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Get Off My Head

2K views 16 replies 12 participants last post by  ozzie3860 
#1 ·
For the about the last month and a half, my parrotlet Amelia has been climbing up to my head. I don't like this and everytime she does it, I give her the step-up command and bring her back down to about chest level. But she climbs right back up again. This happens a lot in the morning when I am putting on my make-up and have been leaving her in her cage more in the mornings because of that.

Does anyone have some advice for how I can get her to stop?

Side note: My fiance, who sees her every two weeks, thinks it is HILARIOUS when she gets in his hair. He actually puts her there and I definitely think that this hurts my cause :mad:
 
#2 ·
Well, you are doing the right thing by taking her down every time she goes up. You will have to enforce the rule with your fiance otherwise she will continue to do it.
 
#3 ·
I have the reverse problem - I'd rather Tumi on my head than on my shoulders where he has freckles to "help" me remove. Whenever he climbs down, he finds himself quickly placed back up until he gives up. I also have a suction cup perch for my bathroom so that I can have my hands and hair completely free and he still feels included. You might consider the perch option.
 
#6 ·
I put Kiwi on the towel rack in the bathroom and she has fun preening the towels while I get ready. I have never minded her on my head though and in 10 years, she has never ever pooped on my head. My daughter really hates it when she landed on her head, though. Most importantly, don't react. That will reinforce whether is it a positive or negative reaction. Just be persistent and do so calmly and quietly.


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#7 ·
Sometimes returning to me Sky will land on my head, but I swiftly take her off...don't really want her on my head. Suppose it is a matter of personal preference.

If you keep removing her, and praising her for settling elsewhere, she should learn you don't want her on your head...Sky seems to have gotten this lesson just fine, except for the occasional landing. :D
 
#14 ·
I've been having the same problem with my new parrotlet Zelda. I made the mistake of thinking it was cute the first time, but now I'd rather she didn't sit up there, so it's got to be never or she'll never stop.

I remove her every time...a couple nights ago, after she realized she could *fly* to my head and not just crawl (she's still learning how to fly), well, I have to admit it was pretty funny. *zoom* I put her on a perch. *zoom* perch. *zoom* perch.

She was actually starting to get really mad and making angry little peep noises! And quite nippy. Well, I found a great article about birds and behaviors- sorry, I lost it- and it said that whenever birds do anything at all, they are getting a "reward" from it, even if not obviously. So you have to either ruin the reward or replace it.

So I started petting her a bunch when I would take her off, and I put a bandanna around my neck so she can sit there. That helped, but she would still try to crawl up to my head. The perch on my desk was kind of low, so I put it higher so it's close to my head after noticing she was perfectly content to sit on my hand (help up close to my head, perfectly suspended) and stare at me instead of on my head...lol.

Finally, even though she seemed to be giving up, when she looked about to fly up to my head, I would move my hand in the way, which has the double benefit of training her to fly to my hand. Praise, treats. And when she managed to land on my head, I laid down on the ground, because I guess they hate being low to the ground. She flew off after a few peeps.

She hasn't really tried since then. It took a couple days of lots of effort though.
 
#15 ·
I didn't like Charlie on my head either, but I finally gave up because I just couldn't deter him. He uses my head as his landing pad. What really drives me nuts is when he tries to repel down my face using my hair as his rope. He has such sharp nails and has poked my eye a few times. So I've drawn the line there. Landing or perch on top - OK, but no climbing down :eek:
 
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