New Alexandrine

michgoss

New member
Oct 16, 2012
5
0
Lorain Ohio
Parrots
umbrella Cockatoo
two pantagonian conures
lesser sulpher crested cockatoo
alexandrine
I have a new baby his name is Alex he is six months old all he wants to do is bite me I have had him for about two weeks how long before they settle down?
 

Ian

New member
Sep 10, 2012
41
0
Hi Mich

Biting is a much more complicated subject than you expect.

First you need to know the difference between 'chomps', 'nips' and 'touches'. The beak is the birds 'hand'.

Whenever you get to know a new bird there's always a bit of biting. When you've known a bird for years there's still a bit of biting...

Be really gentle and patient with your new bird, follow one of the controlled programmes for training him (read through this forum) and if you are still being bitten in a month then its worth asking again.

There's a really important event in a parrots life about that time (6ish months) called 'bluffing'. During this time your parrot might be extra bitey....read up on it online.

My bird was hand raised from a chick and he still had 2-3 weeks of crazy behaviour during bluffing. Apparently 'bluffing' is genetically programmed into birds. If you have been unlucky enough to adopt during this period you need to be careful but it will pass in weeks, in my experience if you are a good guy during bluffing your parrot come out of it loving you to bits.

Post a picture of your Alex in his cage, there are some experts on here that will instantly spot things that will upset your bird.

added: Sorry mitch just noticed on your profile how many birds you have! Apologies if what I posted seems a bit basic. As a breed, Alexs are not bitey at all....they are REALLY chilled out when settled.......unless there is an issue in the birds upbringing I wouldn't expect him to take more than a few weeks to settle
 
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BradGC

New member
Jul 31, 2012
107
0
Gold Coast, Australia
Parrots
Alexandrine parakeet
Well it is a question open to so many variables. Is he aggro or pinning toward you before biting or is he walking on you and tame but also biting lots?
 
OP
M

michgoss

New member
Oct 16, 2012
5
0
Lorain Ohio
Parrots
umbrella Cockatoo
two pantagonian conures
lesser sulpher crested cockatoo
alexandrine
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #5
Trying to post a pic of my baby Alex, he actually sat on me today for about half an hour without nipping at me, progress!
 

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Midori

New member
Oct 11, 2012
44
0
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Parrots
proud mum to baby Alexandrine parrot Midori (Dori), 6 cats - Rosie, Ralphie, Rebel, Rocky, Rahni and Mooska, 2 dogs - Bronson the golden lab and Harley the golden retriever and now 7 mice!
hey michgoss - congrats. Alex is gorgeous :) good luck with it all. my baby is only 4 weeks, so got loads to go thru! looking foward to more pics of your baby and stories :)
 

Mr_Tarell

New member
Oct 16, 2012
22
2
Long Island, N.Y.
Parrots
Alexandrine named Tiki
Hi guys,
Today was a miracle and I fixed tiki's biting problem.
When I got my Alexandrine from his previous owner (my aunt) he was a biter. He used to bite her all the time. She was told that bird was a 4 month old Indian ringneck parakeet named Lou. She had a baby and didn't have a lot of time to spend with Lou; she didn't know what to do and had to give him up, then she asked me if I wanted him. I was scared at first, but there was something about him that I liked. (Actually when I used to go over at her house, I used to be the one that was the most afraid of Lou.) When I brought him home, I started looking up ring neck info, and my bird didn't look like an indianring neck at all. after about 10 mins on google, I found out that he was an Alexandrine parakeet. I decided to rename Lou to Tiki. ( there was an article on the Internet that said that renaming can calm aggression). I spent the next two days just researching Alexandrine parakeets while I sat next to him. ( he was in his cage.)

I went to the pet store and ask them for advice. And an old parrot woman told me that when she encounters an aggressive parrots and he wants to bite, she will leave her hand there ( she will not pull away) or when the bird bites she will put her hands closer to the birds face. She said that you will be bitten many times but it works every time.

I thought that was crazy talk and decided to do what most people say to do online. keep taking to the bird, let him get used to you,do stick training, and he will change when he gets comfortable with you. At first he shredded my hands. My hands used to literally drip blood, scab up and when it's almost healed, he would bite it again. Well I've been doing that for exactly 10 moths and 4 days now. I got him to step up, sit on my shoulders, sit on my lap and hands, do a hand shake and high five and go home command. But everyday since the past 10 months and 4 days, when I go to feed him he will lunge at me and bite my fingers. I cannot put my hands in his cage without it getting bitten.

