Hi all, I have a female quaker parrot (Charlie) who is turning 4 tomorrow.
I got Charlie as a baby and never had her wings clipped. I would say the first year of having Charlie she was pretty nice, she had her moments of course, but overall nice. I taught her words, played, and had lots of cuddles. From about 2-2.5 years old she just became more and more cranky. She never originally had a problem with my phone but she now hates it and if anyone is holding a phone including me she will viciously bite. Even if she spots you across the room she will fly/run over to attack! We know now to hide the phones from her but I just cant figure out why she hates it so much. Her mood changes very quickly. I will handle her and she will be happy but all of a sudden she will turn and get cranky and bite me. I really didn't think that by this point leading into her 4th birthday that I would still be having these issues with her.
I dont like the idea of clipping wings, but now Ive been wondering is this where I went wrong ? Every video I have seen of a cuddly little quaker is always one whose wings have been clipped. I feel like shes way too old now for me to even consider clipping her wings as shes flown for so long now. I dont like the idea of doing that to her anyway, but is this perhaps why she behaves the way she does ? I just had her out not too long ago and when it was time to put her back she got nasty and was doing naughty hard bites and flew around the house until I finally caught her. I had to put a towel over her to get her back into her cage as thats how hard she was trying to bite me.
I just dont know why she still gets so cranky and bitey with me. She will let me pat her and do some preening but shes turns in an instant and wants to bite me. I just dont know what to do anymore. Will this just be the way she is forever ? Has anyone had a quaker who is just like this always ?
Just to give a brief rundown of her living situation.
She has a fairly big cage with a fluffy hut that she sleeps in, plenty of toys that she actually doesn't play with anymore. She has ladders and bridges and perches. She used to play with the toys when she was younger. We have a game where I hand her a ball and she tries to drop it off the top of the cage without me catching it. She seems to enjoy that. I give her showers, I try to switch up her food so shes not bored. She gets a steady diet of tropicana pellets and a tiny bit of fruit and nut mix every other day. She likes apples and sweet potato and also give her other fruits and veggies that she enjoys from time to time.
I am at work during the day but try to give her outside time for an hour or 2 every afternoon. In that time she will sit on the top of the couch with us and sometimes shes a good girl and just sits there while we chat to her and play with her but sometimes she turns and will try to bite us. She gets covered up when she sleeps as well.
Early on she was open to learning words but now shes stuck on a few words and hasnt repeated any new words in about a year. Her happy time is around 1-2pm every day when she gets chatty. She is a shy talker though and I usually hear her doing it when Im not around or in another room.
She does have her moments when shes a sweetie and lets cuddle and pet her but as I said she turns quite quickly.
If anything I have said about her routine/living situation sounds like it may be an issue or if you think shes not getting enough of something or too much of something please let me know. I really dont know where Im going wrong here and just want her to be happy.
Thanks
I got Charlie as a baby and never had her wings clipped. I would say the first year of having Charlie she was pretty nice, she had her moments of course, but overall nice. I taught her words, played, and had lots of cuddles. From about 2-2.5 years old she just became more and more cranky. She never originally had a problem with my phone but she now hates it and if anyone is holding a phone including me she will viciously bite. Even if she spots you across the room she will fly/run over to attack! We know now to hide the phones from her but I just cant figure out why she hates it so much. Her mood changes very quickly. I will handle her and she will be happy but all of a sudden she will turn and get cranky and bite me. I really didn't think that by this point leading into her 4th birthday that I would still be having these issues with her.
I dont like the idea of clipping wings, but now Ive been wondering is this where I went wrong ? Every video I have seen of a cuddly little quaker is always one whose wings have been clipped. I feel like shes way too old now for me to even consider clipping her wings as shes flown for so long now. I dont like the idea of doing that to her anyway, but is this perhaps why she behaves the way she does ? I just had her out not too long ago and when it was time to put her back she got nasty and was doing naughty hard bites and flew around the house until I finally caught her. I had to put a towel over her to get her back into her cage as thats how hard she was trying to bite me.
I just dont know why she still gets so cranky and bitey with me. She will let me pat her and do some preening but shes turns in an instant and wants to bite me. I just dont know what to do anymore. Will this just be the way she is forever ? Has anyone had a quaker who is just like this always ?
Just to give a brief rundown of her living situation.
She has a fairly big cage with a fluffy hut that she sleeps in, plenty of toys that she actually doesn't play with anymore. She has ladders and bridges and perches. She used to play with the toys when she was younger. We have a game where I hand her a ball and she tries to drop it off the top of the cage without me catching it. She seems to enjoy that. I give her showers, I try to switch up her food so shes not bored. She gets a steady diet of tropicana pellets and a tiny bit of fruit and nut mix every other day. She likes apples and sweet potato and also give her other fruits and veggies that she enjoys from time to time.
I am at work during the day but try to give her outside time for an hour or 2 every afternoon. In that time she will sit on the top of the couch with us and sometimes shes a good girl and just sits there while we chat to her and play with her but sometimes she turns and will try to bite us. She gets covered up when she sleeps as well.
Early on she was open to learning words but now shes stuck on a few words and hasnt repeated any new words in about a year. Her happy time is around 1-2pm every day when she gets chatty. She is a shy talker though and I usually hear her doing it when Im not around or in another room.
She does have her moments when shes a sweetie and lets cuddle and pet her but as I said she turns quite quickly.
If anything I have said about her routine/living situation sounds like it may be an issue or if you think shes not getting enough of something or too much of something please let me know. I really dont know where Im going wrong here and just want her to be happy.
Thanks