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[SharonC]

Guys, IMO, you are inviting trouble if you pet your bird on the back, under wings etc. Try to keep it to petting the head...You don't want to do anything sexually stimulating and have the bird be possessive over you...

 

[Cowtown]

Guys, IMO, you are inviting trouble if you pet your bird on the back, under wings etc. Try to keep it to petting the head...You don't want to do anything sexually stimulating and have the bird be possessive over you...

Thank you for the information.

I checked with my breeder and she said that Eclectus do not like their heads or necks scratched. They like there backs touched.

I will do more research on this.

 

[Aussie Ben]

Guys, IMO, you are inviting trouble if you pet your bird on the back, under wings etc. Try to keep it to petting the head...You don't want to do anything sexually stimulating and have the bird be possessive over you...

Very true and i am very aware of this. Teaching him to let me touch him on the back is just to ensure he doesn't 'freak' when I have to. For instance if someone wants to go out the door while he is out, I just place my hand over his back and he can't jump off and follow them. Also good if I want to check under his wings, I can rest my hand on his back and gently lift up his wing. It has also made him more comfortable with people standing behind him. Before, he used to always want to be facing people, which made it very difficult when there were many people in the room because he would never know where to look and become frightened.

So being able to touch the bird on the back is very important as it displays trust, but as SharonC said, petting should be avoided as it tends to give them ideas.