I don't want to get rid of him :(!

[Joshuwaaa]

Hey,

So I've had Cricket about 3 months now which makes him around 9 months old. I'm not sure what's happened but he's now becoming unbearable. He bites. A lot. All the time. He begs you to go over, and then bites. On your hand. He bites. Playing with toys, he bites.

He's biting everything hard and recently has been cutting skin really bad. My hands are a wreck and bleeding.

We can't take much more and it's horrible but it's getting to the point where he don't want to play or interact with him because he keeps grabbing and holding on. I don't know what to do to be honest.

We ignore. We have put him back to his cage. We have taken his cage away. we don't treat. We have tried pushing his beak. Slightly squeezing his beak. Moving him.

We don't know what to do and now have been thinking we can't care for him properly and he should go.

He's lovely and we want to keep him. Just we don't want to make him an aggressive bird. Aaah.

Please help.

 

[008kenichijouji]

Something is making him mad. Where is his cage placed? Near a window? Is he away from everyone, or is his in your midst, where he can mingle?

What's his diet like? Does he get new water daily?

My sun conure used to step up readily, and then she got hormonal. She started biting me when I'd put my hand near her. So, I got her favorite treat, and paired that with the sight of my hand being near her, finger extended (so ultimately, she'd associate "stepping on my finger" with "favorite treat"). I held the treat just out of beak reach, so she'd have to get on my finger to reach it. She'd still bite a couple of times (drawing blood even!) but now, she knows if she wants to get to her treat, she needs to literally not bite the hand that feeds her, and step up.

Whatever you do, don't ignore your bird, and don't punish with direct punishment like squeezing his beak. Just don't say anything and close the door and walk away. When he does something good, praise him verbally and offer a treat. I did that with my bird over 2 weekends, and she doesn't bite me.

 

[008kenichijouji]

Since he's being this way, don't have any physical interaction with him for a week or two. Just sit near his cage, talk to him for a bit, watch him play with toys (he has toys to keep him busy, right?). See if he settles down. Then try interacting physically.

Does he squawk/scream?

 

[008kenichijouji]

The thing is, most people dump their parrot when things like this happen. It's not really your fault per se, perhaps you just haven't taken the appropriate approach. People have to understand how parrots think. They don't lash out because they hate you. You just have to figure out what's triggering this behavior and then go at the problem with a few approaches if you aren't successful with a first, second, third try.

It takes time. Parrots are NOT easy. But the most difficult things in life are usually the most worth it, and parrots are no exception. The people who get the most out of their parrots are not quitters, and they will be rewarded for it! So do your best, read read read and learn learn learn as much as you can, and just keep going at it!

He's young yet, so he's still learning. Don't reinforce his naughty behaviors with verbal feedback and action. They like that, so they think they are doing good. Only reward good/near good behaviors with your praise and treats.

 

[momto3]

This may sound silly, but have you tried the "evil eye." My blue crown gets the evil eye when he does something bad and then I firmly tell him no. We sort of stare each other down a bit and then I let it go and move on to something else. He hates the evil eye and I can tell he understand that he is in trouble for his actions. My vet recommended pinching his beak if he bites, but I don't want him to associate me with pain so I haven't done that. Personally, I disagree with causing any animal pain as a form of punishment and re-direction, but I do know that some people use it with success.

If your bird is acting angry at everything, I would watch him and try and figure out what is causing him to act that way before you try any more hands-on time with him. There has to be something that is causing the change in behavior. Maybe he has a hair wrapped around his foot or something...

Our Blue Crown went through a nippy stage for about a week and I couldn't figure it out until I noticed that he always got bitey (didn't really bite but was perterbed) when the kids had the TV on louder that it should be. I got the kids to keep the noise level down and the behaviors stopped.

They are sensitive critters and it is easy to forget that--especially if you are used to other types of animals.

Good luck to you and I hope you can stick with it!

 

[MonicaMc]

Sounds like typical green cheek conure behavior... and I hear this often from new owners of green cheeks. I'm sure you've read that they can be quite nippy, but didn't understand to the fullest extent just what the behavior is like... after all, no amount of reading can prepare you for the real thing!

