Caryatid
Meeting neighbors
I am constantly amazed that it seems almost everyone's bird just loves scritches- that they even see this as a reward. I had budgies and a cockatiel as a kid and I don't think I knew about scritches at the time or that you could even actually pet a bird- I just let them sit on my shoulder and walk around and eat treats. My current budgie, Lu, is not tame at all and we are both much happier if I just let her do her own thing. No scritches in that future, unfortunately.
So my new peachfaced lovebird, Roger, is 3 or 4 months old and has only been home for a few days. He was hand fed so he is not afraid to sit on hands once he is out of the cage. They grabbed them at the store, though, so we are working on step up (he's doing well) and being okay with hands IN the cage. He also skitters away if you try to pet when he is sitting on your hand.
I KNOW that I should not be trying to scritch right now and will take things at his pace. However, I do want to get him comfortable with this eventually since it seems like so many birds love it so much and it might make him happy. My question is that I have no idea how to even approach it once we are at that stage. What are the steps? Sometimes he lets me touch his beak- should I rest my finger on his beak and then slowly slide onto his head? Should I start by getting him comfortable with tummy rubs and then move up? How did you get your birds to become comfortable with scritches? Thanks in advance for your help!
So my new peachfaced lovebird, Roger, is 3 or 4 months old and has only been home for a few days. He was hand fed so he is not afraid to sit on hands once he is out of the cage. They grabbed them at the store, though, so we are working on step up (he's doing well) and being okay with hands IN the cage. He also skitters away if you try to pet when he is sitting on your hand.
I KNOW that I should not be trying to scritch right now and will take things at his pace. However, I do want to get him comfortable with this eventually since it seems like so many birds love it so much and it might make him happy. My question is that I have no idea how to even approach it once we are at that stage. What are the steps? Sometimes he lets me touch his beak- should I rest my finger on his beak and then slowly slide onto his head? Should I start by getting him comfortable with tummy rubs and then move up? How did you get your birds to become comfortable with scritches? Thanks in advance for your help!