Ask Lafeber

Ne disciplinirani papagaj

Pozdrav, imam mužjaka nimfe starog oko godinu dana, a kod nas je tri i pol mjeseca. Došao je iz vrlo loših uvjeta i u početku je bio jako plašljiv. Bojao se svega. Dugo smo se bavili njime i postigli odlične rezultate. Sada zna stati na prst, maziti se i uči razne riječi. Međutim, u zadnje vrijeme (od kada sam bolesna) primijetila sam da se ponaša malo previše bezobrazno. Na primjer, sluša samo kada on hoće ne kada mi to od njega tražimo. Također, ako ga želim po maziti po glavi dok je on na svom kavezu bježi od ruke no ne izgleda kao da se boji pa da zbog straha od ruke bježi ili kada on sam želi da ga mazim tijekom maženja mrda glavu te me na kraju ugrize. Rekla bih kako je nediscipliniran, a ponekad imam i osjećaj da me ne voli. Što je uzrokovalo takvo ponašanje i kako ga spriječiti? Unaprijed hvala.

Hi Vedrana,

It is very important that you understand all parrots are exotic pets and not domestic like a dog or cat. You can’t train them like a dog and you definitely can’t discipline a parrot. You will lose his trust if you try to discipline him. Parrots will only learn from positive reinforcement – offering treats or positive attention for good behavior and ignoring unwanted behavior.

All parrots are prey animals, so if you grab or reach for them, they feel threatened like when a predator tries to catch them. Sometimes they do this when you try to pet them on the head. And most pet birds will bite you or move away when you try to pet him in the cage or through the bars. The cage is his home and he only sees fingers as an intruder. You also mentioned being sick and he may sense you are weak. A weak flock member can endanger the flock, so he might be insecure around you right now.

I will give you the links to our behavior and training pages to help you understand better. I would also recommend our free webinar this Friday, which is about behavior. You can view it live, or later on YouTube. If you register for free, you will get an email with the YouTube link after the webinar. YouTube will also add captions in other languages about a week or two after we post the video, so please keep checking back if you need the translation captions.

Pet Bird and Parrot Behavior

Teaching Your Bird

Here is the information for the webinar:

https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/webinar-the-grey-way-why-understanding-instinct-is-the-key/

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda