Our Sun Conure is a little over a year old now. He was hand raised and as a result is very friendly with my fiance and I. He loves to sit on shoulders and climbs all over us and enjoys cuddles (we jokingly call him our Velcro bird cause when he's out of the cage he wants to be with us). He's a little nippy at times (especially when it's time to go back in the cage) and loves to chew on clothes but all things considered he's well behaved.
However, training isn't going well. To be honest, it isn't going at all. He won't take treats. I give him something, he just drops it. We feed him a pellet and veggie diet so seeds as a treat seem great, but he's not interested. It even takes him an entire week to get through a whole sprig of millet when I give it to him.
I got a clicker to try, but I can't reinforce click=good because he doesn't want to take treats when I click.
Toys? In his cage - loves them. Can play with them for ages. Outside of his cage? A distraction for a few short minutes, then he wants to sit on our shoulders again. Definitely not enough of a draw to use as a reward for training.
He's not interested in human food either. He kind of likes noodles, but he'll only eat a tiny amount before going back to ignoring it. Probably a blessing since human food is too high in fat and carbs for him, but still.
One new suggestion I'm trying is to remove the one item I know he likes because it's always gone from his food first - the banana shaped pellets. I'll see if removing those from his diet for a few days then reintroducing them as treats will work. I'm not holding out a lot of hope. It's also a LOT of work to sort pellets by hand.
I also saw a suggestion of feeding smaller meals twice a day instead on leaving food in his cage all day, but I'm worried he might not get enough food (especially veggies) if he doesn't take to it. He's a picky eater through and through.
Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!
However, training isn't going well. To be honest, it isn't going at all. He won't take treats. I give him something, he just drops it. We feed him a pellet and veggie diet so seeds as a treat seem great, but he's not interested. It even takes him an entire week to get through a whole sprig of millet when I give it to him.
I got a clicker to try, but I can't reinforce click=good because he doesn't want to take treats when I click.
Toys? In his cage - loves them. Can play with them for ages. Outside of his cage? A distraction for a few short minutes, then he wants to sit on our shoulders again. Definitely not enough of a draw to use as a reward for training.
He's not interested in human food either. He kind of likes noodles, but he'll only eat a tiny amount before going back to ignoring it. Probably a blessing since human food is too high in fat and carbs for him, but still.
One new suggestion I'm trying is to remove the one item I know he likes because it's always gone from his food first - the banana shaped pellets. I'll see if removing those from his diet for a few days then reintroducing them as treats will work. I'm not holding out a lot of hope. It's also a LOT of work to sort pellets by hand.
I also saw a suggestion of feeding smaller meals twice a day instead on leaving food in his cage all day, but I'm worried he might not get enough food (especially veggies) if he doesn't take to it. He's a picky eater through and through.
Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!