Baby galah never wants to stop playing with me

[aether-drifter]

I've had my five-month-old galah for two weeks now, and we are buddies. He loves to be on me at every possible opportunity, gets upset when I leave the room, etc. Problem is, he feels the need to play every single moment he is with me. And by play, I mean gnaw on me. I'm trying to do what I can to discourage the nipping, such as always have a fun shreddable toy that I can hand him instead. It does work some of the time, but usually he just tries as hard as he can to get around the toy to my skin. I think he's starting to get that he's not allowed to bite too hard, since when he hurts me I make a noise and react in some way (throw him off balance, push him a bit, or put him down and ignore him). If he unleashed the same beak power on me that he does on his toys, I would have shed a lot more blood than I already have (he's only broken skin a few times, and it was just a little scrape). I do allow him to nibble and mouth me sometimes, to show him that if he does it GENTLY, it is okay (and to help teach him when he crosses the line). Sometimes I figure he just needs to get it out of his system. If he gets too annoying I'll move him off of me or put him on my lap with a towel and toys and treats. No luck getting him to stay on a play stand or on the floor, so far. When he wants to play, he wants to play with me. Unless he's in his cage, in which case he will play independently.

I bring him out for a movie almost every night, and when he tires of playing he'll sit on the back of the couch not doing anything. I always try to interact with him when he seems calm, but the instant I start paying attention to him he starts chewing on me again. I've also tried letting him sit with me right before bed, when I know he must be getting tired and the lights are low. Doesn't matter...he seems to think that being with me is always play time. It's not as though he's always crazy, but he's always crazy when I'm touching him. I'd like to one day be able to hold my bird without him being super hyper and bitey, whether we are just relaxing or I'm giving him scritches or whatever. Is there anything I should be doing to help him mellow out, or will he likely calm down with age? I'm getting paranoid that I'm not doing a good job of establishing our relationship, and that it's going to be really hard to undo this down the line. But honestly I don't know how much of this hyperness is just him being a baby, and how much is just him in general.

Any advice or input would be much appreciated!

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Is he fully flighted? Training him to fly will help a lot of getting out excess energy. so far it seems your doing pretty good, teaching him that soft mouthing is ok as long as he's gentle.

I've never tried this, but maybe you can try touch training and only reward him if he gently touches the target stick rather than biting it like many birds do. You'll want to teach him to do it normally, then go on to only rewarding him if he is gentle. You can also start saying gentle so he understands the word.

I'm not too much help unfortunately, I've never had a young crazy Galah lol.

 

[Thingamagigs]

I agree with Copperarabian.... Definitely begin teaching him ways to occupy his time and use up his energy... its super important with galahs because they have a lot of pent up energy naturally. In the wild they fly vertically down tree trunks and pull up last minute and do somersaults in trees and in the air... they are very playful and nutty, hence the use of the word "galah" when talking about someone doing something foolish . Contrary to popular belief, we did not name galahs after an insult. LOL Calling someone a galah isnt an insult anyway, its a term of endearment for goofy behaviour

As much as you love having your new baby, with galahs it is super dooper important that you start out only giving him as much attention as you intend to give him his entire life. He needs to learn early how to spend time doing things by himself, whether you are in the room or not.

Galahs are very bossy birds, if you let him think this is ok, he will take advantage of it. You need to be just that bit bossier. I don't believe parrots have a hierarchy, but like every animal they are able to size up those they interact with... they do understand who has the upper hand... who they can boss around and who they can't. And they will use it to get what they want
For example, Mana steps up onto my hand every single time without fail. She rarely steps up for my partner because all she has to do is lunge at him and he withdraws his hand. I don't, even if she lunges I put my hand out there confidently Even though she is bonded to him, I can handle her with more confidence because I understand her behaviour, I don't fear her what so ever and I never let her boss me around. This strong tactic doesn't work with sensitive birds who require more coaxing than anything else... but its perfect for galahs.

