So, Rico has been doing great! Settling in really well and seems pretty happy. I decided to take him to the bathroom today, so we could work with him away from his cage. I had to towel him to take him there, and it took a few times to get him to stay on the t-stand. Once he did, I started talking to him and telling him what a good boy he was. I started putting my hand toward him, (honestly expecting a bite) and he just sat there. He let me rub his beak and then I started gently working on some of his pin feathers. He closed his eyes and seemed quite content. I kept telling him what a wonderful and good boy he was. Then I had Emily come in and she also was able to pet and scritch him. (I got a couple of good pics of that.)

I tried to work on stepping up. But he just seems to have no clue. He grips the perch with his feet and holds on for dear life. I tried pushing into him with my finger (has worked with all our other birds that didn't know how to step up) but he managed to lean far enough forward that he literally fell over my finger. If I move my finger up higher to try and push him slightly back to try and get him to step up - he just flies off or bites, really hard! I even tried just picking him up and sitting him on my finger, but then he just tried to bite me once he was sitting there and flew off.

So - is there another technique for teaching a bird to step up that might work better? Or should I just keep doing what I'm doing and he'll eventually figure it out? Then of course there's the 3rd thought of maybe I'm just moving too fast, too soon and should forget about stepping up for now and just keep working on him being comfortable with us petting/scritching him, which he seemed to thoroughly enjoy today.

Also - he does seem to enjoy being in the towel now. He didn't at first, but last night and today he actually seemed kind of happy when he saw me get the towel out. He doesn't try to move away when I bring it in now and loves me to scritch his head and sing/talk to him when he's toweled.

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	Rico scritch.jpg (47.8 KB, 5 views)

You might try the old hand held perch trick. Perhaps he's just not making the connection to what it is you want, and since he's apparently never ridden a finger before, he's fearful. He's more likely to recognize a perch as something he can feel comfortable stepping on to. He'll still be nervous and jittery for a while until he learns you're going to hold it steady and not dump him. You can be more insistent with him, since if he bites the perch, it doesn't hurt anywhere near as much! Once he's really comfortable with the idea of stepping up to a perch that is held by your hand, then you can try things like putting your finger under the perch when he steps up, beside the perch, over the perch.....you get the idea. Worst case scenario, he doesn't get comfortable stepping up to your finger, but will step up to a perch you're holding.

I have tried a hand held perch a few times, but he acts terrified and starts flapping his wings, squawking, and running/flying off. So I'm not sure, but seems like it might take longer to get him to step up onto a hand held perch!

OK sorry Stepht25 but is this a Quaker or Conure? Sorry I sorta forgot about Rico's story but he's new in your home, right? I'd totally say forget about it for now. IME a Quaker is going to wanna be out all the time and be a bit tricker too.

Either way, it depends on you and him and his biting deal but I wouldnt even bother with "step up" right away. I know it's the first thing everyone says to do but I never do.

Which IMO is sorta not logical for a new bird who isnt trained in it and strange to the people and home. I dont see the point. I know alot of people may disagree and yes you need to get him out blah blah blah...but I think having them WANT to come out, eat, interact, bathe check out your activites etc. I feel that forced step ups or laddering is really flooding unless they know you and are normal in every other way and well adjusted.

Everybody says OH if there's a fire I need to get them out. Well, IMO if there's a fire, they are going to be freaking out anyway. So you better have a grab and go and toweling system ready. With containers.

Anyway, my birds all step but I waited till they got to know me and got unafraid of my hands. Which some were. Some will let you scoop with open hands instead of a finger. Or an open palm. Or a wrist. Which is wobbly but they like it better.

IF they are tired, the Parrotlets follow you around with an open beak ready to bite at any infraction and it's so funny and I dont even mind a bite. But normally they just jump on for the ride. They also love a perch ride because I use it to go to specific places....on my hand it means they usually are invited to come on me.

You could try using a perch he's familiar with like the one in his cage. OR a really small one that's like 6 inches like a real tree branch sorta thing you screw in.

I've even just unscrewed a perch from the cage with the bird ON IT in my pet store LOL and out they came. That was for boarders since I refused to board a bird unless the customer agreed that I could take them take out ....they sorta liked it once they understood. And I always wore a sweatshirt if it was an Amazon ha ha.

Anyway, IF you dont feel like he'll bite you you can just let him on your chest or lap and get used to your hands that way. Even though it's unnatural to grap a bird from "behind" (above them) I do that too. So do my rescue friends. At first they dont like it it makes them feel like they are prey. But when they get used to it it's very easy to grab them from anywhere, like behind your head.

Granted this is tricky for a hormonal Amazon LOLOL or a Macaw.

Thanks for your reply Cindy, I always appreciate your thoughts and comments. Rico is a quaker, approx. 2 yrs. old. It's funny to me because if he gets spooked off his cage and ends up on the floor - he'd much prefer we scoop him up in our hands than step up onto us. (I guess mainly it's just weird for me because all the other birds would have rather stepped up than have us scoop them up when they first came! But I guess it makes sense if he has no idea what "stepping up" is.) If we're not near his cage - he seems to have no problems with our hands - as long as we're not trying to get him to step up. So I think I'll take your advice and just forget about that for awhile. He likes to sit on his booda perch, so last night when he was on the floor, I tried having him step up onto that - no go. So I just put my hand over his back and scooped him that way. Now I just have condition myself to forget about having him step up for awhile. LOL It's hard when asking a bird to step up has become like a second nature when you're dealing with them.

LOL yeah that's wierd about some of them preferring scooping. It just takes time. Maybe if you give him a little table with stuff on it he can play on away from the cage. Shredding and maybe weaving type activities. Then he wont be as cage protective and lower to the ground too. I never lived with a Quaker but my rescue friends all say they hate being in a cage and are different than other parrots in a few ways. I think the problem with the cage and hands is they are such strong weaver nest building birds hardwired like that...Parrotlets don't even bother to build a real nest and a Quaker's is a Sumo Megasize one compared to their size! LOL

I'm sure it will be easier once he's out of quarantine. Then we can set him up with an area to hang out on a majority of the day - away from his cage. Until then, my space is kind of limited. I took him back to the bathroom today after he took a bath and preened a lot of his pin feathers. I thought he was going to fall asleep he was so relaxed. LOL

Will he take treats from your fingers? If so, you can hold a treat in one hand so that he has to lean across your finger to take it, then progress to holding it higher so that he has to actually step up on the finger to reach it. Get him so interested in the treat that he forgets he doesn't like the finger.

He will eat some millet while I'm holding it. Once we try to work on stepping up again I will try to bribe him onto me using that. Thanks for the suggestion.