Help Lol

[Cat]

Hi everyone, can someone please help me with my new conure jade, she's now 3 months old and i know that she loves me as i've only got her 5 days and she follows me everywhere already....anyway the question i have is how do i stop her nipping me as she loves my shoulder and she won't step onto my finger yet from her cage....please help me as i love her to bits and she calls me in the morning to let her out so she can be with me.

[Monica]

You ought to work with her doing ladders from finger to finger, finger to chair and back, finger to perch and back. Also, get her used to being picked up around her body and give her scritches.

Ignore the nips, and do not remove your hand when she nips. Instead, firmly tell her "No". the nipping is a phase that they'll go through, especially when they are young and still exploring their world with their beaks. Instead, give her a toy or a leather string to play with, even.

[Cat]

thanks monica, i've been telling her no when she nips and giving her the scratches of effection so i must be doing it right i'm very patient with her and will try the ladder trick which i think will be much harder lol as she is a divil for wanting to just play with my hair and stay on my shoulder....the other thing that i can do with her which i love is that she will give me a kiss and lean into me for a rest. thanks again and i'll do what you and everyone else is great for with there advice it's very important to a new mum of her first conure.

[Monica]

Until she knows how to step up, I wouldn't really advise letting her sit on your shoulder.

As for stepping up, there's several things you can try. First, putting your finger on her stomach and gently push up and forward. If that doesn't work, have your finger on her stomach, and using the other finger she's sitting on, slowly roll that finger either toward you or away from you. If all else fails, you can also use your free finger to lift up her toes forcing her to restep. While you are getting her to step up, tell her "Step Up", and once she gets the idea you should be able to get her to step up fairly easily.

[Cat]

That's great Monica thank you, i will start jade right away first thing in the morning as it's early hours here in ireland....can you also tell me is it ok for her to be sleeping in the bedroom with me as she gives me a wake up call in the mornings lol can you also tell me please how i can put my pics of jade on here for everyone to see i can't seem to get them to work...thanks again for you advise

[Monica]

You can't have your own avatar unless you have a paid subscription. As for sleeping in the same room as you, yes that's perfectly fine! Only thing I see that needs be done in the morning is food, and maybe some attention, and you might be able to get back to sleep if you wanna sleep in late! Otherwise, well, she might not be happy! Atleast my birds aren't!

As for photos, you can look through my signature for directions, and you can even upload them to Photobucket if you wish.