Please help, I need some advice

[redmagicc]

Hi, I've had a african Grey for 27 years. I got him straight out of the breeder box. He's been an awesome pet! I love him and he's part of the family. I have never had any aggression of attaching before tonight. It breaks my heart. He's been biting me more in the last couple weeks.
I am weaning him off seed and on a better pellet diet. I honestly thought he was doing great.
I got married 15 years ago and he's become my husband's bird. He LOVES my husband. And now he's biting me significantly. last week he put a one inch deep cut into the palm of my hand and tonight he lunged at my face and bit my eye. literally 1/8" to my eyeball.
When these situations arise, my instinct I throw him off me. He's really hurting me.

I don't know what to do. I love him and need some advice and help.

 

[savanahsirval57]

Hi, I've had a african Grey for 27 years. I got him straight out of the breeder box. He's been an awesome pet! I love him and he's part of the family. I have never had any aggression of attaching before tonight. It breaks my heart. He's been biting me more in the last couple weeks.
I am weaning him off seed and on a better pellet diet. I honestly thought he was doing great.
I got married 15 years ago and he's become my husband's bird. He LOVES my husband. And now he's biting me significantly. last week he put a one inch deep cut into the palm of my hand and tonight he lunged at my face and bit my eye. literally 1/8" to my eyeball.
When these situations arise, my instinct I throw him off me. He's really hurting me.

I don't know what to do. I love him and need some advice and help.

I will share an experience I had with my conure- I clipped his wings and he lost trust with my hands, he would bite me etc., he turned to my husband for many years, then my husband got busy working and had not much time with my bird, he learned within a short while that he wouldn't get out of his cage unless he friended me then as hubby wasn't there for him, trust me this took much patience and I had to had to learn to trust him again, bites hurt even from smaller bird, you must never let your bird bite you again like that, wear a helmet if you have to, use a stick to pick him up, take him from cage to another room in the house were he won't be as sure of himself, return him in a couple minutes so he won't get stressed but learns that you won't hurt him, I am not saying you did hurt him but birds do not like change and that is hurting him in my opinion, he may be pissy pants that he became your husbands bird and is letting you know by his attacks, I am just trying to help, no expert here at all, but I have a green cheek conure, a black cap conure (that will fight each other and they did and almost killed each other and also have a cockatiel, (I have separate big enclosures for the fighters and the cockatiel mostly sits on cage but does fly if approached, they all get time out of enclosures and the biter can now be trusted to sit on my shoulder but if I go to do something out of the ordinary like make a snack, he would bite my hair or neck to let me know he wants it or doesn't like me doing different things, that is there way of saying they are not happy with what you are doing, or they are happy and want what you have, hope you find some comfort in knowing he probably loves you but is trying to tell you something, look on YouTube and seek out why they bite, good luck, keep posting someone may help more than I can!!

 

[texsize]

Bella switched favorite humans about a year after bringing her home.
But she has never been a bitter.
The worst thing she did was attack my head when trying to remove her from the cupboard.
She was only defending her nest so I just made sure I was prepared for a dive bombing .

 

[redmagicc]

I will share an experience I had with my conure- I clipped his wings and he lost trust with my hands, he would bite me etc., he turned to my husband for many years, then my husband got busy working and had not much time with my bird, he learned within a short while that he wouldn't get out of his cage unless he friended me then as hubby wasn't there for him, trust me this took much patience and I had to had to learn to trust him again, bites hurt even from smaller bird, you must never let your bird bite you again like that, wear a helmet if you have to, use a stick to pick him up, take him from cage to another room in the house were he won't be as sure of himself, return him in a couple minutes so he won't get stressed but learns that you won't hurt him, I am not saying you did hurt him but birds do not like change and that is hurting him in my opinion, he may be pissy pants that he became your husbands bird and is letting you know by his attacks, I am just trying to help, no expert here at all, but I have a green cheek conure, a black cap conure (that will fight each other and they did and almost killed each other and also have a cockatiel, (I have separate big enclosures for the fighters and the cockatiel mostly sits on cage but does fly if approached, they all get time out of enclosures and the biter can now be trusted to sit on my shoulder but if I go to do something out of the ordinary like make a snack, he would bite my hair or neck to let me know he wants it or doesn't like me doing different things, that is there way of saying they are not happy with what you are doing, or they are happy and want what you have, hope you find some comfort in knowing he probably loves you but is trying to tell you something, look on YouTube and seek out why they bite, good luck, keep posting someone may help more than I can!!

