7 month grey jackhammering

[gotfaith1989]

Is it normal for my CAG to be "jack hammering" in my mouth at 7 months? She is not trying to feed me. When I hold her up to the mirror, she will regurgitate food and her actions are way different than when she tries to get food out of my mouth, so I know shes not doing a mating ritual. However, most of the time when she jack hammers my mouth, she ends up whimpering and being aggressive. I am sooo confused at why she is doing this!!!

 

She was handraised partly by me if that helps.

 

She will try to put her beak in my mouth and act like a woodpecker and then after a few seconds she will just freeze there in that position. Its the weirdest thing!

[Dave007]

It's probably nothing bad that's happening. They all do different things in different situations but one thing you should do is not let her keep taking things out of your mouth for 2 reasons..

1--- your saliva is potentially dangerous to your bird and serious illness and infection can occur.

2---eventually that day will come when your lips are gonna be an inviting target to bite and a hole right through your lip can occur.

[danmcq]

Dave's right on, as always. We have always kissed Dayo and let him explore our lips, from the outside only. But, when he becomes excited, there have been are few little nips that really wakes you up to the fact that lips are like butter and that beak can easily crack open Almonds shells. We are now VERY cautious with any beak to mouth activity or even movement by him towards that area unexpectedly.

 

A VERY painful point in fact of how quick and how bad a bite can be. Just last night upon returning home after being working out of town for 4 days. I was interacting with Dayo, high-fives, scratches all that lovey dovey stuff and then started playing with him.

 

He has a Bell he loves to get very aggressive with and so I reach up, rang it and said get the Bell!!

 

Well, instead of attacking the Bell, as I had expected, he attacked my hand instead like it was the Toy. Not expecting this, I was not prepared or even the slightest concerned this would happen, but he bit the S#$T out of my hand!! Right between the thumb and index finger where the large muscle is between the two. The only thing that kept him from severing the large blood vein therein, was instead of pulling away, which is a fairly natural reaction, I pushed toward him to throw him off balance and not be able to complete the bite through my entire hand.

 

I now have two very deep and painful puncture wounds, one from the bottom beak and one from the top. They are only about a 1/4 inch inside my hand at a depth of 1/2 inch from touching each other.

 

The point of this, is if this was the lip, it would be an emergency trip to the hospital for stitches and a permanent ugly facial scar for the rest of your life, barring reconstructive plastic surgery. So think about the possibility of sometime.......not expecting it........out of the blue.......BAM :ohmy:

[Dave007]

You're right about possible hospital visits. I've seen it happen and usually, when you go, since it's an emergency, you won't get to see a regular MD. Most of the time, a person gets to see a nurse practioner and bird bites aren't something they deal with very often. Just a tip..if your wound was between the thumb and index finger, expect it to take longer to heal and expect a little more pain than usual. That's one of the worst places to get bitten. Area is soft soft. beak can go a little deeper.

I had a friend who now lives in Florida. He has a green winged macaw since it was 4 mts old. he used to do things with this bird and constantly took chances. One day, the bird was on his shoulder and for no reason he bit the guy's cheek and ear lobe. About 1 second apart from each bite. He wound up getting 2 stitches on his cheek and his ear lobe was almose detached and he had to be bandaged a certain way for a month before the skin started to reconnect on the lobe. So, that fits your description of "not expecting it........out of the blue.......BAM "

He was left with a scar on the cheek. It's been about 7 yrs now but needless to say,he never let his bird go near soft skin again.

So as Dan and I say, watch out for those lips. They're juicy, soft , shiny and very appealing.

[gotfaith1989]

Yeah you guys are right. She could accidentially get me on the lip. It seems like everytime she's close she is trying to get in my mouth though. It's gonna be hard for her to break that habit.

She is crazy about pulling out my earrings too. She usually pulls at least one out once a day, sometimes both. It's gotten to the point where it doesn't even hurt anymore....

