all I can do is let him scream for a while and try to learn that the world does not revolve around his needs (which he refuses to believe). I did find if I leave the room for long enough he finds something else to entertain himself with and it's gotten to the point he now knows things that are interesting to do that I can spend some time on the couch with out him demanding constant attention.

BTW, the worst part of letting him scream it out is when he learned to make distress noises. Occasionally he makes a "MY FOOT IS CAUGHT" noise and I go and check and nope, he's perfectly fine. Little bastard.

genericzombie March 22 2011, 02:44:59 UTC

Haha! Though it's not her official name, we sometimes call our cockatiel "Beaker" for the same reason. :)

My girl's pretty clingy as well, so while I don't have advice I wanted to wish you luck. I'll be watching the comments for tips, too.

bloolark March 22 2011, 03:15:54 UTC

Welcome to owning conures. :) They tend to be extremely vocal birds.

I'm guessing that he's learned to scream in the past to get attention, and it worked.

Basic ways to deal with screaming:

http://rationalparrot.com/screaming.html

However, it sounds like you also need to do some work on playing on his own too. Does he play with toys? Have you tried any foraging? Have you rewarded him with tons of attention for being on a playstand, rather than rewarding him for attention for being on you?

rumorofrain March 22 2011, 13:58:26 UTC

THIS. He clearly loves attention, so make sure you give him attention for being on something other than you. The best way to approach training any animal or human is to think of what you DO want him to do instead of what you don't ( ... )

slaneyder March 23 2011, 05:33:27 UTC

Wow, thank you both so much for the info. I started some basic clicker training with Beaker tonight (targeting), and he picked it up almost immediately. I think that I can extend his new knowledge of "click = good bird" into his everyday behavior soon.

ejw829 March 22 2011, 15:35:03 UTC

I <3 blue-crowned conures! They are such personable parrots :)

Loving the name Beaker :D

zandperl March 22 2011, 23:54:14 UTC

There's a lot of great advice above. The only thing I'll add is that Kappa (dusky conure) needs to have her cage entirely rearranged at least every other week and ideally every week. "Rearranging" means removing every perch and replacing them with different perches in different locations, removing every toy and replacing with different toys in different locations, moving every food/water bowl to a different spot, and swapping out the foraging toys. Ditto for her playstand. The way that I know it's been too long between rearrangements is non-stop yelling. :( She's basically saying to me "I'm bored! Bored! Bored! Bored! ..."

slaneyder March 23 2011, 05:35:54 UTC

Yeah, I think that he's just going to be a lot higher maintenance than Kai is. She's so mellow. As long as she has an area that's designated as 'hers,' all she wants is to be in the same room with you and she's quiet as a church mouse. I'd forgotten how demanding typical parrots can be.