I'm at a loss

[gourdlady247]

Yesterday evening, I was cleaning out the bottom of Georges cage, he had shredded newspaper everywhere. He had such fun doing it. But he had shredded it so much that the blanket I have in the bottom was exposed. So I was going to put new paper. I reached in telling him I was going to give him new paper to tear up.he climbed up on the side of the cage like he understood. So I'm gathering up the little pieces, he came down to the bottom of the cage and lunged at my arm before I knew it. He was on me like a pit bull. I couldn't get him off. Luckly I had on a long sleeve sweat shirt and was able to finaly get my arm out the sleeve. But now I have 5 bites on my arm and a couple bruises. I change his paper everyday, cause he now will go to the bottom and play with toy there. It's not like it's something new I just started. I'm at a loss. Someone told me that i may just have to resign to the fact that I will never be able to get him to step up and just a realationship in the cage. BS I know I will be able to make a break through with him, But I don't know what I'm doing wrong. We have had him for three months and I realize thats not long I guess. But I think I'm doing something wrong and don't know what it is. I can't get him to step up. And don't want to chase him around the cage with the dowel. Am I still pushing things. But my thought is if I don't try he will never stop bitting. I know he wants my attention cause if I walk out of the room he will beep at me. Nothing annoying, He beeps and i tell him I'll be right back and that's it.I know I'm sounding like a broken record but yesterday really worried me. I don't want that to happen again. Thanks in advance.

Marla

[sandra902]

wowee how disturbing!

 

just to give you a point of reference, my merlin (rescue birdy) has been here a year late october and he still does not step up, he will give me a good snapper if i am not wary.

 

we have a deal that he will sit on the top of the cage whilst i am cleaning it but today he thought he'd be funny and sit on the door and preen my hair while i was changing the paper. rascally wabbit!

 

things move very slowly in merlin's world and it was tough for me to accept that. but we humans are very trainable and merlin has been very patient while i learn right from wrong.

 

please continue to be patient, your little guy will move forward at his own pace. i ask merlin every day if he wants to step up. when he backs off, i say 'all righty maybe tomorrow' and that is one of the things he will say during talking time. 'hey merl wanna step up? okay maybe tomorrow.'

 

he also knows 'merlin. no. no bite.' and will say that after he tries to give me a snapper. he will also say 'whoa-oh!' or 'verboten' after giving me a snapper the darn guy.

 

he'll approach me now, and take things from my hand, and allow a stroke of the beak and a smooch only through the bars. and that is after over a year here.

 

we have other little games that we play together and we have a lot of oodling and cooing that we answer back to each other. so things are happy here and one day he might actually accept my invitation to step up. he sees little milly step up and climb all over mamma without being executed so i am hopeful he will continue to follow her lead as he has done so far.

 

does george have a playstand that is separate from his cage? or can he be lured to the top of the cage during cleaning time?

 

i have to be careful as milly is a little cage aggressive. she does not like her cage touched while she occupies it but will happily sit on my shoulder during cleaning time (and supervise)

 

yikes! look at the time. gotta suit up and get to work.

[gourdlady247]

I can open the top of his cage and put his perch up there. But he won't come out on his play stand. Since we can't touch him I put his playstand in front of his cage and move his food bowl out on it. Hoping to coax him out but to no avail. One day.

[Dave007]

Doesn't your tray have a slide out tray in the bottom? Many greys as they get older, don't like people including owners to put their hands in a cage. That's just another phase of the grey's personality starting to show through. Some greys don't do that but if your grey does, well, he does. They especially don't like people touching their toys.

I'll take the time to explain it even though it's been explained in the past. A grey goes into a new cage as a baby and really doesn't know what to do except check things out. As time passes, that grey becomes extremely familar with everything in that cage in many ways that you don't even know about. Basically, the bird is building and designing it's own home. Every grey builds it's home to his own specifications. After that, many greys don't like any interference in their cage no matter what the interference is because they're extremely possessive. Sometimes, that extends to food/water bowls. If your bird continues this, he'll come into the catagory of a bird that has to be out of the cage when anything needs to be done--cleaning/ feeding/moving things around etc and there are many greys that have that attitude and it doesn't just apply to greys. You may not know why he bit you but in his eyes you were disturbing a function which comes naturally to them. Ripping up newspaper may not seem like a big deal to you but if your bird could have a conversation with you, you'd soon find out how important it is to him/her.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2008/12/18 18:49

[gourdlady247]

maybe i have things set wrong in his cage. I thought someone here had suggested put to a blanket in the bottom of the cage for when they sometimes fall. So there is nothing in the tray in the bottom of the cage, cause the blanket is covering it anyway. Do i have it wrong?

[Dave007]

How old is he? When they're agile and can get around easily enough a blanket is removed. Blankets are only used when a bird is a baby and has no idea about manuevering in a cage and anyway, if you have a slide out, use it as it was made to be used. That's why it's a slide out tray.

[gourdlady247]

he's 7-10 years old we were told.

[Dave007]

Please remove the blanket. If a bird can't fall in his cage without hurting himself, there's something wrong with the bird. Blankets are removed at the latest when birds are approx 6 mts old and some are even removed before that. 7 to 10 yrs old and he's being possessive. It doesn't surprise me and I know that he was that way before you got him. Don't interfere with his attitude. It doesn't mean he has less feelings for you. He just wants things to be the way he wants them. At at age you better watch out for bites. They can be serious and multiple at times plus they're very good at doing that when they're adults.

[gourdlady247]

ok, I'll take it out. I haven't heard him all at night anymore anyway. I thank you for all your advice.

