need help with monty

[bevcapri]

hi, could do with some advice about monty my male ekkie. at the moment i am blowing cold air onto my index finger 'it's got nice littel V marks all over it from monty and it HUUURTS.when i come into the room he is always pleased to see me, jumps on his swing and never leaves my side,but when i put my hand in his cage to get him to come on to my fingers he just clamps down on them, its hard to keep a nice steady voice saying NO NO MONTY NOOOOOOOOO, when he does let go then i say in a firmer voice no monty don't bite mummy with that he head butts the cage like a spoiled child

[Missi]

When we have cage difficult parrots at the aviary I help at, we step them up with a towel over our hands. Take them away from their cage and then remove the towel from our hands.

Sorry you got bit! Jasmine has never bit me super hard, I just can't imagine an Ekkie beak breaking the skin. I do believe you, though. I'm sure I will experience that when Jasmine is mature and hormonal!

[bevcapri]

thanks for that advice, will try that when my finger stops throbbing lol, what i am trying to do is to get him on my hand but all he does is grab my finger with one claw

[Missi]

If he just grabs your finger with one foot, follow through and gently press on his tummy with you finger while saying "step up". It's either fall backwards off the perch, or step up on to your finger. Obviously he'd rather step up! Each time he does a successful step up with out biting as well greatly praise him and give a treat.

[Petros]

Ok im new around here.... but i had the smae problem with Zorro (curently 4 months old) but instead of biteing he would ignore me completely and sit there all strange just starring at me...no matter how much i nudge at him...he wouldnt step up....

So i made my own teaching method... which some people might find useful or might think its a tad harsh (which i dont think at all )


But what i did to teach him to step up was... by placing him somewhere where he didnt feel comfortable or secure... e.g on the floor in the backyard away from his cage... and what i would do is... stand back about 4 meters and call out to him.... after a while you could see him getting edgy and wanting to be with me again... so i walk over.... put my hand to the floor and stick out my index finger... and say "Ela pano" (greek) for "Come here and get up" and he did it!!! :)


This is a video of me doing the technique....

http://www.youtube.com/v/lBl_YmF1Jfg


*Please Note... i have just uploaded video on YouTube so it does take a while to configure and is AVAILABLE.... so if you cnat see it and it says its not working try back abit later.




now Zorro steps up on that command all the time ... just by sticking out my index and saying "ela pano"


goodluck!!!!

[Missi]

Good job Petros and Zorro! It's so cute how much he adores you and cries when he comes to you!

[jimpierce7]

how old is Monty? That sounds a lot like he is being territorial about his cage. What I have read and do is simply rearrange the cage frequently and swap out the toys in a rotation. Some people do it weekly, for Sophie monthly works well.

[parrotntn]

At some point you'll need to get him in the open to do this. It works with the stubborn Cecil I'm sitting and he hasn't had that much hand training.
-First, protect your arm, I'm using a sweatshirt and just pull my sleeve over my hand to protect it all.
-Next get his favorite treat nearby, Cecil's is pnut butter.
-get a pencil.
-while telling him UP, bend down at eye level, and position your arm like you want it and with the other hand put the pencil at beak level. The idea is to distract him into biting the pencil rather than your arm. AS you push back with your covered arm, keep the pencil at beak level and keep it between his beak and your arm.
If he hesitates too much, indicate visually or with verabally that reward. I told Cecil "pnut butter" and he stopped attacking the pencil after a couple of trys cause he wanted the pnut butter. Maybe, It's not that he was thinking "oh I step up I get pnut butter" but it appeared he became so distracted about that treat that he didn't fight any more. AS your pushing back he has to step up because he's loosing balance as your arm replaces the perch.
Don't forget to SAY "step up Monty".
All I can say is I read this in "the well behaved parrot" and it worked with Cecil for the most part. Not completly, he still is stubborn as a Zon is, but he senses now that I want him to do it and doesn't nip at me.
Hope this helps,
Mark

[trtldove76]

I am so new at this and don't even have a little one of my own yet. But I have been out there researching like a crazy women. I came across a lady who uses a glass lid to a pan. The bird can see threw it but not bite. Well here is a link.

http://www.landofvos.com/faqs/faqs3.html#faq3

and

http://www.landofvos.com/faqs/faqs2.html#faq2

Toward the bottom of the page. I hope this helped.

[RingneckedPrincess]

Originally Posted by parrotntn

-get a pencil.
The idea is to distract him into biting the pencil rather than your arm.
Mark

Be careful with pencils...not only is the point not good for them but the paint has cadnium (Spelling?) in it that is toxic with a capital T in it

Dani