Scary Suzy

[Anne]

First I will give you a short history of my blue fronted Amazon Suzy.
I adopted here on 2. March 2010. She was in an outside aviary (cage) and was al alone. No other parrots and almost no attention from humans. The people where she lived is the place she was born. They had a lot of parrots for nursery (I don't know if that is the right word, but the people had parrots to get baby parrots from) She was the only one that was never sold and the people didn't want to get baby's from here (I don't know why, maybe a lack of space)

They told me that she was only 1 year old. But the ring she has says that she was allready 3 years old when I adopted here.

Suzy is a really sweet bird that talks a lot and makes funny sounds. But she has a few things that I don't understand and maybe you can help me with it.

- From the beginning she wanted to get out of here cage, but only when I wore my pyjamas. When I had clothes on that I would where during the day, then she wouldn't step up. Now she doesn't even always step up even when I am wearing pyjamas.
- When she is out of here cage, she loves it. She is happy, interested in al things that are happening, doesn't seem to be scary at all.

But mostly when I want to take her out of her cage, she is scared. She tries to ga as far away as she possibly can in here cage. She is nog agressive. But when I will pull my hand further to here, then she beginns to make a lowe sound (a little bit like a growl) She can bite than, but I can see she doesn't want to do that, she is almost scared of biting me.
When I am very patience, I can wait and wait, but she wouldn't let me see a diffrent behaviour. I tried that often and be patience for 15 minutes to half an houre, but nothing is changing.

The other thing is that if she is in the cage, she doesn't want me to change toys. She will defeat her toys and is agressive on that moment. Mostly I ignore it and change them anyway. And after that she is happy with her new toys.

So I think that is the big picture of here "problem" behaviour. Maybe something isn't clear for you yet or you want to know more, please ask me.

And my big question is: what can I do to make here less scared to she wants to come out of here cage and have fun? And what can I do to make here less agressive if I want to change toys in here cage?

I hope you can help me to make Suzy an even more happy parrot then she is now.

 

[CrazyEyes]

she is being territorial of her cage. open the cage and let her come out, then see if she will step up. change toys when she is away from her cage.

birds don't like for you to come from above. that's why a lot of birds are frightened when you try to retrieve them from their cage. when they are outside of cage is when you can approach with your hand from lower.

 

[Anne]

I have tried that before, but she doesn't come out of her cage by herself. But I will give that a shot today.

 

[MomtoPercy]

Hi and welcome, Anne.

I will try to offer some advice, let me know if I leave something out.

My bird has never been cage aggressive really but I'm sure if you give Suzy a choice and then respect that choice, things may improve. Offer your hand and if she doesn't want o step up, leave her. Just remain friendly and say something like "don't want to come out now? Ok!" and walk away. Next time you walk by her cage, offer her a small treat or foot toy just for the love of it. Every so often, ask her to step up and if she does so, reward her profusely. I also have an amazon and one thing I've learned is the harder I try, the more he pulls away. Just let it happen. Leave her cage open when you are home and can supervise and if she comes out, ask her to step up. If she does, again reward a lot! Lots of "well done good girl!!" Etc, and a special little treat you save for training purposes.

Since she is protective of her cage, I recommend that you don't 'mess with it' while she is 'home'. Wait for her to leave the cage and then rotate her toys. I like to only change out two toys max at a time so as not to confuse and overwhelm my baby.

Good luck with Suzy! Can we see a pic of her?

 

[Anne]

Thank you so much for your advice. I will try that with her! And let you know how it goes.
Good thing also with the treat. What treat do you give your Amazon?

I will post some pictures of my birds later.

 

[MomtoPercy]

I give mine a single sunflower seed or a tiny piece of pecan nut for 'getting it right' when I train him. He loooves them but I ration them heavily because they're so fatty and amazons are prone to obesety. That said, my zon always always gets a pumpkin seed for going 'home' without complaint. Works like a charm

Other treats you could try (because you have to find that one thing your bird will go wild for) - single pomegranite seeds, tiny pieces of banana or apple, etc. Anything that you don't feed lots of and that he will be willing to 'work' for.

 

[Anne]

Ok nice. I have sorted some sunflower seeds for her so I can take one easily to give it to here as a treat.
Here first reaction to an open door of her home was: you can open it if you want to, but I am gonna stay in!
But that's okay. I will give her the opportunity a lot and maybe on some moment she will come out.

 

[MomtoPercy]

Good! Remember - don't *entice* her out with the treat. First she must come out and then you reward and praise. Keep trying as often as you can, be very patient, you'll see results in time.

Good luck!

 

[Kiwibird]

We also have a blue front amazon. My husband can get him to step up from inside the cage, but I usually have to open the door and let him climb out first before he will step up to me. Have you every tried allowing Suzy to climb out of her cage before asking her to step up?

