The Parrot "Bite Me!!!" Club

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

CLB LOL! You deserved it, in Shadow's opinion. He gave you your chance, you failed. Stepup to the stick, deserves your 100% attention in Shadow's mind. You gave 50%. Shadow felt dissed! What's more important.... insurance company or ME? LOL Totally normal behavior! Nancy

[Sarasota]

I was on the phone with the insurance company working on a new policy...

 

Try talking on an iPhone with a hormonal Aracari on the loose. Wahhhhhh! Watch out!!

[Timbersmom]

LOL Cool pic!

[danmcq]

Need some advice about Taco, our 3 1/2 year old CAG. She (we think) has been a very sweet bird since we brought her home with only the occasional bites and nips. But...the past few days she has turned into Evil Taco, biting me on the lip when we play "kisses" and chasing me around to stike at my arm or leg. She plays well with my husband and decided to bite him this morning too. Nothing has changed - same food, same routine, same toys. I have been leaving the room when she does this and coming back to reengage her after a short period of time. Could this be a teenager behavior?

 

The others have given good thoughts on this.

 

At 3.5 years, I doubt it is hormones. The reason I say this, is hormonal displays are very different than what you are describing. the problem here is, I believe, that Taco has come to view this as a "Lets get each other" game. The way a parrot "gets" the other is little nips. I would strongly reccomend stopping any interactions in the manner done that switches it to "Game Mode". Your lip, eye arm. finger.. any body part becomes fair game and can become disastrous at times. I had a similar issue with my grey Dayo and it all started with playing with toys, towels etc. at about 2 he started becoming more and more aggressive and I realized I had made a serious mistake. I stopped those types of interactions with him, by throttling back on how I did it and how long. You will learn very rapidly by watching body language when it is switching in to game mode and your going to get bit.

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

Wken Sophie plays hide n seek with Sean, she can get a little too excited. She puts her beak in one of the holes of his crocs and runs. He is suppose to chase her, which he does. She hides right in front of you, head down, butt up thinking he can't see her. LOL! He pretends to look for her... eventually finds her. Tags her and runs. She chases, tagOUCH!s him again, but usually putting her beak in the hole in his shoe is a little more aggressive second time around.OUCH! He tells her to settle down, she does, the game continues. Nancy

[NCavender]

Hello, I'm new to this forum site and am interested in getting some advise for decreasing bites from my female CAG. I don't know if this post is coming up underneath someone else's post or the "Bite Me" Club wall here. Please let me know if I need to be added or if I need to do something else? I need some advice....Thanks!

[Janfromboone]

Hello again - It has been a long time since I've posted on the forum. Tobie is 5years and 5 months old now. Seems like no time ago he was just a baby. Tobie is a sweet and engaging bird who allows me to rub his head and put on a harness and has never bitten me in an aggressive way - until now. Three mornings (about a week or 10 days apart) he has displayed abnormal behavior. The routine is to open his cage door when I get up in the morning and remove the bowls from his cage to fill them and change the paper. All the time chatting back and forth. These mornings I open the cage door and Tobie runs from one side of the cage to the other kind of frantically. He hangs out as far as he can reach toward me until I go to the other side of the cage to get the other bowls and does the same. So I assumed he wanted to come to me. When I present my hand he not only bites it, but grabs my finger and see saws his beak as if the beak didn't penetrate the skin to suit him. now to keep from flinging the bird off the cage I tried to gently disengage the foot from my finger and pull free only to get my other hand bitten. Totally confused by his behavior I proceeded to remove the paper from the cage only to have him peck my head and grab my hair which he hung onto. My look must have been pretty scary because he put it in reverse and scrambled as fast as he could into the cage and I shut the door. An hour later I opened the door and he was all puffed up and soft and stepped up on my hand as if nothing ever happened and was sweet the rest of the week . Same senario a week or so later. I opened the cage and proceeded to remove the bowl and had to be quick because he was attacking my hand (and the bowls if I put them between my hand and the bird). I had to use a dowel but did get the bird in the cage and an hour later let an entirely sweet and snuggly little bird out of the cage. Same thing about 10 days later. Now it has been a week and this jeckle and hyde behavior has not reoccurred. I wonder if he is protecting his cage like a nest site and it is triggered by my removing his bowels or even just my presence. Is he becoming a teenager or hormonal or something. Should I be doing something?

