Targeted Lorikeet Aggression - Help much appreciated

[walkthedog]

My sister has owned a small rainbow lorikeet for about 2 months now. They used to be relatively inseperable (apart from when she had to go to school) but recently it's started being super aggressive when she goes near it. It will happily hop onto my arm, but even just having her in the proximity will set him off squawking until she leaves. On the few occasions she has attempted to pick him up he has fluffed up and bitten her.
Why does this sort of targeted behaviour occur? She maintains that she hasn't done anything to upset him and it seems rather spontaneous if anything.
About two weeks before this started happening I began taking him into my morning shower to enjoy the water. He has had a very positive reaction to this. Could this be promoting favouritism in any way? Is there any way to train him out of doing this? We're all clueless as for what to do next and so any help is appreciated. Thanks

 

[ChristaNL]

Great looking bird!

How old is the bird?
(Onset of maturity could explain why is is bonding to one more than another).

Anyway- I feel your litle friend needs his feathery butt kicked (gently of course).
It is always nice to find your place in a group, but no bird should hold dominance over the humans in his/her flock.
Your sister is being henpecked ;P well and truelly.
So: do not walk way if he displays agression, just stand your ground and see if he backs down.
If he plays nice: reward (positive attention, maybe even snacks), if not... just ignore him completely (both of you)
She shows him she is not afraid and you show him that your sister is more important and if he wants to have some of the fun...he should behave and play nice.


You can work on pressurebite-training (teach him that fierce/painfull biting is a no-no) and clickertraining (we have stickys here on the forum btw) - it's a safe way to interact with a bitey parrot and still work on a positive relation.

 

[EllenD]

The first couple of months that a bird spends in a new home with new people are just the settling-in phase. You can't really assume that the way that they act during their first month or two in your home is how they are going to act after they settle-in, feel comfortable, feel secure, etc. So since the bird was supposed to be your sister's, I'm sure that she was the one spending the most time with her right after she was brought home. So because the bird was nervous, feeling unsettled, etc., she was just feeling-out the situation, and was interacting with your sister and being nice to her because your sister was the one paying her the most attention, and I'm sure she felt safe with your sister during that first month or two in a new place.

However, now that she's settled-in to your home and she's gotten used to the people, to the environment, to the daily routine, etc., she now is allowing herself to be herself. Unfortunately, when you bring home a bird into a home with multiple people, you cannot really choose what person or people the bird bonds with. Birds are like people, they like who they like and they dislike who they like. We can try to influence them to like a certain person by having that person be their primary care-giver, have that person give them treats, play with them, take them places, etc., but in the end they are going to bond closely with whomever they want to.

This happens quite often with married couples, and it almost always causes a huge issue. One spouse is the one who wants to get a bird, while the other spouse wants nothing to do with a bird. So they bring home a bird, and the one spouse does absolutely everything with the bird and for the bird, while the other spouse does absolutely nothing for the bird, they don't even look at the bird...and this person is the person that the bird chooses. And this breaks the heart of the person who wanted to get the bird in the first place. Plus, the other person wants nothing to do with the bird, and is forced to spend time with it, etc.

So it's quite possible that your bird has settled-in to your house nicely, after 2 months she feels comfortable, secure, safe, and is now starting to come out of her shell and express herself, and she apparently prefers you to your sister. Now this doesn't mean that she hates your sister, but she's most likely going to need some work/training in order to understand that this isn't allowed...I don't know if she's only biting your sister or if she's biting other people as well, but whenever she bites, doesn't matter who it is, they need to immediately say "NO BITES!" firmly, not yelling but just firmly, and then immediately put the bird down on the floor, and then turn their back on the bird and totally ignore the bird for 5 minutes, no less and no more. If the bird cries or walks over to the person it doesn't matter, the person must totally ignore the bird completely, keep their back to the bird, and not even look the bird in the eye. This is called the "shunning" technique, and it works wonders because they love attention and there's nothing that they hate more than being totally ignored.

As far as your sister wanting to bond with the bird, all I can say is that she needs to be the one who does all the "good stuff", such as feeding the bird, all the treats, etc. She needs to try to spend as much time as she can with the bird, talking to her gently, etc. Hopefully the bird will eventually come to again like your sister and want to spend time with her, but it's probably going to be an uphill battle, if in-fact the bird is actually bonded to you already.

 

[wrench13]

Once again Ellen D bats it out of the park. Good, sound advice for any sort of parrot or 'keet.

 

[MonicaMc]

Instead of you showering with the lorikeet, what about having your sister do it?

That said, going into a small, enclosed area could be encouraging that behavior, so maybe shower isn't a good idea... and only have bath time at the cage or in an open area?

 

[EllenD]

Instead of you showering with the lorikeet, what about having your sister do it?

That said, going into a small, enclosed area could be encouraging that behavior, so maybe shower isn't a good idea... and only have bath time at the cage or in an open area?

I was going to actually suggest the same thing as Monica, at least to try temporarily to see if it changes anything...Have you stop showering with him completely, and have your sister start showering with him on a regular basis. If you showering with him suddenly and spontaneously changed his behavior, then it's quite possible that you stopping showering with him and your sister starting may suddenly change his behavior again...It's quite possible that the shower is such an enjoyable, positive experience for him that it encouraged his bonding with you...However, if he's going through puberty right now or has recently, like right around the time before this started (I don't know his age), then it could just be hormonal, as stated above...But worth a try nonetheless.