Galahs are very beaky birds I allow her to "groom" my skin, using the word gentle to remind her to back off the pressure. When she bites hard, I use the galah disapproval noise on her and put her down (I also trained "come on" for step up and "go back" to have her step off my hand onto any other surface). She rarely bites hard and the noise always works.
I am not against the idea of distraction or redirection but I personally feel its of limited use in this situation with a galah. As you have noticed, they seek a way around it. He may not be aware that what he is doing might hurt you or is unacceptable as far as you are concerned. If he is still a baby, he is still learning socially accepted behaviours. They would normally stay with their parents for many many months and learn acceptable behaviour from them, but in a captive environment we take that chance away and never attempt to compromise. I think people under estimate their birds willingness to learn what you feel is acceptable. I recently used the corella disapproval noise on my corella, it worked for him too! You might also notice galahs have a rather large range of vocalisations, they seem to communicate vocally a lot more than anyone would expect. I am slowly learning Mana's vocalisations (if she is learning english, its only fair I try to learn her language )... its fairly complex. She seems to have variations on the small peep vocalisation alone, with all the other vocalisations its going to be a lot to learn.

The other thing to remember with galahs (and as far as I can tell, every single cockatoo species) is that if they are worked up/hyper they need to go back to bed/playstand/be given a task that does not involve touching you. Once a cockatoo begins to get worked up, bites happen. Its best to get into the habit of stopping the moment you notice him get worked up.
And training with galahs is FABULOUS! You have to try it, its fun and they are so cute!

 

[Birdlover11]

You need to make him realize that he can have fun without you, like self entertainment. I agree with copperarabian , try free flight training him or a free fly around a large room. Some way to get all of that energy out of his system. Have you tried fetch ? I try it with my budgies and they LOVE it. Get the toy he plays with a lot and throw it gently across the room. He might chase it and start tumbling with it. He might bring it back to you, throw it again. Or you could get a boing and attach to the room. Perch him on there and he might start bouncing and get all of that energy out. It's just like a dog in a way, you want to obedience him , you will have to control all of that energy . Do you have another bird about the same size as him ? If chewing is the problem , get him lots of chew toys and make him understand that you aren't the only toy in the house. Might get him a simaler sized toy to your hand or upgrade some of his toys . He doesn't know how hard the bite is to you, as birds have layers of feathers so it's rare to have a nip that draws blood over covererd areas. Why won't you try bringing him to a pets store with you and see which toy he interacts with the most ?

 

[aether-drifter]

Is he fully flighted? Training him to fly will help a lot of getting out excess energy. so far it seems your doing pretty good, teaching him that soft mouthing is ok as long as he's gentle.

I've never tried this, but maybe you can try touch training and only reward him if he gently touches the target stick rather than biting it like many birds do. You'll want to teach him to do it normally, then go on to only rewarding him if he is gentle. You can also start saying gentle so he understands the word.

I'm not too much help unfortunately, I've never had a young crazy Galah lol.

He is lightly clipped (came to me that way) but can still fly decently when he wants to. He tends to only do it when spooked. How can I encourage him to fly for fun?

I'm going to get a clicker soon and try target training, I think. I need to educate myself on it.

I agree with Copperarabian.... Definitely begin teaching him ways to occupy his time and use up his energy... its super important with galahs because they have a lot of pent up energy naturally. In the wild they fly vertically down tree trunks and pull up last minute and do somersaults in trees and in the air... they are very playful and nutty, hence the use of the word "galah" when talking about someone doing something foolish . Contrary to popular belief, we did not name galahs after an insult. LOL Calling someone a galah isnt an insult anyway, its a term of endearment for goofy behaviour

As much as you love having your new baby, with galahs it is super dooper important that you start out only giving him as much attention as you intend to give him his entire life. He needs to learn early how to spend time doing things by himself, whether you are in the room or not.

Galahs are very bossy birds, if you let him think this is ok, he will take advantage of it. You need to be just that bit bossier. I don't believe parrots have a hierarchy, but like every animal they are able to size up those they interact with... they do understand who has the upper hand... who they can boss around and who they can't. And they will use it to get what they want
For example, Mana steps up onto my hand every single time without fail. She rarely steps up for my partner because all she has to do is lunge at him and he withdraws his hand. I don't, even if she lunges I put my hand out there confidently Even though she is bonded to him, I can handle her with more confidence because I understand her behaviour, I don't fear her what so ever and I never let her boss me around. This strong tactic doesn't work with sensitive birds who require more coaxing than anything else... but its perfect for galahs.