[CLB]

NCavender...welcome! Please introduce yourself in the welcome room (if you haven't already). If you post a scenario of the behavior, I am sure members will be happy to offer advice! Everyone here is very helpful.

[shanlung]

Protect yourself from serious bite by this

 

Tinkerbell Legacy - Rant 08 How to avoid getting badly bitten by your bird

 

http://shanlung.livejournal.com/7051.html

 

 

And for long term bonding and hence not being bitten

 

 

Tinkerbell Legacy - - Rant 03 (a flighted parrot mentality) & Understanding the mind of your grey

 

http://shanlung.livejournal.com/2187.html

[Janfromboone]

Thank you shanlung, I have read many of your wonderful writings in the past and especially 2187was helpful to me. I have to remind myself that something sparked this behavior and be watchful of what that might be if the behavior continues. I'll now be more watchful of Tobie's body language before the rushing frantically back and forth across the cage begins to see if I can relate it to something I have done or some body language that I may have missed. So strange that only an hour of being left alone in the cage was enough to return him to my sweet birdie once again. He certainly didn't hold a grudge against me for whatever it was. Thank you for your insightful writings.

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

Wow! Sounds like sexual agression or maturation!Sounds like your bird recognizes this poor behavior. Don't tolerate the bite. Return your bird to cage after a bite, try again ten minutes later. Nothing wrong with letting a bird know you are disappointed with the behavior as well as will not tolerate it.You can also show compassion and empathy. My birds know I tolerate their hormonal moments... we all tolerate each birds " moments" as a family. Kiki, our Amazon, is the bird we all work together, to make her happy. Went on vacation. Everyone was happy. Coming back.... WOW! Kiki pulled every " bad bird" stunt she could think of! LOL! I tolerated it for two days... couldn't take it anymore.... told her... " you're done!" Set limits for her, as I normally do. She's back to normal. We love our Kiki girl. Nancy

[Janfromboone]

Good to know you can recover and regain trust after bad behavior like that. Putting Tobie in the cage seemed to change his whold attitude.

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

Kiki was waiting for my decision to NOT tolerate her poor behavior anymore. I felt guilty, so of coarse I was easy. She pushed all my buttons all negatively. She enjoyed my guilt. I think she was happy when I snapped back into mama mode. Nancy

[Janfromboone]

Thanks kins2321, I was glad to read in Shanlungss writings that he felt that you should let the bird know of your disapproval of his biting and not ignore it as I've read over and over. There is a differece between a hard squeeze - insistent behavior of your bird saying "no, I said NO", and agressive and agitated biting which was what Tobie was doing. I always ignore the squeezes, but think its ok to say UHH!! UHH!! NO!! Thats what I do when he chews the couch and he knows to stop the behavior. Amazing that putting him in the cage for just a short time completely calmed him down and he was all soft and sweet again.

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

What does ignoring bad behavior get you? More bad behavior! LOL! Greys are very smart, but if you ignore bad behavior, how do they learn? They want to learn and be part of a family.Correcting bad behavior as a family, being consistent, truly pay's off. Six months for us. ( no shoulder status either!) Smooth sailing after that.

Many parents believe that " we are a flock", and birds should be treated like a flock member. Total nonsense to me. I am the parent. I make the rules, encourage my beliefs and tolerances to my birds. I encourage them to be as independent as they can be.When they are arguing amoungst themselves, I make the final decision. No big deal, they appreciate a moderator.I remember kids calling me at work, Sophie bit them, what should they do? " Say NO... put her in timeout for five minutes, go back and pick her up, explain why you did, what you did. Tell her " you love her", but biting is NOT allowed. Ten years later, I have three birds, Grey, Amazon and Sunconure. Noone bites. They stepup to entire family. Nancy

[tanyab]

hello been a few years since ive been on here.i have a 2 year old grey who is biting me also he will not step up if i ask.if he flys to the floor then he wants to step up.he darts at me at my face ,arm,hands.and ,my clothes.can i join this club...im needen help...please

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

Typical behavior for a two year old. Maybe starting terrible two's?How long have you had the bird? Those answers factors into my suggestions. You will find lots of good advice here I promise you. Nancy

[tanyab]

hi nancy...I have had Jackson since he had no feather as a baby.i handfeed him almost a year.he was so sweet and loved me so much as I do him but now he acts like he hates me and will bite and dart at me.i need help ....It breaks my heart..i have cryed many times over it..

