I have one and half year old Nanday Conure girl who's scared of fingers. She steps on my hand(to take her out of her cage) only when I'm wearing gloves. I can scratch her head with my bare hand and her back etc, but she doesn't let me touch her from anywhere else(basically everywhere she can actually see my fingers.) She doesn't bite hard though, she just makes that terrible hissing sound and grabs my finger and lightly chews on it. At first I thought she just doesn't like to be touched from these places, but she doesn't mind it if I do it with my nose or chin. How can I train her to not be afraid of my fingers?
Time and patience will benefit you greatly, Saying NO will not work...in fact in this case saying no will only create confusion, she is scared and letting you know this, to be reprimanded for that is wrong and will make the problem worse. What she needs is to be desensitized to fingers. You need to get rid of the glove, but this might be tricky. First see if you can stick train her to get her in and out of the cage, or if you open the door does she come out on her own? Either way you need to try to ditch the glove. Than you need to pay close attention to what you do with your fingers! Most people are not aware of the unconscious movements thay make that might be frightening to their bird. So when approaching your bird to step up are just to be near your bird make a fist, keeping those fingers hidden. See if she will use your hand or arm to step up on. If so and she is comfortable with this than start using your fist to pet her, always talk to her in a calm reassuring voice, and if she bites, do nothing, say nothing other than "it's ok" in a soft voice. If she see no reaction she will realizes a couple of things....one biting is ineffective, and the hand hasn't bite back so to speak and therefor is not dangerous. Also keep your hands below her eye level at all times! If she views fingers as a predator....well predators strike from above....see the connection. Do not wave you fingers around or anything like that. Keep your fingers either in a fist or a relaxed loose fist, not flexed out. Keep your hands free from rings, nail polish,(don't know if you are a girl or guy sorry) or anything potentially scary to your bird. As your bird becomes used to your hands in general and the glove has gone away, and she can either step up on a hand held perch or your hand or arm, you can start introducing your fingers again, but one at a time. Use your index finger and keep the rest hidden. Keep that finger below eye level and let her play with it, mouth it. Start by petting her beak and go from there. Make the session short but frequent. It will take time. I hope this helps. Let us know how things go.
Have you tried to just leave your hand in the cage door at the bottom while reading in order to show that your fingers aren't really scary. I would try not to make much eye contact at first, then you can gradually increase eye contact as comfort levels increase.
My Alex wouldn't take to the sticks no matter how gentle or persistent I was, and would absolutely flip-out if a glove were involved. Had to suffer thru barehand-training. No permanent damage to either of us I'm happy to say.
I don't use gloves when she's out of the cage - she has no problem stepping up on bare hand when she's not in her cage. She takes sunflower seeds from my hands and I can put my fingers close to her, but she refuses to be touched(unless it's back of the head, back or tail, in that case she has no objections :P) from anywhere else. So basically, what I'm trying to say is that she's not always afraid of fingers, she just flips out when they are near her face or touching her chest.
I can't leave my hand to lay at the bottom either, her cage is over 7ft high and she's not scared of hand as whole, she just hates fingers, especially near her face.
Your other option would be to simple not touch her face or chest. Petting in general in not something parrots understand well. They are not mammals who touch each other to reinforce bonds, they are birds so instead they feed each other. Petting is something we teach our birds to accept and enjoy, but not all parrots will accept this. Petting a bird on the tail and lower back is typicaly accepted by birds simply because it is those areas that trigger breeding responses.
Scared of fingers.
Sponsored Links
Linear Mode
