A way to tone down aggression in a parrotlet

[danielju91]

I have one two year old pacific parrotlet. She is the only pet I have and I live alone with her, though I often have visitors. Most of the times, she is quite docile, though she is a bit destructive with household objects, when left to her own devices, but I think this is expected of any parrot species.

What I am having problem is, whenever I am interacting with certain objects that make sound (usually rustling or rattling sound), or are visually stimulating (tissue or wet wipes that I am using to wipe things with, because I am making large motions holding the tissue) my parrotlet gets aggressive towards that object and the hand holding that object. She lunges at the object and tries to bite it, and failing at that, bites the hand. And when she does this, it's not the usual play bites that she does, she really bites hard, determined to destroy or rip apart whatever she is biting or to really send a message that she doesn't like whatever is going on.

When she is in her cage, if I am doing such actions that disturb her, she paces back and forth along the long perch in her cage, while chirping loudly and aggressively, as if to say "LET ME TF OUT NOW, I SHOULD BE ATTACKING THAT, OR YOUR HAND, WHY ARE YOU LEAVING ME IN HERE?? IT IS MY JOB TO ATTACK THAT, OR, AGAIN, YOUR HAND DOING THAT!"

Maybe I need to desensitize her to these types of external stimuli? Is the problem that she is not sufficiently socialized? (I did have a couple gerbils for a while, but the parrotlet was also aggressive to them while I had them, trying to bite them if she can.). Or is this just normal for parrotlets? Or is there any way to train her to stay calm when these things are going on around her? If anyone else had a similar problem but was able to fix the bird, I would really appreciate the help.

She is not neutered and she is fully-flighted. I never clip her wings and I often let her free roam the small studio apartment that I live In, but I don't often take her outside the apartment.

Thank you in advance to anyone who could help!

 

[saxguy64]

Wow, you have a feisty little one!
Possible that she's just protecting what's hers from things she sees as invaders or threats. Also consider that it's common that she may not see your hands as part of you, but a separate entity that's bringing those scary items to her space, so they're fair game.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

M

I have one two year old pacific parrotlet. She is the only pet I have and I live alone with her, though I often have visitors. Most of the times, she is quite docile, though she is a bit destructive with household objects, when left to her own devices, but I think this is expected of any parrot species.

What I am having problem is, whenever I am interacting with certain objects that make sound (usually rustling or rattling sound), or are visually stimulating (tissue or wet wipes that I am using to wipe things with, because I am making large motions holding the tissue) my parrotlet gets aggressive towards that object and the hand holding that object. She lunges at the object and tries to bite it, and failing at that, bites the hand. And when she does this, it's not the usual play bites that she does, she really bites hard, determined to destroy or rip apart whatever she is biting or to really send a message that she doesn't like whatever is going on.

When she is in her cage, if I am doing such actions that disturb her, she paces back and forth along the long perch in her cage, while chirping loudly and aggressively, as if to say "LET ME TF OUT NOW, I SHOULD BE ATTACKING THAT, OR YOUR HAND, WHY ARE YOU LEAVING ME IN HERE?? IT IS MY JOB TO ATTACK THAT, OR, AGAIN, YOUR HAND DOING THAT!"

Maybe I need to desensitize her to these types of external stimuli? Is the problem that she is not sufficiently socialized? (I did have a couple gerbils for a while, but the parrotlet was also aggressive to them while I had them, trying to bite them if she can.). Or is this just normal for parrotlets? Or is there any way to train her to stay calm when these things are going on around her? If anyone else had a similar problem but was able to fix the bird, I would really appreciate the help.

She is not neutered and she is fully-flighted. I never clip her wings and I often let her free roam the small studio apartment that I live In, but I don't often take her outside the apartment.

Thank you in advance to anyone who could help!

My budgie Rocky is the tamest most well socialized budgie (I handfed her from an egg) but she has a temper when in comes to some objects and actions like wiping up the poops under her and things like that. She chases my hand and tries to bite it and the wipe itself. She doesn't act like that from her cage except when I'm messing with her "stuff"- only when she's out and it's being done right next to her. She also plays pretty rough with her toys. It's not as extreme as you describe but I think what you describe is pretty normal for any parrot that has a bold, fearless personality. Maybe it's more females than males because all the tame male budgies I've had were such docile loverboys compared to Rocky. But Rocky is such an amazing little bird and I love her fearless, fighter personality and she's extremely bonded to me and my husband, so I cut her some slack as long as she doesn't nip us too much. She's only five months old and still tends to get overexcited, but she's learning not to nip our ears etc and we are learning not to do things that get her too riled up like playing tug of war with her.

 

[Inger]

That's actually common Parrotlet behavior. They either love or hate the crinkly things and I've been nailed myself a few times-it hurts! Unfortunately, you can't fix the bird - you can only fix the human. My best advice is just know that she's going to behave this way and prepare yourself for it. Watch her as closely as you can during these tantrums so you can get out of her way, put her in her cage first so she's only screaming at you, not biting you, etc.

Sorry I don't have a better solution!