[tanyab]

hello..when does the club meet and where...I need help w my grey

[danmcq]

Tanya, at two years old he is going through the terrible two's and displaying his independence. This is the age greys in the wild stop relying on their parents for help and support. They start rambling around with other greys in flock and also start feeling out the possible availability of mates, though it will not be until 5 or 6 years old before they are actually sexually mature. I know it hurts deeply when they display this Independence and self desire. We went through this with dayo and learned quickly to watch his body language and know when to not even try for a step up. Up close and personal interaction became available on his terms and when he decided he wanted it. This will last for a while. The bites will not stop until you learn when it is going to happen and stop the biting incident from happening. You should always give a firm "No Bite" when one does happen and if you wish, place him in his cage for a time out immediately for say 5 minutes, no longer though. It will will a little in slowing down the bites, but is not guaranteed. Dayo was willing to take time in the "Slammer" for delivering a good bite at times we didn't see it coming. Anyway, this will pass over time. But you are really going to need to pay attention to his body language and know when to just walk away and interact with him from a little more distance.

[kristan.marino@gmail.com]

So I got nipped on the face the other day, completely my fault though. While I understand that the shoulder can be a risky spot to have your bird, Darwin seems to insist on it. He is 4, and I think that must have been where he spent most of the time with his previous owner. And I really don't mind, he helps me with small chores, and says "oooh" when we go into a new room , or pass by something unexpectedly. I had Darwin on my shoulder, just after some company showed up, so there was some extra hustle and bustle going on, and I picked up his wiffle ball to "show" them how he likes it. And I think that a combination of the ball, the people, and the noise got to him, because when I brought the ball up to him to see if he wanted it, he went after the balll, then my face..lol Hurt like a son of a gun. I simply told him no, and put him down. And he really doesn't show any signs of aggression towards me unless I am bothering him at a time when he does not want to be bothered. I learned my lesson, new company does not mean, "hey lets show off my bird" it means, "we are just gonna let him adjust to the very new situation instead of throwing all these new things at him at once" lol

[tanyab]

Thank you both for ur post.i can say it breaks my heart bc he grew up so fast.now, that im in bed a few weeks due to clots in my lungs and legs .ive not been able to try anything yet. he has been moved to me room with me so I can talk to him.he will say hey mom which melts my heart.theres been some changing in my house. my son has gone to collage,new dog,my niece has moved in and ive been sick.i thought he would cling to me but he has pulled away more.he does not like my niece at all.he talks like my son.he has shown more attention to my partner.i guess ill just get what I get on his time. his not even trying to step up now.his very happy on his cage and playstand.but I want to cluddle w him.yes i agree on his reaction.i need to learn what they mean.is there a site on here to read and no what they mean..thanks again...

[NCavender]

