My Eclectus keeps biting me and I don’t know what to do

[Amna]

Hi everyone,
It’s honestly very difficult for me to say this, but I’m mentally and physically exhausted because of Rudi’s behavior.

I feel like I don’t understand her at all anymore. She bites me constantly, anytime and anywhere. I don’t know why she does it and I don’t know how to stop it. She has wooden toys in her cage, and I’ve talked before about her diet and routine, so I don’t think those are the issue.

The problem is that I simply don’t understand her anymore. Every time I try to improve things, it feels like she becomes even more aggressive. She shows many bad behaviors and I don’t even know where to start fixing them.

She’s now 1 year and 3 months old. Is it still too early to give up, or would it actually be better for her if I rehomed her to someone else?

I’ll give you some examples of when she bites me.
Sometimes she’ll be playing next to me and suddenly she comes over and bites my hand very hard for no clear reason.

She also loves standing on my head or on anyone’s head if they pass by her. This makes me uncomfortable and also bothers other people. When I try to move her away she attacks and bites very hard, sometimes hard enough to make me bleed.

Other times she’ll be sitting on my shoulder and we’re having a really nice moment together, and suddenly she attacks my ear or my cheek. A few times I was honestly scared for my eye.


Even when I give her food she loves from my hand, she’ll eat happily for a moment and then suddenly get angry and bite me.



And there are many, many situations like this happening every day.





I’m exhausted and I truly don’t know what to do anymore. I’m actually crying while writing this because I really do love her and I don’t want to give her up, but she hurts me a lot.





I also have another Eclectus parrot who is very gentle and rarely bites, which makes the situation even more confusing for me. I don’t understand why Rudi behaves this way.





I’m so tired. Her bites hurt my heart even more than they hurt my body.





What should I do? Please, I really need advice that actually works.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Wow! I'm so sorry Rudi is behaving so badly. It's so disappointing when this happens after you've so lovingly hand raised a bird. Have you considered a parrot behaviorist?

 

[Amna]

Wow! I'm so sorry Rudi is behaving so badly. It's so disappointing when this happens after you've so lovingly hand raised a bird. Have you considered a parrot behaviorist?

I don’t know anyone in my area. Would it be enough if I talked to someone online? And would you recommend anyone?

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Have you tried the "shunning" technique to teach them not to bite? There's a lot of good information on it here on this Forum.

 

[Amna]

Have you tried the "shunning" technique to teach them not to bite? There's a lot of good information on it here on this Forum.

I will look into it! I hope it works.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

You should look online for parrot behavior specialists.

 

[chris-md]

Hello Amna,

I can feel the frustration and confusion coming through. More importantly, the love and caring. I know you’re doing the best you can.

You say she’s just over a year old. How long has she been with you, and how long has she been behaving like this?

 

[Amna]

Hello Amna,

I can feel the frustration and confusion coming through. More importantly, the love and caring. I know you’re doing the best you can.

You say she’s just over a year old. How long has she been with you, and how long has she been behaving like this?

I got her when she was only 45 days old. She grew up in my hands. She loves me a lot and trusts me, and I can feel that — and I love and care for her just as much. But it seems like she has hormonal issues or may have developed a bad behavior. She’s been like this since she was about 7–8 months old.

 

[rheashard2]

Look into shunning. It basically is ignoring her for about a minute. Make sure you are not accidentally triggering her. Birds are weird. Mine objects to the color burgundy, maroon, nail polish, tattoos and my eye glass frames must be the same as when I got 21 yrs ago. She may just be testing your limits. Doing what compaion birds especially excelle at: owner training.

 

[Amna]

Look into shunning. It basically is ignoring her for about a minute. Make sure you are not accidentally triggering her. Birds are weird. Mine objects to the color burgundy, maroon, nail polish, tattoos and my eye glass frames must be the same as when I got 21 yrs ago. She may just be testing your limits. Doing what compaion birds especially excelle at: owner training.

Is it okay if I put her in the cage during that minute and let her out when it’s over?
Or should I just put her somewhere else and ignore her?

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Not in the cage! That teaches her that biting is how you get in the cage. The recommend putting her on the back of a chair and turning your back to her completely.

 

[rheashard2]

Exactly not the cage! You don't want her to bite to go to cage

 

[Amna]

Not in the cage! That teaches her that biting is how you get in the cage. The recommend putting her on the back of a chair and turning your back to her completely.

I think she will jump to my head straight after I turn my back , but I will do that! Thank you.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Walk away quickly. Does she fly well?