Thank you So much for your kind words. I'm going to do my best. It's so hard because I love him and have had him 25 years.

 

[Heidi's mom]

Thank you So much for your kind words. I'm going to do my best. It's so hard because I love him and have had him 25 years.

I have an African Grey who for years now loved to have her head scratched and would play with my fingers with her tongue but only at night when she was going to bed, I had no fear that she would bite but one day wham she bit my finger making it bleed there was no difference in anything we were doing. I just said NO and covered her up quickly. I avoided that play for a couple of months then tried again but she bit me again. It's been a year now and she let me scratch her head and finally started playing with my finger with her beak and tongue. I cannot say why she suddenly bit me but I would recommend patience and watch the body language carefully

 

[Laurasea]

sometimes things happen thst break trust, sometimes we know why sometimes we don't.

First a vet exam with blood work is a good idea. Sometimes behavior change is due to pain or illness.

Next it could be diet change has him pissed off. And to really make sure he us eating enough weigh him weekly.

Next, re work on trust on bonding. Don't take for granted things he used to let you do, work back to that level of trust. Usually lots of bribes work best. Make him forage fir a few seeds. Use seeds to teach a few simple tricks. Do some target training. He should be highly seed motivated at this time. And it's ok for seeds to be 10% of diet . So foraging for them, training for them. And a few just for step up and saying hi.

Next are there other changes or stress in the home? Have you been stressed or sick?, parrots are so sensitive to this stuff. I moved on of my parrots cages and changed her routine, she was plenty mad and bit me a lot.

Hope things improve

 

[Heidi's mom]

sometimes things happen thst break trust, sometimes we know why sometimes we don't.

First a vet exam with blood work is a good idea. Sometimes behavior change is due to pain or illness.

Next it could be diet change has him pissed off. And to really make sure he us eating enough weigh him weekly.

Next, re work on trust on bonding. Don't take for granted things he used to let you do, work back to that level of trust. Usually lots of bribes work best. Make him forage fir a few seeds. Use seeds to teach a few simple tricks. Do some target training. He should be highly seed motivated at this time. And it's ok for seeds to be 10% of diet . So foraging for them, training for them. And a few just for step up and saying hi.

Next are there other changes or stress in the home? Have you been stressed or sick?, parrots are so sensitive to this stuff. I moved on of my parrots cages and changed her routine, she was plenty mad and bit me a lot.

Hope things improve

Thank you for your reply. Things did improve and I will never know why I got bitten like that. It took a very long time until she let me know by going to her spot in the cage and lowering her head to be scratched. Before I had no doubts that she would bite me at this time because this was "our time" at the end of the day. I do pay attention to her body language more now, she does have regular vet checks so it was not that she was sick but I have to say I am more cautious. She will bite if anyone touches her stuff then she'll say "awwwww" the little stinker, she's very strict about her space so I know not to intrude but this was a shock because she had always enjoyed this time. I hope that now we're back in touch together that this won't happen again.

 

[Ryled1]

I think he might be very hungry when he is out of the cage. My grey didn't want to change food. It might be too fast. Or he stops earing during the day, then expects dinner out of his cage and is overly hungry? And so he's not eating as much of the good food maybe?
And how did he get that close to your face? No perching on shoulders, or anywhere near your face. No kissing him either. Keep your face away from him. He should be beneath your chest height when perching on a stand. No having up hi on his cage where he might get near your face.
I'd get his wings trimmed. That knocks their egos down a peg. No hi perches for him. And learn African grey body language. As soon as you learn it, you can avoid bites.
If it just started something happened right before you were bitten. The feathers on head/body flatten, eyes pin then a lunge and bite. Write on here what happened. We can figure it out. I do that after every bite and I find out I did something wrong and the bird reacted. I also know my bird gets hormones in spring and needs to go to bed earlier. He has no patience. But he was also overly hungry.
You can hang out with him safely on a perch after his wings are trimmed. You can talk, cook, listen to music without being bitten. You can teach him tricks too. All without touching him. Let us know what happened right before and during the incident. I bet you did something and it frustrated him. Good luck.