Still making progress or has halted?

[momo]

Hi all,
So I am still trying to tame elmo.. still with really no success..
he will sit on my shoulder while I do things.. only sometimes flying away.. but I always catch up in my hands before he gets to the floor.. which sometimes ends up like playing tennis because as he feels he's on land.. he tries to fly away again..:rofl:

anyways, I read that you should take your bird with you everywhere with you.. even the shower!!.. so today I thought I would take elmo into the shower with me.. we have a handle thing in the shower but he ended up on my shoulder.. he seemed to enjoy the water.. anyways after a bit of flying away and a bit of catching in the shower.. i ended up holding him on my hand and I could pat him his back which sometimes I can do.. so I thought i would try to push it and give him some scratches, it worked for about 30 seconds until he decided to bite me... reallly hard:x... he has learnt that when biting your nail, as to try to flick it off is fun. (I try not to flinch but sometimes he just gets that spot where you think your nail is going to go flying across the room)

anyways.. does it seem that maybe elmo is not a patting type bird?.. that he is the exception to the cuddly bunny rule?

[Pips mom]

It's possible.......only time will tell. Pip will never be a cuddly kind of bird as he doesn't really like hands much. The best I get from him is sometimes he will sit on my shoulder, or on my head for a little while, ohhh and he does the same thing.....he will bite at times! Like if I give him a treat from my hand, maybe a sunflower seed, he will bite my hand most times....he has bitten me pretty good a few times, but if he lands on the floor, I can go pick him up and hold him for a few seconds and sometimes he will just sit calmly and let me pet his head......he always nips a tiny bit when I do this but he never bites hard and it never hurts when I try to pick him up.....as much as he hates hands, he does seem to tolerate them at times.....yeah for like five to ten seconds! then he's off! That's ok though.....I love him just the way he is.....my little monster! He has his own little way of letting us know that he likes us......you can still have a great relationship with your lovie, even if he isn't the cuddly affectionate type!

[HaleBoppPeachyluv]

how old is/how long have you had elmo?

I can just about relate... I'm frustrated with my new fid. Sunnybird runs from my hands, but once I catch her, she will sit nice as you please on a finger as long as there are no other interesting/scary noises happening.... but the first time she hears any passing bird, she flops toward a window.

She will let me skritch her after I give her her meds...but only until she remembers that my hands are scary. She will listen to me (sometimes) from inside her cage when I babble at her, but if I shift my weight or scratch my nose, she backs up & hides.

I keep having to remind myself that she's only been "home" for a week & I can't expect her to behave like my maka....and even maka started out as a scaredie bird.

Luck to you!

[momo]

Ive had elmo for nearly over a month now.. he's about 3 or 4 months..
he lost the last bit of black on his beak last week ... but i think he's beginning to molt because I am finding little feathers all around. so Im not sure if he's 3 or 4 months.. because the black on the beak i read indicates three months.. but the molt indicates four.. when I got him the breeder man said he was already three.

i still love elmo even if he doesnt like a pat.. .. although i can pat him with my cheek thats about it hahahaha. but its a bit awkward.

the only real way I know that elmo doesnt completely hate me is sometimes when I leave him in a room by himself he will cry out to me until i either move him to the room I am in.. or I move into his room. and he likes to preen my hair. will give me kisses.. sort of on command... about 70% of the time.

he doesnt run away from his play gym which I am a bit surprised considering I thought that maybe he still didn't like me that much..and it's the best chance to run away...though he stays in there sometimes plays.. sometimes sleeps.. never runs away or flies away from it..

though the odd chance he does fly away to the floor.. he wont jump on my hand.. but will jump on my arm instead..

he's just a hand hater. hahahahhaa.

Pips Mom.. elmo does the same thing with treats.. he will eat from my hand but if he thinks my fingers are too close to him he lets me know.. very hard.. I could take his bites when he was younger but he's getting stronger and stronger.

[HaleBoppPeachyluv]

i still love elmo even if he doesnt like a pat.. .. although i can pat him with my cheek thats about it hahahaha. but its a bit awkward..

Sunnybird lets me get as close in with my face as I like. She'll let me kiss her back or snorgle her, but skriches are strictly restricted for after meds, just before bedtime.

I find that if she is already sleepy & the lights are low, she'll let me skritch & even start closing her eyes....until I move to put her back in her cage & then she starts fussing/wiggling/worrying.

We had a good moment with "step up" today though... she's starting to do step up without trying to flap away.... as long as I am standing up in the middle of the room. I think she has realized she doesn't get very far since she has been clipped. She doesn't like it at all though, but she's also not running away as hard when I try to pick her up....

I try to remind myself that I've got anywhere from 10-15 years or more with her & there's lots of time yet....

[momo]

When elmo decides that he wants to escape he ends on the floor and I get down on my stomach and surround my arms around him so he has to jump up.. but I always put him back on his playpen..

so now he knows if he jumps up he will go to the play pen other.. before it was a long game of chase (cause I didnt want to towel him..).. *sigh*

oh you're lucky when your baby is sleepy/low lights that you can give scritches.. last night I put my feet up on the coffee table where elmos play pen was.. and my toes were attacked.. he also ran from the other side of the play pen just to attack my wiggling toes.

I guess slightly grateful elmo isnt a cuddley bunny... because I dont feel bad when I leave him at home to go shopping.. he couldnt care less hahaha.

though I left elmo with my boyfriend this morning.. and he said elmo was squarking all day but when I came home he stopped. I take this as a sign of love.. the only sign but a sign. :)

[Elle]

My first loverbird was over a year old when I got her. And she was a wild one!
I had her wings clipped and I would try to force her to stay on me so she would get used to me. Sometimes she would stay because she just didn't have a choice. Most of the time, she just did not want to be on me and try to fly away. I would cath her and try again

I decided to take it easy. After all, not all birds wants to be tamed. Not all of them wants to sit on your shoulder and get scrtiches. So I stepped back and I let her be. Don't take me wrong, I would still talk to her. I would offer her toys and try to play with her. But I would not force her to be on me.