The main thing is, don't take it personally! If you take the biting and nipping personally, then you are only further distancing yourself from your bird! The easiest way to stop a bird from biting is to not get bit in the first place. I know, easier said than done! But you need to find out why your bird is behaving in this manner, then prevent it, rather than blindly allowing your bird to do the undesired behavior.

It's possible that through your actions, you have accidentally reinforced him for biting.

I did some work with a slightly older green cheek earlier this year. Perhaps you may find something of help through my experience?

I know that with clicker training (and no, a clicker is *NOT* required! It just helps to bridge the gap between a *good* behavior and the *reward* from the human), it's possible to teach a bird not to bite, not to scream and to become more socialized. Clicker training is based on the foundations of Positive Reinforcement Training.

A month or so ago, a customer where I work asked me if I wanted another bird. She knew someone who had a green cheek parrot of some sort that she was needing to rehome. I would love another bird, but at the same time, I do not feel financially ready for one, but I gave the customer my information to pass it along.

Last Thursday, said owner of the bird called me and asked me if I wanted the bird. Her and I discussed a few different options and I told her I'd come over when she has an available time.

Last night (Tuesday), I went over to see this green cheek conure of hers. Now, here's Winston's story. Winston is about 3 years old, and she was shipped to a local pet-store, sick. The owners daughter worked there and spent 3 or more months getting Winston back into good health. Then, mothers day came around, and the daughter bought Winston for her mother. Typical story, bird loves daughter, hates mother. Daughter goes off to college, mom is stuck with a bird she cannot handle!

When trying to handle Winston, she gets bit! Take her out of the cage, bite before coming out, and if she manages to come out, bite on the way out. Bite when up on the shoulder, random bites when handling her. The last straw came when Winston bit her owner's lip, and ever since then, she has had *NO* trust in Winston.


So okay, I go over, I listen to her, put my hand up against the cage and ya, Winston is interested! Nibbling hard, but not quite biting with force. I watch as the owner tries to get Winston out of her cage. Winston wont come out, but she'll do anything for a sunflower seed! So... I start feeding Winston sunflower seeds and she takes them from me - with some hesitation. Then got her used to taking the sunflower seeds off the back of my hand (skin semi-tight). Eventually, I had my left hand in a "half" fist (fingers curled at the first digit away from the knuckles) and I was placing the sunflower seed near my wrist. Placed in such a manner, she'd have to put at least one foot onto my hand in order to reach the seed. Place a little further back, there's two feet on my hand and she's out of the cage!


I sat there with Winston, feeding her seeds, occasionally getting her to switch hands and she was not biting! Not evening nibbling! Every once in a while she made to fly off, but being unable to fly, didn't actually try. She just leaned and opened her wings a little. As I was talking to the owner, I was telling her how simple it would be to train her, and kind of demonstrated by using a sunflower seed to turn Winston around in a circle - and treat! Did this a few times to show them her willingness.


Winston's owner also told me how difficult it is to remove Winston from her shoulder. When she's up there and they want her down, she avoids them, bites them and they have to chase her around. I willingly, to an unknown and strange bird, allowed her, Winston, to climb up to my shoulder. I then used the sunflower seeds to get her to step up *WILLINGLY* back to my hand. The bird only listened to the daughter - no one else could handle her.

After a bit, I even had Winston step up onto her owners hand and she hung out there for a few moments, but I didn't leave Winston there for long as I know the owner is still afraid of getting bitten, and we didn't want Winston traveling up to her shoulder.

Now, Winston did end up biting me, and biting me *REAL* good! But this was due to the fact that she has a leg band that is too big for her and she managed to get one toe stuck inside of it. I didn't hold her in a grip that would have prevented her from biting period, but then her bites really don't hurt compared to bites I've received from other parrots! Managed to move the band back up her leg and after that she wasn't too happy with me, but it was the first time she was allowed out of her cage in who knows how long!



Although I did not use a clicker, clicker training is essentially the same concept... and it can be used to teach parrots to play with toys, teach them that going to other people is a *good* thing, and it's also a great, and fun way for owner and bird to bond! The bird learns that good behaviors get rewarded and the owner learns how to better communicate with the bird, thus learning to avoid getting bitten in the first place!



