Starting with this adopted 2.5 years old CAG

[macbrush]

I got this 2.5 years old Congo African Grey which I named Spencer just a few days ago from his previous owner. The owner said he had to gave him up because he's going to study abroad.

The first impression is that Spencer is evil, he does not appeared to be scared or anything. He would pick food right out of my hand the first moment he arrived my place, will make noises when I walked out of his room... etc. But he bites, to a point that he actually lures my hand into his cage to take a bite. I tried using a few things around his cage to let him explore a bit, and he gladly test them out with his beak except that I accidentally found out that he's absolutely terrified by wooden chopsticks. So i figured, with combination of aggressive biting, and reaction to chopsticks, he probably had history of abuse, by the owner, or a member of owner's family; something like a kid always stick chopsticks into Spencer's cage to tease the bird.

So I tried out the method in "Teach Parrot to Step Up and to Come Out of Cage" posted by Michael. And to my surprised, Spencer gets all the ideas very quickly. Even with the chopsticks, first time I stick a chopstick into his cage, he withdrew to the back of his cage high up, after a couple of tries, he was confident to touch the chopstick while hanging upside down, a few more tries, he's already on his perch, and then he's not afraid of the chopsticks anymore in less than 5 mins.

He did that lay low and swing left and right on the floor the first night, but he's already back on the perch sleeping without a sound the next night, so I guess he's comfortable resting. Now he's constantly swinging and stepping left and right slowly while bobbing his head during the day, not sure what that means but he would make some beeping sound while doing it, so I guess he's happy.

Anyway, since i am very new to parrot. I would like know to what you guys think about Spencer? How should I proceed with training, am I on the right track? Any useful hints and suggestions?

Thanks a bunch!

Cheers
Kenneth

[liz]

Welcome to the forum.

It sound like he wants out. Biting at you or anything put in the cage could be that he is using it as leverage trying to pull himself out.

[macbrush]

What should I do if I am not comfortable letting him out, since I have no idea how to put him back. Maybe I should continue the target training until he really chase the stick for a treat, and then let him out, at least I have a way to lure him back to the cage. Sounds right?

[liz]

Let him out so he can get some exersize and wear himself out. Then put a treat in his cage. He will go back.

[Mona]

Hi:

Greys are pretty smart. 2 1/2 years old is a "teenage stage" that they go through. They are really easy to teach but they will test boundaries.

Do a lot of research. It is available in books and on the internet. The main thing to always remember is: Greys will manipulate you. They are very smart and that is what they do. Your task is to teach them to manipulate you using acceptable behaviors. Do not reinforce unacceptable behaviors.

As far as biting goes, don't reinforce the bite. The best way to do that is to avoid any opportunity to get bit. You can't really punish birds very well. They are programmed to avoid things that are unpleasant (by flight) so it's better to just set things up for success and try hard to avoid reinforcing anything that you don't want - like biting. Avoid bites at all costs.

Spencer is still new so it's going to take you a few months to really get to know him so his personality comes out. Right now, respect the boundaries that he sets. Greys are usually understandably cautious.

Have a lot of fun. I absolutely adore my greys. They are lifetime companions and like wine, they just get better as they age.

Thx

Mona

[Naurthon]

I wouldn't read too much into Spencer's being cautious about chopsticks. Greys are known for being unsure about new things. It is the reason I take Dante to the store when I am buying him new toys. I want to give him the chance to pick out something he likes rather than have him being fearful of something I brought home for him.

As for the biting, are the bites enough to hurt, or is he just grabbing your finger with his beak? The latter is called beaking, and it isn't an aggressive action. Parrots explore things with their beaks, so you can pretty much expect that almost anything presented to a parrot will find itself in contact with the bird's beak sooner or later.

If he is actually biting enough to hurt, you might try luring HIM toward your finger rather than letting him lure your finger to him. Offer him a treat...one big enough that he can safely take it from your fingers...and make him stretch for it. Once he's reached as far as he can, especially if he's had to press his face up against the bars of the cage, he won't be able to bite.

Also, keep in mind that just like he's new to you, you're also new to him. It can take a while for him to develop trust and affection toward you. Be patient, and enjoy your new grey!

[macbrush]

Thanks for all the reply, Spencer really is great, he's already talking to me "hello, wai wai" simple things like that, and trying to get me close all the time. I think he really wants to come out, but I might just give it a few more days since I need to build up my own trust towards to him, and I need to clean up the surroundings a little bit more, lots of things around my house will fall or collapse if a bird land on them.

I tried many things with Spencer, especially stick like objects such as different types of pens and pencils, metal sticks, and remote toy linkages. He's not afraid of anything, in fact he's quite interested in them, but he recognized the chopsticks immediately and retreated very quickly, that's why I thought he's a history with chopsticks. But then he's not afraid of chopsticks anymore, so I guess even if anything really happened, it wasn't really too bad.

As for biting goes, yes, it hurts. The first few times, it just out right hurt; then the last couple of times, he would grab my finger, and increase the strength until it is "quite hurt"; so I guess I am making progress as far as our relationship goes. But I would take the route of avoid biting "AT ALL COST", I am not very good at pain... LOL But then he wouldn't bit if I have a treat in my hand right from the beginning unless I get too close, so I guess biting shouldn't be too much of a problem to solve.

BTW, he's been doing this dancing thing. Does it has any special meaning? Stress? Nervous? Territorial?

[Naurthon]

When Dante uses his beak too hard on me, I tell him "gentle!" once, and if he doesn't stop, I put him back in his cage for a little bit. Now he understands that when I say "gentle" it means I don't like the way he is touching me. He has actually said "gentle!" to me when I was trying to touch him under his wings once. LOL Unless he is frightened, he really doesn't have any reason to bite you, and he will learn the appropriate amount of pressure he can put on your finger when beaking you, as long as you let him know when enough is enough. Some birds will also bite when they are being put back onto a perch or into their cage after you've been holding them. They would rather be held than put away. I have this problem with Maxwell, so I've started giving him a seed just before I put him back in his cage. That way his beak is busy with something OTHER than my hand. Dante doesn't do this, but it might be something to be aware of with Spencer.

And to me, that dance looks like "I'm being cute. Take me out of this cage!" as much as anything else. Dante doesn't dance like that, but he does do a head bob when he wants attention.

[liz]

I have never seen such a cute dance. The wings mean he wants. It could be he wants almost anything but I believe he is begging to get out.

[macbrush]

I kept on the targeting training for the last couple of days, now he's mostly willing to follow the stick anywhere in the cage; not like in a couple of days before that he would stopped and look at me as if I am tricking him if I place the stick too far or require too much work to get to. But then even now, if it is really tricky to get to, he would just nibble towards that direction see if I would let him have the treat (of course not), before he would actually go there to touch it.

He's still doing that dance thing, whenever I sing/talk to him, when he's looking at the window, or after I played with him. Last time, he just keep dancing until i get close to the cage ask him what he wants, then he gone to the bottom of the cage keep dancing while growling at him, I tried let him do a target and give him a treat to distract him, he just grab the treat and throw it away... so I just kept on talking to him until he gets back to his perch and calmed down a bit.

I also tried many times opening the cage to let him out, I opened up all the gates and stood a few feet away to see if he comes out, but he didn't seem to really interested in coming out. I have tried while he's dancing (he just keep on dancing), after he's played with me, and while he's calm going about his own business to no avail. I have also tried targeting to lure him to get to the gate, I was hoping to get him standing on the gate, but he seem reluctant to reach too far, the best he did was one foot on the door then he retreated straight away after he's done targeting.

I guess I still have some way to go until I gain his trust, as well as to build up my own confident in reading his body language.