Can the "stay" trick be taught to a Conure?

[superchook]

Hi all,

I have a Conure who is about 1yr old now (still quite young) who has expressed a behaviour that I would very much like to have something done about.

It seems that Possum doesn't like to be more that 2 meters away from me when out of the cage. I had noticed this months ago when I'd have him out and I'd leave him on the sofa while I'd get up to change the TV settings only to find that he'd fly that distance to perch himself back on my shoulder again. I didn't take too much notice of this at first as I thought it to be quite cute. However we had a pretty nasty and sudden storm yesterday where I'd come home to find that the weather had managed to reach his cage and turn it into a bathing pool- considering that his cage was in such a state and the weather was to continue, I figured that he should sleep in my room for the night (on a perch). I used to do this with my parrots when I was a kid, so I figured "why the hell not?". Only to find that once again, he wouldn't let me out of his sight! I had to brush my teeth with him with me... you get the idea about the rest. Only to find that the moment the lights would go out so that I could finally get some sleep- he would manage to fly his way over from his perch to my pillow and nestle up by my neck. This didn't seem like a good idea as I wasn't too keen on the idea of waking up the next morning to find that I'd A) rolled in poop, or B) rolled on Possum. I ended up deciding that (seeing that it was completely out of the question to have him sleep outside) I should set up a box padded with a blanket and loosely have the lid on top and I feel like such a bad mum for doing so- but there was nothing else I could think of.

I'm certainly not complaining about it however- as it's always a good thing to know that your baby loves you too, but I would like to know if there is something that can be done about it as storm season is coming (and being in the tropics, you never know when they're coming- therefore no preparation can be done) and Possum may have to have some more sleep overs than usual and I most certainly don't want to keep him in a box each time (this is his first Storm season since he was a baby- where he used to sleep in my room back then anyway).

I suspect it may be because he has attachment (or rather, separation issues) as he is a very friendly bird and only ever bites (with intent to harm) when I try to take him off my shoulder or put him back in his cage. Other than that, he's the nicest thing since cotton candy.

(Do you think I may have mothered him too much? My house mates have a bit of a running joke that he's a momma's boy).

Please, help me if you can.

[Michael]

What's wrong with the bird continuing to live outside through the storms? From what I understand, you have an outdoor aviary for the bird and live in a climate similar to its natural habitat. If that is the case, as long as you provide some trees and shelter inside its aviary it should be fine. Birds do live through storms in the wild.

So the way I see it you only have 2 options

A) Provide shelter and continue leaving it outside
B) Buy a sleeper cage to let it sleep in when inside

This is not an issue of training but rather an option of logistics. While it may be possible to train a bird to stay when there is positive reinforcement involved, I don't think that you can train it to stay on a perch in a room and not come to you at night because being with you is rewarding while remaining on perch is not.

Bad behavior (could be considered good at other times but you clearly consider it bad here) has already been reinforced and instilled in the bird so it would be very hard to undo it. If you set up boundaries and guidelines from the beginning it may have left some more room to work with but since all it wants now is to be with you, you cannot really untrain that. If you had not bonded so much to begin with it may have preferred to sleep on its own on a perch. But now that it prefers you and it has its freedom, there is not much you can do.

I liken this situation to letting a young toddler sleep in a bed rather than a crib. If you give it the freedom, you have to life with the free decisions it makes.

[budgiebuddy]

I agree with michael! I might also sugest adding a section onto the aviary that has a closed roof and sides. For your bird to go to sleep in and shelter from bigger storms when it wants to get away. It is just a sugestion that I have seen before.

[HyperD]

Could you get a travel cage for him to sleep in the night?