I had tried to reinforce him with treats, but he takes the offer of treats as bodily assault and jumps off my hand (backwards) and will run off. I'd like to see if there's something else he'd respond to. The little guy LOVES his scritches, and he's pretty good once he's out of the cage
As odd as this sounds, you may have to teach him (and yourself) to take treats. Depending on his experiences in the past and his comfort level with hands, a person moving towards him fairly quickly could be worrisome. Watch him carefully to see what he does, and try moving very slowly towards him.
To step up, I'll present my index finger in front of his feet and say, "Step up." He then puts his head down for scritches,and if I don't scritch him, he'll get pissed and start biting. Here's a video I just took this afternoon as an example.
Congratulations! You have a very smart parrot who is doing a fine job training you. :)
I'm schooled in the ABA style of dealing with parrot behavior (http://www.behaviorworks.org has some details), and so I'll set it out like this.
1. You offer your finger to Tristan to step up. 2. Tristan lowers his head and refuses to step up. 3. You reward him by scritching him.
This teaches him that refusing to get on your hand is better than getting on your hand -- not what you want, I'm assuming. :) Also, when you offer your hand, he is very clearly telling you 'no' by nipping at your finger -- and you ignore it and press forward. This shows him that he has no ability to say no, which can also be a problem. As odd as it sounds, allowing my parrots to stay no to stepping up made them step up for me much more willingly.
I would limit head scratches to either rewards for good behavior or out of cage things or preferably both. I would also try very hard to make coming out of his cage on his own a good thing.
If he takes treats, it becomes easier, but even if not, can you sit with him and leave the cage door open a few times a day? If there are specific things he likes (millet, perhaps?) setting that on a stand that he can climb onto from his cage may be a great way to encourage him to come out.
Yeah, I'm convinced he's planned this and is much smarter than he lets on. He has his momma wrapped around his little wing feather.
I've limited his scritches today, and while he hasn't magically changed his habits overnight, I think he was perplexed when he didn't get the attention. Every time he nipped, I just walked away. We had some good out of the cage time, but we'll definitely need to work on the treat concept. He likes millet, but isn't at the point where he'll eat out of my hand. I'll need to set up some kind of stand for him. I have a great play gym, but no way for him to climb out of the cage on to something I have thought about a standing play gym, so that might be my next investment.
Thanks for all the input! I'll be browsing the link a little more closely when I can really read it in detail. I'm fortunate enough where I can come home on my lunch breaks and and least open up the cage for Tristan. Morgan is always eager to come out, and it's almost like Tristan *wants* to come out, but is scared.
Baby steps! I need to find a treat that will really make Tristan want to come out and socialize. I'm sure he'll enjoy that process!
As odd as this sounds, you may have to teach him (and yourself) to take treats. Depending on his experiences in the past and his comfort level with hands, a person moving towards him fairly quickly could be worrisome. Watch him carefully to see what he does, and try moving very slowly towards him.
To step up, I'll present my index finger in front of his feet and say, "Step up." He then puts his head down for scritches,and if I don't scritch him, he'll get pissed and start biting. Here's a video I just took this afternoon as an example.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTbkZJpk8xA
Congratulations! You have a very smart parrot who is doing a fine job training you. :)
I'm schooled in the ABA style of dealing with parrot behavior (http://www.behaviorworks.org has some details), and so I'll set it out like this.
1. You offer your finger to Tristan to step up.
2. Tristan lowers his head and refuses to step up.
3. You reward him by scritching him.
This teaches him that refusing to get on your hand is better than getting on your hand -- not what you want, I'm assuming. :) Also, when you offer your hand, he is very clearly telling you 'no' by nipping at your finger -- and you ignore it and press forward. This shows him that he has no ability to say no, which can also be a problem. As odd as it sounds, allowing my parrots to stay no to stepping up made them step up for me much more willingly.
I would limit head scratches to either rewards for good behavior or out of cage things or preferably both. I would also try very hard to make coming out of his cage on his own a good thing.
If he takes treats, it becomes easier, but even if not, can you sit with him and leave the cage door open a few times a day? If there are specific things he likes (millet, perhaps?) setting that on a stand that he can climb onto from his cage may be a great way to encourage him to come out.
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I've limited his scritches today, and while he hasn't magically changed his habits overnight, I think he was perplexed when he didn't get the attention. Every time he nipped, I just walked away. We had some good out of the cage time, but we'll definitely need to work on the treat concept. He likes millet, but isn't at the point where he'll eat out of my hand. I'll need to set up some kind of stand for him. I have a great play gym, but no way for him to climb out of the cage on to something I have thought about a standing play gym, so that might be my next investment.
Thanks for all the input! I'll be browsing the link a little more closely when I can really read it in detail. I'm fortunate enough where I can come home on my lunch breaks and and least open up the cage for Tristan. Morgan is always eager to come out, and it's almost like Tristan *wants* to come out, but is scared.
Baby steps! I need to find a treat that will really make Tristan want to come out and socialize. I'm sure he'll enjoy that process!
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