After having her for about 11 months, her flight feathers started growing back. I was truly amazed and excited the day she decided to fly to me, on her own and sit on my shoulder for a few minutes then take off again.

From that day forward, she became tamer and tamer. She would come to me when she wanted to. Not when I decided to. She taught me that because I am bigger then she is, I cannot force my way onto her. She has to be willing and interested in knowing me.

Sam turned into the most tamed lovebird I ever had. It was very hard to get her out of my shirt and back into her cage in the evening. When you talk about a velcro baby, she was the perfect picture of it.

With Phoebe, some of you know that she was a rescue from a pet store, on the verge of getting killed by her cell mates. We never expeted her to be tamed. A few months ago, she decided that she loves her Petie enough to come visit us because he does. What bird see, bird do.

She now lands on our shoulder, or in the middle of our backs for a ride along. She doesn't want any scritches. Afterall, she has an expert, Petie, to take care of that spot that's itchy. However, she chirps back to us. She loves to preen our hair and play with our ears.

She re-enforced my belief that you cannot impose your will onto others. Lovebirds are social by nature. catch their interest with food, catch their interest with toys and buttons. Try to sneak a scrith in there so they know what it is. But take your time and most of all, give them to time to build trust in you.

[momo]

thank you for sharing elle!! it's good to know I'm not alone or that I did something wrong.
I initially tried the.. going to a small room.. trying the step up.. I think this made it worse.

Nowadays.. I try to sometimes feed elmo from hand.. If he flies to the floor I put my arms around him and he will jump and I have a bit of a walk around with him to show him I'm not bad... but he's become very bitey since yesterday (when he bit my toes that were on the coffee table.

I think I shall take your advice and leave elmo as he is.. he is the only one I have so sooner or later I hope he will take to me for company... hopefully..

[Pips mom]

With Pip, I can't even get my face too close.....one time I got bitten on the lip!! ouch! but we do have this little thing where I kinda tuck him at night before covering him when I can put my face pretty close and so far he won't bite at that time.....he will try to nip a little bit, but there's a big difference I notice between when he wants to bite, and when he doesn't! It's funny because there are times when he will not bite, times when he will nip more gently and then times when he will bite.......and you learn what things will make him bite......if you try to move his toys around in his cage and he's nearby....he will bite! don't touch my toys!! and if you try to offer a treat with your hand, most times you get bitten....I think those are the only real times he tries to bite hard, but then try to pick him up against his will and all you get is a little nibble here and there.
Most of the time Pip is pretty independent and won't look for attention from us or land on us much. Some times though he surprises me and comes over to me and gets on my shoulder, which is a real compliment for me, seeing as he's in love with Ivy and has the choice to go to her to to me. They have their own little personalities, likes, dislikes, and what's cute is that they easily communicate to us what those are and it's so easy to see just what they are thinking!

[Bubblelady]

RE: fingers & toes

Both Buddy & Bo love/loved to play "Attack the Toes" Some mornings while I'm still in bed Buddy will burrow under the covers & go straight for my toes & chase them with wings flapping & beak wide open as I try to keep my feet away from her. It's one of her absolute favorite games. Makes a pretty good alarm clock, too. My legs get tired before her wings/beak, so the only solution is to get up!

Buddy, who is about as tame a lovie as you will ever find, will step up on my finger but that came later in life. Initially, she insisted on an arm. She will go to anyone, but only to arms. I think it is a trust thing. She loves skritches but if I approach with a finger too quickly, I will still get nipped. And anyone but me who wants to skritch has to approach VERY slowly. Bo wasn't like that so it took me a while to learn that the problem w/ Buddy was more the speed of the approach than the approach itself. The same w/ food. She loves to be hand fed but again, I must offer her the food VERY slowly or I will get bit. And when there is food in my hand it is a bite, not a nip. As Pip's mom said, they all have their own personalities & are very good about letting us know what they do & do not like, if we will only pay attention. I read a great line (in a very enjoyable book--"The Parrot Who Owned Me"), "It is impossible to discipline a parrot because they are wild animals." The author went on to explain that even capitive bred & tame parrots are still not domestic animals because the species hasn't been out of the wild long enough to become truly domesticated. Which is probably why they are so independant--which is part of their charm. It is a true compliment when a parrot decides to accept, and even love, you!

[Elle]

thank you for sharing elle!! it's good to know I'm not alone or that I did something wrong.
I initially tried the.. going to a small room.. trying the step up.. I think this made it worse.

Nowadays.. I try to sometimes feed elmo from hand.. If he flies to the floor I put my arms around him and he will jump and I have a bit of a walk around with him to show him I'm not bad... but he's become very bitey since yesterday (when he bit my toes that were on the coffee table.

I think I shall take your advice and leave elmo as he is.. he is the only one I have so sooner or later I hope he will take to me for company... hopefully..

I'm not saying stay back and watch. You need some interaction with them to teach them that's it's okay, it doesn't hurt. You will learn at what point you reach the limit where your lovebird says " Okay, it's too much, I don't like that." If you can leave them hanging for more, even better. Taming or socializing a bird takes a lot of time. There is no quick fix or secret method to make it happen faster.

Just take your time. Lovebirds crave attention. In time, he will ask for more attention that you can offer him :)