Getting a bird used to other people.

[david801]

Hi all!

So I'm new here, but I came to this forum specifically to ask this question. I have a Senegal Parrot named Mario. He is just over 2 years old and I've had him for just under 2 years. He is extremely well behaved with me. He's stepping up and down without issues and he is slowly learning to ring a bell on his cage when he wants me to come pick him up.

My problem is that he is still extremely skiddish with other people. He won't step up and has even gone as far as to bite other people when they try and interact with him. These aren't people that he doesn't know either. He sees the three room mates I live with every day and I bring him out to hang with the 4 of us all the time. He is just fine around these people as long as I'm the one holding him but if anybody even approaches him he freaks out and will often either attack them or try fly away (his wings are usually clipped pretty short). When they approach him they are always very calm and approach one at a time, he or she will get down to his level and speak softly and sweetly, I even make them close one eye, as I've read that doing so makes a bird feel more comfortable. Even so, he will still freak out and either attack the person or fly away. I'm stuck and hoping someone on here can help me out, as I'm not even sure what to google to start researching this problem.

Thanks in advanced. XD
David

 

[weco]

Welcome to the forum David.....

As to others interacting with Mario, his attitude can probably be attributed to...if he's on you to be protective of you.....if he's in his cage, it can be protecting his space/cage.....if he's out elsewhere, it can be that he doesn't really know them, even though he sees them in the apartment/house.

My Patagonian conure is like that, but if I put her on someone's arm or shoulder & tell her it's OK, she minds her manners. I teaching her to be nice to people, I never let anyone interact with her unless I was there.....a bite from a parrot can cause you a great deal of legal trouble if you are not careful, so I am quite vigilant when strangers/others are around.....

Under your supervision, you could have your roommates offer him treats (ones he's crazy about), but until you get him personable, I would advise them to wait 'til you're around & you're going to have to set some limits for him.....when he acts like he doesn't want to interact with someone, tell him NO, BE NICE or something similar & learn to convey your displeasure with face & body language.....birds are very attentive to disappointed body language.....

I've never heard about closing one eye, I've never done it & have worked with birds over 20 years.....but then just because I've never heard of it doesn't mean it's not true.....guess I've not been to the right palm reader ! ! !

Good luck.....

 

[ruffledfeathers]

To be honest i have so far only had one bird who readily went to anyone. (Percy, my budgie). Georgie bit a lot of people who thought 'gee she is so sweet and friendly' and decided to reach in her cage when i wasn't in the room. She simply never allowed that except with a certain few people who had the right approach and she liked them particularly. Other than that, i had to invite her out and ask if she wanted to see them, and then give her to them and say 'step up'.
Gilbert is still only 9 months old and keeps an eye on me, but will go to other people and give kisses when i ask him to. But he also will not readily do it without me prompting it or let them pet him--he will duck and try to get away. And these are people he sees frequently. I always considered it somewhat normal for a bird to only really warm up to people who build a relationship with him/her.
Georgie adored my ex. When she first met him she didn't want anything to do with him, but once we moved in together, and i tried to make him like her, she wanted to hang out with him all the time. But honestly, i was always the one who took her out of the cage. I'm not sure what her reaction would have been to him reaching in?? We never tried it.
One last thought, i always swear by the approach. I have had friends who decide they want to try to hold my bird but they are so timid and look like they are scared to death. I say 'don't bother. the bird is not going to be ok with it when you look scared.' My dad's friend comes over occasionally and she used to have an amazon and is a bird lover. She has handled Gilbert more than anyone else in my friends/family circle. She has the approach of someone completely at ease with a bird, and it puts him immediately at ease with her. Within minutes she has him on her hand and giving her kisses.

 

[sodakat]

I'll add something that applies to my Eclectus who are generally gregarious birds compared to being one person birds. They prefer to step up for the new person from a neutral spot rather than having me hand them to the person.

What they really like is for visitors to stand and talk to them for a while at eye level without trying to immediately pick them up. Sully and Rose will launch themselves onto visitors' shoulders because they think everyone wants to meet them. But neither of them, as friendly as they are, want me to hand them to another person.

 

[Mayden]

I think so far you're pretty much doing everything right, from the eye closing to the calm approaches.

Maybe you could try to do things such as sit next to your friend, ignoring them. Let your friend have his favourite treats in his lap etc and just let Mario want to go and explore your friend to get the treats/toys. Just sit and watch a few movies or something, ignore Mario yourself and let your friend do all the interacting - by just having Mario's treats and maybe just poke them to draw attention to them once in a while.

He will probably be very skittish about it all at first but will soon see your friends as something to not be feared. But by doing it like this, your friends arn't 'approaching' Mario and you are not trying to hand him over to them, etc. Your friend is completely non threatening and it's all done in Mario's own time.

 

[MonicaMc]

I picked up on one key phrase in all of that....

When they approach him

Is there any way that you could entice Mario to approach new people?

Some ideas... have new people sitting near each other and holding quite still. Not really looking at him, just ignoring him. Being a part of the scenery. Will Mario allow you to then walk close to them while offering treats?

Or... have everyone sit at the dining room table, hands flat on top of the table. Then, take Mario's favorite treats! Place said treats around everyones hands, between the fingers, on the hand, maybe even on their wrists/lower arms! As everyone holds still and "becomes" a part of the scenery, allow Mario to explore the table. If he has any favorite foot toys, too, place them on the table!


The idea is to try and show Mario that these other people aren't threatening and hopefully encourage him to go up to them rather than the other way around. Try and make every interaction between Mario and your roommates a positive one! The more comfortable he gets with them, the more they can start interacting with him!