My little rebel

[JDS5607]

oooooooooooooooooooooooh goodness.

 

haha, I feel like everyday I am writing with a question, as of late!

 

Sully has NEVER been able to sit on my shoulder or my husband's shoulder, because we both have our ears pierced. I have 4 on each ear, and it's SO MUCH hassle to take them out and put them back in, so we decided that Sully was not going to be able to sit up on shoulders.

 

Anyway, he tries to get up there ALL THE TIME! He throws a fit when I tell him "not for you" and stop him mid-way up my arm. He wants those earrings!!!! He has gotten me distracted and snatched one quite a few times, and I am terrified he's going to choke on one!

Besides taking my earrings out, does anyone have any other methods of getting him to be less interested in my shoulder? Our other birds are allowed on our shoulders because they are small and really have no interest in earrings, and I don't know if he sees this and gets jealous, or he just sees the pretty shiny things in mommy's ears and wants them too!

 

Sigh... and I was sitting here typing this and he got a "not for you" and he's now sitting on the arm of the couch, back turned and won't even look at me. lol the temper of a five month old...:mad:

[Dave007]

No matter how sweet, kind, loveable, cute and adorable your grey is right now, if he gets the idea that he can go on your shoulder, I guarantee you that in the future, he will give you an another absolutely free-of-charge lobe piercing for your next set of new earrings that you buy. If you wear a chain on your neck, they're able to snap and break it without even trying hard. They love shiny jewelry. Another reason for not doing the shoulder thing is that if you use some sort of hair grooming item in your hair, they will get to it because they love to preen hair. If they do get to that cosmetic, they will swallow it and that's a no no. Some birds also like shiny jewelry, shirt collars, cheeks, eyeglasses. Another thing about the shoulder is that when it comes time that you don't want him there, they will give you a struggle when you try to catch him. They'll race over to the other shoulder and they might bite if you persist. When up on the shoulder, you can't see what he's doing but he can see everything you're doing and it's easy for the bird to avoid whatever you're doing to get him off.

Just like so many other greys, you have a *no shoulder* bird and it's difficult if not impossible to stop that biting habit so you need to immediately stop letting him on your shoulders permanently. There's other greys that won't do any biting at all but it boils down to personality and attraction or lack of attraction.

[Luvparrots]

My grey is not allowed on my shoulder as she loves to preen my hair and BITE my ears!!!! When she broke my crucifix chain that was it!!!! If she tries to go there I just shake my shoulders and she is unbalanced and flying off. I can understand why Sully would be angry with you, kind of like a child "why can Joe, Romeo, Chicken, and Zoe go and I can't" They must love them best!!!!! You might need to decide all or nothing to keep peace among fids.

[JDS5607]

Lol@ Dave, I don't want any free piercings thats for sure!

 

Luv- I definately understand what you're saying. I think this may become a no shoulder bird household. It's not me that I'm worried about breaking the rule... my husband pops his little romeo right up on his shoulder the SECOND he comes home, and he stays there til bedtime....oooooh boy!

[domyoburk]

FYI - I don't know that it's necessary that everyone and everybird in the house treat this the same way... but each person needs to be consistent. My husband is Ursula's favorite and he allows her on his shoulder with no problem (of course, no pierced ears). I don't trust her on my shoulder at all, so I consistently shrugged her off (for a while I think I would even duck when she flew over...). She rarely tries to land on me anymore, but clearly knows she can land on my husband.

 

Of course, she also feels free to land on anyone other me, so I guess if we wanted to train her not to land on people it would have be all-or-nothing...

[judygram]

I allow Josey on my shoulder but she doesn't spend a lot of time there, my constant companion is my sun conure, Josey is not jealous of the fact that Sunny spends so much time there as she has always done that but Josey does get some one on one time every day, she is most content to just play on her cage playtop or in her cage. I do not wear earrings at home anymore for they are an attractant to birds even Sunny. Josey behaves herself when she is on my shoulder and will step down if I ask her to.

[birdhouse]

You could try a kerchief or headband, but it might frighten him into other problem behavior. If it doesn't you'd be able to cover your earrings.

 

He is really just pushing your buttons, which of course, is one of a fid's favorite past times. It might be good to just stand your ground & wait him out. Once you show him that you just aren't phased by his temper, he'll likely move on to the next fun thing. But he just has to do anything as long as he can get a rise out of you.