Am I handling this right?

[Quito's Qage]

I've had Tausi (male Red Bellied 4 months old) home for four days now, and he's still pretty shy about my fingers/hands. He's progressed to where he'll readily accept treats from my fingers through the open cage door, and sometimes wants a beak rub or head scritch. He likes it when I take his beak between my thumb and finger and rub. Also nibbles and gently beaks my finger. But, if I present a finger or perch as for a "step-up", he moves away. He won't allow any stroking or petting either.

He whistles and calls if I leave the room, and shows some excitement when I appear, so I take that as a good sign. When I come up to the cage, he'll often go into a "crouch and flutter". This would be a baby bird "feed me", right? To me, a lot of his "beaking" activity looks like holdover from hand feeding as well. He's eating well though, fruit, veggies, and pellets.

Yesterday I started resting my hand on one of his perches and presenting a treat in my other hand, so he has to reach across, or hopefully step on my finger in order to get the treat. He does it, although he looks for a way to get around it, and as soon as he has the treat, he's off my finger.

I'd really like to get this guy out of the cage so he can start enjoying the playstands, etc., but I don't know how hard to push him. I suspect its best not to push him at all. I could catch him and take him out, but if he's that shy, wouldn't that freak him out and possibly set things back? On the other hand, could moving too slowly signal to him that all he has to do is stay in the cage?

I consider myself to be pretty patient, and if slow and easy is the way to do this I'm fine with that. I guess I'm looking for some affirmation that I'm doing this right, or if not, some pointers on how to move things along.

[michelleans]

Maybe try leaving the cage door open and stand near it with a treat in your hand or leave the cage near the playstand and some treats on the playstand. This will encourage him to come out. He will come out of his cage when he is ready - best not to force him out.

It;s good he likes head scritches and eats treats from your hand. I think the slow and easy and continuing on like you are is very good. I can't critisice anything you've done - well done

[Dustin]

I would suggest sitting next/near his cage with the dorr open and reading to him. it may relax him and spark his interest in coming out to visit

[KatyKat314]

I have had my baby sun home for about 4 days as well and he is doing the EXACT same thing!

Although, he will fly out of his cage and walk up and down by body and chew things but just not let me touch him.

So I went to Barnes and Nobles and bought a parrot behavior training book because I wanted so more in depth information on how to start step up training.

What the book suggested is that if your bird will avoid your hands at all costs then you should reach in with a towel and gently wrap the bird up and bring him to a quiet room. Barney didn't seem to mind this at all- more along the lines is he came right to the towel and gave it nibbles. The book says that since it's best to trim your own birds wings and you use toweling to do wings, it is good to teach th bird young that the towel means no harm.

Anyway- I took him to our guest room with a T-stand and set it up at belly/chest high. The book says to use positive reinforcement, as in ignore bad behavior and praise good/correct actions.

So I set him on the stand, and though he didn't like it and flew every which way at first he eventually just stood there.

it took a few tries putafter pressing just above his feet and saying "Up." h began to do just that! Praise lavishly and repeat for about 10-15 minutes. i was so excited because I was really debating heavily on wether or not I should remove him from the cage myself but I think it was worth it because slowly our training will move back to the room with the cage. I look forward to the training sessions!

I hope this helps some because I know it'sexasperating that your bird is so close, yet so far away. :) Good luck.

[Quito's Qage]

Thanks all! He did climb out through the open door today and clamber up on to the playtop for a couple minutes, though he was very apprehensive, and then stepped up on a perch and let me put him back in the cage. I thought that was huge progress, but then afterwards I thought we'd try for a bath (don't think he knows a thing about baths). I put the bath dish in his cage. He was checking it out from one of his perches a couple of feet above, and promtly fell into it. Now he's pretty freaked out again.

I really don't think the breeder socialized him very much except with herself and her two boys (8 and 9). I know her husband doesn't really seem to even like the birds. Probably he's feeling really insecure, and isn't used to men. She clipped him a couple of days before I picked him up, and she really clipped him short. He has almost no "flutter-bility" to break a fall at all, so I think he's real uncomfortable about that too.

When you come down to it, I've got plenty of book knowledge, but my practical bird experience is limited to Quito, and there was nothing insecure about her right from the beginning. I guess I just need to accept that he's different, and go at his speed.

Speaking of "book learning", one of the things I read about Red Bellieds was that they can have a tendency to really get spooked over nothing from time to time. Maybe that's some of what I'm seeing.

Think I'll just keep taking it slow, and try to accept that it may be a rocky road to him really getting comfortable.

[Dustin]

i would suggest putting some small cardboard boxes or a blanket...or something on the floor of his cag. So if he falls he has a softer "crash" landing.

[Quito's Qage]

Originally Posted by Dustin

i would suggest putting some small cardboard boxes or a blanket...or something on the floor of his cag. So if he falls he has a softer "crash" landing.

Thanks Dustin, I'll do that!

[KatyKat314]

I meant to ask, how do you pronounce "Tausi"? It is a very unique name!

[michelleans]

Sorry to hear about his wings and his fall

Slowly does it - in time he will settle in.

Maybe put some blankets on the ground under his cage too and leave the cage on the ground if attempting to let him out - just to be safe.

[Quito's Qage]

Originally Posted by KatyKat314

I meant to ask, how do you pronounce "Tausi"? It is a very unique name!

It's pronounced "Tossie", and is the Swahili word for Peacock.