Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My blue front is a really sweet bird. i just bought him about 3 weeks ago. He is about 10 months old. When I first bought him, he didn't kow the step up command. Now he steps up and down on command when out of his cage. the problem is, when he is inside the cage and I tell him to step up, he doesn't.. it's like he becomes paranoid. he run away and hisses.. Is there anyone who has had this problem and how did they solve it.. ????? Please help!!!!!!

That definitely sounds like a training kind of issue.

I'd recommend Sally Blanchard's books The Beak Book and the Companion Parrot Handbook.

When my bird is feeling cranky I either lure her out with a treat or distract her with one hand [something in it usually like produce or toy] and then have her step up on the other hand simultaneously. I know some folks stick train their birds to climb up on a dowel and then they move them away from their cage into a neutral room where they feel less terroritial.

I've read some more about this in Sally's books.

Good luck,
Leilani
Our Bird Journal

If you have him stepping up from hand to hand, try getting him to step up from a perch, to your hand (a perch you`re removed from the cage/a spare perch). Once he`s got that down, you can try it in the same room as his cage, and get increasingly closer to the cage. Then you can try attaching the perch to the outside of the cage, and getting him to step up from there. When he has that down, you can try stepping up from the top of the cage. And from there, finally progress to stepping up from inside the cage.

Keep training sessions short and positive (15 mins tops, with lots of praise, kisses, scritches, and treats!) Go only as fast as your bird allows. If you try to go on to the next step and get complete failure, try backing up to the previous step and working that a little bit.

Hopefully this will work! Goodluck!

Thank You.. Really Good Advise!!!!!!!!!!!!