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Need some advice

becdimarc

Walking the driveway
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becky dimarcantonio
Need some advice on the best way to start with step up training and not biting my hand!
Right now it's really difficult to get him back in his cage at bed time or if we need to run out because when you offer your hand for step up he tries to bite you and his bites are pretty good and will draw blood but if you offer your arm he looks at you like " wtf is that" . I tried to offer him a perch I was holding, but anytime he sees a stick/perch on your hand he hightails it out of there to the back corner uptop where it's hard to get him. His behaviour to the perches in hand almost makes me think he was abused with them, or he related relates it to something negative.
I'm hoping that once we can get the step up going , it may be easier for us to build a little better bond, not to mention I don't want to keep on getting bitten.
I'm a little overwhelmed because I don't want him to hate me, I want to work on having a good relationship, whatever that may look like for him and i, but I don't want to keep being scared he's going to bite me Everytime because then that's going to make him actually bite me !
Any help and advice would be great!
( Anything on screaming would help to lol )
 

Clueless

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Try a different type of perch. I have friends that use a soft perch to get their Amazon to step up to transfer him because he doesn't like the husband.

Does he have favorite treats? Always make it a positive to step up. Step up, get food. Step up, get a foot toy. .. offer something immediately to the beak.
 

JLcribber

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Hjarta5

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My sennie is very fearful of wooden perches so I just use a rope perch; I bend it into an upside down U for him. In emergencies, I cover my hand with a double sided towel so he can bite to his heart's content while I get him out of there (wherever that is).
 

Clueless

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My sennie is very fearful of wooden perches so I just use a rope perch; I bend it into an upside down U for him.
I responded prior to coffee this morning, couldn't remember it was called a rope perch...... sad.
 

Hjarta5

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I responded prior to coffee this morning, couldn't remember it was called a rope perch...... sad.
:sandra: We've all been there :)
 

Clueless

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:sandra: We've all been there :)
I was thinking to write soft perch... then thread perch.... rope just wasn't in the brain prior to coffee.
 

becdimarc

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@JLcribber what do I do when he runs from sticks constantly? Try and bribe wlith treats and praise ?

And he won't go near his rope perches lol! But maybe if it's out of cage and be can step up. I'll have to try everything while offering a treat and go from there. He has bit me a handful of times now and it's made me cry almost every time ( I don't have a high pain tolorance) I always made sure tho not to freak out in front of him. So I would excuse myself to another room to lick my wounds and my ego a little lol. I don't want to be fearful of him, and I know between my fiance and me, he adores my fiance and will step onto him when he wants to but he bite him yeasterday to.
I know it's going to take time and work and at the end of the day he may never really like me, witch I'm okay with. But I need to be able to handle him to get him in/out cage, check him over for wounds if I ever needed ect.
 

Dona

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I often use a rope perch to let my young Linnie out of the cage. People say they are hand shy and that is sometimes true for Gigi. She will sometimes step up on my hand from the cage, but not every time. So if offer the rope perch, she steps up and then easily transfers to my hand once outside the cage.
 

JLcribber

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@JLcribber what do I do when he runs from sticks constantly? Try and bribe wlith treats and praise ?

And he won't go near his rope perches lol! But maybe if it's out of cage and be can step up. I'll have to try everything while offering a treat and go from there. He has bit me a handful of times now and it's made me cry almost every time ( I don't have a high pain tolorance) I always made sure tho not to freak out in front of him. So I would excuse myself to another room to lick my wounds and my ego a little lol. I don't want to be fearful of him, and I know between my fiance and me, he adores my fiance and will step onto him when he wants to but he bite him yeasterday to.
I know it's going to take time and work and at the end of the day he may never really like me, witch I'm okay with. But I need to be able to handle him to get him in/out cage, check him over for wounds if I ever needed ect.
I'm going to tell you the exact same thing I told Steve. Give this whole thread a read because it help a lot

However Much I Hate To Admit... | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum

The bottom line is you have not "earned" your birds trust. You have not had your bird long and you are not showing "patience" because it takes a long time for anything. There is no urgent need to "handle" your bird. Because you do not handle birds. You do not need to "get him" in or out of the cage. You gain their trust and "ask" them to do things.
 
