Pls help with advice - hurtful biting out of nowhere

[AleksandraJ]

I have a problem with my African grey (7-old male) and was hoping somebody could help me with some advice because I have nearly given up – he is a bitter

And not a “warning bite” kind. Also not “get out of my space” bitter. He comes to me when I am sitting on the sofa, he begs me with a titled head to be scratched and when I do that, he lets me scratch him for a few minutes and then…bam…he suddenly bites. Strongly – usually drawing blood.

 

I try to do right by him. When I am at home he is always out of his cage, sitting on a perch near so he can interact with me. We do training to keep his mind occupied and to build a communication bridge between us – he does all sorts of “tricks” and comes when called. But the biting issue persist and I don’t know what to do. When he bites me this hard I lose all the buildup trust with him and am afraid of touching him, a fact I am sure he senses I don’t strike him or jell at him for doing it – For his “punishment” I just ignore him for some time. But he has bitten in this way since we got him (4 months old) and keeps doing it no matter what I try.

 

I would really appreciate any sort of advice or direction to help him. I am sure something isn’t right for him if he keeps doing it – I still believe that some parrots aren’t just mean by their nature (as one African grey breeder suggested when I approached him with this problem).

[Echo's Mom]

Have you tried telling him that it's not nice to bite?

 

Now that you've quit laughing at me (hahahaha!) I am quite serious! They understand so very much that we don't appreciate!

 

When you're bitten you feel hurt but also frustrated ... he's probably latching on to the frustration more than the hurt.

 

Also, you mention that after a couple of minutes ... you could stop petting him after 30 seconds and then walk away ... make him BEG for your attention.

 

Then if he does bite (or when LOL) say WOW, that's not nice at all and walk away. Flat out ignore him. Then about 10 minutes later go back into the room, with a treat of course, and read a book out loud ... he'll naturally come over to see what's going on ... pet him (if he invites it), but stop after 30 seconds or so, give him and treat say what a good bird and then go back to reading. Rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat.

 

It sounds more like learned behaviour than anything else!

 

Good luck!

[Dave007]

I have a problem with my African grey (7-old male) and was hoping somebody could help me with some advice because I have nearly given up – he is a bitter

And not a “warning bite” kind. Also not “get out of my space” bitter. He comes to me when I am sitting on the sofa, he begs me with a titled head to be scratched and when I do that, he lets me scratch him for a few minutes and then…bam…he suddenly bites. Strongly – usually drawing blood.

 

I try to do right by him. When I am at home he is always out of his cage, sitting on a perch near so he can interact with me. We do training to keep his mind occupied and to build a communication bridge between us – he does all sorts of “tricks” and comes when called. But the biting issue persist and I don’t know what to do. When he bites me this hard I lose all the buildup trust with him and am afraid of touching him, a fact I am sure he senses I don’t strike him or jell at him for doing it – For his “punishment” I just ignore him for some time. But he has bitten in this way since we got him (4 months old) and keeps doing it no matter what I try.

 

I would really appreciate any sort of advice or direction to help him. I am sure something isn’t right for him if he keeps doing it – I still believe that some parrots aren’t just mean by their nature (as one African grey breeder suggested when I approached him with this problem).

 

 

If your parrot will let you pet him but bites after a few minutes, this means that you're are trying to pet him for too long a period even though you think it's a short time. The pet owner’s job is to figure out how long is too long. If you time the interactions, you will get a feel for your bird’s tolerance. Once you understand that, you can remove him from the situation before he loses patience and lashes out. If he accepts being stroked for 10 minutes, then move him away after 5 to 7 minutes. You will begin to have less problem with him biting those who pet him, specifically you. You never mentioned any other family members. His patience will increase once she no longer feels pressured.

 

If you observe your parrot closely, you will find that he warns of an impending bite with body language that humans often do not understand. Despite their proclivity for noisy interaction, parrots communicate mostly through subtle changes in body posture and feather position. You say that's not happening. If we are oblivious, we tend to blunder along, being incredibly rude from the parrot’s point of view. As far as they are concerned, they are being perfectly clear with their feelings. Unable to know that we do not understand what they are telling us, they likely perceive humans as ignorant.

 

Another thing to think about doing is not to pet your bird when he comes over because for some reason he associates his biting with your petting him. There's nothing wrong with a bird not being petted when he comes over. The bird only wants company.

