blue@cam.nist.gov (Jim_Blue_x3809) (02/22/91)
We are new owners of a friendly 12-week-old African Red-Breasted Parrot, poicephalus rufiventris. He likes to come out to play, but drops his droppings fairly indiscriminately on shoulders or laps. What techniques have people used to train their parrots to use the cage bottom and spare the clothing and rugs?
ooblick@intercon.com (Mikki Barry) (02/23/91)
In article <7374@fs2.cam.nist.gov>, blue@cam.nist.gov (Jim_Blue_x3809) writes: > We are new owners of a friendly 12-week-old African Red-Breasted Parrot, > poicephalus rufiventris. He likes to come out to play, but drops his > droppings fairly indiscriminately on shoulders or laps. What techniques > have people used to train their parrots to use the cage bottom and spare > the clothing and rugs? You are lucky in that the bird is very young and will easy to train. Begin by timing his droppings. They are usually about 20 minutes apart. After he completes one, say a "magic work" (we use "go"...we used to use "shit", but this is embarrassing with Amazons :-)) and praise him. Then take him out of the cage. Just before his next one is due, hold him over an appropriate receptical and say the word until he goes again. Praise him and perhaps give him a treat. It won't take long before he knows that he should go whenever you tell him to. As long as you can remember every "n" minutes to give him the opportunity, he should be easily trained. These little guys are far from stupid. Mikki Barry --
rka@cci632.UUCP (Robert Anton) (03/01/91)
In article <7374@fs2.cam.nist.gov> blue@cam.nist.gov (Jim_Blue_x3809) writes: >We are new owners of a friendly 12-week-old African Red-Breasted Parrot, >poicephalus rufiventris. He likes to come out to play, but drops his >droppings fairly indiscriminately on shoulders or laps. What techniques >have people used to train their parrots to use the cage bottom and spare >the clothing and rugs? Opus, our cockatoo, learned quickly by methods previously described in other replies. In addition to verbal cues at appropriate times ("kaka"- sh_t in many foreign countries), we found that rotating his training stick in the direction of his natural "kaka" motion (bird must be on stick) assisted in getting the point across. When we moved from CA to NY, Opus rode in the car with us in a dog kennel. He never once "kaka'ed" in his kennel. His requirements were a rest stop every 1 to 1 1/2 hrs. Usually he had to go so bad that I barely had time to get his butt out the door.