mintyrose
New member
Hi Any help would be greatly appreciated!
I have a female Green Cheek that is just about to turn 2 years old. She was hand raised in by a family (that are breeders). She has been great up until about 6 weeks ago, she has suddenly decided she HATES my hands. I will try not to get long winded with this but give as much info as possible.
Im aware that they go through 'the terrible twos", but need some help with what to do. She lives in a large cage by herself, with plenty of toys - and only me in the house - but with visitors every week. I have been trick training her since she was very small and she does tricks like turn around, shake hands, flip, goes to the toilet on command, kiss and more. She talks a lot and lets me know when she wants attention, otherwise I generally leave her to play and do her own thing.
She has been handled a lot since she was a baby, when ever she would give a regular pinch I would say 'no biting'. then she would stop.. I think this is where some of the problem lies though....She started to say "no biting" herself, after a little nip (usually on the hand) and I would respond to this with repeating it or at first laughing because i was impressed that she made the association. Not thinking that she doesn't actually understand it means to not do it but rather just the reaction to the behaviour....
So anyway, she is also a clipped bird most of the time and has definitely shown aggression in the past when she becomes flighted. I took her to her avian vet the other day and have been following his advice to not react etc to the bites, make a fist so its harder to get skin etc. Leave her alone if she doesn't want to be touched etc because of her her hormones.
It has escalated from a few nasty bites while stepping up, to absolutely drawing blood and trying to do as much damage as she can. I don't say anything and put /hold her back over her cage until she stops. It is SO painful and I have bites all over my hands.
She asks me to pick her up all the time and then does that, so I have now started to cover my hand with my shirt and she steps up no problem (which I reward). I started to let a little bit of my hand expose while she does this and reward when she gets up without trying to bite. If she shows the signs of aggression I put her back and then offer again until she does it without aggression.
She has no problem with my arms, shoulders, face or ears. Just the hands, mainly the fingers. As far as I know she has never had a bad experience with hands....I am finding it quite upsetting (becasue she shows so much affection to me otherwise) and really want to train this out of her but to be honest it is hard to not be scared when so much pain is involved. To the point if I have her on lap while watching tv, if I expose one of my hands she will lunge at it so viciously. Once I folded them under my arms to stop her so she pinched the only piece of skin exposed on my wrist... After these I usually get up and walk her back to her cage, most of the time she wants to stay with me. Is she just trying to dominate me?. She also behaved the same way to a friend who thought she wanted to be picked up. She does not like anyones hands and fingers!
I would love to hear from anyone who know a good plan of action or who has had similar experiences.
thanks
Rose
I have a female Green Cheek that is just about to turn 2 years old. She was hand raised in by a family (that are breeders). She has been great up until about 6 weeks ago, she has suddenly decided she HATES my hands. I will try not to get long winded with this but give as much info as possible.
Im aware that they go through 'the terrible twos", but need some help with what to do. She lives in a large cage by herself, with plenty of toys - and only me in the house - but with visitors every week. I have been trick training her since she was very small and she does tricks like turn around, shake hands, flip, goes to the toilet on command, kiss and more. She talks a lot and lets me know when she wants attention, otherwise I generally leave her to play and do her own thing.
She has been handled a lot since she was a baby, when ever she would give a regular pinch I would say 'no biting'. then she would stop.. I think this is where some of the problem lies though....She started to say "no biting" herself, after a little nip (usually on the hand) and I would respond to this with repeating it or at first laughing because i was impressed that she made the association. Not thinking that she doesn't actually understand it means to not do it but rather just the reaction to the behaviour....
So anyway, she is also a clipped bird most of the time and has definitely shown aggression in the past when she becomes flighted. I took her to her avian vet the other day and have been following his advice to not react etc to the bites, make a fist so its harder to get skin etc. Leave her alone if she doesn't want to be touched etc because of her her hormones.
It has escalated from a few nasty bites while stepping up, to absolutely drawing blood and trying to do as much damage as she can. I don't say anything and put /hold her back over her cage until she stops. It is SO painful and I have bites all over my hands.
She asks me to pick her up all the time and then does that, so I have now started to cover my hand with my shirt and she steps up no problem (which I reward). I started to let a little bit of my hand expose while she does this and reward when she gets up without trying to bite. If she shows the signs of aggression I put her back and then offer again until she does it without aggression.
She has no problem with my arms, shoulders, face or ears. Just the hands, mainly the fingers. As far as I know she has never had a bad experience with hands....I am finding it quite upsetting (becasue she shows so much affection to me otherwise) and really want to train this out of her but to be honest it is hard to not be scared when so much pain is involved. To the point if I have her on lap while watching tv, if I expose one of my hands she will lunge at it so viciously. Once I folded them under my arms to stop her so she pinched the only piece of skin exposed on my wrist... After these I usually get up and walk her back to her cage, most of the time she wants to stay with me. Is she just trying to dominate me?. She also behaved the same way to a friend who thought she wanted to be picked up. She does not like anyones hands and fingers!
I would love to hear from anyone who know a good plan of action or who has had similar experiences.
thanks
Rose
