Play fighting / wrestling with your parrot?

[wrench13]

Curious to see if folks are able to play fight or wrestle with their parrots. Do they flatly refuse to tussle with you? Or quickly go from zero to sixty in seconds? Safe at any speed or do they interpret any sign of wrestling as the opening salvo of a ground WAR?

Salty is a mixed bag of cookies. I have to almost go down a checklist first before even attempting to go to the matts with him.

1. Is he already playing/destroying a toy?

• Yes - look closely at his eyes; pupils pinned can mean it's a private war and no visitors allowed
• No - at rest, he is more likely to just want to be picked up for a scratch or he will politely push your hand away

2. Any previous short term slights to his royal self?

• Yes - changing toys around, feeding times, retrieving from the floor or with fights with Tinker - not the right time
• No - His ego has not been previously impugned upon and he is open to the possibility of fun

3. Is he controllable?

• Yes - Like the throttle on a F1 car, there's a fine line between play and the nuclear option
• No - Quickly ramps up into full scale battle, complete with Dolby surround-sound growl and war whoops

4. Is he remaining upright?

• Yes - Playing is done in precarious positioning, while upright body presents ideal attack mode
• No - Play apparently is done best hanging upside down from one or two toes

5. Is my youngest son, Brett anywhere within a radius of 200 feet, visible or not?

• Yes - All bets are off - even thinking about him can trigger the nuclear option
• No - but even opening Brett's mail can be dangerous; see Point 5a above

Having said all of this, play fighting with Salty gives him so much pleasure and fun, it's hard to not take the chances1

 

[BirdyBee]

5. Is my youngest son, Brett anywhere within a radius of 200 feet, visible or not?

• Yes - All bets are off - even thinking about him can trigger the nuclear option
• No - but even opening Brett's mail can be dangerous; see Point 5a above

This part made me laugh lol, it's so funny how some birds choose to hate certain people.

 

[wrench13]

Any one else have rules of roughhousing with their parrots?

 

[Squeekmouse]

Trigger likes to wrestle with my husband, but never with me. With my husband though, Trigger will flip over onto his back to indicate he wants to tussle. He will do this, trusting that my husband will catch him, even if it means coming off the perch onto his back instead of stepping up onto a hand. He really likes rolling over onto his back, he'll even do it by himself when he's playing with his blocks, it's the cutest thing really. Funny thing is, sometimes he will grab hold of his tail or wing feathers when he is doing this and then he gets upset because he doesn't seem to know WHO is grabbing his feathers so he thinks it's my husband. That's when my husband has to back off or somehow extract the feathers from Trigger's claws or risk him going nuclear.

 

[chris-md]

Just flat out, no. I won’t do it. Parker doesn’t really play like that, but I’m also Too afraid of introducing even the possibility of accidental reinforcement of biting.

Definitely a “know you’re own bird and know you’re own tolerance” situation. Takes a certain skill to know when it’s appropriate (as you so aptly demonstrate, my friend!) that I definitely lack.

 

[zERo]

The only bird that wrestles is my Gcc. He likes rolling on his back or me to flip him upside down, he play bites my hands, it doesn't hurt so I let him, but some days he does bite too hard but all I have to do is put him down or distract him. I don't really like wrestling birds because it can encourage biting but since I don't see a change in my Gcc I allow it.

 

[wrench13]

LOL, Chris, that knowledge came at the expense of many band-aids! But I maybe paint too severe a picture, Salty's bites are actually pretty minor except when he is really mad and even then a band-aid does the trick. And he really does like to play fight, I should try to video it, you would swear he is a crazed, demented parrot going for blood, but in reality he is definitely pulling his punches so to speak.

With 92 views and only 2 positive respondents, I guess play fighting, roughhousing and wrestling with your parrots is pretty unique! Ding, ding, ding, I hear the bell. Time to get into the ring again with Salty!

 

[texsize]

Bingo is the only bird I can play with like this.
He usually picks the time/place.
Most of the time lately he halfway roll’s over next to my face.
The up foot grabs for a finger and then I roll him the rest of the way over.
I uploaded a video of his play time .
any family member coming into the room and it’s game over.

Bingo and Merlin both like to bite there own legs when playing.
I don’t know what’s up with that.

 

[WingDing]

Just flat out, no. I won’t do it. Parker doesn’t really play like that, but I’m also Too afraid of introducing even the possibility of accidental reinforcement of biting.

Definitely a “know you’re own bird and know you’re own tolerance” situation. Takes a certain skill to know when it’s appropriate (as you so aptly demonstrate, my friend!) that I definitely lack.

Yeah, same with our eclectus. He doesn't understand the concept of play. I see folks on Youtube with playful eclectus, but that's not our boy. I see them grab their birds beak and I have to look away because I am used to blood flowing if I do anything like that.

There are a million things to love about him and to enjoy with him, but playing ain't one of them. Poor guy doesn't have a clue what he is missing.

But, Wrench, that post was hilarious

 

[Teddscau]

For the last year that Rainy was alive, I decided to tease him and poke at him whenever he was sitting on the atom near me when I was hanging out in the aviary. He was by far the most easygoing and trusting parrot I’ve ever had, and he wasn’t at all nervous around humans.

Budgies, especially boys, are total pests when they interact with others, get in each other’s faces, suddenly poking unsuspecting birds while they’re resting, etc. Sunshine, my last remaining budgie girl, came up with a game of “chicken” that involved sticking her head in the tarp that Rosie was nesting in, then darting away with a look of terror on her face when Rosie would charge at her. Seconds later, she’d creep back over to where Rosie was to start the whole game over again, with at least one of the budgie boys right behind her.

So, knowing how calm and childlike Rainy was, I decided that he might enjoy me pestering him. So, when he’d sit above me on the atom, or when he was humping my head like he always did, I’d reach up and gently tug on his tail, tickle his tummy, or poke his beak. He definitely didn’t seem to dislike it. He‘d often react in surprise that I was teasing him, and he’d often playfully bite and peck my finger. He was always curious about what I was going to do with my fingers next. I assume if he didn’t like it he’d try to avoid me or bite me really hard.

So, not exactly play fighting or wrestling, but it’s probably the closest I’ll get to it with any of my birds.

 

[Parotteer]

So yes. Chico will bite my ear or neck which makes me laugh, I then try to pick him up to get him to stop and this starts a wrestling and cuddling session. I love that. Hasn't really hurt me so far and I can easily make him stop by distracting him or putting him down.

Wonderful post!

 

[clark_conure]

AC (Sun conure) loves to be flipped on his back and wrestle with Kent (GCC) or me (Hooman) in this manner. I just use fingertips and mostly it's scritches.

 

[ravvlet]

Kirby is real easygoing and unless he is in a mood will let me gently hold his beak or touch his feet, etc. Doesn’t care for being on his back though! I can play beak wrestle with him a bit and he’s very polite about bite pressure unless he’s telling me to stop.

Sometimes I get a bit sad about his medical state; if his grip were better I think he’d be a more playful fellow. When he’s feeling good he likes to march along the top of his cage upside down! We did some “cage remodeling” to add more rope perches near his toys and he’s really been enjoying that. Unfortunately though he tends to lose his balance or have difficulty supporting his full weight when hanging upside down, which narrows what he is physically able to do play wise.

 

[Cindylynn]

My Pancho loves to"fight". And when it's done, especially if I end it cuz he's getting too rough, it always ends in sweet snuggles! Like he's apologizing for getting rough with me 😃