Training Yoshi, re-homed 3 year old Eclectus

[Sterling1113]

Hello all. So as you may or may not know, a week ago I brought home Yoshi to live with my boyfriend and I and so far he's been quite the character. He steps up onto a perch from the cage since he's not too fond of hands while he's in/on his cage, but from there he steps on to hands/arms just fine.
However, once he's off the cage he's trying to get back and will jump to the floor to head back to his cage any chance he gets. Any suggestions (other than bringing him out of the room, because that doesn't seem to help.) to help him focus on us rather than getting back to "base"? I was thinking about covering the cage while training, but not sure how that would work.

 

[Anansi]

Hey, Ashley. One idea would be to take things slowly and in increments. When you first take him off the cage, try sitting near it while you spend time with him. After a few days of this, move your chair a little farther away. After another day or two, farther and farther yet, until ultimately, you are able to leave the room with him. This could take several days, or even several weeks, but with time his trust in you will grow even more.

It's all about his comfort level.

Of course, if he's cage-aggressive even when he's just close to the cage rather than only when he's up on it, this idea would prove somewhat less effective. But hopefully that's not the case.

 

[Sterling1113]

Hey, Ashley. One idea would be to take things slowly and in increments. When you first take him off the cage, try sitting near it while you spend time with him. After a few days of this, move your chair a little farther away. After another day or two, farther and farther yet, until ultimately, you are able to leave the room with him. This could take several days, or even several weeks, but with time his trust in you will grow even more.

It's all about his comfort level.

Of course, if he's cage-aggressive even when he's just close to the cage rather than only when he's up on it, this idea would prove somewhat less effective. But hopefully that's not the case.

He isn't cage aggressive when he's near it, I could stand with my back against his cage and him in front of my chest on my arm, but as soon as I turned just enough so that he has a clear pathway to the cage (unless I'm using my other arm as a barricade, and even still he will jump under my arm) He will hop down and waddle back to his cage. And of course once he's on the ground I don't want to scare him or stress him with the mini "chase" to get in front of him before he gets to the cage, as I don't want him to have a reason to be afraid of me.
I am however trying more to take it slow. I take him off the cage maybe twice a day (depending on his mood.) for a few minutes at a time, once he decides he's had enough of humans and jumps to the floor he's done. Or if he does really well and doesn't try to jump after 10-15 minutes then I'll praise him and take him to his cage myself and ask him to step-up on the perch outside his cage, from which he will usually retreat back to the top hehe. And if he doesn't want to step up on the perch or retreats behind the cage then I leave him alone until he decides he's ready to step up when asked. The last thing I want to do is stress the poor boy out haha. And I always wait until he comes out of the cage on his own before asking him to step up, so he can feel safe in his cage instead of feeling like he has to defend it anytime my arms are in there for any reason(messing with toys, perches, etc.)

 

[aether-drifter]

I think he just needs time. This is all VERY new to him...it could take months for him to really settle in and feel safe. I would just offer him tons of treats and as much positive reinforcement as he will take. Eventually, he will get used to his surroundings and not cling to his cage for security...it just might take a while.

 

[Sterling1113]

I think he just needs time. This is all VERY new to him...it could take months for him to really settle in and feel safe. I would just offer him tons of treats and as much positive reinforcement as he will take. Eventually, he will get used to his surroundings and not cling to his cage for security...it just might take a while.

That's what I figured, I guess I have to learn how to be patient sometime, eh?
Oh well. Hopefully it won't take *too* long before he accepts food from my hand. He hardly takes fresh foods from his food bowl haha. Just gotta keep trying new things until I find out what he likes.

 

[aether-drifter]

What about using seeds as a treat, since you are weaning him off of them (in his main diet)?

 

[Sterling1113]

I could try something like that, maybe millet or just sunflower seeds would do it. It's almost bed time for the birds tonight but I'll definitely give it a try tomorrow