Welp, hey guys! I'm new here and I'm hoping you maybe able to help me out some.
I have a 25 year old African grey parrot, Larry, who's favorite pass time is to bite and charge at people. (Well, I take that back, after doing a little more research, he's not as bad as I've read in other birds.)
My dad had gotten Larry from a friend who had some problems with training Larry and was pretty much abusive of him. Larry was probably in the early ripe age of 1 year. My dad offered to take him off his hands and they soon bonded with one another.
They were very close. I believe Larry had bitten his original owner a few times. Larry bit my dad pretty bad one day (he blames himself for being careless) and that's when he realized Larry could really hurt someone. I came along and dad had to get rid of Larry since I liked to stick my little fingers in the cage.
Larry was then handed off to my aunt and grandmother- who at the time was both living together. Aunt moved out to her own place and Larry was with my grandmother for awhile. My cousin had visited and stuck his own fingers in the cage and got bit pretty hard, too. Larry bit my grandmother on her finger (down to the bone) having her end up with 7 stitches. :eek:
As the years went by, my grandmother could no longer live by herself anymore and ended up moving in with my aunt once again. Now, once I get my own place, I want to take Larry with me. I love Larry. I can see he wants to be loved too, but it's almost by nature he has to bite. You can't stick your fingers in there for too long or you WILL get bit. Period.
My aunt only feeds him bird seeds since he doesn't like any other bird food (he picks everything out). Since I've been at my aunts place for a little bit, I want to establish something with me and Larry. I've been giving him plenty of vegetables and fruits now. I share with him whatever I eat- don't worry I'm a vegetarian. :cool:
I've been doing some research to make him tamable, and frankly, I am confused :confused: ! I saw one method where they train the bird by starting the bird to touch the end of a chopstick, then giving a treat for doing so. What about just getting the bird to let you touch him? What if he tries to bite you? Do you yell?
I know that was a LOT to read but if anyone could help, I would be so grateful!
Thank you so so much!