Need some advice

[Dannielam]

Hello im new to this site and I've adopted a gala who I've named grumpy , I've had him nearly 7 Months. I'm having some behavioral issues with him . He's been attacking people who get to close to either him or me. He has never once biten or showed any aggression towards me, it's the complete opposite he's very affectionate and cuddly. I'm concerned since he's made quite a few people bleed , especially people I live with . I need some advice for dealing with him I don't want him to be stuck in his cage all the time

 

[itzjbean]

What you describe is actually pretty typical behavior of parrots who have picked a favorite person (you!) seen as their mate and will protect you now from danger (other people!).

While some people don't mind this behavior because they may not have many visitors, in your situation it should not be encouraged because you are living with other people and therefore you need your bird to accept others. It is not fair for these people living with you to be bitten and you may face them telling you to get rid of your bird if it persists.

Cockatoos are a whole are very challenging birds, which is why about 75% of them get rehomed after 2-4 years by their owners. There are tons in rescues because of their over-bonding tendencies, their toddler demeanors that they never grow out of and their tendency to develop behavioral problems if not well socialized are just a few of the challenges faced with cockatoos of all sizes. It takes a special person to own a cockatoo.

I don't own a galah or cockatoo but hopefully other owners can chime in with their tips for you.

To keep your cockatoo from over-bonding with you, you should not be petting your bird anywhere but his head. No close cuddling, petting along the back, along or under the wings, as this can and will stimulate a cockatoo sexually. They begin to think you're its mate and then get frustrated and aggressive when they can't mate with you.

 

[ParrotGenie]

What you describe is actually pretty typical behavior of parrots who have picked a favorite person (you!) seen as their mate and will protect you now from danger (other people!).

While some people don't mind this behavior because they may not have many visitors, in your situation it should not be encouraged because you are living with other people and therefore you need your bird to accept others. It is not fair for these people living with you to be bitten and you may face them telling you to get rid of your bird if it persists.

Cockatoos are a whole are very challenging birds, which is why about 75% of them get rehomed after 2-4 years by their owners. There are tons in rescues because of their over-bonding tendencies, their toddler demeanors that they never grow out of and their tendency to develop behavioral problems if not well socialized are just a few of the challenges faced with cockatoos of all sizes. It takes a special person to own a cockatoo.

I don't own a galah or cockatoo but hopefully other owners can chime in with their tips for you.

To keep your cockatoo from over-bonding with you, you should not be petting your bird anywhere but his head. No close cuddling, petting along the back, along or under the wings, as this can and will stimulate a cockatoo sexually. They begin to think you're its mate and then get frustrated and aggressive when they can't mate with you.

Agreed and save me time in writing this out.

My three cockatoos are rescues as people fail to realize these birds are very temperamental and require a lot of attention. Frankie for example is still a baby as they bought him from a breeder, more likely bird broker in PA name start with a A##, won't mention her at a bird expo and beside being sick at first and $1200 bucks later he would attack her kids at around a two or three years old. Mostly due to she was petting him where she sure not have and cuddling him and he became hormonal and would attack anyone that came near her and scream all hours of the day when he didn't get attention. She and her husband ended up giving up on him on these two reasons and see this at rescues all the time.

 

[Smerft85]

What you describe is actually pretty typical behavior of parrots who have picked a favorite person (you!) seen as their mate and will protect you now from danger (other people!).

While some people don't mind this behavior because they may not have many visitors, in your situation it should not be encouraged because you are living with other people and therefore you need your bird to accept others. It is not fair for these people living with you to be bitten and you may face them telling you to get rid of your bird if it persists.

Cockatoos are a whole are very challenging birds, which is why about 75% of them get rehomed after 2-4 years by their owners. There are tons in rescues because of their over-bonding tendencies, their toddler demeanors that they never grow out of and their tendency to develop behavioral problems if not well socialized are just a few of the challenges faced with cockatoos of all sizes. It takes a special person to own a cockatoo.

I don't own a galah or cockatoo but hopefully other owners can chime in with their tips for you.

To keep your cockatoo from over-bonding with you, you should not be petting your bird anywhere but his head. No close cuddling, petting along the back, along or under the wings, as this can and will stimulate a cockatoo sexually. They begin to think you're its mate and then get frustrated and aggressive when they can't mate with you.

This all seems pretty spot on, only cockatoo family I have is my two, not a pair yet (fingers crossed) cockatiels. My male only cares about me and my wife, however that is limited as I believe before me he was a community bird with little or no human interaction. My female is a hand raised weanling and polar opposite, loves anyone who will give her attention, but prefers my shoulder. While I hope I hold a bond as part of their flock, I ultimately want them to form a life long bond, they are both young, and we are firm believers of being a forever home. Hopefully you work thru the undesirable behaviors and find happy solutions that lead to a forever situation, other folks with more advice are likely to be along, I wish you luck with your feathered friend!

 

[Casper223]

Hello and Welcome to the Parrot Forum Dannielam, Nice to meet you and Grumpy. You've got some dead accurate advice for you and Grumpy. Definitely keep the interactions with Grumpy to his head and neck area only, and remember it's not Grumpy's fault, Grumpy is being your protector. Doesn't seem like he's very well socialized with other folks, so you may want to work on that to break his current trend. It's never to late to train your Too, and eliminate the bad interactions, the No zones. Theres volumes of great information here, that could be very helpful, Scott and Noodles will be along shortly, and they will have some really good insight and advice to turn this around, even more than you've already received, Scott has several Cockatoo's, and Noodles has a beautiful umbrella, and Parrot Genie as you've already heard from has a beautiful flock as well. Hopefully you'll share pictures with us of Grumpy, we really like them here. I'll look foreword to seeing you around the forums, in the meantime, use the search bar and behavior + cockatoo's and you'll be getting immediate advice very quickly. What I try hardest to remember is these guys are hatched as perfect lil Too's and Pass as perfect Too's it's their interaction with us and usually our lack of knowledge in between that carves out their behavior. IMHO.....

 

[Scott]

Welcome, and I'd echo the excellent advice above.

Grumpy may always bite others in your environment, but worth attempting Bite Pressure Training: http://www.parrotforums.com/training/63988-bite-pressure-training.html May help to minimize the the severity of bite.