CAG Behavioural problems

CAG Behavioral problems

Hi,

I own a 14 years old grey since 1998. When I bought him I was 9 YO, and I have always been the only one in the family to take care of him. The parrot was bought from a good breeder in my area, and he has been handfed. In the past I have ignored him a little, but since a couple of year I have tried to interact more with him. He spends the winter in a 100x50x140h cm cage in our kitchen, while in summer I move him in a 200x400x200h aviary in my garden, but very close to the house. I want now to solve some of his behavioral problems:

1- BITE: yes, like many ignored parrots, he bites quite hard, and often makes me bleed. Even if this is probabily the gratest problem, I am managing to solve it on my own, little by little, not trying to reinforce the behaviour, and I immediatly stop to interact with him and put him back in his cage as soon as he tries to bite. Things are really going better, even if sometimes he stille bites, the frequency is much much lower than it used to be. I have to say that he has always been a little pinchy, even when he was a baby.

2- MATING: When I pet him and I play with him, he soon developes a mating-like behaviour, moving up and down his head rhitmically, opening a little his wings and regurgitating a little bit of food sometimes. I think that these are mating behaviours, don't you think so? I don't kow if I have to reinforce, ignore or avoid them, but I tend to watch at them positively. What do you think?

3- POO: It seems quite silly, but one ov the gratest problems that I find when I leave him free in the house is that he poos absolutely everywhere: on my books, on the couch, on the bed, even on my own clothes. As you can imagine, this could be very annoying and prevent me from letting him out a lot. Is there a way to teach him to poo just in his cage or on his tower?

4- FRIEND: How do you see the introduction of another parrot in the family? could be a positive model or I will spoil the relationship I have with my grey? And in case, it's better to get another grey or another species will be ok? my dream is to get a macaw.

Thank you for your answer, and sorry for my english, but it's not my mother tongue

Filippo

Please only pet his head and not other parts of his body. If you pet his body or wings it will stimulate the mating behavior.


Greys are intelligent bird and can easily be potty trained. If you catch him when you know he is ready to go put him over a waste basket or on the rim of the toilet and say poop. If you do this enough times he will get the idea. Mine does this OK. They usually go every 20 min. or so.

Getting another bird can be tricky. If you must I would stick to African birds. They will get along better. You will be dividing you attention.

Spiritbird said:

Please only pet his head and not other parts of his body. If you pet his body or wings it will stimulate the mating behavior

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I already do this. He doesn't like to be pet except from head and neck.

well pickle was only a baby when we toilet trained him, so i dont know if you will find it harder.

but basically every time we wanted to take him out of the cage, we waited until he did a poop, and then we jumped in with a key word like "poo in the cage" or whatever, and gave him heaps of praise and took him out. He learned that he got to come out if he pooped, and then we could ask him to poop before he came out, with the keyword we taught him.
(note: we still took him out when he didnt poop anyway, because its not that important, and we didnt want to punish him if he simply didnt need to go)

When we have him out and he poos on the floor, we would wipe it with a tissue, make a fuss, and go and show him pointedly, that we were then wiping the tissue on the cage floor. showing him "this is where the poop goes"
once we put the tissue in there, and if he was paying attention, we praised him as well.

Also when you have him out, they often get fidgety or move their stance or might back up off of whatever they are standing on... there will be signs anyway (and most go around every 20 minutes).
...But you have to catch them before they poop, rush him to the cage/stand, give the keyword and praise him when he poops on the stand.


They soon get the idea. If you have a flighted bird they will often just go to their designated pooping areas. and as pickle cant fly, he has started giving US the keyword, as if to ask us to take him back to his cage to go. ^-^

Thank you very much for the hints on how to teach to poo in the right place.

Anybody has any opinion on the mating behaviour?

I haven't yet had to deal with that. but i think you shouldn't acknowledge it, and just redirect his attention to like a toy or something when it happens...

As stated, I don't think you can actually *stop* his urges, he just needs a little guidance to understand you aren't his chosen one in that respect.

I know you've had him for some time now but if you have access to some books over in Italy they might be helpful.

For the Love of Greys
African Grey Parrots: A Complete Owner's Manual
Parrots for Dummies (a great book for every parrot guardian to keep on their bookshelf)

Thank you for the advices. I will surely buy some of these books. We never stop to learn, I think.

Do you think that maybe a partner will solve some of these problems, expecially the "mating" one, or he will create more problems than what he solves?

First, is your grey a male or female? Getting a second Grey can be tricky, even if you choose the opposite sex. If they do not accept each other, you've got twice the problem. They may fight and injure each other. If your current CAG has bonded to you, you may increase the aggressiveness if you get another bird. Your CAG may want to protect you or keep you to himself. The opposite may also occure, and your CAG will be aggressive toward you in favor of his new mate.

Most important is consistancy and patience. LOL

Re: CAG Behavioral problems

Filippo said:

2- MATING: When I pet him and I play with him, he soon developes a mating-like behaviour, moving up and down his head rhitmically, opening a little his wings and regurgitating a little bit of food sometimes. I think that these are mating behaviours, don't you think so? I don't kow if I have to reinforce, ignore or avoid them, but I tend to watch at them positively. What do you think?



Filippo

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im pretty sure that is a sign of affection not mating, big difference. my cag did that to me as a baby 14 weeks. she is 10 months now and will do it every once in a while.