[BaxtersMom]

:huh: :dry: It might have been me awhile back that told you about putting a blanket in it. Someone asked about their bird falling and I had an eclectus that fell a couple times so I put a blanket at the bottom, but I did cover the blanket with paper. So sorry if that was wrong advice. I was just worried about mine falling and getting hurt but it only happened a couple times untill we got a new cage and he doesn't fall anymore anyway. Is George still falling?

 

As for the biting and terrorizing you when you are doing stuff to his cage. A couple of my birds really like it and they will climb close to me and preen my hair and just hang out close to me while I do it. They seem so interested. But I have an amazon now and is fairly tame but still needs some work on manners. He is going on 2 years old and I think he gets excited or maybe he actually is angry that I am messing with his stuff when I clean or change his cage around but he will charge to me if I take one of his toys or climb down the bars towards me. He looks like he is being playful but if I am not paying attention, he will take a chunk out of me. I think this is just his personality as well, too, though. I never thought he might actually be angry about it untill I seen Daves post. Hmmmm:huh:<br><br>Post edited by: BaxtersMom, at: 2008/12/18 20:44

[gourdlady247]

I haven't heard him fall anymore. He did just after we got him. The bites he gave me yesterday was now where what he has given me on my fingers. But really made me worry. He always is at the bottom of the cage when i am changing the paper. He just has to come see what i'm doing. And yesterday is the on;y tme he has done it that way. But i'm afraid that from the responce i had was not on the positive side. I didn't hit or anything but I was trying to get him off me. So I'm probably back at step -----1 . But that's my luck.

[gourdlady247]

and the advice about the blanket probably wasn't wrong. I probably just didn't follow the direstions. I haven't heard him fall in a while. But just left it there out of precaution I guess.

[BaxtersMom]

Don't beat yourself up about it. You are doing fine with him. There's no time limit on greys. Each one is different. I know what you mean though about the bites. I have gotten it and sometimes you can't help but jerk really hard to get them off:laugh: Been there, done that:) I doubt it will cause a set back.

[gourdlady247]

I hope not. He's acting like nothing happened so maybe. I was working in his cage today getting the blanket out and he came down to the bottom and nothing. He just played with his toys and shredded paper. But I was very cautious about where my hand and arm was and where he was. Not taking any chances. LOL

[Acappella]

Dorian had to get used to his cage being cleaned on a regular basis when he got here. Now he comes down to see what I'm doing, preens my hair, and waits until I'm done, then spends the next half hour 're-decorating' with freshly torn paper!

[Goralka08]

Hi again.

 

I know I'm not as experienced as all the other grey owners here because we've only had McKenzie since Dec. 7th, but it's worth a shot to share my experience to try to help ya out!

 

When we first saw Kenzie, the first thing she did was bite my mom's hand when she was by her travel cage! So I asked her foster dad if she had any cage aggression or gives off any signs when she'll bite. He frankly said, "No not really."

 

Now that we've had her for almost 2 weeks, we are noticing a lot of signs that she gives off...thanks to the parrot seminar classes we took to adopt her.

 

They taught us about eye pinning. It's when their pupils dilate and constrict rapidly. So you'll see the dark of their eyes change sizes really fast. Greys will do this when they're excited or when they're aggressive. Kenzie's eyes will pin when she is playing or eating a treat. If her eyes pin when she isn't playing or eating...it means she doesn't want to be bothered and she WILL bite!

 

So the next time you change the paper, pay attention to George's eyes and see if he gives off any signs of being crabby lol.

 

Also, the bites are probably out of fear. Kenzie will bite if you put your hands in her cage, so we let her climb out onto her door by herself, and then she will step-up only if her eyes aren't pinning. If her eyes are pinning, I don't even bother and let her climb up onto her play top by herself.

 

Have you tried feeding George with your hands? Try sitting near the cage and talking softly. Then eat a piece of fruit or veggie near his cage and let him watch you, and then slowly offer him a little piece as if you're showing him that you want to be apart of his flock.

 

I hope all goes well and I'm thinking of you and George!

[casper]

Please dont feel that you are back to stage one with George.

 

Out of my three greys my eldest sometimes will have a nip when I go to put food in his cage, like Dave said its their home!

 

You are so patient and doing a great job. Try to think positive, good luck.

 

Caroline.

[danmcq]

GreYt advice from Dave!!

 

I'm in agreement with Casper also.

 

He probably feels like he taught you a lesson in who the owner of that Cage is. Once he has created a masterpiece, just like he envisioned by shredding the paper and arranging it just so. You will know next time to leave his creations alone. :-)

 

So the two of you are on par right now with that new understanding. ;-)

 

The important thing to remember, is not to just resolve yourself to thinking he will always behave as he does right now. You just never know how he will be in 1, 3, 9 or 12 month from now with your continual encouragement, love and respect for his space. He's still sizing you and the new home up. :-)

[gourdlady247]

So when he tears up the paper do I just leave it alone? I feel that it should be cleaned out. Cause he poops all over the cage.

[Char]

I am thinking you frightened him with the movement of the paper near him. Birds are easily startled by movement or noise near them. My bird has never bitten me but has been frightened and lunged at my fingers when she was sitting on my hand and turned around and saw my fingers sticking up. She didn't realize what they were.

 

I never clean the cage with her inside. It just makes sense that I could make some movement that would frighten or startle her. I don't think they always realize that our arms or hands inside their cages are us. Look at it from a bird's eye view.

 

I wouldn't get all worked up thinking you have to get that paper out as soon as it gets a little poop on it. My vet told me that in the wild these birds walk around and step in their poop all the time. But that is easy for me to say as my bird doesn't play around on the bottom of the cage. Her toys and paper are hung up high where she can reach it from a perch.

 

Post edited by: Char, at: 2008/12/20 20:38<br><br>Post edited by: Char, at: 2008/12/20 20:40