Kappa's latest trick

[zandperl]

So you may recall, Kappa (dusky conure, 5 years old, I've had her for 4 years) is mostly housebroken / potty trained / whatever you want to call it.

Comments

[banshea]

I love it when parrots communicate by sound! Especially because they always seem to pick the weirdest sounds to use...

Kermit is similarly potty trained (which is amazingly handy, let me tell you). When we first started the training, I too insisted on a poop as soon as the cage door was opened, and frequently Kermit had recently gone and couldn't go again. But Kermit can be kind of a snot, and figured out that if he couldn't go, he was excused and would get to come out and play that much faster. So I had to add a second command, "Okay," to let him know that I was convinced he'd actually tried -- if he actually tries, he'll do a squat and nothing will happen, but when he was faking it he'd just sit there for a second.

Eventually, I realized that he was never able to go when I first opened his cage, and that this was because he's started relieving himself in anticipation of being let out. (It's kind of special to be greeted when you walk into the room with a friendly wing-stretch and a hearty poop.) So I stopped demanding the

[zandperl]

It's not too late. Three years after getting Kappa I decided I didn't want her chewing my headphone cords, and I trained her on that in three months.

[zandperl]

No clicker and food rewards, I just can't be consistent with it, but my training method does include both verbal/body language and locational-type incentives. Both clickers and verbal reinforcers require consistency - that is, the more consistent you are, the faster you will get results

[cyaneus]

Aahahah, I have seen parrots fake-poop before, your description is spot-on.

[wolfdancer]

Peter nanday will avoid voiding in his cage. Both Nandays Go as soon as I let them out, Peter in the tub.
he wants tp potty in the bathroom. Maggie floor.