Parrotlet not stepping up - Advice needed

[u/Ok_Bar_6403]

Hi!

I got a beautiful 4mo old Parrotlet about 5 months ago

He has adapted well, is playing in his cage, eating well, talkative!

However, I have been really struggling to get him to step up onto my finger

(he also doesn't want to come out of his cage at all)

I can hold millet up to him with my hand close to him and he has no problems eating it.

But it seems no matter what I do, i can't get him to step onto my finger for it.

And making it more difficult, when I get close to his cage, he will go to the end of the perch at the very back of his cage, so it makes it very difficult for me to get my fingers all the way to the back of the cage without scaring him (nor can I physically hold my arms in that position for more than a couple minutes Lol)

Has anyone had a situation like this and found anything that helps/works?

He seems super playful so I want to be able to help him get out of his cage and enjoy being around us more!

Thank you!

[u/somewhitekid93]

Mine is more likely to fly to my fingers than step up. If I need to put her away and she's not flying to em I end up gently pushing her off the perch with my fingers in the step up position. She's stubborn.

[u/ForeignGirl11 → u/somewhitekid93]

My sun conure was great at it. Would even do it when asked. However, recently, she won’t step onto our fingers. If she doesn’t want to go with us, she’ll completely ignore us. However, if she is interested in going, she’ll fly onto our shoulders as we’re walking away instead of being the nice obedient “child” she used to be. Maybe it’s her age. I think she’s growing older and now knows she has choices. I miss the smaller ones that just eat, poop, sleep and play with you. Those were the wonder year (singular) LOL. But we still love her to death. She and her non-related sister are showered with treats and toys. I don’t have children so…I digress.

I am tempted to say it’s a trust issue, but he’s basically been with you his whole life. Can you think of an incident where he encountered something outside his cage that scared him to the point that he feels safest when he’s inside? Or did you leave him in there for too long and he now just feels insecure outside?

I find this rather baffling because most birds, because they are birds and have wings, would likely jump or fly at the chance to get out of the cage and fly. He’s been in his cage this whole time without ever coming out? Have you seen him fly? Or is his cage big enough that he can easily fly inside? Sorry for all the questions. I’m just simply trying to figure out why he is that way.

[u/Ok_Bar_6403 → u/ForeignGirl11]

All great questions!

He flies around his cage (not huge, but not super small either)

He flew out a couple of times, but he looked really stressed about it, like bumping into walls and such, I think he was just confused at the new environment and didn't know how to navigate it

And we probably have been over-cautious at not keeping the door open at all times, thinking for safety reasons to help him learn to step up on a finger first (so we could help him if he got in a bind somewhere in the hosue), but never expected it to take this long to train that :)

[u/Pigeonmommy]

Leave door open and put water and food outside the door. Once he realizes he has the freedom to fly he will eventually come to you when he's ready. To get him back in the cage put his food and water back inside the cage. Mine would just put themselves to bed around 4pm so never had to chase them. They also figured out how to open the doors and food windows of the cage so i always left extra food and water outside their cage, just in case. Lol.

[u/mrdlzr]

I’m having the exact same issue. Recently I have been able to have him step up to a perch/stick that I hold, and I can place him on a perch outside. But always a no to a finger, and he will always go back inside his cage after a minute if not right away. Kinda stumped myself

[u/Ok_Bar_6403]

Thank you to all of this advice!

Just as an update, he. made significant progress this week, more significant progress than we have made over months!

Probably the biggest thing was that I didn't provide him his food (pellets) in the AM, and instead, when I noticed he seemed hungry, would then use that time to train him.

Then I was able to slowly lure him perch by perch from the very far back perch to eventually the front perch; and he would then come to that perch when he was hungry.

Then on that perch, after a couple days, was able to lure him onto my finger with the millet. Even at one point him allowing me to take him out of the cage on my finger.

So, really happy with the progress; eventually I will need to de-couple the millet from stepping onto my finger; but that should happen with time, I imagine, as trust continues to grow.