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Sylvester

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I agree with JL, stepping up takes a lot of trust and it's just not there yet. I have had my bare eye cockatoo for eight months and he is now, (just sometimes) stepping up for me.
 

iamwhoiam

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My Goffin's is weird about perches and sticks and I know she wasn't abused with them unless that happened in the first 8 mos. of her life, but I've had her about 29 years. She won't even perch on her main perch although she did perch on the main one in her previous cage. When I tried to move that into her new cage she freaked out. I did put a smaller darker perch inside the cage and she is OK with that one. You might have to try different perches/sticks with different textures and colors. He also needs to feel comfortable with you to be willing to step up and not bite. He wants to do things his way. If he won't go back into the cage you can sometimes coax a bird to go back inside by throwing in a favorite treat.
 

becdimarc

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Thank you for the advice ! I will do some reading up on how to gain trust properly and start to slowly work on that and not force any step up!
He lets me scratch him and screams for me to come give him scratches!

I know it can take years to fully gain trust. And honestly at this point I don't think he would trust me when I don't trust him. We both need to learn it!
 

becdimarc

Walking the driveway
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Welland, ontario canada
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becky dimarcantonio
My Goffin's is weird about perches and sticks and I know she wasn't abused with them unless that happened in the first 8 mos. of her life, but I've had her about 29 years. She won't even perch on her main perch although she did perch on the main one in her previous cage. When I tried to move that into her new cage she freaked out. I did put a smaller darker perch inside the cage and she is OK with that one. You might have to try different perches/sticks with different textures and colors. He also needs to feel comfortable with you to be willing to step up and not bite. He wants to do things his way. If he won't go back into the cage you can sometimes coax a bird to go back inside by throwing in a favorite treat.
I let him out of the cage all day. The last 2 nights to get him in at night .i just waited till he went in on his own for something and then shut the door. But Sunday afternoon. Fiance and I were leaving to go to dollorstore and grocery store quick, it was a beautiful day here so we were going to walk, but Charlie did not want to go in his cage, and I didn't want to leave him out while we were gone. But in the end. I shut the living room door, and he did fine! He doesn't come off his cage ever. But at night time I need to cover him up or he screams all night long. When we cover him up , he screams for about 30 mins to an hour then settles down for the night. When he's not covered he screams on and off all night long for long intervolts
 

JLcribber

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Thank you for the help! If I ever need some advice in the future, can I ask you? I like your tell it as it is way! ( Witch kinda scares me to lol!)
Any time. We're all here to help. :) No worries. I only bite in person. You're safe. :lol:
 

iamwhoiam

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Have you tried throwing a special treat into the cage? That can sometimes coax a bird back into his/her cage. I cover Cody at night but I don't cover Keno. Keno will scream for a bit after I turn the lights off for bedtime but if I say "Goodnight" again she will stop or sometimes I just ignore it and she stops. Cody generally screams at night if I haven't turned off the lights soon enough for her. Once she has been covered and the lights are off she may or may not continue to scream but she settles down quickly.
 

becdimarc

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I haven't really found out what that special treat is yet for him. I'm still learning what he likes and dislikes. I found out you can't eat in front of him or he screams the entire time !
The article on screaming that @JLcribber told me to read, seems pretty straight forward as long as everyone in the house keeps up on it !

As for getting him into his cage, I think need to stop putting his food on top of his cage for him. Also it's going to take time for him to "enjoy" his cage since he hasn't been caged in two years. But the fiance is turning our spare bedroom into a bird room since we do want more birds down the road . ( Since being on this site I have fallen in love with cockatiels. I always just thought they were untamed cage birds that have no personality. But boy was I wrong)
And because having a whole room to himself where he can't get into trouble or we don't have to worry about him and the kids and the dog. And then I'd also have a quite place where I can go without the family around to work on our bond and trust!
 
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