Well when I woke up this morning, something came over me. When I placed his his chopped apples in his cage this morning he bit my fingers. All of a sudden the old woman voice was in my head. And i said to myself, 10 months and his cage ageession has not changed; my old method wasnt working so im gonna give her advice a shot. I left hand there. He kept biting it and and biting it and I kept moving my hands closer towards his beak. It was painful, my hands was bleeding, I didn't make a sound even thought wanted to scream at the top of my lungs, my eyes was filling with tears. About what seemed a neverending forever but was about 3 minutes he stopped and slowly bent his towards his belly, as though he was bowing. I took my hands out of the cage and closed the door. I repeated this process about 2 more times with about a minute break inbetween. My hands felt like they were on fire.

My brother and I counted my cuts; I laterally have 48 cuts on my hands. My hands reek of tea tree oil as I type. But I'm happy today because today was the first time that I can put my hands in tiki's cage without a bite. I can now put my hand in the cage, say up,and he will go on my hand and I will take him out of the cage. We repeated this all day. I'm really really really happy with what we have accomplished today. Yesterday I had a really bad day. I was almost caught in a scam. As it turned out, the blue and gold parrots that I was about adopt we're non existent. And it was a money making scam. ( I posted it in the ' General parrot information' forum. But everything happens for a reason. Today I have a whole new relationship with Tiki. So Im happy. So my advice is sometime you have to take one for the team. But just wait like two months to see if your bird settles down, but of he doesn't, try this method. It's painful but like the old woman said, it works!. Good luck.
 
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coral3

New member
Aug 4, 2012
184
0
Australia
Parrots
'Ringo' - alexandrine, hatched 2012 ~ 'Prinny' - princess parrot, 1992-2012 RIP
Hi guys,
Today was a miracle and I fixed tiki's biting problem.
When I got my Alexandrine from his previous owner (my aunt) he was a biter. He used to bite her all the time. She was told that bird was a 4 month old Indian ringneck parakeet named Lou. She had a baby and didn't have a lot of time to spend with Lou; she didn't know what to do and had to give him up, then she asked me if I wanted him. I was scared at first, but there was something about him that I liked. (Actually when I used to go over at her house, I used to be the one that was the most afraid of Lou.) When I brought him home, I started looking up ring neck info, and my bird didn't look like an indianring neck at all. after about 10 mins on google, I found out that he was an Alexandrine parakeet. I decided to rename Lou to Tiki. ( there was an article on the Internet that said that renaming can calm aggression). I spent the next two days just researching Alexandrine parakeets while I sat next to him. ( he was in his cage.)

I went to the pet store and ask them for advice. And an old parrot woman told me that when she encounters an aggressive parrots and he wants to bite, she will leave her hand there ( she will not pull away) or when the bird bites she will put her hands closer to the birds face. She said that you will be bitten many times but it works every time.

I thought that was crazy talk and decided to do what most people say to do online. keep taking to the bird, let him get used to you,do stick training, and he will change when he gets comfortable with you. At first he shredded my hands. My hands used to literally drip blood, scab up and when it's almost healed, he would bite it again. Well I've been doing that for exactly 10 moths and 4 days now. I got him to step up, sit on my shoulders, sit on my lap and hands, do a hand shake and high five and go home command. But everyday since the past 10 months and 4 days, when I go to feed him he will lunge at me and bite my fingers. I cannot put my hands in his cage without it getting bitten.

Well when I woke up this morning, something came over me. When I placed his his chopped apples in his cage this morning he bit my fingers. All of a sudden the old woman voice was in my head. And i said to myself, 10 months and his cage ageession has not changed; my old method wasnt working so im gonna give her advice a shot. I left hand there. He kept biting it and and biting it and I kept moving my hands closer towards his beak. It was painful, my hands was bleeding, I didn't make a sound even thought wanted to scream at the top of my lungs, my eyes was filling with tears. About what seemed a neverending forever but was about 3 minutes he stopped and slowly bent his towards his belly, as though he was bowing. I took my hands out of the cage and closed the door. I repeated this process about 2 more times with about a minute break inbetween. My hands felt like they were on fire.

My brother and I counted my cuts; I laterally have 48 cuts on my hands. My hands reek of tea tree oil as I type. But I'm happy today because today was the first time that I can put my hands in tiki's cage without a bite. I can now put my hand in the cage, say up,and he will go on my hand and I will take him out of the cage. We repeated this all day. I'm really really really happy with what we have accomplished today. Yesterday I had a really bad day. I was almost caught in a scam. As it turned out, the blue and gold parrots that I was about adopt we're non existent. And it was a money making scam. ( I posted it in the ' General parrot information' forum. But everything happens for a reason. Today I have a whole new relationship with Tiki. So Im happy. So my advice is sometime you have to take one for the team. But just wait like two months to see if your bird settles down, but of he doesn't, try this method. It's painful but like the old woman said, it works!. Good luck.


