A few questions from a new grey owner.

[dmundt]

I recently bought a 7month old congo grey from a local pet store .. I had been in and out of there for weeks looking at her and trying to make sure I was making the right decision, and she had been in there for a good few months. The pet store had a bit of a time selling her because of her biting problem, but instead of seeing a "mean bird" like most people I saw a beautiful mistreated baby who desperately needed a good home By the time I bought her, I was well aware of her behavior and tried to arm myself best as possible to try to make sure was going to be happy/healthy/well taken care of. However, as useful as the endless plethora of information on the internet and in books can be, there's nothing quite the same as first hand experience, which I am lacking I just have a few questions and clarifications to make sure I'm taking the right steps so that we'll have a healthy and loving relationships until we're rocking away as little old ladies!

 

First off, as mentioned above, she's very bitey (the pet store didn't take very good care of her, her cage was right near the registers and I can't even imagine how much she was harrassed by customers during her time there) but this has improved quite a bit over the last few days. This morning she even flew from the perch on top of her cage over to me at my desk :side:

 

One of the biggest questions I had was, is biting truly something that can be "untrained"? I believe I'm pretty good at reading her body language, I'll let her to play on her own if she doesn't want to come to me, and other often times she will step up very eagerly (she has a pretty distinctive chirp she uses to call me and waits on the edge of her perch for me!) However, even acting slow and gentle, she still nips quite hard at me a lot of the time (which is understandable given her time at the pet store) .. from my understanding the best way to deal with this is to just ignore it and not pull my hand away (if she goes to bite I usually try to ball my hand to save my fingers! and let her go at the back of my hand). I'm guessing that she learned to bite to get rid of all the fingers that poked her at the pet store While I completely understand and respect that the road to gaining her trust will be a long and hard earned one, will the biting stop along with it?

 

Just as a note, she generally only tries to bite my fingers. She never lunges at me and she's not really aggressive. Outside of a playful nip/taste on my nose while she was eyeing my glasses, she's never bit anything other than my fingers.

 

Having said that, I still sometimes feel a little vunerable having her on my shoulder, should she decide to go at my ear or my cheek/face. Is this something that's common with biting that I should worry about?

 

Also, a lot of the time I get her to step up she immediately goes for my shoulder, which I don't mind, but it feels like it's impossible to get her down without losing a finger. (This is moving my hand slowly and being careful to keep it low/at breastbone/stepup level) I usually have to walk over to her cage and have her go over to the top of her cage to get her off. She also likes to chew on my hair, is this behavior that should be discouraged?

 

Also, she seems a little afraid of water, can anyone recommend a good way to get her to start bathing? My cockatiel LOVES being sprayed with a little mister bottle, but even a small little squirt near her seemed to really scare her

 

Anyways, sorry for the book of a post, and any information/advice would be much appreciated!

[lovethatgrey]

Congratulations on bringing your new baby home. Have you chosen a name for her? I commend you for not being deterred by her biting. Who knows what she has had to endure while she was at the petshop. Clients can be so obnoxious and unkind sometimes. I purchased my Emma from a petshop so I have an idea of how clients can behave.

 

For now.. I would just give her time to become familiar and comfortable with her new environment and her new family. In time she will learn that she has nothing to fear and noone will hurt her but of course that will take a little while. Her biting probably comes from fear or from being on the defensive. I am sure that she is not a mean spirited or wicked parrot as you probably know too. For now I would keep the shoulder off limits to her until you both have become better acquainted and trust each other alot. You want to set her up for success and your relationship for a win win situation. If she happens to bite you in the face out of fear it won't help matters for either of you. You have to be the one to take charge and not allow her to be on your shoulder. I believe she needs to earn the right to that privilege.

 

I have confidence that she will be able to learn not to bite but you also need to learn how to read her body language a little more. When she bites in an innapropriate way I would not ignore it. I would probably say "not nice" in a much sharper than usual tone and then I would stop whatever it is that we are doing together by calmly walking away and ignoring her. I'd come back in about a minute or two and resume as if nothing had happened. Should she bite again.. then I would repeat the same behaviour. The key is to get her to want to spend time with you and to associate you with fun, positive and happy moments.

 

When you walk away after she bites she will figure out that biting you drives you away. If she likes you enough then she'll figure out that she doesn't want to cause this.

 

Some greys just hate showers and baths. I think if I were you I would VERY slowly introduce her to a spray bottle filled with warm water. If she seems ok being around it then I would try to squirt water over her head so that it gently falls on her like a light rain.