When I left, Winston's owner was so appreciative of the fact that I had come over. She is not a person to give up on an animal, but she ended up with a bird she had no clue how to handle. (she's owned several cockatiels in the past!) She views pets as having them for life! So she felt pretty bad about the thought of having to give up Winston, even though she can't handle her... and today, she's excited to start training Winston!

Winston loves sunflower seeds, so it was easy to use those to work with her. If your green cheek loves a different reward, then use that to encourage good behaviors!

 

[JasmineGCC]

Birds can't tell you what is wrong or bothering them so they show you by their behaviour. Something is bothering cricket or maybe it did and he's now got into the habit of biting you. I would go back to basics like if you had a brand new bird - sit by his cage talking, give treats through wire (fingers well away), make eye contact and use lots if gooey lovey tones with him. Tone of voice is very important. You need to earn his trust again. If he won't take a treat off you then have a treat feeding dish so that he knows something yummy is coming.

Have a look at where his cage is - is it situated in a place that could cause stress? Jasmine freaked the other day coz she could see a crow out the window!

Only get him out if he's calm. It could be that he's getting way too excited around you - then loses control?

When Jasmine bites I put her immediately 2 feet away and turn my back. She hates being ignored. If she carries on then it's back in cage - but only for a minute or so then we try again. You need to watch Crickets body language - I can tell if Jasmine is in a mean mood so don't try to touch her - that's the time to give her foot toys or some paper to chew up.

Please don't give up - you have 20 years to look forward to so taking things very slowly even over weeks and months will be worth it

Hope this helps

 

[nightinday]

Parrots can be so moody sometimes, like little princess ; ) Lois gets nippy some days. Today for example he was biting me with no reason but in the next second he is cuddling and loving. He has a lot of pin feathers so they are surely bothering him.
I try the "evil eye" mothod and maybe it sounds funny but it helps. He stops, gets confused and he is calm. You can also put him to the cage for a couple of minutes.
I'm sure it will pass, just be sure that your parrot has everything and has no particular reason for biting.

And never give up on this little, lovely creature!

 

[Joshuwaaa]

I really don't want to get rid of him.

At the moment I need him gone, he's screaming all the time. Right now we are subjected to our bedroom because he is in the living room just screaming. I might have to move him into the back room.

Then he will get next to no interaction though ! I don't know what to do.

 

[Joshuwaaa]

i really don't know what is wrong.

his diet and water is changed daily, and so is his cage.

he is just screaming continuously. its horrendous. my partner cant cope with the noise, and when getting a bird I focused on the more quite of species to avoid this problem. He was fine.

now however he is screaming, screeching and the neighbours are going to get really annoyed real quick.

I just don't understand. he is obviously doing it for attention because being next to him will stop it. but we refuse to let him screech for attention because he will just continue to do it 24/7.

we have been ignoring his cries but now its literally all the time to which we cant even praise him because he is never good.


aaaaaaaaa

 

[Dharmawaits]

I guess everyone else will disagree but I guarantee you at this point Cricket is feeding off your frustration. I've noticed my birds and even the birds at the rescue play into my mood. If I am in a bad mood I have birds strike at me that never would. Screaming that I'm pretty sure I've lost hearing from. When I'm sad my little girl only wants to be near me. She doesn't want to go far.

Cricket knows you have him one foot out the door. Maybe you don't even realize it because your caught in the moment. But go back and re-read your posts. You might see the vicious cycle you are all in right now.


BTW Maybe you should move his cage. Birds can get territorial by being in one place. Move his cage and switch out all his toys. Peapod got overly attached to a boing once and it immediately left her cage and everything was switched up. Biting stopped.


I hope you don't take this to negatively. I know you mean well and would never intentionally hurt Cricket. But you are so obviously frustrated right now. So just breath, it may make all the difference in the world!

 

[Dharmawaits]

And when I say move his cage I mean to a new corner of a well populated room. For the love of all that is holy do not put your bird in a back room with no interaction. It's akin to putting him in a closet just bigger.

 

[momto3]

You probably don't want to hear this, but I think your bird needs reassurance and to have his cage placed back near you. Sometimes ignoring them is worse because they need reassurance. My bird immediately stopped the flock calls all day long when I went from trying to ignore him to speaking to him a bit and then ignoring him--I think he just needed to know that he was ok and I wasn't gone for good.