 

[wrench1356]

HI. I have uploaded my white paper on shunning on here so many times I'm surprised someone else has not copied and pasted it here. keep looking in the sub forum I'm sure you'll come across it.

My estimation of your situation is she is either still in or just beginning her puberty. Each parrot hits it differently and at slightly different times and lengths. OR she is past it but was allowed to pick up a bad habit.

either way, shunning is THE method to use. Its what parrots use in the wild to chastise an unruly member - excessive biting is not tolerated!

With your bird, I would recommend that she get a light clip of her wings, so she is not able to fly to you or fly off when she is being trained with shunning. It defeats the purpose. Dont worry, feathers grow back!!

The thing with shunning, it must be done EVERY TIME there is an unwarranted bite, by everyone who is in the family. Basically when the bite occurs IMMEDIATELY place the bird on a nearby chair back, turn your back to her and ignore for 1 minute, no more no less. NO eye contact at all, no talking to or about the bird. After that you can reinitiate contact.

2 other points - notice I said unwarranted bites. If your parrot is eating, playing, preening, sleeping or is in a known grumpy period and you try to interface with her, you deserved to get bitten and shunning would be incorrect at those times.

THe other point is learn your birds body language. THey all have individual body language that can indicate when a bite is comming. WIth Eccies these can be very subtle, unlike say Amazns who practically scream out their moods and intentions. LEARN your birds.

THe best bite is the one that never occurs because you are smarter then your parrot ( at least a little bit).

Good Luck

 

[saxguy6460]

Great advice above! Thanks, Master Wrench. I agree, ekkies body language is definitely much more subtle than amazons. (I have both) Subtle, but very much there once you learn it. They do indeed get frustrated when you don't understand what they're trying to tell you, and the bite is often the result. (Kind of their way of saying, "hey, stop and listen to me!!!" Gets your attention, doesn't it?) Obvious to them, less so to us, until we learn that communication with them.

 

[Amna]

HI. I have uploaded my white paper on shunning on here so many times I'm surprised someone else has not copied and pasted it here. keep looking in the sub forum I'm sure you'll come across it.

My estimation of your situation is she is either still in or just beginning her puberty. Each parrot hits it differently and at slightly different times and lengths. OR she is past it but was allowed to pick up a bad habit.

either way, shunning is THE method to use. Its what parrots use in the wild to chastise an unruly member - excessive biting is not tolerated!

With your bird, I would recommend that she get a light clip of her wings, so she is not able to fly to you or fly off when she is being trained with shunning. It defeats the purpose. Dont worry, feathers grow back!!

The thing with shunning, it must be done EVERY TIME there is an unwarranted bite, by everyone who is in the family. Basically when the bite occurs IMMEDIATELY place the bird on a nearby chair back, turn your back to her and ignore for 1 minute, no more no less. NO eye contact at all, no talking to or about the bird. After that you can reinitiate contact.

2 other points - notice I said unwarranted bites. If your parrot is eating, playing, preening, sleeping or is in a known grumpy period and you try to interface with her, you deserved to get bitten and shunning would be incorrect at those times.

THe other point is learn your birds body language. THey all have individual body language that can indicate when a bite is comming. WIth Eccies these can be very subtle, unlike say Amazns who practically scream out their moods and intentions. LEARN your birds.

THe best bite is the one that never occurs because you are smarter then your parrot ( at least a little bit).

Good Luck

Thank you all for your valuable advice! Yes, I found the full post here and read it several times so I could understand it well and apply it correctly. I don’t think I will clip her wings for now; I’ll evaluate the situation first. If the training doesn’t work, I might consider using a temporary wing clip without actually cutting the feathers.
I also don’t approach her when she’s having her own time. As you mentioned, I let her be free to do what she wants, and when she wants attention she comes to me on her own.

Today I managed to avoid being bitten twice, and I feel really smart now
I hope things continue like this.
Thanks again!

 

[Amna]

Walk away quickly. Does she fly well?

She’s a great flyer!

 

[rheashard2]

Glad you're working out what to do. When Nameliss wants alone time, I have to check floor. She walks. Don't understand why. She's perfectly fine flying.

 

[Amna]

Glad you're working out what to do. When Nameliss wants alone time, I have to check floor. She walks. Don't understand why. She's perfectly fine flying.

I’ve come across birds before that prefer walking instead of flying, even though they can fly perfectly well. It’s kind of funny — they walk like little penguins, which is very cute.