won't step up inside the cage

[Zoey]

Hello everybody,
I am new here and i am also a firs time parrot owner. I got "Zoey" from a certified breeder and she is 5 months old now. We got her 4 weeks ago.
In the beginning she wouldn't let me come near her..complaining and biting...i earned her trust by now and she is a really sweet girl..
She just doesn't want to step up when she is inside her cage or on top of her cage..anywhere else...no problem..
Do you guys have any ideas what i could try?
I would love to take her with me around the house and we bought a second cage with a great playstand for our screenroom...which would be sooooo great for her..but she won't get on my hand and let me bring her there..
When she accidentally falls off her cage on is on the floor...no problem..she lets me help her and carry anywhere...
If she would just know how much better everything would be for her...
Right now i have to really think about opening the cage door...it will take me forever to get her back in the cage...

HELP!!!!

Thank you
Meike

[siobha9]

Hi Meike,

Welcome to the grey forum. You sound like you have made great progress with Zoey already. 4 weeks isnt a long time in the grand scheme of things and for her to step up for you outside her cage is great progress already. She is very young still. She will eventually realise that stepping up means a new exciting adventure and she will do it readily, the one virtue you learn to have lots of when you have a grey is patience!

If she is on top of the cage and wont step up for you, just make sure she has no food up there, eventually hunger will encourage her to go back into her cage. I always leave water in the dish on the play top, but if they want food they have to go back inside.

[lovemyGreys]

Hi Meike & Welcome.
As Siobhan has said time & patience is always the main ingredient with greys.We have a nursery room with some good informative topics for babies,please have a read through.

here is a link for teaching your baby to step up ..

http://exoticpets.about.com/od/behavior/f/birdstepup.htm

[Zoey]

Thank you so far. I can't just leave her on the cage..I have two dogs and I really don't want to leave all the guys without any supervision.
So right now she doesn't get that much time outside the cage, because I am having a really hard time to get her back in...
Yesterday I just tried to pick her up with both hands and put her back in..so far so good...she held on to the cage and wouldn't let go at all...so..she won again...............:silly:

[Jane08]

Sorry, but I had to laugh the imagine of her clinging to the cage and you trying to pick her up. You are lucky she doesn't bite you, if I did that to our female she would have my finger off.

I can say that I have also had these problems with our greys. Our female who is 5 months is like that, she won't go back in her cage for me. I decided that I had to let her out and I would deal with it somehow. Yes it has taken me a long time to get her in sometimes. I am lucky in that she loves food, so when I want her to go back in I have her favourite food and she hops on my hand and I quickly put her in the cage. You can also try a perch on the cage door and get her on that perch and just swing the door closed. I used to do that with our male grey when he went through the phase of not wanting to go in the cage. Believe me it gets better and just takes time and patience.

We taught our greys that they could not come out of the cage if they didn't step up. So we used treats and would open the door and give them a treat and then when they wanted the next treat they had to step up, even one foot at first and then after a lot of practice they got the idea and now everytime we open the door they are waiting with one foot raised ready to step up.

[Zoey]

Oh well...I keep trying and I have to say we got pretty far already..
When we first got her...well..she didn't let me come near her..she bit me really hard..several times..and myself, never had a parrot before, it took a lot not to pull away, but we made it..and like I said before..she is a cutie..wants to cuddle all the time...

I am glad i found that forum and I am sure I will post an update on Zoey:-)

thank you for your support

[lovemyGreys]

Time & patience are the two major factors with greys,you will get Zoey stepping up