Biting

[darkchi]

When does it stop... man if I lose any more blood, I think I will pass out

I really don't want to have to use gloves, but if I have to I will
(my poor hands)

 

[Eclectica]

I had the same problem, just he never drew blood. Always nipped my finger, believe me it will pass, took my eckie 2 months to become a sweetheart. I thought of even making him a breeding bird, but he is so sweet now.

He was cage aggressive, he lunged at me, he ran away in his cage when i tried to take him out. Just give time, and a lot of patience. You know how she was at the breeder, and mine was the same, he was loving would let me cuddle him and everything. But when he came home he started with all the above.

What i do: When he bites, and holds on, i come right up to his face and say a very harsh, very harsh NO!! It works, he knows he is wrong and that it hurts, i still let him sit by me, but i dont talk to him for a whole minute or so. But thats just how i do it, this is also my first big parrot, and they do have mood swings sometime.

Good luck, but try something that works for ya, i struggled 2 months with him, so she will get over that stage!

 

[darkchi]

I will wait any amount of time for her to stop biting but it still hurts lol

Yeah I had one really good bleeder, took a whole chunk out of the palm of my hand (she always manages to get the soft spots)

I don't think I am moving to fast at or anything, she will put up one of her feet like she is going to step up and reaches down and not only nips me but actually makes a grinding motion to dig in further. I think she is just going to continue to test me. If she ends up taking another chuck out of me I just might have to get the gloves. Do you think that will scare her?

 

[Peta]

Sometimes, especially with Greys it seems, they get really freaked out by gloves, and as soon as you take the gloves off, they start all over again. I give Bucc the stern "NO BITE", the first time, give him a time out sign the second time, and the third time he goes in for a few mins, without me talking to him at all, She's trying to be the boss, and leader of the flock, you have to let her know YOU are the leader of the pack, (in whatever way works for both you and cricket) Have you tried using a small perch, that way when she bites it will be the perch and you can keep your hands where they are, (its hard to do this if they are taking chunks out of your hand lol) Bucc is and always has been very cage aggressive, especially when I'm doing a really good cage clean, (toys out perches out etc) I've had a few blood drawing chunks missing out of hands fingers arms if I'm not watching him and my body. lol Also Greys are not the most cuddliest of birds, especially when they get older so we have to work out when they want a cuddle and when they don't.

I wish you all the luck with this and hope that you are able to work out the problem before you have too many more chunks missing. Let us know how you get on with this. Once she has worked out that you are leader of the pack she will calm down, (But as she gets older, she's gonna be testing you out)

 

[Peta]

I love your avatar and sig tag, they are awesome. :07:

 

[darkchi]

I love your avatar and sig tag, they are awesome. :07:

Thank you, I made them. I am will prolly change the background as holidays and seasons change. (that is a picture of Cricket)
I knew I took those college courses for something

 

[darkchi]

Well, today she bite me more than usual and harder... did I mention this is out of the cage? She doesn't bite so mush when I go to take her out of the cage; it's when I get her out of the cage she starts biting :17:
both my hands are bright red, and she got my ear and almost my eye (that was close) Am I handeling her too much
When I give her a stern "NO" she looks at me like my cat does when she does something bad.... and just like the cat :28: shrugs it off like who am I to tell her to stop. She doesn't seem like an aggresive bird, she is just biting and grinding hands and fingers....
When "punishment" of going back to cage comes to play she acts like its no big thing.

 

[Eclectica]

I dont know much about greys but i'd say, get a nice small second hand cage and that should be her time out cage, nothing in there but one perch to sit on and a water cup. She wont be in there forever so dont put food in.

Her other cage has food and water and toys and she feels safe there, taking her out of there and placing her into a place where she has non of it would let her sit and "think" for the ten to whatever minutes you placed her in there.

Taking her out and if she is nice talk to her when she cant see the small cage anymore, very important you dont want to praise her for being in that cage. Then you can try if she is nice you can try offering her a treat, but not directly after she has been in the time out cage as she will associate that with treat time.