 

If she freaks out by the sight of the water bottle then you'll have to proceed in very tiny baby steps. It may take a couple of days or even a few weeks or months. Try different things. Maybe offer her a shallow dish with water in it at the bottom of her cage. Some greys love to bathe instead of shower. My parrots LOVE to shower in the bathtub while I spray them with the handheld shower head. I've been showering each of them at least once a week since they came home with me. It takes alot of time before they look like they enjoy it. Familiarity is very important.

 

With greys, patience is the key. I have found in my case that once my parrots decided that I was someone who was trustworthy then there wasn't very much that I couldn't do with them.

 

Good luck.

 

Post edited by: lovethatgrey, at: 2009/09/09 06:22<br><br>Post edited by: lovethatgrey, at: 2009/09/09 15:10

[Dave007]

Right now, her type of biting is actually one of the ways she's talking to you in a language you don't agree with and yes it will subside as some more time passes. Not all of it but lots of it. But you're both new to each other and you'll have to learn her body language. In the TRAINING ROOM section, there's an area that describes body language.

 

""""""Also, a lot of the time I get her to step up she immediately goes for my shoulder, which I don't mind, but it feels like it's impossible to get her down without losing a finger."""""

Well, you should mind if you're worried about getting nipped and bitten and pulled at

 

The one thing you shouldn't allow her to do is the shoulder routine. If she's nipped you already when up there, it'll definitely happen again and if you have anything that she finds enticing, she'll bite that too. There's greys that won't bite when on shoulders and there's greys that will and there's no way to break that habit. A sign of bad things to come in that area is the slight difficulty you're having trying to get her off. As a bird becomes more adept on a shoulder and develops the ability to avoid a finger or hand the, the first thing that happens is to go across the back to the other shoulder. That means you'll have to exert more trickery in getting her and that's when the more serious biting occurs. You can't see a bird on your shoulder but the bird can defnitely see you and everything you're doing. Many people will say that they have a nice shoulder bird and many will say that shoulders are off limits. From what you're saying, you've just arrived at that point of not allowing your bird up there.

 

Many greys don't like bathing and unfortunately, you'll have to continue the misting and put up with the squawking until she calms down and accepts it just as an annoyance. You can try bringing your bird into the bathtub and spraying her there or put her in the sink and spray her there or put a large bowl in the bottom of the cage so that she can bathe but that's no guarantee that she'll bathe in it.

No matter how you bathe her, any tool you use should be on the misting mode. No squirting modes at all.

[dmundt]

Hi, first off thanks for the tips. For the most part over the last few weeks I've just been giving her her space and letting her get settled in. I took her to an avian vet for a checkup/dna sex testing (she's a girl and I've named her Pika) and so far she is very healthy. She is almost 8 months old now.

 

I just thought I'd update and ask a few more questions. For the most part I just let her be and she's quite content on the play gym or the perch on top of her cage (she has the type of cage with ladders and a perch etc attatched to the top). When I open her cage door she comes out immediately and either wants to come with me or go up to the top of the cage. She's started vocalizing a LOT more and even mimicing a few noises and trying to say "hello"... she likes to chirp and whistle to the kids when they're outside, and to the other birds if they're not in the same room.

 

The biting has nearly stopped and she's started using body language instead of just immediately striking out. For example, if I go to get her to step up and she doesn't want to, she'll back away instead of immediately biting me (which I respect and leave her be if she doesn't want to come up). Other times she'll flap her wings or whistle at me and literally hang off the edge of her cage until I go pick her up.

 

However, she still isn't comfortable with being pet or being "cuddly". She'll sit nicely on my arm (I don't let her up on my shoulder anymore), but if I try to pet her she'll turn around to avoid it. Do some birds just not like to be pet, or is this still a trust issue? I feel like we've come a long ways since the pet store, but I'm worried we're not bonding that well. Am I on the right track, or is there something else I can try?<br><br>Post edited by: dmundt, at: 2009/09/30 05:52

[judygram]

It sounds like you have made great strides with Pika if the biting has almost stopped, I think you are doing a very good job so far. Like Dave said you might get a bite from time to time but not on a constant basis.

 

Some greys do not like to be touched a lot and some only are cuddly when babies so Pika might be one that doesn't want much touching but it has only been a few weeks and she may not fully trust you yet, give her more time and see what happens.

 

Why don't you introduce yourself in the welcome room and tell us some more about you and Pika and maybe share some pictures of her as we would love to see her.