I do agree that you might be giving off negative vibes and these are thwarting your attempts to bond with your bird. They are very sensitive to moods--really all animals are. Try to start over--if you can--and maybe this will help.

 

[lene1949]

I have read through your previous threads, and one thing stood out for me - the TV... I'm wondering if your TV is on very loud (I live next door to some young people, and I can hear their TV, even though I live in a separate brick house)... Does Cricket get 12 hours of quiet and darkness during the night?

Is Cricket flighted?

He sounds like a very frustrated little bird.

P.S. Please don't get another bird, until you have sorted out the problems with Cricket...

 

[Oedipussrex]

I know everyone says ignore the screaming. And in many cases especially when it is for attention this is the best thing to do. But you have to figure out why they are screaming in the first place and then you have to intervene and fix that stimulant whether it looks like you are giving attention for the screaming or not. If cricket is screaming for attention or something, putting him in a back room is the worst thing you could do, he will just have to scream louder so you can hear him from there...

Its not nearly as bad, but for example i am on holidays now, so i have been sleeping in i admit, so when i miss breakfast time my whole family has been subjected to an eclectus alarm clock. and again when i forget the mid morning babana piece. XD
Going to the cage to give my ekkie attention and food is definitely reinforcing the behaviour in any other circumstance, but in our case it has not increased the occurrence of screaming at all because the problem he was screaming about was then solved. Kind-of like a baby crying, they dont hurt or annoy the hell out of us on purpose.

 

[Conurebreeder]

My normal green cheek is like that. Sometimes you have to gently grab him with gloves and put him in a time out either in a crate away from everyone or just hold him. Immediately after, he starts being super sweet and apologetic. The first time he ever leaned into me while offering a timid scratch was after a time out. It really works for him! Most of the time I just don't let him get into a situation where he can bite, or I ignore it when he does which doesn't stop it of course. He also bites my neck especially when he gets stressed out.. The more I say ow and try to stop it the worse he bites lol it's just how some of them are. I've also found that offering a fist every time they try biting can help. They react to it differently for some reason.. Sometimes when he wont let me touch him offering a cupped hand on his back as petting helps

 

[Joshuwaaa]

He has a big attention problem. My problem is when I first had him I must have over looked and in turn encouraged the behaviour.

At the moment, if we aren't with him but he can hear us in another room he will squeal until we go to him. There is no time for me to try and teach him because he goes on for so long that there is no point he is quiet enough for me to go and praise. Then I end up going into the bedroom and jus leaving him for the night, which is horrible.

Likewise with the biting. He bounces all over his cage for attention and stares at me bouncing and pushing his body out close to me. I go close and he just bites. It's as if he wants to bring me over just to bite me.

We are struggling to see a way of keeping him at the moment because we keep trying and nothing is working.

 

[crimson]

I agree with dharmawaits, good advice! Birds are highly intuitive, and read your energy as you make eye contact with them. I'm sure all of the members at one point in time have owned a bird with issues. You have to know your limits with birds, what I mean by that is are you commited to try and figure out how to train these issues out of the bird?
If you don't know the first thing about training, that's ok. we all had to start somewhere, and none of us know everything.
conures are cuddly,super smart, but tempermental birds. I personally have owned a few, love them, but they are not for me. You just have to find a bird that fits your household and that your comfortable with.
I own cockatiels, lovebirds, and a Senegal, some have been hand raised by myself and my daughter, or were purchased from a breeder already hand trained. My Senegal is getting a little frustrated with me, cause she is not getting the attention, due to the holidays, and a very busy time of year.
I can handle her, that is the difference, she's never bitten me, and hope she doesn't, but if she does, I have some basic techniques I can use to deter that type of behaviour. It all comes down to time, commitment, and knowledge.
birdtricks.com is excellent for training , they have dvds etc...
I've used their techniques and they work!
You've had some excellent advice on here, from some very qualified members who have been thru this, we all learn as we go. pls. keep us posted, we all love a great success story ....hoping things work out for you!

 

[Bobioden]

Crimson, didn't you have the same problem with a Crimson Belly that you rehomed?

