Ergo and I have come such a long way from the time I got him from the pet store. The day I got him he was absolutely terrified and the pet shop employees made it clear to me that taming him was VERY unlikely.
For such a long time afterwards I wasn't sure what to do. Ergo hissed at me every time I even went past his cage (which was a lot, as it is in my room), shuddered every time I even looked at him, and stayed in one corner constantly.
My boyfriend and I could see he had quite a personality though. He seemed curious and sly - looking around and tapping across his cage when he thought no one was looking, stretching his neck to look out the door, etc.
My boyfriend was more active in getting him tamed than I was - I was afraid of terrifying the little guy, but Bob (this is what I'll call the bf) has owned birds before and knew more than I did, so I trusted him. He chased him out of the cage and around the room until Ergo sat on his arm. I started trying to touch him as well, but got bitten so many times. We had to wrap him in a blanket when it was time to put him back in his cage as he was too afraid to move there himself even though he was obviously trying to edge towards it the entire time. The cage seemed to be the only place he wanted to be. Ever.
When Ergo started biting through my nails I became terrified of touching him. So Bob suggested that I get a leather glove to use. I've read bad things about using gloves before, but decided that trying something would be better than not doing anything at all. Ergo didn't seem to be any more afraid of the glove than he was of my hand before I stopped trying to touch him for fear of bleeding all over the carpet again.
It got to the point where I could carry him around the house on the glove. I think the glove was more of a training tool for me than for Ergo - I stopped being so afraid of touching him because I knew he couldn't hurt me. And Ergo, too, seemed to start biting less when he realized that it wouldn't have any effect on me. Then, I learned to ball my hand into a fist so he couldn't reach my fingers to bite and stopped using the glove altogether. I'm so excited, I can now get him to sit on my shoulder as I prepare food in the kitchen and everything (don't worry, never by the stove or anything hot). He still doesn't particularly ENJOY sitting on me, but at least he's not so scared anymore.
At this very moment he's perching (dozing off) on top of his cage, looking out the window, and not trying to scramble back into his corner. I can't even believe how excellent it feels to gain some of his trust.
Thanks to everyone here who gave me advice and information about these wonderful birds, and I'll be sure to be more active on the forums
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