Really upset :( Got bitten in the face, please help!

lorika said:

Another question: is it normal that a bird isn't completely well-behaved after a month or three at his new home? Like, does it always take time to raise a bird properly?
Sometimes it just seem you guys are all parrot-whisperers and birds do what you want them to immediately... I feel like I'm failing at this.

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JerseyWendy said:

No, you are not failing at this. It takes TONS of time, patience, and observation skills to read your bird's body language. And it's an ongoing process, too.

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lorika said:

Hey everyone
I just had a pretty rough experience with my lorikeet.
Some days he seems fine, yes he can get a little possessive but he usually doesn't lash out without warning.
Just now, he was sitting on my hand while I was rinsing out his water bowl. Somehow this apparently enrages him, because he bit my hand really hard in two places. I cried out in pain and dropped him to the floor.

DISPLACEMENT BITING. THE WATER WAS THE TRIGGER.

I was like 'alright, misunderstanding probably', so I let him patter about for a minute. He started to climb up my leg and I let him. So then he climbs up to my shoulder and suddenly bites me in the face, right next to my mouth. I, again, yelped with pain and shoved him off of me. It bled pretty badly and I had a big shock. I made my loud 'na-ah!' sound (he knows it means 'no, don't') and let him walk around for a little to calm down.

HE SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED ON SHOULDERS UNTIL THE BEHAVIOR IMPROVES. HAND AND ARM BIRD ONLY. MY RULE OF THUMB IS IF A BIRD DISPLACEMENT BITES, SHOULDERS ARE A NO-NO. I DON'T GO BY SPECIES, I GO BY BEHAVIOR PATTERNS...

However, I wasn't so trustworthy again, so I put on my gloves and got a towel so I could put him back in his cage without either one of us getting hurt. However... he kept running from me :'( It broke my heart to see him scared of me. I try so hard to build trust with him and usually it's no problem at all, but now he just seemed terrified. After a (calm) chase and trying to get him to come to me I just broke down, cried and called my boyfriend for advice. He told me to make him food, hold it out to him and then put him back in his cage.

HE WILL GET OVER IT. TOMORROW IS A BRAND NEW DAY. DON'T STRESS OVER IT, OR MAKE A BIG DEAL ABOUT IT.

Eventually, this worked. I guess Loki was hungry, but still - would that make him more aggressive?

Anyway, I held out the food to him, but he wouldn't come near my hands, so I put out a stick in front of the food so he could sit on that. Then I carefully and slowly put the stick back into the cage, which he seemed eager to get back to.

I need advice. Is my bird now terrified of me? Will this last for a long time or will it be easier to win back since we used to be best buddies? (Yesterday he sat with me for three hours without any incident).

HE MIGHT BE REACTING TO YOUR FEAR OF HIM. WHEN THE DYNAMIC CHANGES THEY DON'T ALWAYS KNOW HOW TO REACT.

I've learned my lesson about using the faucet when he's near me, but is there anything else I can do to make sure this doesn't happen again?

DON'T ALLOW HIM ON SHOULDERS UNTIL HE CONTROLS HIS BITE PRESSURE.

I'm really upset. What am I doing wrong? Thanks so much in advance.
Hearts <3 lorika

ASIDE FROM NOT BITE PRESSURE TRAINING HIM, AND ASSUMING EVEN TAME FRIENDLY BIRDS NEVER OCCASIONALLY BITE, AND DON'T DISPLACEMENT BITE.... NOTHING.

DON'T TAKE IT PERSONALLY. DON'T OVER REACT. PROBABLY AN ISOLATED INCIDENT. MY ADVICE WOULD BE TO GO ON AS IF NOTHING HAPPENED, BUT NOT ALLOW HIM ON YOUR SHOULDER, AND TRAIN HIM TO CONTROL HIS BITE PRESSURE... I.E. PINCH INSTEAD OF BREAK THE SKIN. IT STILL HURTS, BUT IT HURTS LESS, AND DOESN'T LEAVE SCARS...

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Mallory said:

Just wanted to add two things quickly!

First...you have to learn with parrots what "sets them off". For both Eva and Greenleaf, the vacuum is unpleasant and they have to be in their cages when I start it. Greenleaf especially gets aggressive when she hears that noise. There are certain people and objects that bother my birds and it's not always obvious why. When you know something bothers your bird and you will receive displacement bites from it, you can work to avoid that situation. You can take it one step further as you build a relationship with your bird and start using classical conditioning to turn that negative stimulus into a positive experience. To avoid writing an essay I'll let you research that yourself

But I also want to say this. When you watch videos and read forum posts and look at pictures, we are generally showing our birds at their best. Most of us have also had years to get used to our birds' quirks and have a pretty good understanding of each others boundaries and what to avoid. But even if it looks like other people have perfectly behaved birds...everyone has bad days, every bird has bad feather days! We all get bit, pooped on, rejected, we all spend too much on the "perfect toy" and it goes untouched, we all put together gourmet parrot foods just for them to get tossed on the floor. That's all part of parrot ownership! Just be patient and know that as long as you put in the time, effort and research and you go at your bird's pace, your relationship with your bird will continue to move forward

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lorika said:

Mallory said:

Just wanted to add two things quickly!

First...you have to learn with parrots what "sets them off". For both Eva and Greenleaf, the vacuum is unpleasant and they have to be in their cages when I start it. Greenleaf especially gets aggressive when she hears that noise. There are certain people and objects that bother my birds and it's not always obvious why. When you know something bothers your bird and you will receive displacement bites from it, you can work to avoid that situation. You can take it one step further as you build a relationship with your bird and start using classical conditioning to turn that negative stimulus into a positive experience. To avoid writing an essay I'll let you research that yourself

But I also want to say this. When you watch videos and read forum posts and look at pictures, we are generally showing our birds at their best. Most of us have also had years to get used to our birds' quirks and have a pretty good understanding of each others boundaries and what to avoid. But even if it looks like other people have perfectly behaved birds...everyone has bad days, every bird has bad feather days! We all get bit, pooped on, rejected, we all spend too much on the "perfect toy" and it goes untouched, we all put together gourmet parrot foods just for them to get tossed on the floor. That's all part of parrot ownership! Just be patient and know that as long as you put in the time, effort and research and you go at your bird's pace, your relationship with your bird will continue to move forward

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That is so helpful Mallory. Thank you

I have been avoiding running the faucet when he's out since this little incident and that really helps. I've also learnt to put him back in his cage when he's overly excited and seems to be prone to bite me. The last few days have been great, he's really sweet and we're working on some tricks

Thanks for your help everyone

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