Behavior problem--need help

I adopted my charlie, he is 5. When I first brought him home he was such a sweetie. Suddenly he has turned into a demon. He refuses to get back in his cage without biting (and he does not let go). He is biting everyone who tried to have contact with him except me. He refused to step up on command ( or down for that matter). He is doing some strange thing when he is on my arm, he acts like he is picking something off my skin, it doesnt hurt, but I do not like it. I have had him almost 2 weeks and he was so sweet at first. How do I stop this bad behavior? After several times of being bitten last night trying to put him in his cage, I ended up leaving him out until this morning when he got back in to eat and I closed the door. Charlie is my first parrot and I love him dearly, but I have to figure out how to get him to cooperate. I would love any suggestions.

when he's picking on your arm, he's grooming you. If youc an tell when he's going to bite you, drop your hand real quick. IF he lands on the floor it ain't gonna kill him, unless you have a dog or a cat that ain't used to birds.Same thing goes if he bites you. Shake the little demon off ya.
The reason why he was so sweet when you first got him was because he was scared to death. I don't mean to make him afraid of you, just respect you. That was what is commonly known as the Honey Moon Period And Also it takes loads of patience to work with birds. Don't give up on your baby.

Totally agree with Chewy.

Your little Charlie is over the fear stage and is now testing his boundaries with you. He's basically saying "What can I get away with?"

If you have to, at first, you can get a separate perch which you can use to get him in and out of his cage until he learns you mean business. Take the perch and press it gently against the bottom of his chest but above his feet. Keep pressing until he is forced to step up onto it and then you can remove him or put him back that way. This way he is biting the perch and not you.

Then I would take 15 minutes a day and take him into a separate room (a smaller room where he can't fly away too far like the bathroom but cover the toilet and any dangers) and practice step ups. Practice step-downs, to and from your hand to your other hand, from your hand to the separate perch and from the separate perch to your hand. Hopefully this will help reinforce that you're now the new boss. Get other members of your family to practice step ups with him as well once he's getting better at it.

If he bites you during training and he's on your hand, tip your hand towards the floor. This will throw him off balance and he won't like it. Hopefully he will associate biting you with being thrown off balance. In extreme cases remove him and put him on the floor. I have to do this with Tucker sometimes. Birds do not like being on the floor because in the wild predators could get them this way and they feel unsecure.

Hopefully this helps! Let us know about his progress!!

Ashley and Tucker

Also, if he's on your hand and goes to bite, do the 'earthquake'. Just flip your hand over forward or backward, and he will lose his focus on biting you and worry about his footing. He won't fall on the ground, so it's a bit safer.

To reinforce who's the flock leader, when you get him on your hand, do 'step-up ladders'. Have him step up onto each of your hands one right after the other. Don't let him get above you though. It's best to keep him below eye level when doing this.

I do both of these for my Amazon during mating season and they put him in check without any traumatizing effects

Good luck and welcome to the Forum

Thanks to everyone who replied. I appreciate your help. I will keep your posted.

stlcausntrbl said:

Thanks to everyone who replied. I appreciate your help. I will keep your posted.

Click to expand...

Agree with everything said.

The other caution - and it's caution - every fid is different, is don't let him near your shoulder right now. With my Sennie, Keupi, I had a lot of problems with us being on eye level (when he sat on my shoulder), some similar to yours but some very different.

Also, as a 'wind-down' is the ladder game. When Charlie is getting too nippy, you can 'command' (voice) step-ups and gradually 'wind-down' to 'ask' (voice) with 'good birdie's' thrown in.

Hope that makes sense.

Good luck and don't stop!

I also agree with Keupi here ... only, I call them "Ladder Drills" and they are a form of punishment ... there is no asking involved ... I use ladder drills like my old hockey coaches used Canadian Wind Sprints, you go until one of two things happen - 1) you drop, or 2) your attitude changes ... 99.5% of the time your attitude changed really quickly ...

No, seriously though, ladder drills are great for behavior issues, and those stubborn birdies ...

TexDot33 said:

I also agree with Keupi here ... only, I call them "Ladder Drills" and they are a form of punishment ... there is no asking involved ... I use ladder drills like my old hockey coaches used Canadian Wind Sprints, you go until one of two things happen - 1) you drop, or 2) your attitude changes ... 99.5% of the time your attitude changed really quickly ...

No, seriously though, ladder drills are great for behavior issues, and those stubborn birdies ...

Click to expand...

Actually Tex - you nailed it. It's attitude. That's the beauty of ladder play/drills.

We all screw up - heck based on the books we could all be classified as 'bad.' Sometimes it is frustrating.

I like ladder play. It's a good way to de-stress a problem and end on a positive note. It's the main reason why the up command is a must in my book.

As defiant and nippy as he may be he's not getting out of stepping up (or in his case up-up). In the beginning it's all about 'up' but in the end it's 'up what a good birdie, up good Keupi...'

It's the attitude - from both parront and parrot.

Birds have the intelligence of a toddler. They also have the emotions and behavior of a toddler. They can understand, feel, and accept that at times (AT TIMES) you may not like them, but they also need to know that you always love them.

I like ladder-play a lot because at the beginning - it's discipline, at the end - it's love.

No more I can really add to this but keep up with the ladder exercises, that works for my boyfriend when he handles my Senegal. Keep us updated on how your making out.