 

Ok, now for the big change-----have a 10 inch perch close by you and let him step on the perch when you're bringing back to the cage.

Remember that some birds don't want the touching to stop so in order to tell you this, he bites. Some birds nip hard and some birds bite very hard causing blood.

This whole process takes time especially with an adult grey. This is a problem that should have been addressed when the bird was 8,9,10 mts old.

 

I don't pet my greys when they fly over. They only wanna be close by and are curious about what's going on. If I were to pet my greys every time they came over, I'd get bitten too.

 

PS----just what areas are you petting him besides the head?

Edited September 22, 2015 by Dave007

[Elvenking]

Isaac allows limited scratching of the head...and it has to be time.....HIS time. LOL. I wouldn't even get up to a minute with him before he wants to show me that he is still in control...backs off....then tips his head down again for more. So I'll actually stop after 20 seconds or so...and see what he does. I'll put my hand down right next to him to see what he does. He almost always takes a couple more steps toward my hand and actually rubs his head on my hand...asking for more. I'll do that game with him until either I am tired of scratching or he is. I will always let up to see what he does though.

 

I can totally understand if he hurts you and draws blood how you might not want to take another shot. So use your discretion. It is probably what he is asking for if he is lashing out and biting like that. "Please don't". Typically, Isaac will use his beak and escalate the responses based on whether I am getting what he means or not. First they might just gently 'beak' your finger or something to tell you 'no'. Then they will try again with a little more pressure...and then...if you just really aren't getting it, Isaac will then give the official chomp on a finger. Time to give space. Experiment and proceed with caution and compassion for your baby.

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

All have excellent advice, and you need to do, what works for you. It will be a difficult road for you, as your bird is older and set more in his ways. BUT... every grey can learn, no matter how old they are.

I was lucky to get Sophie at two, our Amazon as a baby, and a rescue. The rescue, WAS a challenge, but we worked it out.

Sophie was NEVER allowed on shoulder, until she learned " biting", was not allowed. If she bit me or kids, she went into a cage ( not her own), no toys, nothing to do... for one minute per year. We immediately tried again. We were persistent, consistent, and she had the " same"outcome with both the kids. Six months of hell! When she would start demonstrating signs of a bite, ( they do), eye pinning, feathers flat, we would diffuse the situation then. NO Sophie! Are we going into timeout? She knew what timeout was. ( time away from us!) Nancy

[katana600]

Hi and welcome to the forum. What is your grey's name? Dave007 is so right about the greys being subtle. I have studiously observed Miss Gilbert for years. As far as she is concerned, I'm still ignorant and thick as compared to her mastery of subtlety. Another thing about our greys, he may have started the biting to tell you something a while ago. Then he realized it is powerful and it becomes his first "go to" in his arsenal rather than for him to work on the subtle clues. I agree with you that this isn't about him being mean. Rather its a communication device. By changing the interaction and giving him less opportunity to bite and observing closely any small changes you may have made when he first started this tactic, you might be able to figure out how to get past this habit and back to his better side.

[neoow]

I have to be careful when I pet Alfie. If he flies over to me, I set him down on my knee (he's a non-shoulder bird) and I wait for him to indicate if/when he would like fuss. Sometimes he's quite content just to sit with me, sometimes he wants to wander around and other times he will want fuss. If he wants fuss he will shuffle over, head down and brush up against my hand/arm. I then watch really carefully whilst scratching his head/neck. If he turns his beak towards my hand, I stop and move my hand away. If he wants more fuss, he will tell me. If I tried to carry on when he turns his head/beak towards me, then I'd likely get a bite to tell me enough is enough. Alfie seems to like short sharp bursts of fuss.

 

I think others have given really good advice about the timing. Do not let it get to the point where he bites. Fuss him in intervals. (You could reward if you don't get bitten if you feel that will help.) But don't keep fussing him until he bites. Just stop, move your hand out of the way and see what he does. He may follow your hand and ask for more fuss or he may be content and go about other business.

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

Excellent! You are learning... we are always learning as well, no matter how experienced we are! For example... eye pinning then eye dilatation, may be a bite for you... but for me... Sophie doesn't bite us, so she is learning! I always ask her what she has learned? Nancy