Please help! Unsure if we are a good U2 family :(

[b3noodles]

Hello all! I have posted a few times and have stated we are testing out a U2 to see if we can all get along and tonight I am really wondering! My 2 sons and I were cleaning out her cage and playing "catch" game she likes. I have done this every night this week and she had a blast. Tonight she bit me so hard and sliced my finger wide open and it feels like it is broken! The only difference is my oldest son was home, he wasn't any other time this week(working). Is it possible she has bonded with him although he is rarely home with her? She tries to cuddle up close to him and raises up her tail feathers, is this mating courtship? How can we curb this? She also screams if she is left alone in a room. Can we reprograme her? She gets in the corner of her cage every night and constantly shakes her head side to side(like she's saying no). She will run back and forth on her perch and yell at bedtime.... She funny as all get out but i have been bitten 3 other times and youngest son has been bitten once too. Not sure if we are a match for her, not afraid but don't want to be either. Please let me know if anyone can help us, if not she will have to go back to her original owner. Thanks all so much in advance!

 

[Boysmom]

OK the screaming when left alone is normal U2 behavior. When we clean my son's U2's cage we always have her out of sight. They do not like any change to their cage even cleaning. She doesnt notice her cage was cleaned while she was away, but she chased me accross the room for cleaning it within her sight. You've gotta watch the eyes to avoid the bites ! If she pins her eyes, back off. It does sound a bit like mating behavior with your oldest . Do you cover her at bedtime ?

 

[b3noodles]

Thanks! No she is not covered at night. Should we be? She did get really defensive when I was sweeping up around her cage. She tried to bite the groom many times. I even told my husband it's like she's mad I'm taking her mess away! I have swept around her cage everyday but when I do she's been inside her cage. We have only had her a week tomorrow. Thanks so much for answering. I just want what's best for all involved.

 

[lene1949]

I don't play with my birds, when I clean their cages...

 

[CoCo1]

I have to agree with the others When I first got Lola (M2) she did the same thing. I assumed it was due to never having her cage cleaned and not understanding what I was doing. I would say the first month I had her I sustained about 40 bad bites...and that does not include the little "I gotcha when you weren't looking" bites. People at work thought I was nuts to keep her. She had even biten me so hard on my thumb joint that I swore it was broke-it was swollen for 3 weeks! (I have arthritis...so it was doubely painful). I started putting Lola on her playstand so she could watch me clean. I use the shark vac- both hose and hard wood floor attachments. Now she loves "helping" me clean. And not that I would ever recommend this- but when I have the hose attachment on she sits towards the bottom and loves when I hold the hose kinda at and angle...she loves the wind in feathers. When I have the hard floor attachment on and I have to clean around her playstand she loves to throw her newspaper off the side and watch it get sucked up. She is so funny- she is crippled so to watch her move as fast as she can to find something for mommy to suck up and then hang over the side of her playstand and watch then look at me and back at the vac..then scamper to find something else to suck up is the funniest thing!

 

[CoCo1]

Oh and for its worth I always have covered my birds at night.

 

[KatherineI]

I don't play with my birds when I clean their cages and I know several other owners who say their birds get really pissed (and my birds do too, and only one is a Too) when I clean their cages. My advice there is to remove her from where you are cleaning it, have her distracted either in another room on a play stand (supervised) or with someone else (such as your husband) getting attention while the cage is being cleaned.

Screaming is a natural Too thing. The best deterrent is to ignore the screaming. Any response feeds in to it and she'll keep doing it. In regards to biting; biting is also inevitable. You have two types of owners; those who have been bit, and those who will be bit (kind of like motorcycle riders - which I am - those who have dropped, and those who will drop their bikes). While it is important to learn your birds body language, sometimes our reactions are too slow, we don't read the signs in time, etc. If biting ever is going to be disallowed, then a bird of any type, isn't the right pet for you. Even my Loki, who's body language I know well, gets me from time to time because I didn't read him in time, or something happened so quickly that I didn't catch it in time to avoid the bite. My Mom and her partner have had their B&G since he was a weanling, and they still get bit on occasion and they know that bird very well! A U2 can do some serious damage, so it's important to learn their body language, learn their likes and dislikes, and be careful not to react when they do bite (reactions of any kind can actually encourage more biting) and take each bite as a learning opportunity.

 

[terry52449]

I don`t cover Cameo except during winter to keep the cold drafts off her. Summer she does fine not being covered. Cameo helps me what ever I am doing. From the time I had to assemble her cage she sat on the frame watching everything I was doing. Cleaning her cage and java tree is pretty much the same although she finds the highest spot she can find when I turn on the vacuum. It is a bit funny. She will also drop the news paper from off her playstand when I am cleaning her cage. Never been bit.

 

[KBEquine]

Unfortunately you need to get to know each new bird & their "tells" for when they will bite differ from individual to individual. I think you are likely to get bitten with more frequency early in a relationship with a bird than later on, although my first parrots still catch me off-guard, on occasion. And some species are easier to read than others - I don't have experience with U2s, so can't help you with that.

We only have 1 'too in the flock, but he & several of the others HATE when I clean their cage. So I do it when they are not around.

For what it is worth, you don't sound like a family that should not have a 'Too. You do sound like an inexperienced 'Too owner. But we all have to start somewhere.

 

[b3noodles]

Thanks so much everyone! I guess she does not like when I clean her cage. I will be aware of that next time. LOL Guess my oldest will have to keep her attenetion. I know I will be biten and the first 3 times I didn't read her right, my fault last night was not expected again my fault. I am in love already and don't wanna give up on her just have to understand her quicker! LOL