Hello.....I most definitely feel this is the "thread" I need to be on! I adopted my now 15 yo female, CAG, Sadiee approximately 1 1/4 yrs ago and long story shorter....She had bonded with the "Dad" of this family and not really to any of the females ever. We decided to take Sadiee on concerned if she'd ever "bond" with me and guess what? She HATES me and LOVES my husband. She dances, flirts, plays, and regurgitates on him and she BITES the poo-poo out of me! He gives her some time, but not like I do. I sing to her, talk to her, change her cage out, I keep her toys rotated "In & Out" of her cage, and I'm strictly the only one that feeds her and she will take my hand off, lunge at me, pull my hair, grab at my clothing in attempt to bite me constantly! She's actually picked up on my songs I teach her, words, and she even uses my voice most of the time, but she HATES me. I can get her to step up on my hand as I move her to her portable play stand/gym or if she flopps to the floor I can get her to step right up on my hand with not to much worry of a bite(most of the time but would "Never say Never"), but if I'm not trying to get her onto my hand for a transfer and just want to give her a rub/scratch....KATIE BAR THE DOOR!!!! She'll nail me everytime! If I'm cleaning her cage out and she sneaks up on me without me realizing she's so close, she'll pull my hair. My daughter of which is 9 yo, snuck one morning before school without telling me what she was doing and she offered Sadiee a whole peanut and Sadiee just about removed the whole tip of her right, middle finger!!!!! She bled like a stuck hog for quite a while, even with heavy pressure. I really contemplated rehoming her at the time, but my husband and I decided to stick it out with Sadiee and we had a nice, detailed conversation with our daughter to NOT DO THAT anymore. I hold the bites down to a minimum as I really don't handle her much. I give her her space, I go near her cage to speak/sing to her and that's mostly it. I get her and "towel" her from time to time and she seems to be "Ok" with that, she allows me to pet her head, neck, and back without to much grief. I can take her to the tub and give her a light shower and she seems to enjoy that Ok for the most part. She just endures me, she by all means doesn't adore me like she does my husband. You'd think with me doing her feed, caretaking, etc. that she'd learn to trust, like, and not be fearful of me, but it's just not happened. If I stand off a certain distance from her cage when I speak/sing to her she listens attentively, tilting her head as if she were a dog trying to comprehend what was coming forth out of my mouth, and will even communicate with me by giving light clicks, tweets, and whistles, but if I near her cage too closely she lunges for me(she blows her feathers out, does a sharp click, rocks on the edge of her "porch" on the front of her cage and shakes) and attempts to bite. It's so crazy, I can say things as I'm walking through the house on the phone or talking with my family and I KNOW she'll be "laughing" and communicating with me specifically. I can even make certain sounds/whistles or even sing a song and she'll immediately imitate me. So, I know she feeds off me, she listens to me, etc., but she still hates me! I really don't know what to do from here to make things better for her as far as the two of us go? I want her to so desperately "like" me and enjoy me as much as I enjoy her, but it's just not happening. Any ideas PLEASE?!?!?!?!?!

[birdhouse]

I really wanted to say how well I think you've done so far. A lot of people would have given up or become too angry or afraid of Sadiee to be able to continue to work w/her. Yay for you!!

 

Sadiee doesn't hate you in spite of everything. If she did, she'd NEVER let you handle her & she wouldn't be communicating w/you the way she does. So just let that go.

 

Unfortunately, you may never be able to know what exactly is motivating Sadiee's reactions to you. She's old enough to have been thru a lot of experiences that have taught her to be the way she is. She may need you to blindly work thru some trauma(s) w/her before she'll trust you enough to build any real bond.

 

That can be a long, bumpy road. But the good news is that when you've worked so hard for it, every little tiny bit of progress becomes a huge high. Celebrate the baby steps & the giants steps will happen in time.

 

The first step may be to really try to read up & learn everything you can about body language. The more you can read Sadiee, the better you can become at avoiding unnecessary aggression.

 

My other suggestion is to try to learn whatever you can about aggression. I don't know if you've read this book: "The Parrot Problem Solver" by Barbara Heidenreich? Many people find it helpful because it deals w/all types of birds & many types of situations. I've seen it in various stores & you can also find it online at places like Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Parrot-Problem-Solver-Barbara-Heidenreich/dp/0793805627

 

Armed w/all this new insight, you can re-start the process w/a fresh perspective. Perspective is usually the magic key whenever we get stuck on a problem w/our fids. Then as you go along you can start your own thread(s) to post questions, pitfalls & milestones in "real time". Chances are very good that other members have had similar episodes that might be very helpful. And if nothing else, it's just greyt to be able to share w/people who really get it!!