I would suggest looking into Barbara Heidenreich's (Good Bird Inc) training DVD's/books.

Parrot Training DVDS | Good Bird Training DVDS

There are better ways!
 
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Mr_Tarell

New member
Oct 16, 2012
22
2
Long Island, N.Y.
Parrots
Alexandrine named Tiki
I will be honest, I haven't read Barbara's books or have tried her methods but I've tried several different methods over the past 10 months and 4 days. I got these methods from online, different forums, parrot owners, and different pet shops. None of which seemed to work. I did something that I haven't done before.

And it does seem like he wants to interact with me because he is accepting treats from me. Something he has done only once before, in the whole 10 months of having him; this was his secomd time. After taking him out his cage, he stood on my lap and we watched tv together. He the went on my shoulder and started to cuddle and rub his head on my neck, and started preening my hair. Then he fluffed his feathers, did some tail wagging and started preening himself. This method is working for both of us.
 

BradGC

New member
Jul 31, 2012
107
0
Gold Coast, Australia
Parrots
Alexandrine parakeet
Glad to hear that it's working! Alex's are awesome birds!

My Alex has a really good personality and is well socialized, but he unfortunately is starting to get nippy when he knows that I am about to put him away. My method when he bites is that I turn around, go quiet and ignore him for a while and it seems to work, but if his nipping gets worse I'll try your way.
 

Mr_Tarell

New member
Oct 16, 2012
22
2
Long Island, N.Y.
Parrots
Alexandrine named Tiki
Thank you very much. And yes, they really are; and they are very intelligent. And if your method seems to work keep using it because its way less painful lol. But if it doesn't, at least you have a back up method. Keep doing what works for you, everyone and their birds are different. One method may work for you but If I try it, it could make things worse. There is no one method fits all. We just have to just keep working on it and see which one works. Well I'm off to the store to pick up some sunflower seeds. Since he's accepting treats, this seems to be his favorite.

If you don't mind me asking, what is the measurement of your Alex from head to tail? I'm trying to figure out how old my Alex is or an average age. He's 18inches from head to tail. ( Im not sure is hes a boy or a girl) And according to what I've read, they are full adult length at 23inches ( from head to tail.) thank you very much!
 

BradGC

New member
Jul 31, 2012
107
0
Gold Coast, Australia
Parrots
Alexandrine parakeet
Ours is a boy, just over a year old, 20 inches from tip of tail to top of head. He doesn't yet have his ring. I think their size can vary on breed and individual parrots.
What colour are his eyes? At 6-8 months thier eyes have a more defined pupil and grey ring, before then, thier eyes are more just dark
 

BradGC

New member
Jul 31, 2012
107
0
Gold Coast, Australia
Parrots
Alexandrine parakeet
Nice looking bird. If I had to take a guess I'd say it's possibly a female? Just seems like it from the rounded head and no Shadow round his neck. Also males have slightly different coloured feathers on their head, more turquoise.
That's just my guess, i havent actually seen many other alexs apart from my own and in pictures.
 

Ian

New member
Sep 10, 2012
41
0
I'd agree...its a bit subjective but at one year the eyes would still be a bit 'greyed' and that photo looks identical to my female for all the reasons Brad pointed out. The 'shadow ring' is a real characteristic.

The odd thing about females is that once they hit the second/third moult they look the same for the next million years.

Interestingly the 'used to bite, now ducks down and pushes me away with her beak' behaviour fits my female perfectly when shes has an off day. The male behaviour is completely different.

You are lucky...if shes a female and you've won her over you'll have a massively affectionate bird soon.

My male is roughly 76cm long now (about 29inches), the female is about 60cm (about 23 inches) which fits in. He looks about twice her size when they sit together.
 

Mr_Tarell

New member
Oct 16, 2012
22
2
Long Island, N.Y.
Parrots
Alexandrine named Tiki
Thanks guys!
Tiki is amazing he or she came a long way. This morning I heard her trying to say hello; its not quite clear but its there. That made my day. Sometimes I think shes a girl, sometimes i think hes a boy. ive gotten both answees many times. I think I'm gonna get tiki dna tested next month to see of Tiki is a boy or girl. That's the only way to know for sure. Actually on Dec.19 it would make a year since I've had Tiki. I think I should get the dna test result about two weeks before that and view the results on that day. Just make that day even more special.
 

lene1949

New member
Sep 26, 2011
1,701
1
Brisbane, Australia
Parrots
Cory: Short billed Corella -
Echo: Galah -
Max: Alexandrine -
Skye: Yellow Sided conure -
Luka: Green Cheek Conure -
RIP Shrek: Quaker
Hi michgoss

Looks like your thread got highjacked, but hopefully you got some good ideas... How's your bird doing now?
 

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