screaming for attention.. help please

[Annne]

OK.. no matter how much i've read and prepared for.. My little sun conure screams for attention. If i'm not in the living room he screams and screams. I've tried just calmly saying "it's ok".. or a little whistle to try and establish a contact call... but he screams even louder!.. i've tried to ignore him while he screams and not enter the room until he stops.. thing is i can't keep doing that. He screams from 10-25mins non stop and today i've tried to clean the whole house and i don't have time to stop every time i need to go into another room for a 2 second job.

Please can anyone give me advice.. or reassurance he's going to get over this haha. I am really patient but when i'm walking up and down and trying to clean the whole house on my one day off, his screaming is really getting to me. Also when i come back into the room he screams for a few minutes at me.. every... time.. so it's so frustrating when i wait for ages in the hallway for him to stop and then having him start again when he sees me... then the whole cycle starting over.

experiences and advice will be really appreciated,
annne

[GlassOnion]

Best things are: IGNORE and PREVENT screaming.

When he screams, do a quick contact call and if he doesn't stop, ignore at all costs. Even if it takes hours, ignore him. Buy yourself a pair of earplugs, it will be an amazing investment. When he finally makes a desirably sound, or stays quiet for let's say 5-10 mins, go and praise him.

Another thing is to prevent screaming. If you know that he wants to be included in certain activities, bring a stand over so you guys can be in the same room.

But the most important thing you can do is IGNORE. My Cockatiel had a serious screaming problem when I got him last year, but I dealt it by giving him lots of things to do, setting up small playstand/perches around the house for him to fly to, and mostly ignoring the screams.

Giving in to him is the WORST thing you can do, and will only reinforce the problem forever- guaranteed.

[Annne]

ok thank you! That all sounds do-able. But with entering the room while he is still screaming is that ok as long as i just don't look at him and ignore him? I did alot of entering and exiting his sight all day today cleaning and i was thinking maybe he thought his screaming is making me come back into the room. What do you think?.. because it's so hard to wait till he is finished screaming to enter the room. Even if he hears a pep from another room he starts screaming again. His hearing is incredible haha

[GlassOnion]

Do not enter the room. If it helps, you might consider moving the cage to a different place?
It takes literally hundreds of times to fix a habit, so you better be tough!

[captwest]

Something i've found to be a quick and easy fix. If there's someone who the bird really,really dislikes get them to go to the bird as soon as he starts screaming, have them talk and coo and act very pleasant, usually the bird will calm down very quickly. I've had amazons stop this behavior in 2 or 3 days.I'm sure others will give you other solutions but if this works it usually works quickly and just needs a bad guy, no long drawn out training.Just be consistent for the first few days ,if the bird calls for you by screaming ,bring in the bad guy,if he "ask" nice then you go.Give it a try, and good luck.

[MrsArmstrong]

... If there's someone who the bird really,really dislikes get them to go to the bird as soon as he starts screaming, have them talk and coo and act very pleasant, usually the bird will calm down very quickly...

That's just brilliant! I've had trouble with this same issue. I've tried ignoring but she can go longer than I can. Going to try this out with my hubby and see what happens! Thanks!

[coral]

sun conures are known to be pretty loud :/ my pionus used to scream when i first got him idk how long youve had your conure but it does get better i promise. just try to ignore it and reward for good behavior. when i know my parrot really wants to be with me and im walking around the house and stuff ill just bring him with me, if its parrot safe try to include him in it. good luck keep us updated