New Red Belly

[MOJO]

Hi all, I am new to the forum. I just purchased a nice little Red Belly named, you guessed it, Mojo. He/she is 4 months old and I have only had him for 2 days. When I hold my finger up for him to step up he likes to bite me. I grit my teath and take the pain so as not to startle him and gently tell him no and slowly pull my finger back. He likes to come close to me when the cage is closed but when I open it he seems to get a little scared, and walks to the side and turns his back on me. Any tips on getting him to warm up and help his transition from the pet store would be helpful.

Thanks

 

[Lori]

I would use a dowel or perch to step up train. At this point he is still settling in with time and patients you will have a friendly bird.
Handel him often even if for short periods. You can use a treat if you want for a reward. and sound excited when he does what you want. The more he is handled the better he will become and want to be with you. Good luck.

 

[Auggie's Dad]

Yes, stick training as Lori said would be the first thing.

Other things to keep in mind: birds don't want to step up to an unstable perch, they aren't dumb, they see our hands and fingers flailing around all day then we ask them to step up onto a finger. Mojo needs to learn to trust you, and trust that your hand/finger is a stable perch.

Auggie was well trained for the step up, then suddenly he quit stepping and would just chomp down as you are describing. There are two things I did to get past that. First, I changed his view of my hand: Instead of offering one outstretched finger I kept all my fingers together (karate chop style) and he seemed much more comfortable. I don't suspect this will be the case for all birds, but do try different things as you never know what will work. Another benefit of changing the view of the hand is if there is a habit established of SEE OUTSTRETCHED FINGER -> BITE FINGER then changing the view of the hand is changing the stimulus and hopefully avoiding the pattern.

Secondly birds do not take well to surprises. If Mojo has had some training in stepping up then give a good clear command "step up" before your hand goes near him. Basically he thinks "step up? WHERE? ... OOOH there." rather than "What the heck is that hand doing? I don't care what you're saying, Im biting."

Lastly be patient and give him time. A change in surroundings is stressful for a bird. Even without much work with stick training or anything else Mojo will likely warm up to the idea after a week or so. Don't force anything at this point. If he doesn't want to come out of his cage yet don't worry. Let him get used to seeing you as the one who brings food and treats every day, cleans the water dish, etc etc. Let him learn his surroundings aren't going to change again and he will warm up to you when he realizes this new place is home.

 

[MOJO]

Well, I spent all evening teaching Mojo to step up on a stick instead of my finger and since he is in love with cheerios I use them as a reward and it worked! He is stepping up on the stick already and eating out of my hand. I am trying not to let him come out of his cage by himself, only when he steps up on the stick do I let him out, its working great so far. I hope cheerios arent bad for him since he is absoloutly crazy about them. He even lets me rub my nose on his beak already so progress is good. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Auggie's Dad]

great to hear. As far s the nutritional value of cheerios: everything in moderation, but cheerios are a great choice for a reward treat. Oats are just as good for our feathered friends as they are for us and cheerios are enriched with some vitamins and minerals also which are also good for Mojo.

 

[MOJO]

Should I try giving him a bath yet? He doesn't seem to want to jump in by himself. As far as I know he has never had a bath.

 

[Auggie's Dad]

Some birds do enjoy diving into a bath, others don't. Either way they rarely need the type of "bath" we might take, but a little wet down with a spritzer bottle helps them groom themselves.

Auggie recently had a bit of an injury and I had to put him under the faucet and rinse him off every day - it was miserable for both of us. Normally I just give him a little misting every day.

The key is try some different things. Some birds like running water, like a slow running faucet, others like shallow pans of water, others go for misting. Interestingly there is ONE mist bottle Auggie LOVES and one he HATES. I can't tell the difference by their spray, but apparently Auggie can.

 

[Lori]

I use a glass pie plate with warm water if I wiggle my fingers in it my Sennie goes right in. I also use a spray bottle, he thinks that is fun.

 

[Tracy842]

Popsicle's favorite place to bath is her water dish she does that every few days and drowns herself and I spray her every other day which she does not really enjoy to much. I find that my birds prefer the water to be hot when the get misted, experiment a bit and see what Mojo enjoys. Mojo might hate and first but grow to love it, thats the way Pepsi was.

 

[MOJO]

I don't think he knows what to think of the mister bottle I use, but at least he's not freaking out. Still slow going on the step up trick but at least he steps up on the stick, thats better than nothing.

Thanks for all the help!

 

[TexDot33]

Something else that needs to be brought up here, since MOJO, is still very young ... it might not be a "biting" thing as much as an "exploratory" thing. Remember, birds explore their worlds through their beaks. Mojo, only being 4-months old, is still in that "beaky" stage of their lives. Another thing that Mojo doesn't understand is that while he is exploring he is biting too hard and hurting you ... so I would look into discouraging the "beaky" issues and look into bite pressure training him while he is still young and set this acceptable behavior early in his life.

:50:

Welcome to the forum, can't wait to see some pictures of Mojo

 

[Auggie's Dad]

Good call tex....

Deja vu - wasn't it a bit ago that the same topic came up and we each posted the same things, except you the training and me the exploring....

With everyone here were bound to hit all the important points somehow.

 

[TexDot33]

AD that's what it's all about here ... helping each other different ideas, different experiences different areas of expertise ...

Really, we are all one big, happy, dysfunctional family.