Then look at what mood she is in, when she isnt in the mood for you place her in her good cage, but keep on talking to her and interacting with her.
You dont by any chance put your fingers through the bars to touch/pet her?

She will soon begin to show you when she wants out or not. You say she bites when stepping up? Does it happen when you put your hand in the cage? If so try to let her come out on her own, and take it from there.

Sorry long post again, hope you can manage this problem, Kodie was also a bit cage aggressive, but he got over it. Let us know if there is any change and what method you tried and worked for you.

 

[bill]

I think it might be worth taking him to a behavior expert and getting some advice. Also a trip to an avian vet could be worth while.

 

[darkchi]

You say she bites when stepping up? Does it happen when you put your hand in the cage?

She doesn't really seem to be a cage biter... not that she hasn't nipped me when I have had her step up. Those bites seem like a "test". Its when I get her out of the cage she gets grumpy. doesn't like to sit on my hand... does every thing she can to get up my arm and from there she looks for a place to "fly" too (wings are clipped). I don't want her up on my shoulder because of the dominace issues (that she already has) Once she took off right into the wall, freaked us both out. I was worried about her hitting the wall and she didn't know what the heck happened. (no boo-boos)

might be worth taking him to a behavior expert

I have thought about that, but, I am still going to wait a little while. She is still new to this whole thing, and sence she is a little older might be too used to what she had at the shop. She had a whole room to fly around and no one to handle her for long periods of time.

I don't exspect any miracles right away, and I exspected some bitting, ... but.... OUCH! lol ... I still love her.

 

[Peta]

Greys, as you know, are not the most cuddly of birds, most of the time they are happy to have us talk to them, play with them, but they don't seem to like a lot of handling, Bucc is fully flighted so when he gets fed up with me stroking/cuddling him they he takes off. As Cricket is clipped it could be that you are missing the signs that she is trying to give to let you know that she doesn't want anymore cuddles/strokes etc, and they are so easy to miss, especially when we don't know exactly what these signs are for a while. Can you remember if just before a bite, the feathers on her head stand up a bit (they are only small and easy to miss, and this is only what Bucc does, Cricket may do something completely different)

I'll PM you in a little while with a list of things that Bucc does, but again this will only be for reference, and Cricket may not do any of them each bird is different.

You could try to cut back on the cuddles/touching see if she is happier that way, keep talking to her. Most of my bites have been because I haven't taken any notice of his body language.

 

[darkchi]

Ok she has started a new thing... which scared the crap out of me.
I stood in front of the cage like I always do (easing my presents) she did a little tweet and put her foot you like she wanted up. so I put my hand up and (slowly) moved it toward her (nothing new so far) when my hand got to her she slammed her foot door instant feather poof huge his and before I could even think about moving my hand (knew what was coming) she did a very angry bite.

Now before it was just plain mean, no real signs, not like this anyways. Its didn't hurt and didn't draw blood but you could feel the anger and that scared me. I told her no and shut off the light and radio and closed the door for the night. I was leaving anyways and was just trying to get some time in with her.

Next day (little nervous) I do the same thing and this time there was a better notice to the danger and pulled my hand back... so I went down stairs made some eggs and eased my way to her again (she would only come to me when I had the egg in my hand)

Well I got her out and she is sitting next to me and all she wants to do is get back up on me and when she finely gets to me she bites (not a 3rd foot bite) then tries like hell to get up on my shoulder and doing every thing I can to keep her down. Finely I gave her a firm loud "NO" and much of spooked her because she took off and scared she self more (cause she is on the floor)

Now she is sitting her watching me type and shredding my note pad

I don't know. do you think I just ended up with a grumpy bird?
I have been trying everything I can and all I have seem to have done is get bit and pooped on. Do you think i still have time, that I am making a mountain out of a mole hill, or am I doing something wrong, or does it seem like I have gotten just ended up with a mean bird?

 

[TexDot33]

You know, I just read in a book that the "foot-up" (almost like a step up step) is actually a way in which a parrot will tell you to back off. It's almost like she is pushing you away ... I am in no way a behavoir expert and I would never suggest such a thing, but I JUST bought the book last night and read that this morning ... might be something to consider.

