On Monday, October 1, 2001 at 12:26:15 PM UTC-4, jeff wrote:
i have just rescued a sun conure and need advice on tactics for
socializing it. keep in mind i just acquired this bird last night so i haven't had much of a chance to pursure anything.
some quick history: the bird has not left its cage for quite some time (perhaps years). it has been on an all-sunflower seed diet for probably
the same amount of time. despite this, he looks healthy and
inquisitive. the bird is not in the least bit interested in leaving the cage. more problematic, he gives viscous bites to any object that
approaches him.
there is good documentation on getting the bird on a better diet- i am
not worried about this. am am worried about socializing him.
I have learned the hard way that these birds (conures) as playful and inquisitive as they are, can never be "domesticated" AND unless they are handled by multiple people frequently as babies, they will be difficult to handle pretty much permanently. They
ALL bite- I don't care who you talk to, if they say they have a conure that does not bite, maybe they haven't been bitten yet by their bird, but in general they all bite. My bird is barely 18 months old, and we got him when he was 10 weeks old. We
handled him frequently, (gently, politely and appropriately) We taught him to poop on newspaper outside the cage so his cage is very easy to clean ( we do that weekly), He has toys and a large cage with lots of perches and places to play...we did
everything "right" and suddenly out of no where, he flat out refuses to come out of his cage. It happened literally over night. He does not bite us (I am praying this won't become the next regression) when we put our hand in for him to "step up" but he
trembles and screams...we back away, speak quietly, Walk away and come back a few minutes later, and it went from bad to worse...now he doesn't come out unless the cage door is left open, he can climb out and sits on top where he refuses to step up,
eventually climbing down himself and pooping on the floor...its as if someone stole our bird and replaced him with an untrained, unsociailzed bird. The vet (who is an again specialist) says he is "being a bird"....this is what they do- they bite, they
get "cage bound" they are unpredictable and not all together easy for sure. We're pretty frustrated at this point...he was the most loving, affectionate cooperative bird and in a matter of a week- he is extremely difficult and unpredictable. If this is
him being fully mature, it certainly changes my opinion of bringing and exotic bird into the family. We will never abandon him, but this is not going to be something I wold EVER do again, nor would I suggest it to anyone else. I guess we owe it to them
to care for them, since we robbed them of their natural living environments.
i did get him out of the cage on the first day, but i had to physically
pull the cage apart from the bottom section and turn it over. perhaps
this was too traumatic for him but i did it anyway. outside the cage, he looked happy and interested in his surroundings.
THE PROBLEM is that he severely bites anything that moves toward him; a
hand, a stick, whatever. i purchased some leather work gloves for
training but honestly i am terrified of losing a finger to this guy. i'm
not kidding myself that the gloves are going to help.
my approach and plan of action is to start by stick training him,
getting him used to stepping up on the stick. i have made progress but
he still bites the stick almost every time. i cannot even begin to
approach him with my hand, as they are immediately bitten. i can offer
him food from my hand and he will take it. he will climb onto my arm and
hand from the stick. he also likes to fly at my face attempting to get
on my shoulder or header. obviously, the previous owner did not clip
wings. my approach to this has been to hold of the stick giving him an opportunity to land on it, but not letting him get to my shoulder. my
hope is that working with him like this will let him figure out there's
no reason to bite me.
the encouraging thing is, he does seem to like people and enjoy being
around me, enjoy being talked to, enjoy being out of the cage actually
(once i get him out). the MAIN PROBLEM is the severe, and intense
biting.
any advice on how best to deal with this would be appreicated.
On Monday, October 1, 2001 at 12:26:15 PM UTC-4, jeff wrote:
i have just rescued a sun conure and need advice on tactics for
socializing it. keep in mind i just acquired this bird last night so i haven't had much of a chance to pursure anything.
some quick history: the bird has not left its cage for quite some time (perhaps years). it has been on an all-sunflower seed diet for probably
the same amount of time. despite this, he looks healthy and
inquisitive. the bird is not in the least bit interested in leaving the cage. more problematic, he gives viscous bites to any object that
approaches him.
there is good documentation on getting the bird on a better diet- i am
not worried about this. am am worried about socializing him.
i did get him out of the cage on the first day, but i had to physically
pull the cage apart from the bottom section and turn it over. perhaps
this was too traumatic for him but i did it anyway. outside the cage, he looked happy and interested in his surroundings.
THE PROBLEM is that he severely bites anything that moves toward him; a
hand, a stick, whatever. i purchased some leather work gloves for
training but honestly i am terrified of losing a finger to this guy. i'm
not kidding myself that the gloves are going to help.
my approach and plan of action is to start by stick training him,
getting him used to stepping up on the stick. i have made progress but
he still bites the stick almost every time. i cannot even begin to
approach him with my hand, as they are immediately bitten. i can offer
him food from my hand and he will take it. he will climb onto my arm and
hand from the stick. he also likes to fly at my face attempting to get
on my shoulder or header. obviously, the previous owner did not clip
wings. my approach to this has been to hold of the stick giving him an opportunity to land on it, but not letting him get to my shoulder. my
hope is that working with him like this will let him figure out there's
no reason to bite me.
the encouraging thing is, he does seem to like people and enjoy being
around me, enjoy being talked to, enjoy being out of the cage actually
(once i get him out). the MAIN PROBLEM is the severe, and intense
biting.
any advice on how best to deal with this would be appreicated.
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