[Dave007]

Hello.....I most definitely feel this is the "thread" I need to be on! I adopted my now 15 yo female, CAG, Sadiee approximately 1 1/4 yrs ago and long story shorter....She had bonded with the "Dad" of this family and not really to any of the females ever. We decided to take Sadiee on concerned if she'd ever "bond" with me and guess what? She HATES me and LOVES my husband. She dances, flirts, plays, and regurgitates on him and she BITES the poo-poo out of me! He gives her some time, but not like I do. I sing to her, talk to her, change her cage out, I keep her toys rotated "In & Out" of her cage, and I'm strictly the only one that feeds her and she will take my hand off, lunge at me, pull my hair, grab at my clothing in attempt to bite me constantly! She's actually picked up on my songs I teach her, words, and she even uses my voice most of the time, but she HATES me. I can get her to step up on my hand as I move her to her portable play stand/gym or if she flopps to the floor I can get her to step right up on my hand with not to much worry of a bite(most of the time but would "Never say Never"), but if I'm not trying to get her onto my hand for a transfer and just want to give her a rub/scratch....KATIE BAR THE DOOR!!!! She'll nail me everytime! If I'm cleaning her cage out and she sneaks up on me without me realizing she's so close, she'll pull my hair. My daughter of which is 9 yo, snuck one morning before school without telling me what she was doing and she offered Sadiee a whole peanut and Sadiee just about removed the whole tip of her right, middle finger!!!!! She bled like a stuck hog for quite a while, even with heavy pressure. I really contemplated rehoming her at the time, but my husband and I decided to stick it out with Sadiee and we had a nice, detailed conversation with our daughter to NOT DO THAT anymore. I hold the bites down to a minimum as I really don't handle her much. I give her her space, I go near her cage to speak/sing to her and that's mostly it. I get her and "towel" her from time to time and she seems to be "Ok" with that, she allows me to pet her head, neck, and back without to much grief. I can take her to the tub and give her a light shower and she seems to enjoy that Ok for the most part. She just endures me, she by all means doesn't adore me like she does my husband. You'd think with me doing her feed, caretaking, etc. that she'd learn to trust, like, and not be fearful of me, but it's just not happened. If I stand off a certain distance from her cage when I speak/sing to her she listens attentively, tilting her head as if she were a dog trying to comprehend what was coming forth out of my mouth, and will even communicate with me by giving light clicks, tweets, and whistles, but if I near her cage too closely she lunges for me(she blows her feathers out, does a sharp click, rocks on the edge of her "porch" on the front of her cage and shakes) and attempts to bite. It's so crazy, I can say things as I'm walking through the house on the phone or talking with my family and I KNOW she'll be "laughing" and communicating with me specifically. I can even make certain sounds/whistles or even sing a song and she'll immediately imitate me. So, I know she feeds off me, she listens to me, etc., but she still hates me! I really don't know what to do from here to make things better for her as far as the two of us go? I want her to so desperately "like" me and enjoy me as much as I enjoy her, but it's just not happening. Any ideas PLEASE?!?!?!?!?!

 

At that age, your bird has developed a strong personality that started a long time ago, long before you had the bird. It's very difficult to change that personality and feelings towards males and females. It's called *baggage* and every pre owned bird has it. Everything she does when you're not near her is normal for greys to do and has nothing to do friendliness towards a person. Greys are very aloof and are known for doing many things such as talking, clicking,tweets, whistles, sounds,and other *nice* things when they're not disturbed from outside interferences. You may think that those things are directed at you but obviously, when you react nicely to them the bird shows serious aggression. You may want to tell your husband to take over the chores that you do with the bird. You just can't know how the bird feels when you're doing those chores. Everything that has to do with your husband is pleasentry.

As far as children---it's well known that greys don't like children. They're nervous around children. To them, children move too quickly. They will bite if children get too close. That only applies to greys that don't like children in the first place.

That clicking---watch out! When they're doing that at you, it's a message. *Too clos and I'll bite.* Fortunately, greys are one of the few parrot species that will actually give out warning signals. All of the things that greys do can be checked out in our BODY LANGUAGE thread.

***communicating with me specifically****

Don't be too sure about that. Greys immitate many things and make up many things and they do this in the safety of their cage and fool people in thinking that it's aimed at them. . One thing you should do concerning chores, feeding, cleaning is to make sure your bird is out of the cage and away from you.

I wish I could tell you more but a grey who's set in their habits and ways of thinking and attitude is hard to change. Your bird may have been a one person bird in the past. We always recommend that a very young bird who's just been purchased should be *socialized* into the family but adult birds who've already established their amount of baggage is more difficult to handle.