 

[Nakiska]

Awwww...I'm so sorry to read that you are having such a difficult time with your conure. We have a yellow sided green cheek...Franklin...he adopted us when he was just 2 1/2 months old and from somewhere in the 8-9 month range, he became quite a little "bully butt" as I put it.

We got through it, but I made some changes. So here's what worked for us and we've had a very successful relationship with Franklin for over a year now...infact, the end of May 2013, he'll have owned us for 2 years.

One was, intially his cage was placed on a dresser which made his highest point, over our heads and his lowest point about our upper chest. He would do the same thing as far as begging to be out, I'd go over, open the door, offer my finger and he'd land baste with a stout bite so hard! And NO WARNING! He'd act like he was totally going to step up and WHAM!!

I read everything i could get my hands on and one article essentially mentioned that when birds are "higher" than you, they feel in control, they are the 'boss' and sometimes curbing aggressive behavior is simply lowering their living space to your face or lower, making you larger and them NOT the 'boss'.

Of course that went along with not allowing them on your shoulder or head.

If your cage is situated above your head you might try lowering it.

After we lowered Franklin's cage if he bit my finger on our initial step up, then I'd tell him in a firm voice...OUCH..NO BITE and shut the door and walk away and try again later. Sometimes it was 10 min's later, sometimes hours later, depending on how busy I was that day. The final straw was when he spent 3 days in his cage without coming out because every time I tried, he bit...then one day...I tried again, he was very timid...I was scared, but tried not to show it...he reached out like he was going to "test" me and I told him in a warning voice...beee nice...and when he didn't bite I said...GOOD BOY!! and it took a few minutes of me standing there...him thinking the process through...and finally...voila! He stepped up and I took him out and we had the best evening!

The other thing I considered when I read your post was, he sounds like he could be cage bound and have you ever just opened your cage door and let him come out on his own? Let him play and release some energy before you try to handle him? He sounds like a bundle of energy and conures are notorious for getting a bit bitey when they are over excited. This might help too.

Our Franklin is 90% perfect when he comes out of his cage now...every time...we haven't been bitten in over a year now...the other 10 percent of the time, I can usually tell if he's "on edge" I'll open his cage door and walk away...I don't wait, I don't offer up my attention at all...and he comes out and after a few minutes, when he's on top of his cage and less "agitated" looking, I can go over and offer my finger and he hops right on.

The other thing that worked with Franklin was when he was out with us, (we had him coming out of his cage good, but he'd still want to bite/attack when out if over stimulated) so if he got over excited or just flipped out psychotic and tried to attack...I'd grab a towel, t-shirt, blanket...what ever was handy and toss it over him and leave it...granted, Franklin was NOT afraid of being underneath things at all....this did not install any fear, but it gave him a "time out" and when he was ready, he'd climb out from under the cover and he was a whole new bird. Sometimes he'd stay under the cover for a few seconds, sometimes a few minutes, but always when he came out his attention was redirected from biting. This technique worked wonders for Franklin and it's also been over a year and he does not bite when he's out playing. We don't give him toys that we know will cause him to get over excited, like cat balls with bells inside...he loves them and on HIS time, it's okay, but on OUR Time...they aren't allowed.

We can't imagine life without or Franklin, he's such a dear...I don't think you are past the point of no return with your conure...but it's going to take some work. If you are definitely "checked out" of this relationship, then rehoming is your best option, but if you think you have it in you to give it a couple more months and try a couple new approaches, then you might develop one of the most rewarding friendships of all time.

As for the screaming, I think it's falling hand in hand with the frustration of not having a rewarding relationship with you. I think your conure is feeling the same frustration with communicating with you as you are with him.

I know that covering Franklin's cage when he'd try screaming non stop, curbed him from screaming. We allow a little bit of occasional screaming, birds just have to flock call sometimes - usually we can curb it now by just talking to him, he does talk with a pretty decent vocabulary for a conure, if he keeps up after a reasonable period of time, we will cover his cage and he stops and uncover it a short time later.

Let us know if or what you try and if you have any success if you decide to keep him a bit longer. He's 9 months old...and I really believe between 9 and 12 months are the most difficult after that, it SHOULD get easier.

Take care and good luck!

Toni