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How to Potty Train Parrot

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Re: How to Potty Train Parrot

Postby Mangoismybird » Tue Mar 27, 2012 8:13 pm

Do you think it's worth waiting until your parrot can fly to begin potty training?

I have a clipped Jenday whose wings i'm letting grow out. She has, as she's grown, become more sensitive to pooping on me to the point where she definitely holds it in beyond 30 minutes when she's on my shoulder, without any training or anything. I think she just pieced together the my putting her down to clean up her mess to the fact that she pooped on me. When she can't hold it in, she squeaks and backs to the farthest edge of my arm/leg (if she's on my head and shoulders she climbs down to my arm) and poops off the side. Good sign?

Also, do you think parrots are more considerate on some people than others? My bird definitely tries not to poo on me, but doesn't really have a problem on any other people. :? How do I teach her to start caring about other people too, or at least encourage her to avoid pooing on others?
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Re: How to Potty Train Parrot

Postby Michael » Tue Mar 27, 2012 8:28 pm

If you read the article, you'll see that it's more about timing and effort on your part than the bird's. So the majority of it is managed thus. However, we do work with them to poop more on perch and not on us which in effect teaches them to hold it in. You can get a good head start on potty training by teaching your parrot to poop on a specific place (I suggest Parrot Training Perch) while it isn't flying. Put the parrot on that stand first thing in the morning (without giving it a chance to wake up and do its business in the cage by covering it at night). Also whenever the parrot is on you for enough time that you think it will poop soon, put it down on that stand. Wait until it poops. When it does, pick it up and back to enjoying itself with you. This way it not only learns when to poop (being put down) but where to poop (training stand). This way when it's flighted, it is more likely to go there to poop than other places.
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Re: How to Potty Train Parrot

Postby AuraKiwi&Jala » Thu May 31, 2012 5:40 pm

Hello I just adopted 3, 5 month old conures. I have only had them a few days but we are having great progress with getting to know each other.
How soon can I start potty training I don't want to confuse them by placing them in and out of the cage ( they still don t like to be carried out so I wait till they come out on their own)
I guess a perch would be ideal...don t have one yet and would also rather they go in cage
Thank you :gcc:
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Re: How to Potty Train Parrot

Postby Michael » Thu May 31, 2012 6:07 pm

AuraKiwi&Jala wrote:How soon can I start potty training I don't want to confuse them by placing them in and out of the cage ( they still don t like to be carried out so I wait till they come out on their own)
I guess a perch would be ideal...don t have one yet and would also rather they go in cage
Thank you :gcc:


Potty training should be low priority right now. Let them adapt and learn to live in your household. You can still refer to the timing and out of cage to perch method when it does not involve any new or difficult behavior if they are tame. However, you shouldn't proactively potty train them until they are well established (and a bit older if they are less than 9 months).
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Re: How to Potty Train Parrot

Postby scully3915 » Thu Jul 19, 2012 6:27 am

i trained my little conure to poop over my bin, with most animals its all in the routine, and saying the same thing with phrase after. I have not bothered with my maxi, but it would be nice sometimes if he was! Hes out alot in the evenings and i wear a really crappy dressing gown, for this reason. :lol:
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Re: How to Potty Train Parrot

Postby mustangman6799 » Tue Jul 24, 2012 10:05 pm

I've had several birds over the years- B&G Macaw, Citron cockatoo, several lovebirds, Quaker, Sun Conure and currently, I have a Congo African Grey. All of which were rescues of some form or another and I rescued Simon when he was 5 months old for $400.00!

My :gray: is about a year and a half old and is the only bird I have ever had to try to potty train and is also the only bird who has refused to learn. Do you think this is because they are more intelligent than the other species I have had so he does what he wants instead of what I've tried to train him to do? I have tried your methodology of having a specific pooping place and I've trained him to poo-on-cue, but, even though he knows where and when he's supposed to evacuate, if he's pooping of his own accord, it's usually on the floor at the base of his cage. Rarely does he poop in his cage or on his training perch.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thank you!

P.S. Michael, I really appreciate what you do here. You help countless people (including myself) become better bird owners. Thank you for teaching me to teach my birds. You should really set up an account of some sort so people are able to make donations to you for the information you provide.
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Re: How to Potty Train Parrot

Postby Michael » Tue Jul 24, 2012 10:12 pm

I don't collect any donations but it does help when people buy my products. I have a new set of DVDs out that should be fascinating to any parrot owner as they cover a bit of everything about parrot ownership.

As for your question, one thing I can tell you is that parrots generally don't like to poop in the places they inhabit which obviously makes sense. I can tell you that Truman is way more messy when it comes to poop than Kili. He seems to have less regard for where he does it than her. It may be that he's bigger or just younger.

I'd say to focus on the morning poop method for starters and see where you can go from there. Setting up a dedicated poop perch may be a good idea if you think he really holds it in to avoid pooping from his training perch or approved places out of habit. Otherwise I'd leave him down until he does poop (which obviously takes a lot longer on a bigger bird and thus slower to teach) and then hold him for a while and then put him down again until the next one. Much harder with a flighted parrot though.
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Re: How to Potty Train Parrot

Postby laducockatiel » Wed Jul 25, 2012 2:11 pm

Ladu pretty much potty trained himself :lol: whenever he is on my shoulder or on my hand, if he needs to poop, he just jumps off and poops somewhere else (usually the sofa...but it's better than him pooping on me lol).
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Re: How to Potty Train Parrot

Postby elswithp » Wed Aug 08, 2012 8:50 am

My U2 has sort of potty trained herself. She gets antsy when she has to go, and I just put her on the rope perch (newspapers below) that I have between the two cages, and she goes. Then I praise her, and pet her, and pick her back up. I can't even remember the last time she pooped on me. She also has a special place outside of her sleep cage where she poops (again, newspapers below). Sure saves a lot on cage cleaning! My Amazon is starting to get the idea - she likes the attention she gets and the praise when she poops. So - it is not hard if you are attuned to your bird.
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Re: How to Potty Train Parrot

Postby hlasdf » Thu Mar 14, 2013 12:37 am

Michael wrote:Well once they are potty trained, you can hold the bird away from stand for 15-25 minutes and they will hold it in and when you put them down on stand they will drop it immediately so you can go back to doing fun stuff together. The bird just becomes accustomed to the site of the stand every time it poops because you always put it there prior to it pooping, so it becomes learned through habituation.

I had read elsewhere that birds do not have sphincters and therefore cannot hold in their poop. Does this only go for certain birds?
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