[Dave007]

We've got posts about birds being or not being a shoulder bird. With some there's no problem. With others, there is a problem but a grey will start showing small signs that he shouldn't be a shoulder bird. Right now, one of those signs is the earrings. It shouldn't be you that will put up with your bird gdoing that simply because it doesn't hurt. You're not part of the solution just a part of the problem. Soon, it'll be the neck/hair area. Then, another part of the ear lobe. Then some jewelry. Then some clothing. Basically all areas will be less tolerated by you because of increased discomfort. So, as the bird gets older, it becomes more agile and likes it up there. It learns to go from shoulder to shoulder behind you. You want the bird off. You put your hand up there to have him step up. The bird wants to stay there. You try over and over and he goes from shoulder to shoulder. Finally, he's pissed off that you're annoying him and BAM, he bites the thing that's chasing him, your hand. Seen it a million times. Think about letting your bird get into the habit of being on the shoulder. Trouble could be brewing in that hot kettle.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2008/11/22 19:29

[gotfaith1989]

Yeah I think Kenya thinks she owns me already. So what do you do to keep her from the shoulder? Everytime she steps up from her cage to my hand, the first thing she tries to do is crawl up my arm to get to my shoulder. And when I don't let her, she'll try to fly up there.

[Dave007]

If she's on your arm and starts crawlinmg upward, raise that horozontal arm and make it slightly vertical. The bird will walk up the arm to the fist/finger because parrots automatically go to the highest part of anything they're perching on. When your bird is up there put him back on something elselike the top of the cage, on a playstand etc. Repeat this over and over. Eventually, the bird gets the idea to stay off. A tip that works----If your bird is the type that flies over and lands on the back of the chair first then gets on you, simply take a small soft toy such as a small teddy bear and put it on top of chair. Birds don't like flying towards unfamilar items that have eyes.

 

[she]

Dave. I do a similar thing when I dont want Charlie to fly to a place. I put something strange there and He will not go there. It really works.

[gotfaith1989]

Good Idea...thank you! I do have another question. How do I love on her? She likes to snuggle against my neck and I love to hold her and stroke her back (which I know I cannot do later). If I can't kiss her and she can't be on my shoulder, how do I show her love????

[Dave007]

Put her in your lap and hold her, stroke her and put love on her. Just don't let her wander onto your shoulder.

[Tycos_mom]

I have a couple of shoulder birds and they are fine. I also have a couple birds that there is no way I allow on my shoulder. Tyco is one of them and she doesn't even try anymore she allowed on m arm and on my knee but I cannot trust her not to bite so she isn't allowed to go anywhere near my face. My Amazon is a shoulder bird. I can trust her tough she steps down when I ask her to. and she has never ever tried to bite me in any way. Thats not saying that one day she won't but I've had her for 9 years and I think anyone who can say that they haven't been bitten in the nine years they have had a bird can be pretty sure that the birds not going to bite unless there is a very good reason for it. I also let my smaller birds on my shoulder. they are fairly easy to handle. and they like to be up high rideing around on me while I doing my chores.

[judygram]

Dave007 wrote:

Put her in your lap and hold her, stroke her and put love on her. Just don't let her wander onto your shoulder.

 

 

Sounds good to me:kiss:

[gotfaith1989]

I'm not sure I'll be able to do the whole "keep her off the shoulder" thing.

You see, I do not own her....I work at a pet store and she is for sale. She is my baby and I hope I will be able to buy her, but for now, I am the only one who really spends time with her in the store. Really, the only way I can spend time with her is to let her on my shoulder while I work and check people out.

Tonight I was very careful NOT to let her get near my mouth hoping that she will learn. However, she did get my earring again.

This is mainly my problem.....

[Acappella]

As a person who needs a support group for people addicted to jewellery it pains me to say this, but no more earrings for you until she learns either she's not allowed on your shoulder or not to touch your jewellery. I remember a thread on here a few months ago about someone who ended up at the vet because their bird swallowed a pierced earring.

[gotfaith1989]

Yikes! That stinks for me! If i don't wear earrings for a few days, my ears will grow back.

[Acappella]

If you still have the studs from when your ears were pierced, put them in. The posts may be a little thick, but the butterfly backs on those earrings tend to be the type that lock on so she won't be able to pull them out. Then you can go about teaching her to leave your earrings alone.

[judygram]

If you have had pierced ears for more than a year they won't grow back, the hole stays so don't worry about them closing up. I don't wear my earrings around the house because my birds would either pull them out or damage them beyond repair, gold is a soft metal and their beaks makes them useless to wear as jewelry.