Will my feather baby trust me..?

[Knbg20]

Ok.. so long story (not so ) short..

(A little bit of info for reference- my parents had a GCC when I was a kid. I didn’t take part in training, but fell in love with the species)

I adopted my Green Cheek Conure from A pet store. He was clearly parent raised. We brought him home a week ago tomorrow. We were making great strides. He was coming out of his cage, chirping in response to us, following us as we moved, he actually let me hold him last night! I felt my sweet baby was coming around..

Then, tonight, I get home and open the door to his cage. Change from my work clothes and go back over to find a string wrapped around his little claw from one of his toys! I knew I had to get to him before it got so tight it ended up permanently hurting him. After a 10 minute scuffle around the cage, I finally got him. ( I know, I’m not supposed to chase him around the cage but I panicked and literally didn’t have any other mindset other than helping him to get free)

After I got him, he bit me. Over and over, I know he was scared. I was shaking myself, and scared for him. He drew blood a couple times. Finally had a clear thought and grabbed a towel to wrap him in. Talked softly to him the entire time.

FINALLY- I got it off. I put him back in his cage to give him space. He won’t even come out now. I feel like I have ruined everything and lost wheat little trust we had built.

Anyone had a similar situation? Did your baby ever come around? Any help much appreciated (including how to build trust!!)

 

[wrench13]

Welcome and be welcomed.

Luckily it is very very early in your life together. Start from ground zero, as if it was his first day with you. Go at his pace and DON'T push it.

 

[Laurasea]

Welcome, definitely you had to save him fro harm@.

Lots and lots of baby talk cooing, had feed treats like 59 times a day lol it really does work. You offer a safflower seed, ( conure Crack usually) but don't chase them with hand, they come to you, give treat say good, leave, or if you afraid out in treat cup and walk away.


Yes you can be freinds again.

If anything bad ever happens again try and end in a food note. Like save them, then give tons if treats right then by hand and sweet talking.

 

[clark_conure]

This happened early on but in my experience, GCCs think they are people and get over stuff pretty quick.

I have to cut their nails, I wear a glove with the holding hand...the bite they attack, I take off the glove and it's "so we going to the store today?" they really just don't care after the event once they trust you. It's like a kid going to the dentist, once it's over and a bit of time passed it's over.

I wouldn't worry to much and you did the right thing regardless.

 

[SailBoat]

As my good friend stated so very well! Start-Over Again!

Remember that only Good Things Happen When Humans are around!

It is always the fault of the Human!
It is never the fault of the Parrot!
This commonly requires a change in your vantage point from Human Centered to Parrot Centered. From this vantage point you can see your error and correct it!

So, yes you can Start Over Again! You can redevelop a Trust. It takes time and as Stated Above, all at the rate of the Parrot.

Sitting beside your Parrot and stating how sorry you are about the string in a soft vice helps. The more time that pass with only good things happening the more likely your Parrot will begin trusting you again!

And as state so well: You did the right thing!

 

[Laurasea]

Articles i think are great
https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/stress-reduction-for-parrot-companions/

https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/bird-behavior/

 

[Knbg20]

Thank you all so very much!! I am learning as I go, and so excited to find this forum!! Here’s a picture of my guy. I hope to make many friends, here!!

 

[clark_conure]

yep looks fine. trust already coming back.

 

[Knbg20]

He’s favoring it now. I hope he’s not hurt -sweet boy. When should his favoring be a cause for concern?

 

[clark_conure]

schedule a visit with an avn tomorrow, if fine before cancel or better yet keep appointment and get a good baseline weight and size, etc. I recommend a vet appt every 6 months.

 

[Laurasea]

We share your joy in parrots, and we all learn and share, lots if great people.

Read through active topics here now and then, you can pick up lots of great stuff that way.

He is cute, what's his name??,

Target training, can be helpful, you tube bird tricks videos has some good training and information

 

[JerryNewt]

Hopefully it's going a bit better now.

As some have stated, start over from scratch. Act as if your bird is totally new.

I've acquired a 2nd GCC which was parent-raised as well and they have a different perception of us than hand-raised GCC.

This worked for me, but it could also work for you:

1) Start by having him accept you near his cage. Make sure that you do this calm and slow, without a lot of background noise.
2) Once he accepts your presence, you can start your bonding with him through food. Find out when you push him (and he runs away) and use that as your starting point. Sometimes this means with the cage still closed. Treat him to his favorite snack via a stick or with your hand if he is comfortable with that.
3) If the cage can be open, keep repeating step 2 untill he doesn't mind eating out of your hand.
4) Once used to your hands, you can now finally start your bonding again. Let him do practice stuff like stepping or up following your hand for a treat.
5) let him out of the cage and be VERY calm if he gets nervous. Don't move untill he is calm and then slowly move your body back untill he is fine with it. Keep doing this untill he doesn't mind you near him and then keep treating him to his snacks as a reward.
6) from this point, follow any kind of youtube video on training and bonding and you're set.


If he bites, he bites. Don't fear it or the possibility or bleeding. I grab the beak of both my GCC and they don't mind. They're used to it and it helps them both realize when they bite too hard. Just DON'T push pressure on the beak (this will hurt).

My parent-raised need 5 days (8 hours of being near him) with the above to become fully tame as if he was hand-raised, but yours might take longer. Take your time with it, dedicate hours of attention to your bird and all will be fine.

 

[noodles123]

I'd go back to square one. I had a semi-similar experience with mine at some point early on (not quite as extreme--- but I pushed out of stubbornness and it backfired). You were wrong to push and you never want to ignore their signals to the point of them biting you, BUT- you CAN rebuild trust. You will have to be much more patient and move at your bird's pace, but if you resist the urge to push your agenda (I know it is hard when you feel like a prisoner in your own home) then your bird will eventually come around.


You just have to remember that this is up to your bird, not you. The only thing you can do is respect your bird's cues and read them. Failure to do so results in biting and fear because biting is a last-resort when everything else fails.


I made some posts on this thread that will also probably be helpful.


http://www.parrotforums.com/conures/88156-i-need-advice.html


see above. My responses to that poster are the same as what I would say to you-- I'd just prefer not to re-type it all lol!


It is really important that you know that biting is not generally natural in wild parrots-- it is an absolute last resort when nothing else (natural) is working. IF you are bitten, do try not to react in any way, but you must avoid being bitten at all costs, as biting stresses out the bird and opens up the potential for them to associate biting with manipulation. The less biting your bird does, the better. Birds do not have a dominance mentality (despite what some old-school trainers may tell you). You must lead with respect etc--never push or dominate-- it will not get you far. If it works temporarily, it is the same as making a human submit out of fear-- it isn't genuine and it will lead to more fear.