Galahs are very beaky birds I allow her to "groom" my skin, using the word gentle to remind her to back off the pressure. When she bites hard, I use the galah disapproval noise on her and put her down (I also trained "come on" for step up and "go back" to have her step off my hand onto any other surface). She rarely bites hard and the noise always works.
I am not against the idea of distraction or redirection but I personally feel its of limited use in this situation with a galah. As you have noticed, they seek a way around it. He may not be aware that what he is doing might hurt you or is unacceptable as far as you are concerned. If he is still a baby, he is still learning socially accepted behaviours. They would normally stay with their parents for many many months and learn acceptable behaviour from them, but in a captive environment we take that chance away and never attempt to compromise. I think people under estimate their birds willingness to learn what you feel is acceptable. I recently used the corella disapproval noise on my corella, it worked for him too! You might also notice galahs have a rather large range of vocalisations, they seem to communicate vocally a lot more than anyone would expect. I am slowly learning Mana's vocalisations (if she is learning english, its only fair I try to learn her language )... its fairly complex. She seems to have variations on the small peep vocalisation alone, with all the other vocalisations its going to be a lot to learn.

The other thing to remember with galahs (and as far as I can tell, every single cockatoo species) is that if they are worked up/hyper they need to go back to bed/playstand/be given a task that does not involve touching you. Once a cockatoo begins to get worked up, bites happen. Its best to get into the habit of stopping the moment you notice him get worked up.
And training with galahs is FABULOUS! You have to try it, its fun and they are so cute!

I don't spoil him with attention -- I work full-time and have other birds, so it's not as though I'm spending every waking moment with him. He plays pretty well in his cage, but when he's out and I'm around it's like his toys cease to be interesting. I can put a toy on a play stand, or on the floor/couch, pretend to play with it, try to engage him, but usually he will just want my hand instead. However if I put the same toy in his cage he'll be into it, if the door is closed and he can't get to me. I did get him pretty into shredding a phone book today, but it was on my lap and I was showing it to him. He is getting a tiny bit better, but not a whole lot. If I leave the room he entertains himself; it's just that when I'm in it, he tends to fixate on me (or my boyfriend).

Any ideas on how to encourage him to fly, exercise, etc.? I can tell he has a lot of pent-up energy! I wish I could get him to let loose a little. I've tried dancing and getting him to join in but he just looks at me like I'm insane, haha.

I wish I knew how to make the galah disapproval noise! My little one has yelled at me a few times, but there's no way I could immitate that sound, especially not from memory. If there's a clip you can link me to on YouTube or something, that would be fantastic.

And yes, I definitely want to teach him some tricks, though I have a feeling getting him to focus will be a challenge at first.

You need to make him realize that he can have fun without you, like self entertainment. I agree with copperarabian , try free flight training him or a free fly around a large room. Some way to get all of that energy out of his system. Have you tried fetch ? I try it with my budgies and they LOVE it. Get the toy he plays with a lot and throw it gently across the room. He might chase it and start tumbling with it. He might bring it back to you, throw it again. Or you could get a boing and attach to the room. Perch him on there and he might start bouncing and get all of that energy out. It's just like a dog in a way, you want to obedience him , you will have to control all of that energy . Do you have another bird about the same size as him ? If chewing is the problem , get him lots of chew toys and make him understand that you aren't the only toy in the house. Might get him a simaler sized toy to your hand or upgrade some of his toys . He doesn't know how hard the bite is to you, as birds have layers of feathers so it's rare to have a nip that draws blood over covererd areas. Why won't you try bringing him to a pets store with you and see which toy he interacts with the most ?

I've tried fetch, and he doesn't seem to get it. I think the problem is that when my hands are near him, there's no toy he would rather focus on. He's really obsessed! However, he does at least play with a lot of the things I give him, if my hands are not available. So there is most likely hope. I'm just trying to figure out how to engage with him actively without him getting excited about biting me. If he's biting a lot, and I make my disapproval known and ignore him, he will find something else to do (either play or just chill out). But I don't want him to think I'm mean and boring, either. I would definitely like to get him flying for fun, so if you have any tips on that it would be much appreciated. I don't have all that much indoor space, but the living room is big enough that he could fly back and forth if he wanted to. And I really want to get him a harness and start taking him outside in the warmer months. Unfortunately I don't have another bird he could play with -- my other fids are cockatiels, so obviously way too small to roughhouse with him. They have no interest in each other, thankfully.

I do have a couple of hanging swings that I bought for him, I just have to figure out how to put them up (my new place has radiant/ceiling heat and I really don't want to mess anything up by drilling in the wrong place). Hoping he'll like them once I do get them up, though...and I'll keep trying all sorts of different toys.

 

[aether-drifter]

I just wish he would realize that I'm not JUST a playmate. Whenever he seems calm and starts preening, I try to approach him to sneak a scritch in, but he always just starts chewing on me. That's how I showed my youngest tiel that I could groom her....waited till she was grooming herself and joined in. It's not working at all with him. I guess I should probably just give it more time and try not to rush it, but I'm wondering if he'll figure it out on his own. Maybe he's never gotten scritches before, so he doesn't understand the concept.

