PapillonDeNuit

I agree with all of you, even you, Steven Stills! My stepdad said, and I agree, Timmy means no harm. He's sweet, and he loves me, but he still has the wild in him. Dogs can be trained, and are expected to be trained to be tame and docile. They've been domesticated for a long, long time. I mean, look at a corgi. That's not a wild animal. Cats have been domesticated for much less time, in the big picture. And birds - birds are hardly domesticated at all. I mean, our birds wouldn't be able to handle the wild, but they're still wild animals!

EN: I don't know why he does this! I'm so good to him! We were eating breakfast together. We were done. Timmy was walking on the table for a minute or two. I let him. He walks, he chews up paper, he throws stuff on the floor. It's cute. He has fun. But I was finished, so I picked up Timmy to put him in his cage. And like usual, he doesn't want to let go of my hand. And that turns to biting. HARD. He bit me so hard that I bled profusely, and my finger went numb. Why? I give him so much time outside of his cage. I feed him delicious food. I pet him. I love him! He doesn't bite my mom. Never. She doesn't know why he does this either. FR: Je ne sais pourquoi il ça fait ! Je suis tellement gentil avec lui ! On a eu le petit déjeuner ensemble. C'était terminé. Timmy a marché sur le table pour un minute ou deux. Je laisse le passe. Il marche, mâche des papiers, lance des trucs au étage. C'est mignon. Il s'amuse. Mais j'étais fini, donc j'ai relevée Timmy pour retourner dans sa cage. Et comme normal, il ne veux à lâcher de mon main. Et ça tour à la morsure. FORT. Il a me mordu si fort que j'ai saignée abondamment, et mon doigt a venu engourdi. Pourquoi ? Je le donne des bonheurs devant sa cage. Je le donne à manger la bonne nourriture. Je le caresse. Je l'aime ! Il mord pas maman. Ne jamais pas. Elle ne sais pas pourquoi, non plus.

Boy, did I get bit today! For breakfast all I had was two English muffins, toasting them one at a time. I *really* like toasted English muffins with some oil! (Olive, vegetable, motor... okay, that's a joke). Anyway, I think Timmy was disappointed with our lackluster breakfast, and he was just not ready to go back in his cage. I kept telling him that we would have more, that I'm making round two, but he wasn't having it. So I made a second boring-ole-English-muffin, and Timmy was not stoked. I tried to let him hang out on the table for a while, but he got into mischief and bit my finger as I held a glass. Getting Timmy back into his cage was lots of ouches. Moral of the story: get up earlier and make a fun, colorful, bountiful breakfast!

Salut tout le monde ! I took them old rusty hooks off of Timmy's perch. All the metal had to go. Ain't no rust gettin' to my birdie! My stepdad had Timmy out on the screened-in porch this morning, on his perch. He loved it! But I'm apprehensive about putting Timmy in any scenario where he could possibly get away.

Salut tout le monde ! Our bird Timmy has a perch - the kind on wheels - that's been in the garage since we moved. It sat there over the winter and got pretty cruddy. Today I gave it a good cleanin', so Timmy can hang out with me up in my room! Each branch of the perch has a hook on the underside to hang toys, but they're all a bit rusty now. I know the right thing to do is to change out the hooks, but my mom is being stingy about it, as though me changing out the hooks - of which we have plenty more! - is somehow an inconvenience to her. She seems to think that rusty hooks and rusty toys are just fine. So what do I do? How do I handle this situation? For reference, she also thinks that cigarettes and bugspray are just fine as well...

Hello! It took me a while to get back. Timmy's been doing much better lately! We're more settled into the house, and I eat breakfast with Timmy every single day. Each day I let him wander around the table, explore, and get into trouble. I play and encourage him as he does this. I give him extra time, as I like to stare off into space for a bit after I eat. That way Timmy can poke at cups, walk behind the coconut milk carton and cereal box, and chew up important legal documents, which appeals to the anarchist in me! :) And because we do this every day, because we hang out for a bit after eating, Timmy will go back in his cage with little fuss. If he's not ready, I don't force him - either he'll go back on the table, or I'll keep my hand where it is, and we hold hands for a minute. TL;DR: Timmy's doing good!

Gosh, I hope I didn't bum everybody out with the concerns about my mom. Timmy's as sweet as can be when we have the cage between us, or when he's on the table eating with me. But he just won't let me handle him! We moved a few months ago, and that can understandably be stressful on the little guy, especially that he had never moved to a new house in his eighteen years. How can I get him to behave when I pick him up? How do I teach my little buddy to not bite me?

Over the long haul the biting seems to come in waves. Or maybe it doesn't? It just happened again a few minutes ago. We were eating lunch together. The sandwich was done. The lights were out. The curtain had dropped. It was time for my little guy to go back in his cage. So I picked him up, bobbed him up and down, and told him how much I enjoy sharing food with him. But Timmy didn't want to go in his cage. He did the one-foot-down thing and then bit the ever-loving life out of my wrist. And I couldn't get him off me! So my mom barges into the kichen screaming at me and banging on Timmy's cage. (I'm worried that my mom is going to kill herself, but that's another story.) What do I do? Ever since my parents got these damn dogs back in 2012, my poor bird has had to spend so much of his day in his cage! :( This is so sad, and I don't know what to do!

Oh man, I can't believe this happened... I've had my Timmy for eighteen years. He's my buddy. He's usually well-behaved. Okay, that's a stretch. He's a mischevious sweet-heart! An angel with a deadly weapon on his face. A few nights ago as I was getting dressed up to go out dancing, my little guy flew upstairs to see what I was up to. And of course I was happy to see him! I was half-dressed and putting on my makeup, and my guy jumped down from the bannister to the floor. I knew what was coming, because he'll do this and say, "I'm gonna get yer piggies!" And he "gets" your piggies. Anyway, I tried to step back, but my fishnet was caught in a nail for the door sill. And here comes my little buddy and bites my toes! Not playing, not in an I'm-gonna-get-your-piggies way, but aggressively trying to hurt my toes! So I pick him up, and he bites my hand, wrist, and fingers soooooo hard, so many times! It hurt so much that I cried for a solid fifteen minutes. It felt so un-provoked! My heart felt ripped in half. And now my hand is swollen. This seems so out of character! Timmy is not a mean-spirited bird. He's a real (mischevious) sweet-heart. The only thing I can come up with is that he didn't like what I was wearing. So what's going on? What do I do? I want to be able to spend time with my little Timmy and not get bitten!

Bonjour. This is my first post on the forum. We have an African Grey of eighteen years. He recently broke the lower mandible of his beak while antagonizing the dog. Our bird likes to climb down to the bottom of his cage, call the dog's name and bang on the bars with his beak, all to get the dog riled up! It seems that by doing this, he fractured his beak, and one day while sliding down his cage, my little buddy caught his beak on one of the bars, and it broke off! The poor little guy spent a couple nights in the hospital as a prosthetic beak was fashioned for him. The prognosis was for his beak to take a full year to heal. Now just a few months later, he's feeling better and is back to fu... er, messing with the dog! What can be done? I try to explain to him that he's going to hurt himself again. I'm sure my feathered friend understands me to an extent, but I think he just doesn't care! How can I keep him from reinjuring his beak?