Definite weight and treats

[sidech]

Hello all,

I'm hoping someone will have these answers. My little brown head is currently 3 months old and weighs 133 grams. Is this his definite weight or will he gain a little bit more and if so, how much more do you think (I'm just curious, it really doesn't matter).

Second, I want to start training him but haven't found a treat he's really into. I've tried millet, nutriberries, bananas, spaghetti pasta, bread crumbs, and a few others. Can I have success just with praise if I can't find anything ? What do you suggest ? I bought my clicker and found some nice sticks for targetting, so I'd really like to get going.

Thanks !

[sidech]

Anybody has an idea on this ?

[skeetersunconure]

i use sunflower seeds and saflower i like the saflower better because its smaller and skeeter can eat it faster. mostly skeeter will eat any nut seed or anything in his treat container so.

[sidech]

ok, I'll buy some unsalted sunflower seeds, good idea.

[TheNzJessie]

your bird also has to be a bit hungry to want the treat. sometimes if they are hungry enough you can get away with using there every day food.

[sidech]

Ok, I'll take that into consideration too, thanks.

Anyone about the weight question ?

[Michael]

May or may not gain weight. I wouldn't worry about it. Between when I got Kili and now she's barely gained anything. She was around 110-115g when I got her and now she'll run up to 135g on the full size but come down to 110g on the empty side. So I think it's more of a matter that she stretched her crop than gaining weight. Truman on the other hand came to me at 300g although the breeder shipped him out at 315g. But by now he's been reaching over 330g at his fullest. So it seems he's still filling out a bit.

As for treats. Take your parrot's food away for the last 3-6 hours leading up to training (experiment with less time first but if it doesn't work increase progressively to 6 hours). If your parrot is on a pellet diet, then just buy a parrot seed mix and use anything in that as a treat. Don't forget your parrot may have never tasted these other foods. So you must first introduce each of them and let the parrot start to like them. Then you can stop giving them ever and use only as treats. So you can teach the parrot the new foods and clicker simultaneously. Click, give never before tasted treat, etc. Then by the time you've established a treat, you've also established the clicker.

[Anna]

I think he will gain a little more weight after the first molt. "Baby feathers" weigh less than "adult" ones.

[sidech]

Great advice and knowledge, as usual, thanks everyone !