Go HOME!

[RachelMarie]

For the love of pete, I can NOT get my Nanday (Pretty Bird) to go back into his cage. She's tame, knows how to "step up" but once she's on my finger, flies right to my shoulder. Getting her into her cage is driving me nuts. It's took me close to an hour to get her there today. What am I doing wrong? Sometimes she'll go from my shoulder to the cage if I tell her to go "home" while tapping on the cage. But the rest of the time it is seriously me chasing a bird around trying to get her to go. She doesn't like to be picked up by the body, so I try not to so I don't scare her.

For those of you that haven't read my "introduction" I am VERY new to the life of birds. My husband got this gal from a friend that had to get rid of it and didn't know what to do with her. Being animal lovers, he brought her home. I've been doing all kinds of research but I do have a few questions that I can't seem to find anywhere....

We live in Florida. For those of you that don't know Florida well...it gets hotter than hot here. The humidity is what gets you. Pretty Bird is a VERY tame indoor free flight bird and we are very interested in getting her a harness so we can take her places. My question is...will the heat and humidity be hard on her (like it is on dogs, and heck...humans)? Can we take her where there is salt water or is that a no go? I'm asking because we are huge campers/hikers etc. I would love to take her along on these little mini trips but it gets hot. I don't want to stress her out.

Also, when she flies through the archways in our house, she tends to sometimes hit her wings on them. What should I do to stop this? Will it hurt her? I don't want to not let her fly...she's good at it and loves to be able to move around like that, but I'm so afraid she will hurt her wings.

Oh, and one more thing...anyway she has a snooze button I don't know about? lmao

 

[RachelMarie]

BTW...Thanks to RoxyNoodle (did I get that right) I found out my bird knows how to dance. I had no clue birds liked music until she informed me. Pretty bird was sitting on the top of my laptop screen when I played a video that had MJ's "Billy Jean" playing. Next thing you know, he's slidding from one side of the laptop to the next bobbing his head and moving his feet!
That said, he hates country!

Ok...I'm done!

 

[Wulfgeist]

Hey at least the bird has decent taste in music.

 

[crzybird]

I'm new to the "bird" life too. I have a Nanday conure as well, her name is Kiwi. When I got her she was horribly afraid of everything and everyone. Recently she has started to warm up to me. I too have had trouble with getting her back into her cage. I'll walk her to the cage and tell her nini and she makes a loud trilling noise and then flies away. I'll go to her and she'll fly back onto my shoulder and we'll go back to the cage. She'll do this several times before she finally realizes that she needs to go back into the cage. Generally if she's not wanting to go in there for any reason I'll just leave her out and she puts herself to bed at night when she's ready. I imagine if you just keep taking her to the cage and telling her "home" she'll figure it out and it'll get easier to get her to go in when you tell her to.

 

[lexx510]

Treats, treats, and more treats. Offer her favorite treat in a bowl next to the cage door, and she will not be able to resist. In other words, give her something to look forward to when going back into her cage. I had a similar issue with my green cheek conure, so I'd place a banana in her bowl every time it was time to "go home." Now she happily jumps into her cage knowing there's waiting for her. Positive reinforcement works wonders! Let her go on her own terms, and do not force her ever.

 

[Remy]

When I first got Puck and he wasn't used to his new cage, he didn't want to go inside usually, but now he's pretty good about it, and actually really likes his cage. To him, it's his house! He also knows "go inside" although he chooses not to obey all the time. I try to plan to put him in his cage a while before I have to leave, because sometimes he doesn't want to go in. If I forget, and I have to run out the door, and he's being a bitey face, I do have to shoo him in with a towel... lol.

 

[roxynoodle]

No one in this house likes country either, lol! Yes, conures and macaws really like to dance (they are closely related). Amazons love to sing, but don't dance as much in my limited experience with them. Although Rowdy sings too sometimes.

I would try to bribe him with a treat. For Rowdy that would be a Nutriberry. Show it to the bird and let him see you put it in the dish. If that doesn't work, I wouldn't feed him at all when he's out, so when he goes in for dinner, shut the door behind him and leave him in from that point on.

You can also try loading him backwards, so he's facing you, not the inside of the cage as he goes in. You can also lightly hold his feet with one finger over them to keep him from flying. That always worked for Rowdy. She knew I had her and never struggled to get away from me. You could also use your other hand to block the side of the open door so they don't try to grab onto it and climb up the cage (I do this with Pete).