 

[Peta]

Yep, she was warning you to stay away. You didn't, She bit. To Cricket its easy, she knew she was telling you to stay away, when you didn't the only other thing left is to bite.

Correct me if I go wrong here,
She LOVES her eggs?
She will walk on the floor?
Do you have to put her on the floor or will she get down there on her own?

I'll explain more once these questions have been answered, (otherwise you end up with me waffling away for no good reason. )

BTW There's no such thing as a mean bird, only a scared confused bird, so no Cricket isn't "just a mean bird" she has the potential to be a loving funny character.

 

[darkchi]

Oh she is a character alright... gave her some veggies last night and boy do they get some distance... lol and all over her face too. Nothing like having a mustard greens mustache

Any ways on to your questions...
Yes she loves her eggs, and sweet potato fries
she hasn't made it to the floor yet (cat worries me) but I can try it with the cat locked up....
She doesn't try to go down in anyway only up. I tried putting her down on the couch and a chair (lap level but not on my lap) and all she does is climb up on me and crew her way up, lol (3rd foot, ow) She seems to have rubbed her beak in a way that took a chip out of it... so not it has a nice jagged edge)

 

[Redballoon]

My bird has also started using his foot as the 1st sign he is unhappy.
1st you get the foot push, then you get the "dart in", but dont bite, just to prove he can do it, then the "3rd foot" grab, then if I am still pushing him, I get a bite. I pull my finger towards his feet, so he has to let go and then point at him and say "no" or "hey". All goes quiet and we stare each other out till he bows his head for a scratching.

I dont think Im dealing "Satan Incarnate" as you are.
Good luck.

 

[darkchi]

I think she is more bi-polar haha

yeah so far I have gotten her to put her head down twice for a scratching, (beak to chest??) I go to do it and do a small tickle maybe just short of 2 seconds and thats all she can handle, then she tells me to stop...
she won't let me any where near her head, so I don't try... does let me touch her beak though

 

[Redballoon]

Thats where I started.
The spot where beak meets feather. Then as he got into it, I slowly pushed back till I was rubbing the back of his neck with the tips of my fingers.
next time he opened his eyes, the palm of my hand was enveloping his head.
But I didnt have any "history" to deal with.

 

[Peta]

Right, what you could do is try sitting on the floor in "her" room with the eggs near you, hopefully she will come over for them. We need to get her to come to you, rather than the other way round and if food is the only way to do that then go with it. Maybe you could put her on the floor, then sit a little way off. If she does come over to you but still bites then come out of the room straight away, don't say anything to her and take them eggs with you. She has to learn that YOU are in fact the leader of your flock and not HER.

Do you have another room in the house that you could take her too, if this doesn't work in her room. In her room she is confident whereas in another room she doesn't know, YOU will be the only familiar one to her and she is gonna want to feel comfortable, hence she should come over to you for security and them eggs. Let me know how you get on with this.

 

[darkchi]

Peta:

ok played the floor game in her room for about 15 mins, she didn't bite but thats because she spent the whole time checking out the whole under side of the cage looking for a way up... and after a couple flops I decided that was enough Didn't want her to hurt her chest and she started to look a little stressed.

At that point I realized that she was putting in a lot of work and she was panting... (remember the room is hot as it is)
So on my arm we went and sat in the bathroom.... after the distressing and her checking out the pile of dirty clothes, I decided that it would be a good time to sprinkle some water... which she didn't like, because she hadn't had a "bath" since she has been with me and prolly more.

I let her listen to the running water for a while, then sat her on the ledge for a little while longer, not having a spray bottle (can you believe I can't find anyone who sells the damn things) I used a sponge thing and just let it drip, nothing big but its a start.


On a more lighter note she has seemed to learn the touch the end of the stick for a treat game... still need to get a clicker, or just remember to use my tongue to make the sound, but once again it is a start
I will keep you posted about the training