My Lovebird is scared of me.

[Faux]

Ok I have had Newt since the middle of december. She was hand fed. She doesn't try to bite me when i put my hand in the cage. She is scared of me. I have her sitting right next to me by my computer so she is near me for 7 or so hours a day. Sometimes more. When I come in the room she will leave the perch and huddle in the top back area of the cage and once I sit down she will jump back on the perch. She will also do the same when i push back from the desk and stand up from the chair to walk away. I have tried several methods to get her to trust me including the ones in the sticky article on the index page. I have tried removing the food and putting some on my hand. She will not come near my hand although she did sometimes in the beginning. I have tried just opening the cage door for a couple minutes at a time and then closing it. She gets plenty of sleep and my apartment is very dark once the lights go out. I really don't know what to do. She also will absolutely not eat pellets or anything other than seed. I have tried introducing other things slowly and she will just stare at it and then start rattling the food door that holds the food cup sort of saying hey wheres the food and whats this crap you left in here lol. She does have a good personality and will sometimes come up to the front perch and stretch her heck up to see what I am doing but if I look over at her (blinking profusely) she will only stay there for a moment before retreating to the back of the cage. I need a bird whisperer or something lol. Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong or what i am not doing?

[Michael]

Try flooding.

[Faux]

How would i go about doing that in my situation?

[Michael]

If you have in fact tried everything you can using positive reinforcement and it is definitely not working out, you can attempt to use negative reinforcement instead. You said that the target training/positive reinforcement methods are not working for you so I'm going to present an alternative. Basically it sounds like you are too laid back with the bird. Either you are scared of the bird or you just are too hands off. The fact that the bird sees you 7 hours a day is probably making it even worse.

The parrot is in a habit of "see" but "don't touch" with you. You've established this. You've established that you are safe to look at. However, the fact that in several months you have not handled the bird only reinforced its opinion that you are meant for looking but not touching. Now it's time to turn that around. Reach into the cage, corner the bird, and grab it from the back. Don't squeeze the belly cause that would cut off breathing. Squeeze from the top where the back and wings are just hard enough to keep it from being able to get out. It may try to bite you. If you can just take it, that's the easiest way. Just ignore the biting and wait for the bird to stop. If you are a bit scared you can use your other hand to hold its head or beak so that it cannot bite you. If you are really scared you can try wearing a think leather glove to do this.

Hold the bird until it stops biting. Even if it stops biting for just two seconds, release it and let it sit on your finger. If it will take treats from you then give some now. Wait a little bit and then grab it again. Once again wait until it calms down and release. Repeat this process. Eventually you should start to see some progress. The parrot will bite less, further apart, or after a longer duration if you are doing this right. Once you can get to a point where you can comfortably have the bird out of the cage, put it on a perch and attempt to follow my target training method anyway.

[Faux]

Ok that sounds doable accept the catching it part. I have tried catching it in the cage and I am afraid of hurting her. The only way I have had any success is with a towel. She sees the draping towel as a wall so she doesnt just dodge it and run around or fly around. When I use a towel she doesnt bite at all but she does struggle to get out and will basically burst out and away as soon as i let her.

[Michael]

You can use a towel if you have to. The issue seems not "Lovebird is scared of me" but rather you two are both scared of each other. If you take the bird out of its cage, does it sit on your finger once put there?

[Faux]

The only time she has sat on my finger is when I let her out once and had to catch her and she sort of accidentally landed on me lol. This was when I first got her. I am going to try and catch her right now and see what happens. I will repost once I have succeeded or failed.

[Faux]

Ok well i caught her with a small towel and then i was able to figure out how to catch her bare handed. She struggled alot and bit alot lol. Its not too bad though. It gives me courage to do it again knowing what to expect. How often should i do this per day?

[Michael]

Depends on how the bird is doing and how you are. No more than 30 grabs a day I would think. Break that up into 2-3 sessions rather than all at once. Don't towel that many times though. Toweling shouldn't happen more than the first few times really. Hold the bird in your hand a little bit till it calms down or stops biting and then offer treats. As soon as you can get the bird out of the cage and have it sit on your finger without jumping off, you can start working on target training and step up. Try pressing your finger by its feet and under the belly and usually they will step up automatically. Say step up when you do this so the learn the verbal cue as well.

As soon as you are getting the parrot to sit on your hand and not go anywhere, definitely transition more toward the things I've mentioned in my articles. Here I'm just telling you how to get it out and how to use negative reinforcement until it has gotten the scaredness out enough to a point that you can hold it on your finger.

[Faux]

Ok thanks alot. I am starting tonight and its getting easier each time. And she is biting less and less. She still seems scared but what you said about not having contact for months made alot of sense so I will stick with this until she will stand on my hand.