Kiwi doesn't get to be in his cage while I change out toys. I set him on his t-perch and let him watch me from outside the cage. He is never happy when i take his old toys away, but before I put the new ones in, I take them over to him, show him, pretend to play with them myself so he's SUPER excited to play with them once he goes back in his cage.

I personally do not use treats as rewards for good behavior. I don't always have a treat on me when Kiwi does something good or learns something new. Plus I don't want him making a mess with food in the living room or bedroom. I prefer to use verbal praise and to give kisses instead. It doesn't matter where we are or what the situation is, I can always give him a kiss and tell him he's a good boy. We do, however , allow him to be at the table for breakfast and dinner and give him bits of anything safe for him to eat. He SO loves that, and it's a great way to bond with him each day.

 

[Anne]

I am now trying to let Suzy climb out of her cage and not tried if she wants to step up. Madam sits in er cage and ignores the open door completely and does everything she normally does when she is in here cage.

But I will be patient and let the door of her cage open on the moments I am at home in the same room (so I can watch here if she climbs out her cage)

 

[Kiwibird]

Does she not come out of her cage at all?

 

[getwozzy]

I think with time, she will start to come out on her own- since she wasn't handled or around humans much in her previous life, it's understandable that she's wary. Just keep at it- sometimes it takes quite a while of persistent consistency (lol if that makes sense!)

Do you have a T-stand or a play stand you can put next to her cage? Once she wanders onto it you can move her out of sight from her cage- it's amazing how different their attitude is when they're not around their cage.

 

[Anne]

She sometines steps up and then she is out of here cage. But she doesn't climb out by herself. I have a play stand that is next to her cage.

 

[Kiwibird]

Some birds become "cage bound" where they don't want to come out of their cage (or at least, don't realize how much fun they can have outside their cage). She might be suffering a mild form of this behavioral problem. If I were you, I would try placing a fun toy or perhaps a dish with some fruit in it on top of her cage (make sure she sees you putting it there) and open the door. It may take a few times of doing this before she comes out voluntarily, but when she does, praise her. Take baby steps with her so she becomes comfortable with being out of her cage and learns that it is fun and interesting to come out and explore. Eventually, she will want to be all over and with you all the time Here is a comprehensive article about dealing with cage bound birds that may help-

The Cage-bound Bird

 

[Anne]

The strange part is that sometimes (like this morning) she did step up and was out of her cage and she always has a lot of fun then. If she is out of her cage, we have always fun. She isn't scared at all, very curious, talks, sings, is dancing, all the crazy things she can.

 

[Anne]

So, I've got some new views of Suzy this morning. When she just woke up, she immediately steps up on my hand in her cage without any problems. She , oves to play out of her cage. I first took her with me through the house and she loved it. Curious about everything, exploring everything. And now I put her on the top of her cage with some toys so she can play there. And she is playing and talking and never tries to climb back in to the cage (what xhe can if she wants to) I try to give her a positive feeling about playing on the top of her cage so maybe later today she will climb out of her cage by herself because she maybe remembers then that it was fun there.

 

[Kiwibird]

Glad to hear Suzy came out and that you made it a positive experience for her. The more positive experiences she has outside the cage, the more often she'll want to be out.

 

[Anne]

So, I am a couple of days further with working with Suzy. Time for an update!
Every morning when I come to here to feed here, first thing I do is opening her cage. I have on those moments the best option for getting her out by stepping up my hand. I listen to everyone's advice. I let her choose if she want to come out and be positive, even is she didn't want to come out. She seems like an happy bird with that choice. But she always chooses to not come out.
Every day I let her cage open for houres. She never had climbed out of her cage by herself. So in the last couple of days she didn't get out of her cage even if she had much options to do come out.
She seems like she is a happy bird. She doesn't screem, makes that sound with her beak (I don't know how it is called in English), talks, plays, eats normal, sings, whistles....
So that is how it is going on this moment. Not much of a progress. But I won't give up!
Every thought about Suzy and her "I am staying in my cage-behaviour" is welcome.

 

[Mishcka]

I have had my Little guy for over a month now and he still will not come out of his cage on my hand. I just open the door and turn and walk away. I place food ontop of his cage and fun toys and he knows when he comes out it will be funtime for him so he has learned over time that if he comes out he has fun, but it took 3 days the first time to get him to come out. I just left his door open and he came out on his own one day to see what was ontop of his cage. Another thing my little guy dont like hands so im not sure about yours but i use a step up dole so as not to freak him out when he needs to go back in at bed time.

good luck with your baby !

 

[MomtoPercy]

I'm glad to see that you're remaining positive with Suzie and leaving the choices to her. Keep at it - she will come around, you will see.

Like Kiwi said, make any out of cage time extra rewarding for her - soon she should look forward to it

I'm not sure if it has been said but if she has a favourite treat, let her see you place it (or even a few of them) just outside her cage - even on her door if her cage has one of those doors that open parallel to the ground.