Scared of hands

[jousze]

I POSTED THIS HERE BECAUSE I DIDNT KNOW WHERE TO POST IT!

Hello, well so I have a little cousin who has a lovebird, the family has had him for like 5 years, and he didn’t go out the cage much... I didn’t know at all about this.. well so today I’ve been speaking with them and I may “rescue” him.

My doubt here would be: apparently he is really scared of hands.. he has been hand raised, but some time after they stopped taking him out the cage so well he started being scared..

How could I do to get his trust back? Any advice? I’ve never had a lovebird, but I’ve had cockatiels and budgies which are “similar” in size and all that.

Any advice would help me with this. I’m going back to Spain for the Christmas holidays next weekend so I will already take him, clean his cage, vet visit, etc...
I hope you can help, thanks!



Jose

 

[ChristaNL]

Get him psittacosis-tested at least, the smaller parrots/parekeets are massive cariers!
(for a lot of the nasty diseases btw)

Forcing meds into that chap for about 8 weekes is either going to tame him or make him hate hands even more...
(and the law will make you treat Mambo as well since they share the same house)

Just go by the usual "bonding with your parrot"-steps.
It may take some time, and lovebirds are famous for being enthousiastic biters.

Maybe find out male/female?
(the ladies usually are far more fierce and persistant in the biting than the gentlemen)

 

[jousze]

Can’t anyone help?

By the way christa, I will test him in everything and it is a male fischer!


Jose

 

[GaleriaGila]

Here is a link that may help with general bonding...
http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/49144-tips-bonding-building-trust.html
As far as hands, specifically...
Some will say I have let him get away with too much, and that's a fair criticism, but, well... I'm okay with it. I don't do stuff that makes him mad... I don't touch others when he's out; I rarely try to get him to step up onto my hand first. Hand-held perch first, then hand. In some ways, I'm disappointed/embarassed at having such a little monster for a pet, but he is what he is. I ALWAYS wear my hair down when he's on my shoulder, so all he can bite is hair. Really, I don't involve hands much... he doesn't like them. He seems to think the real ME is my head, perched on a weird moveable tree with questionable appendages. Since he's fully flighted, the ONLY way I get him into the cage is to toss a chile pepper in and he flaps in after it.

 

[SailBoat]

When developing a relationship with a bird, it is important to remember that likely due to our size difference, they do not first connect our face with our hands. As a result, hands can be seen as something even more dangerous than our face, like a snake. It is very important that 'only good things happen when humans and their hands are around.'

Since you did not indicate whether the bird is scared of the human, I can only guess that may also be true. The bird being comfortable having humans around is step one.

 

[jousze]

Here is a link that may help with general bonding...
http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/49144-tips-bonding-building-trust.html
As far as hands, specifically...
Some will say I have let him get away with too much, and that's a fair criticism, but, well... I'm okay with it. I don't do stuff that makes him mad... I don't touch others when he's out; I rarely try to get him to step up onto my hand first. Hand-held perch first, then hand. In some ways, I'm disappointed/embarassed at having such a little monster for a pet, but he is what he is. I ALWAYS wear my hair down when he's on my shoulder, so all he can bite is hair. Really, I don't involve hands much... he doesn't like them. He seems to think the real ME is my head, perched on a weird moveable tree with questionable appendages. Since he's fully flighted, the ONLY way I get him into the cage is to toss a chile pepper in and he flaps in after it.

Thanks!
It has to be really frustrating for you.. is it rickybird???


Jose

 

[jousze]

When developing a relationship with a bird, it is important to remember that likely due to our size difference, they do not first connect our face with our hands. As a result, hands can be seen as something even more dangerous than our face, like a snake. It is very important that 'only good things happen when humans and their hands are around.'

Since you did not indicate whether the bird is scared of the human, I can only guess that may also be true. The bird being comfortable having humans around is step one.

I don’t really think he is scared of humans, apparently the problem is when they try to take him out of th cage, he will just fly everywhere cause he is scared of the hands


Jose