 

[Thingamagigs]

I don't spoil him with attention -- I work full-time and have other birds, so it's not as though I'm spending every waking moment with him. He plays pretty well in his cage, but when he's out and I'm around it's like his toys cease to be interesting. I can put a toy on a play stand, or on the floor/couch, pretend to play with it, try to engage him, but usually he will just want my hand instead. However if I put the same toy in his cage he'll be into it, if the door is closed and he can't get to me. I did get him pretty into shredding a phone book today, but it was on my lap and I was showing it to him. He is getting a tiny bit better, but not a whole lot. If I leave the room he entertains himself; it's just that when I'm in it, he tends to fixate on me (or my boyfriend).

Any ideas on how to encourage him to fly, exercise, etc.? I can tell he has a lot of pent-up energy! I wish I could get him to let loose a little. I've tried dancing and getting him to join in but he just looks at me like I'm insane, haha.

I wish I knew how to make the galah disapproval noise! My little one has yelled at me a few times, but there's no way I could immitate that sound, especially not from memory. If there's a clip you can link me to on YouTube or something, that would be fantastic.

And yes, I definitely want to teach him some tricks, though I have a feeling getting him to focus will be a challenge at first.

LOL I can just see his face with you dancing around in front

With the scratching, its not uncommon for them to do that at first. I always counteract it by putting my hand over their face to initiate scratching. I am not even sure why but it works every time, maybe its a comfort thing? I will take some video of how I get them used to scratches and cuddles. Also one of my making the dicky naughty bird noise. I hope you appreciate me making a fool of myself for you
She has been in a bad mood recently (molting, heaps of pin feathers) so getting her to make the noise herself wont be hard at all LOL Its an "EH" sound, but sharp so more like "IH" and nasally. They use a version of this noise in a repeated pattern as their general non-urgent alarm call.

These aren't my birds, its just the only video I could find

At 0.38 is their play version of the sound, I call it the "no, its mine!" sound.
At 2:26 is that birds "I don't like that" sound. Its a bit more serious than the "no its mine" sound, but he doesn't mean business yet so it isn't the "don't do that" sound yet

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKULax0BZX4]Galahs playing.....funny!! - YouTube[/ame]


They even make the play sound when they play by themselves LOL

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR8HuiWFDBo]Galah Play Time - YouTube[/ame]


I will try to get some video tomorrow

You can get your galah to flap his wings by moving your arm up and down or back and forth (slowly). Walk briskly with your arm out should also get him flapping his wings. I used to take my first galah into a large open area and walk quickly with my arm out and he would begin to flap his wings. After doing this for a while, one day he eventually took to the air. From that day on, holding my arm out and walking briskly meant fly I would imagine it would be different for each bird though, because Mana's clip is so incredibly short I haven't attempted anything, it would be too dangerous
Putting them on a T stand or play gym when they really want to be with or on you and standing back at a reasonable flying distance and encouraging him is a good way to try as well

 

[Thingamagigs]

I just wish he would realize that I'm not JUST a playmate. Whenever he seems calm and starts preening, I try to approach him to sneak a scritch in, but he always just starts chewing on me. That's how I showed my youngest tiel that I could groom her....waited till she was grooming herself and joined in. It's not working at all with him. I guess I should probably just give it more time and try not to rush it, but I'm wondering if he'll figure it out on his own. Maybe he's never gotten scritches before, so he doesn't understand the concept.

Also... they are naughty little midgets at that age, always testing their boundries The video of me scratching a worked up Mana might be able to help you with this. Your boy does sound like a higher energy bird

 

[aether-drifter]

Thanks for the videos and all the other tips! You have been massively helpful. I do know that angry galah sound, but it's hard for me to imitate well. I've started to just do the closest thing I can to it, which is to make some vaguely bird-like shriek, and it seems to work if I do it loudly and angrily enough. It successfully deters him from his biting for the moment, anyway, even if he comes back for more later. His newest thing is trying to play with my teeth...ugh! As if his obsession with chewing my lip wasn't bad enough. He was especially crazy and bitey tonight, but I can forgive him since he didn't get out of his cage until after 9 pm. He definitely had LOTS of energy to spare.

 

[aliray]

Thanks for sharing those videos they just cracked me up. So funny