How to get senegal to talk more

[Zuzu]

Were not exactly sure, but we believe Zuzu is 3-5 yrs old and from everything we've read up on the senegal parrot, they say they start talking more between 4-5 yrs old. He don't really talk that much, sure he talks when he wants to the normal stuff, (hello, whatcha doing, pretty pretty bird, ma, hey, Zuzu bird, meow) thats most of his vocabulary or his chirps, clicks, screech, beeps, kisses and he'll do all sorts of whistles ( wolf or sexy whistle, andy griffith tune, adams family, pop goes the weasel, come here (dog whistle) or he'll do his growling, hissing when you play tug a war with his beak. But thats about as far as he goes, we've tried playing stuff from youtube for him to listen to and learn, we've said words over n over slowly near him to learn and repeat but to no aval won't say em, although his eyes go wide like he's listening and learning sometimes we'll get a mumble that we can't decipher. so if anyone has any tricks to teach please lemme know. and yes we've tried using food/treats to get to say something.

 

[antoinette]

Zuzu is doing great, at least he says a few words and imitates sounds.

When teaching a bird a word, make sure he understands what he is learning.

You mentioned he says : hello, whatcha doing, pretty pretty bird, ma, hey, Zuzu bird, meow.
My advice use the words he already knows, and add more words relating to the "word"

EG: When saying bird, tell Zuzu the bird is whisteling, then whistle.
EG: Make the sound a cat makes, meow, and say kittie kat is meowing.

Spend time each and every day, going over the words he is learning.

The thread below should interest you

Talking - How I teach Mishka to talk

 

[mtdoramike]

Senegals are great mimic'ers, but not great talkers. They can and will learn to talk, but the speach isn't very clear. If your Senegal has learned that much in that period of time, then that's about as much as you can hope for. But then again, there is an exception to every rule. So I wouldn't stop trying to teach him new things. He's still a very young bird.

My Senegal talked up a storm when we first got her and she had the cutest little voice. But once we brought Macky in the house over a year ago, she has stopped talking completely.

 

[Zuzu]

Ya kinda forgot to mention that part, when no one is around and he sees one of our cats while in his cage, he'll meow to imitate the cat and sometimes not always but sometimes he'll say "here kitty kitty". now mind you we got him as us being his 3rd owner, we didn't teach him any of those words except his name, cause he goes by either zeus or zuzu.

 

[Zuzu]

Mimic is right, the darn thing likes to imitate the phone, and he'll keep ringing ringing until somebody walks over to his cage and says hello. He does the microwave beep, house phone, the side screen door squeak, the smoke alarm reminder beep, the kitchen drawer screech cause the center wheel broke off the slide, and he does the fridge door open too long beep. also forgot to mention he did learn one word from us "cuddle" and at times he'll say zuzu cuddle, so we'll pick him up and hold him under our chin and stroke his head feathers in the opposite direction and he'll start purring or cooing like a pigeon.

 

[MeganMango]

Mango talks a lot when he thinks we cant hear him. I have found that picking one or two words/saying and repeating them all the time does the trick. We also give him treats whenever he says anything, even if it doesnt sound like what we are trying to teach. Dave and I even say it to each other when hes playing and cuddling so he hears it a lot. I think giving them too much at once just discourages them. We also do other trick training in-between talking. We start with easy things he can do to help build his confidence and make sure hes having fun before we start on the more difficult stuff. I think they get frustrated the same way children do, if they are struggling to do the tricks/say the words. Mango is a red belly, so not a senegal, but a cousin.