Brattiness has been kicked up a notch.

[Greytness]

This past week Maalik has become even more of a brat bird. He was one before, but now he's kicked it up a notch.

 

The past several days he's become a stronger nipper. He'll click loudly, snort, and then take hold of my finger or what have you and twist it in his beak. I continue to put two fingers on both sides of his beak to remove him, saying, "No biting", but all he'll do is fly to the top of his cage. Then he'll usually fly back over to my shoulder, slowly work his head underneath the back of my hair and take a tiny piece of my skin to pinch.

 

Can the terrible twos be the terrible ones instead? Sheez! He's clicking and snorting more now, like he's got a "bigger than thou 'tude." This, too shall pass, and hopefully soon!

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

Bite your tongue! LOL! Don't even suggest the terrible one's ! LOL I can only suggest, babies only be allowed on wrist only. As far as baby being on the play stand and being taller... I don't believe in that either. Many disagree about the taller status. I got bit when my bird was taller. I am short. I have a step stool, and I am always taller. Its just my belief, but others have their own. Nancy

[Inara]

This past week we had a super moon full moon. Often, people and animals have varying responses to the moon. HRH was a bit jumpy the past few days. Maalik may be sensitive to the moon. It could be fun to mark these last few days of brattiness on you calendar and any future ones and see if there is any pattern with the moon. Wereparrot !!

[Greywings]

It might be smart to get him involved in a tug of war with an old sock or something else physical to reroute that rough behavior.

[SRSeedBurners]

Could it be anything to do with losing Bogart?

[Greytness]

Wow. These are all very plausible thoughts as to what could be causing his recent 'brattiness'; the super moon, losing my Bogart whose song he still sings for me. I never thought about these recent events as being contributory, all of which make a LOT of sense.

 

Maalik likes to tear up dampened paper towels, so I'll giving him some when he's hanging out with me to see if it distracts him for awhile. I'm not ready to ban him just yet from hanging out on my shoulder, but will do so if his behavior doesn't change. He really likes to be with me while I'm preparing dinner.

 

Thanks everyone, for your insightful responses.

[SRSeedBurners]

How old is Maalik? I know you said terrible ones but how close to two is he? GreycieMae (20mos) was turning bratty a few months before we brought Rio home (Memorial Day) and then she kicked it up a notch when he came home. She has since taken up another notch and like you, I am very close to banning her from my shoulder. She bites the hell out of me sometimes, seems to take joy in a high-pierced screeches directly in my ear and constantly harasses the other birds. She doesn't win again the Caique as they are master fighters but Rio is so gentle he just cowers down and will take abuse.

 

I'm trying real hard right now to be extra patient with her as I'm hoping this will settle down over time, probably a long time.

 

One thing I have found is that when things are routine, she's her normal little turd self. So I will then take her on a bike ride or outside riding around on my shoulder watching me do stuff which seems to adjust her a bit and we can settle down.

[Greytness]

Maalik's almost 13 months old, so not very close to 2. I can relate to your saying how GrecieMae harasses the other birds. Maalik and my Panama Amazon, Harley, have turf wars on top of Harley's cage. They posture and peck at each other until Maalik eventually flies off, which is usually before Harley gets himself into actual nipping range. Harley is definitely afraid of Maalik, and Maalik approaches it as a bird game.

 

All the recent changes that have taken place around here, including my oldest son's return home last week after having studied abroad for the past year are most likely contributing to Maalik's behavioral changes. I'm very interested to see if this continues or dissipates slowly over time. Hoping for the latter.

[Cinnyminis]

Radar, 23 months, has been such a handful this summer. I rearranged the furniture and moved his cage closer to my orange-wing, and he became super aggressive. I have never allowed him on my shoulder because his beak is sharp, and I am glad, because he bit through my top lip a month ago. I moved all the furniture back and started spending some extra time with him and things have calmed down a bit. He still flies across the room to Echo's cage several times a day, and flies to my bedroom too, but its more manageable. I still have to approach him carefully though because his fist inclination is to bite. I am working on filling his cage with toys and activities, along with treating him to pistachios when he doesn't bite. One small step at a time!

Beth