daddylongnails
New member
- May 26, 2012
- 29
- 0
I've had dozens of birds throughout my life (conures, African Greys, budgies, canaries, lovebirds, cockatiels - I used to breed them) but none was ever named after it's abilit to chew my fingers raw from vicious bites like Chewie. OMG! This bird hates/hated me so much I was honestly thinking of finding him a new home with a male because he seems to prefer men over women. I've asked for help here as well but finally figured out what it would take to tame this guy.
Mistake no. 1 for me was putting him in a cage on top of my armoir which is very much higher than us. There was a dramatic change in his behaviour when I put him on my dresser which is lower than us.
Mistake no. 2 was to let him roam around the top of his cage. He is most aggressive on top of or inside of his cage.
Mistake no. 3 for me was to "leave him alone" and "give him some space" for days thinking he needed a break from me trying to hold him and pet him. He was always most vicious and aggressive after having skipped a weekend of handling him.
the 6 things that worked for me (and he will not bite me now no matter what I do to him) .
#1, place his cage lower than us. it is at chest level.
#2, handling him EVERY DAY and talk to him calmly in a low voice.
#3, used a small perch to spare my hands of his bites. He learned to just hop on this perch and not run from it within 2-3 days.
#4, Pet him with my whole hand cupped over his body. This seemed to calm him instantly. The more worked up he got, the more he would bite. covering him with my hand like a blanket works like magic.
#5, clip his wings. I don't clip my birds wings but for Chewie there was no other choice.
#6, and this was the final thing that seemed to put the seal on his not biting anymore was trimming his beak.
His beak was sharp like a knife especially the bottom part. I was not too gentle, I'm afraid, when I grabbed him after he bit me for no apparent reason last week and used the dremel on his beak. This is the dremel I use to trim all my pets nails. The bottom of his beak was sharp and thin. Once I put the dremel on it, this thin section flew right off. No bleeding or anything.. It almost seemed like an overgrowth. At first he could not open seeds, but now he seems fine and eats just fine. But he quit biting altogether after that. I really don't know the exact reason why. My guess is that his mouth didn't feel right anymore so he couldn't bite. It has been about 10 days and he just decided to stop biting altogether now. To be sure he did not stop eating , I have been feeding him a spoonful of baby bird formula every day and he gobbles this down. He already liked eating this before the beak trim.
Anyways, this bird is a new bird now. I hope that he doesn't regres at any point but it has been a good 10 days and he has not bitten me once no matter what I do. I hold him on my finger, pick him up from his cage. No need for the perch anymore. I holdhim with my entire hand and I can tell when he's afraid and he has been afraid but still will not bite.
woohoo!!!
Edited to add #5
Mistake no. 1 for me was putting him in a cage on top of my armoir which is very much higher than us. There was a dramatic change in his behaviour when I put him on my dresser which is lower than us.
Mistake no. 2 was to let him roam around the top of his cage. He is most aggressive on top of or inside of his cage.
Mistake no. 3 for me was to "leave him alone" and "give him some space" for days thinking he needed a break from me trying to hold him and pet him. He was always most vicious and aggressive after having skipped a weekend of handling him.
the 6 things that worked for me (and he will not bite me now no matter what I do to him) .
#1, place his cage lower than us. it is at chest level.
#2, handling him EVERY DAY and talk to him calmly in a low voice.
#3, used a small perch to spare my hands of his bites. He learned to just hop on this perch and not run from it within 2-3 days.
#4, Pet him with my whole hand cupped over his body. This seemed to calm him instantly. The more worked up he got, the more he would bite. covering him with my hand like a blanket works like magic.
#5, clip his wings. I don't clip my birds wings but for Chewie there was no other choice.
#6, and this was the final thing that seemed to put the seal on his not biting anymore was trimming his beak.
His beak was sharp like a knife especially the bottom part. I was not too gentle, I'm afraid, when I grabbed him after he bit me for no apparent reason last week and used the dremel on his beak. This is the dremel I use to trim all my pets nails. The bottom of his beak was sharp and thin. Once I put the dremel on it, this thin section flew right off. No bleeding or anything.. It almost seemed like an overgrowth. At first he could not open seeds, but now he seems fine and eats just fine. But he quit biting altogether after that. I really don't know the exact reason why. My guess is that his mouth didn't feel right anymore so he couldn't bite. It has been about 10 days and he just decided to stop biting altogether now. To be sure he did not stop eating , I have been feeding him a spoonful of baby bird formula every day and he gobbles this down. He already liked eating this before the beak trim.
Anyways, this bird is a new bird now. I hope that he doesn't regres at any point but it has been a good 10 days and he has not bitten me once no matter what I do. I hold him on my finger, pick him up from his cage. No need for the perch anymore. I holdhim with my entire hand and I can tell when he's afraid and he has been afraid but still will not bite.
woohoo!!!
Edited to add #5
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Well done to you 
