Senegal Will only Step Up onto Towel

[BirdGuy21]

Hello everyone,

Some of you may remember our rescue Senegal Parrot, Constantine, that we acquired at the end of November of last year. A little history- we are unsure of his age, and has been rehomed at least twice, since he came from a hoarding situation. He is extremely fearful of new things, and takes a long time to adjust to anything new in his environment. After a lot of work, he took to target training and started wanting head scritches through the cage. He was was terrified out of his cage though. Did not step up and would become very scared.
After continued work with target training and building him a custom play gym to train with, he came out of his cage and would hang out on the gym. Still though, he would not step up and was very scared of hands. Flash forward to today- I figured I would give it a shot to wrap a towel around my arm and see if he would step up that way. Lo and behold he steps right up and hung out on my arm eating his sweet potato for ten minutes, then went to explore the gym on top of his cage. He is currently eating his dinner quite contently there right now.
So, my question being this- what is the next step to take to eventually work toward not needing the towel wrapped around my arm for him to step up? Has anyone had any experience with any behavior like this before, and if so, any steps to move forward from here?

 

[JLcribber]

Flash forward to today- I figured I would give it a shot to wrap a towel around my arm and see if he would step up that way. Lo and behold he steps right up and hung out on my arm eating his sweet potato for ten minutes, then went to explore the gym on top of his cage. He is currently eating his dinner quite contently there right now.

There's nothing wrong with handling him like that and it's pretty normal. Let's face it, hands "are" very predatory and in this case probably used in a very predatory way. Many many birds hate hands and never get comfortable with them. So what. He doesn't need/want you to touch him. That's a human desire.

He is "comfortable" with the wrapped arm (for now). There is no problem. In time with trust and patience "he" will make the next step. You just have to wait for it.

 

[BirdGuy21]

We will definitely take it slow with him. He was very brave to take the steps he has taken these past few days, and I want him to be comfortable to take the next step on his own time. I will continue work with his target training and being outside his cage and on my arm.

 

[MommyBird]

I wanted to give you kudos for all the progress you've made already - you've done a lot!
and scritches to Constantine for being so brave too.
I like to hear you'll take it slow, you don't want to mess it up now.
hands are just really and permanently scary for some. if he can live without fear and still get moved around on a towel that is super.

My elderly BCC (came from a shelter) doesn't like hands either but we have it worked out that I can towel him twice a day for heart meds (he calmly stations on a particular perch for toweling) and if he flies and needs help back up then he'll step up to a ladder. He also goes back from his playground into his cage on verbal cue because he doesn't want hands to do it. He's not scared, just doesn't want anything to do with hands. It is what we've settled on and it is fine.

 

[Macawnutz]

My BG Kailua only wanted to step onto a towel. It was so weird to me. We spent weeks and weeks using that silly thing. One day I switched from a big towel to a hand towel, same color and it was not an issue. We continued like that again for weeks and then I switched to a washcloth. Sometimes the washcloth would be on my wrist and she would step on my hand.

The day I stopped using the cloth she looked at me funny and said "Towel?" I said fine and put one on my shoulder.

 

[Monica]

Just make sure that stepping up on the towel isn't a form of learned helplessness.

If he knows how to target, can he target towards your hand???

 

[BirdGuy21]

My BG Kailua only wanted to step onto a towel. It was so weird to me. We spent weeks and weeks using that silly thing. One day I switched from a big towel to a hand towel, same color and it was not an issue. We continued like that again for weeks and then I switched to a washcloth. Sometimes the washcloth would be on my wrist and she would step on my hand.

The day I stopped using the cloth she looked at me funny and said "Towel?" I said fine and put one on my shoulder.

That is similar to what I plan on doing, if he shows willingness to be "weaned off" the towel. I don't want to push him any faster or further than he is ready to go, so I am prepared for this to take a long time. It's taken him since November to be willing to come out of his cage, so he runs on his own schedule and I am okay with that.

@Monica , thanks for the video. I don't believe it is learned helplessness, as I think he shows more of a fear response to seeing a hand than anything else. I wrap the towel around my arm and he steps right up. He sometimes targets toward my hand and it is something we have been working towards.

The reason I was so excited abut this latest development is that he has been too scared to even come out of his cage for several months. After working with target training and desensitization of his play stand, he willingly came out by himself. I opened the door and he climbed out onto the stand and ate some sweet potato. It was after this I discovered he would step up on a covered arm.

 

[sunnysmom]

Believe it or not, my sweet Sunny wouldn't step up on hands when we first got him. He too would step on my arm if I had it covered with a towel. We also used to have him step up on a pillow and would carry him back and forth like a little Sultan. LOL. Eventually I tried taking the towel away and he would just step up on my arm. Then we progressed to the back of my hand, laying it flat. Sometimes he would choose to move up to fingers. But mostly he just stayed on my hand. He never liked the stepping up on to fingers and I never really pushed it. I figured as long as he was stepping up when I wanted/needed him to, I really didn't care how we did it.

 

[BirdGuy21]

I didn't realize that about your Sunny, Michelle.

Constantine has came out of his cage everyday since my first post, and enjoys his dinner on his gym top and shredding newspaper. Very good to see.