Perfect relationship but bites once om awhile

[FJV993]

hello all, first of all I just want to say that my parrot and I have the perfect friendship. Hes practically a clown.. hes better than a dog. But the one thing I do have an issue is with the biting. I give him fresh food daily but when we play.. he can start biting but laugh or sing at the end of it. some people I spoke to say its just play bite and heck it doesn't hurt the biting but he can sometimes get too rough.. sometimes causeing blood. Any suggestions? ( hes an orange winged tipped amazon)

 

[Auggie's Dad]

Welcome to the forum.

Parrots do definitely use their beak as a third hand and nibbling and grabbing with it is a good and healthy form of play. HOWEVER, they also need to learn where the limit is. You're the one to establish that limit, and if he's drawing blood on occasion I doubt anyone would disagree in saying he's crossing the line.

I find there is nothing more relaxing than when Auggie sits on my shoulder "grooming" me: nibbling my ear, fumbling through my hair, etc. But there're also few things more painful then when he decides to take a chomp. All parrot owners have most likely dealt with their pets not knowing where the line is, and training in that 'line' is a long process - Auggie is great now, but on not-so-rare occasions I still have a good lil' scar on my hand.

Before we get to in depth on exactly what to do when he bites why don't you tell us more about him: How old is he, how long have you had him, has he recently or is he currently molting, etc...

 

[FJV993]

thanks for respoding first of all. and hes is 2 years old, I had him since hes 6 was weeks old(hand fed him with the eye dropper), doesn't really have any issues with his skin or feathers.

~ also I forgot to mention that he could bite up a storm and suddenly let me scratch his head.. I don't scratch his head because its liwke rewarding him

 

[TexDot33]

Looks like a BFA from the pictures ... the one thing that many amazon owners should learn is that there is a "threshold" when it comes to amazon play ... It's such a funny thing, they will be playing along just fine and then, all of the sudden, they turn into these raging "oh-my-god I can't control myself I have to just attack anything" fiends. The key with amazons is to play with them in a cycle that let's them calm down before they hit that point, and then start playing again ... this behavior almost becomes essential as they get older and they start feeling their "seasonal change"

 

[Auggie's Dad]

I don't know amazons, but I do know about getting bit while playing. When Auggie gets too excited he starts thrashing his head and beak around and anything... then I know a bite is coming.

Previously I just backed of or put him in his cage to cool down. Then an accidental discovery gave a new option. One day he was with me at the desk and he got in that over excited play biting mood; my keychain happened to be sitting there and he grabbed it and thrashed it around hard. I don't know how it didn't hurt, the keys kept hitting him in the face. But he thrashed it around for a while and beat the keys against the table until they were perhaps even more dead than they started. After that he was calm.

Since then when Auggie gets to excited I hand him my keys and he goes into ultra-attack mode, usually the keys end up getting thrown across the room, sometimes I bring them back and make sure its out of his system, then life goes on quite peaceably.

Whether or not a keychain would be any good is irrelevant, but perhaps having one special 'target' of aggression will let him get it out of his system when he needs to.

Most of our birds don't get to fly much, they don't hunt or forage for food, they don't search for mates or fight with others of their sex for a mate.... many of their natural behaviors are limited, and often giving them appropriate "outlets" for these behaviors is productive.

 

[Auggie's Dad]

'target' of aggression

Hmmm, that may be misleading.... It sounds much more like play than aggression, he just may have to much pent up energy. So my above quoted line might be more clear as "target for aggressive play."

In fact if it were true aggression you may not want to give him the opportunity to put on such a big display with a keychain or other target, as ACTUAL aggression towards you should not be allowed under any circumstances.

Anyway, the idea doesn't change.

 

[TexDot33]

That's a good theory AD ... now how can you isolate if the display being shown is 'actual' aggression or just a 'playful' aggression?

 

[Auggie's Dad]

Frankly I cant conclusively. And in that regard better err on the side of caution and not allow it at all.

However with Auggie I was confident that it was overexcited play. There are definitely signs and body language cues that could be used to make the determination, but at this point I am extrapolating a bit beyond my expertise. Give me an "aggressive" dog and I could tell you for sure whether it was play or some other form of aggression; when it comes to bird specific behavior I'm a bit of a novice.

So in other words, IF you conclude it is play then providing an outlet could be good. If you can't make that determination there are likely others here who could help in that regard.

 

[Auggie's Dad]

Follow-up:

Aggression is very costly for any organism, not only due to the energy it takes to engage in a display and attack, but also due to the risk of injury involved with "picking a fight". So for an animal to engage in aggression there are only a handful or reasons.

1) Play, which would not necessarily be inappropriate, and should not really be considered aggression per se, but is easily confused with it.

2) Fear aggression, which is the most likely and the most dangerous in any animal. This would primarily be seen when they don't have an escape such as when someone reaches into their cage or somehow grabs, corners, or restrains them. From the description of this situation it certainly doesn't sound like fear aggression.

3) Dominance displays to keep or obtain status. This may very well be what is going on here. If so other signs of dominance displays should be observable.

4) Resource defense / mate guarding. This can somewhat overlap with fear aggression as it may occur when someone reaches into the cage or handles a food dish. But this type of aggression can also be seen when there IS an escape route, but escape is just not an option. A parent guarding an offspring could be a good example. In pet birds this is probably seen mostly when someone new comes into the home. This form of aggression also does not seem to fit the description.

Lastly there are two other situations which would not likely be considered separate 'types' of aggression, but rather are unique subsets of these. One is if the bird is injured, if they are in pain they may "feel as though" they are under attack and they will fight back against whoever happens to be closest. This should not be overlooked as it is easy to wonder why they are aggressive while we completely overlook the nasty cut they have.

And finally a seasonal misfiring of proximate mechanisms... Spring time hormones. It's mating season for many birds, and if it is for yours their hormones will shoot up in order to drive them to find and fight for a mate. With no conspecifics to fight with or mate with we as owners can become the target of both of these behaviors. Currently I think Auggie is getting a bit randy, when he gets a little crazy he goes back in his cage where he can go .... um ... mate with himself.