Advice/help needed!

[acro]

First of all I wanna say hello! I'm a new member, so let me know if I miss something or do something wrong. ^^

Back in August, I got my first bird, a peach-faced lovebird, who will be a few months old now. He was labeled as 'hand reared', which it turns out he was flooded by the breeder (grabbed until he stops struggling and gets used to it). I was supposed to go meet him in person before bringing him home, but we ended up in a lockdown and had to put him on the animal courier. Big mistake, I now realize. I was able to get him used to my hands, and he would step up inside the cage, but things went downhill and I'm not sure why.

I was able to get him to step up, bring my hand outside of the cage, and put it back in without problems. He was very good at stepping up and even knew the command to hop back to the perch; but all of a sudden, when he flew off my hand and out to explore the room, he stopped responding. This hasn't changed. When he gets out of the cage, he won't step up, and will fly away from me. It will be hours and hours until he goes back in. He won't go in for meals, and if it gets to the evening, he'll plant himself on top of a shelf and won't come down. I've tried getting a chair and reaching up, but he wouldn't step up if his life depended on it. He'd just sit there for a minute and fly off again.

I decided I'd work on step up until he was a pro at it (he would come down to the same perch and step up from there, and if I asked him to step up anywhere else in the cage he wouldn't respond.), until I was confident in it, but he started to fly past me out the main door, so I stopped that. As for where we're at now, there's two problems:
-He'll step up if I put my hand through the small door where bowls go, but has gotten very nippy. I think he's getting territorial of the cage. He'll bite my finger quite hard before he steps up, and it's definitely harder than just using his beak to get up or test the stability of my finger. Anywhere else in the cage, when I try to put bowls in to feed or to return the water bowl after cleaning it, he'll bite. If I were to try to move or adjust toys, he'll bite.
-The second problem is the being stuck in the cage. It's a decent sized cage, something like 60cm x 55cm x 80cm, but I haven't been able to let him out for about a month now because of the fact I won't be able to get him back in. He's got plenty of toys and all that, but I can tell that he's getting bored by the way he'll run back and forth, sometimes be very aggressive to his toys, and he's gotten LOUD. (his favourite thing recently has been testing how high pitched he can go. My ears and I do not enjoy it as much as he does.)

I'm honestly stumped at this point, all I can do is get him to step up from a small door, he'll fly out the front door, and he's super nippy. I was very confident in how he trusted me and my hands and stepping up when I first let him out, but he was completely unresponsive out of the cage. I thought maybe he was just super excited, because 'wow, look at all these new surroundings and things to explore', but even after over 5-6 hours, when he settles down and goes to a shelf, or the top of my curtains, he still wouldn't step up or take himself back to his cage.

Any ideas on what I can do? Help is very much appreciated! thanks!

 

[Emeral]

Big wing hugs and warm welcome to both of you. This growing pain will go away.

How to reduce his bad boy attitude? I would ignore it. By chasing after him, he gets your attention as his reward.
Start from scratch, put him in another room as if you have just bring him home today. Make sure he is always below eye level. You will want to be higher than him to show that you are in command. And build on bonding with him.

There are many ways to create a trusting bond, what have you tried so far? have you been....?

....call his name often, does he turn to look when called?
.....look at his eyes and be sensitive to his emotions
......talk to or read to him
.......eat near him
......praise him for positive reinforcement
.....teach him simple commands like good boy and No, to discourage unwanted behavior
....potty training
....teaching new tricks for bonding
.....take him out for a walk outdoor in a bubble carrier
.....identify his favorite food
....giving treats or playing with him
....spend time relaxing around him at least 4 hours a day, 2 in the morning and 2 before sun set. Then he needs to sleep.
....say good night before you put him to bed

To get into more details of his behaviour, these are some interesting reads.....

frustrated new lovebird owner

Hello i'm new here and i am also a new owner of a young lovebird named Azulu. I've been having trouble taking care of Azulu. He/she is the best bird i could ever ask for-sweet,snuggly,smart. BUT even with the months of research and thought i put into getting this bird i was still not ready for...

www.lovebirdsplus.com

Why is Lovebird Biting and How to stop it? - Parrot World

Where soft nipping is normal, hard and hurtful bites are always a concern that needs to be addressed as soon as possible.

parrotquaker.com

Mating and Aggression in Birds

Mating and Aggression in Birds

www.petplace.com

Hope this helps

 

[acro]

Big wing hugs and warm welcome to both of you. This growing pain will go away.

How to reduce his bad boy attitude? I would ignore it. By chasing after him, he gets your attention as his reward.
Start from scratch, put him in another room as if you have just bring him home today. Make sure he is always below eye level. You will want to be higher than him to show that you are in command. And build on bonding with him.

There are many ways to create a trusting bond, what have you tried so far? have you been....?

....call his name often, does he turn to look when called?
.....look at his eyes and be sensitive to his emotions
......talk to or read to him
.......eat near him
......praise him for positive reinforcement
.....teach him simple commands like good boy and No, to discourage unwanted behavior
....potty training
....teaching new tricks for bonding
.....take him out for a walk outdoor in a bubble carrier
.....identify his favorite food
....giving treats or playing with him
....spend time relaxing around him at least 4 hours a day, 2 in the morning and 2 before sun set. Then he needs to sleep.
....say good night before you put him to bed

To get into more details of his behaviour, these are some interesting reads.....

frustrated new lovebird owner

Hello i'm new here and i am also a new owner of a young lovebird named Azulu. I've been having trouble taking care of Azulu. He/she is the best bird i could ever ask for-sweet,snuggly,smart. BUT even with the months of research and thought i put into getting this bird i was still not ready for...

www.lovebirdsplus.com

Why is Lovebird Biting and How to stop it? - Parrot World

Where soft nipping is normal, hard and hurtful bites are always a concern that needs to be addressed as soon as possible.

parrotquaker.com

Mating and Aggression in Birds

Mating and Aggression in Birds

www.petplace.com

Hope this helps

Thanks so much for the tips and articles, all things noted.
I did forget to mention that I did target train him (he won't respond to that either outside the cage), I would say he knows his name, one time he did disappear behind a curtain and when I called for him he tweeted back. It's hard to tell inside the cage, I think I could say just about anything with that name-calling tone and he'd look at me lol. He seems to be picking up 'good boy', 'no', and 'ready for bed?' (before covering the cage).
He is fairly close to my desk and would be above me most of the time when I'm sitting here, so I will adjust that.
I think I'll go back to offering his breakfast from my hand, to be sure it's not that he's nervous of my hands.

thanks again!

 

[Emeral]

Happy to help....... you will let us know how it goes won't you?