bird into a pet carrier?

[rebeccaturpeinen]

Hi, I have had my rosella parakeet for a month now and we are trying hard and have made a lot of progress but what is the best way to teach him to go into a per carrier without totally freaking him out? I have to bring him to my bird sitter in one and a half week and would really like to teach him that it is ok to be in there while we drive over. I have now put the pet carrier on the bottom of his cage so he can get used to it.... but he is staying well away from it even with traets in it. I really dont wanna to try and physically grab him right before we have to go on a car drive... and tricks?

[entrancedbymyGCC]

How hand tame is he? We have one that's a clamshell style and I just opened it up, asked Scooter to step down, told him he was a good bird and closed the top! I'd think this would be a good application for target training, but there are others here with far more experience.

Must be a sizeable cage if you can put a whole carrier in the bottom and not take up all the room! I think Scooter is jealous!

[TheNzJessie]

does he come out on your hand? if he does you could make it extremely rewarding every time he goes closer to the carrier

can take his food away for a couple of hours then place food inside the carrier and reward him when ever he gets close to the carrier until he find the food inside

[Kim S]

Have you already tried just putting him in there while he sits on your hand? I honoustly never thought about it before putting Kika in the carier, and since he didnt make a fuss, I still dont. Maybe youre just making this worse for yourself than it actually is.

[Rue]

I tend to be too 'nice'. But I've learned, after working in an aviary setting for a short time, that sometimes it's easier to just take the bird and put it in the carrier (or do what needs doing).

Make the experience as positive as possible...talk nicely, offer treats, etc., but just 'do it'.

[rebeccaturpeinen]

thanks for all the advice!! he isnt really hand tame yet, thats why i can not really just put him in. but he is close to hand tame though we have now hung the pet carrier in the cage all the way on top and he definitly isnt scared of it. we have put some yummy treats in it so its just a matter of time now.

[ptuga72]

Sounds like a good plan!

[skeetersunconure]

well its mostly of a Desensitization issue i think so now that he's not scared you can now start luring him best of luck!

[Kim S]

Right, for a bird thats not hand tame this might be the best way to go. Be sure to use treats in the carrier that he doesnt normaly get. Speeds up the process.

[rebeccaturpeinen]

i WAS making it worse then it actually was ... we simply put some millet in the pet carrier, he went in and we closed the door!!! HAHA thats how easy it was. he screamed a bit and then continued eating. Then we drove him to the birdsitter, it was an hour drive but Joey didnt mind at all. the birdsitter had put up this nice big cage for him and we brought all of his toys and decorated. Joey wasnt spooked at all, just very curious and explored every inch of his "summerhouse" and then took a bath . he has two very big ara (think thats what they are called, they look like these --> ) as neighbours so he can talk with them the hole day (he didnt seem scared at all). the birdsitter promised me that if Joey would get spooked at all later on she would move him to a more private area. it is actually a store that specialises in birds (they take care of birds during the summer) so Joey will have lots of visitors all day and the owner of the store looked very interested in Joey and was gonna continue with the training. i am soooo happy we found this place. now we go on vacation for 4 weeks. im suprised by how much i miss Joey already (even his screaming!) even though we have only had him for a month. this vacation was planned way before we found Joey, otherwise we would have probably stayed home. it feels good that he is in a nice place though.

HAVE A NICE SUMMER!!!!!!!