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FINGERS! NOOO!

TurquoiseBirb

Sitting on the front steps
Joined
8/7/16
Messages
17
Location
Pittsburgh, PA
Real Name
Blake W.
My bird HATES hands. Hes soo sweet and curious, and does love people (trying to get my attention currently cause im on my phone which is his new thing) and obviously wants to explore (needs to get his flight feathers back in, because he wont let me pick him up to explore). I've been trying step up training but im getting nowhere. I know theyll avoid it but he REALLY avoids it. Its probably more that i need to give him time around my hands without touching him. I got him from a pet store that had the green cheeks in an open top pen so of course they were being poked and grabbed at constantly. He isnt voilent, he doesnt bite. He mainly just backs away quickly. If i have to pick him up he bites though, and will only stand on my finger in the living room. I know you're not supposed to make them do stuff but hes jumped down from his cage and the only way for him to get back up is to, step up, which he refuses. Or for me to grab him. Help! Any advice will be super appreciated! 20160805_111828.jpg
 

zoo mom

Ripping up the road
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
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Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
3/9/11
Messages
57,694
Location
Indiana
Real Name
Elaine
Most of my birds prefer to step up on a wrist or forearm as opposed to a hand. Try wearing a long sleeve shirt and pull the sleeve down to cover the hand and see if that helps.
Also offer treats from your hand. Pick something he really likes like millet or sunflower seeds and only feed them as treats. Offer them by hand if he is afraid to take them from your hand drop one in his bowl and walk away. Eventually he will start to come over to get the treat.
He may never really like hands because of people poking at them at the pet store. But your best bet is teaching him that good things come from your hands. This may take several months or even years.
 

gptb2020

Walking the driveway
Joined
7/1/16
Messages
201
Real Name
Kaden
Put treats in your hand and just lay somewhere, if he's hungry or wants a treat, he will come to your hand to eat it. It may not be right away, but he will more than likely out of curiosity come eat what is in your hand. You have to be very patient. I work with rascal, my gcc everyday, when I got him at first, he had the same problem, he would bite a lot, run from hands, and not train. I just fed him treats through the cage and hand fed him a few times, which gains a LOT of trust. Hope this helps. (I've been training him and doing this stuff for 1/2 a month and he has all nearly all his cage aggression gone. He also doesn't bite me anymore, but still bites family members a lot.)
 
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Dartman

Biking along the boulevard
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Joined
10/20/12
Messages
9,254
Location
Portland Oregon
Real Name
Terry
If you have to pick him up use something he isn't scared of to get him to ste andp up on. Lurch was fine with hands eventually but at first he didn't trust them and would bite.
He would step into a pillow no problems so I'd use one and he'd ride fine on it, I guess it wasn't threatening like hands wanting him to do things he didn't want to do.
Eventually he realized hands would give him rides to where he wanted to go anyways so he got better, especially when it was his idea and the hand assisted it.
 

Lwalker

Rollerblading along the road
Celebirdy of the Month
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Joined
5/2/16
Messages
3,443
Location
Ontario
Real Name
Lori
I started my hand shy guy stepping up on a long dowel and then a shorter one. Now he will sometimes step up on my wrist but if not he usually steps up when I offer the dowel. It's been almost 4 months but we are in it for the long haul.
 
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