How to nip this in the bud!

Cheri

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Jul 16, 2015
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We have a 14 yr old little corella - Bella - who came to us 6 months ago from a male caretaker home. I'm female, and though I can hand her food, get kisses and scratch her head, she refuses any other interaction. She has seemed too quiet and bored / sad, so we thought if we got a younger, more outgoing 'too, Bella might liven up. Welcome 4 yr old goffin Pearl! Pearl was owned by 2 women centered homes over her 4 yrs. The last one, the woman had a 3 yr old son. I have no idea if anything happened there with the son scaring or hurting Pearl, but when I got Pearl home a few days ago, she IMMEDIATELY attached herself to me. Great, I thought! Until my very calm, quiet 7 yr old grandson came to visit.
Pearl had been given lots of attention all morning and would move around between her cage, her playstand, the back of the couch and my shoulder. While she was on her cage, my grandson came and sat next to me on the couch and snuggled next to me. Well, Pearl crept down to the back of the couch and started that panting, tounge clicking, death glare mode staring straight at my grandson. I put my arm up on the back of the couch between me and my boy, and talked softly to Pearl, trying to tell her it was alright, but about 10 seconds later she LUNGED for his head trying to claw/bite him! My terrified grandson ran across the room and Pearl followed, dive bombing his head until I got in between and shooed her back inside her cage. She stayed there for the remainder of my grandsons' visit. I even, after a couple of hours, had my grandson offer Pearl a nut thru the cage bars, and again, she lunged! (I think she hissed, too!)
How do I deal with this? I have even younger grandchildren who will visit and I want Pearl to be sweet with them. What would YOU do?
(By the way, my other bird, Bella, watched all of this like "That ***** be crazy!" I guess I envision Bella as a strong black woman in a white cockatoo body, lol!)
 

AnnBrown

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Sep 28, 2015
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Southern Louisiana
Parrots
Razberry, Galah (rose breasted) Cockatoo
Celine, sun conure
Do you have the previous owners phone number that you could ask them about her interaction with the child in the past?
 
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Cheri

Cheri

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Jul 16, 2015
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Didn't get a reply when I texted prev. owner. :(
 

Birdman666

Well-known member
Sep 18, 2013
9,904
258
San Antonio, TX
Parrots
Presently have six Greenwing Macaw (17 yo), Red Fronted Macaw (12 yo), Red Lored Amazon (17 y.o.), Lilac Crowned Amazon (about 43 y.o.) and a Congo African Grey (11 y.o.)
Panama Amazon (1 Y.O.)
Jealous bird issue. Sign of an overbonded bird, who transferred that bond to you.

Bottom line, right now I wouldn't trust this bird to be out around young children.

The disfavored person training protocols are posted. That would most likely apply to socializing this one.
 
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Cheri

Cheri

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Jul 16, 2015
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The problem is that there is nobody else in the home to socialize her with UNTIL the little ones come over. I don't have friends that come by or anything.
 

MosaicMadness

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Nov 20, 2015
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Virginia
Parrots
Jenks-RFM 13 yrs, Mox-BTM 9 mos, Widget-RB2 11mos, Artie-WCpi 17 years, Khalessi-BWpi 4 yrs, Winslow-Meyers 6 yrs
Personally, what I would do is make sure she is in her cage when the kids are over. I would then have the kids either drop into an empty dish a treat or if it can be safely offered through the cage w/o getting bitten while talking softly to her. I would then tell them to just ignore her and go about their visit, while not allowing them to be hyper around the cage area. If you can eventually have adults help with the same things in between visits, that would be great, but safety first.
 

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