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naomi thomson
Egg
Joined: 25 Jun 2005
Posts: 2
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| i need help with african grey |
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i have a african grey parrot and he can be so badly behaved he will only allow one person to go near him (me) and bites everybody else he screams most of the time also whenever i give him food or water he tips the bowls over spilling everything to the bottom of his cage i am now getting worried in case he is not getting enough water or food. any advice |
Saturday June 25, 2005 9:06 pm |
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shirin
Moderator
Joined: 27 Apr 2005
Posts: 7401
Location: Canada, Toronto |
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How do the others react when he bites them? They might be accidentally reinforcing the behaviour by saying "Owch!" or "No!" or "Bad bird!". Birds love attention, good or bad. By overreacting to a bite you are giving the bird attention and it percieves this behaviour as attention getting and will continue to bite. My Grey went through a nippy stage. What I did was just ignore him every time he bit. I would just put him down and walk away, and ignore him for a while. Another approach is to distract the bird when it's about to bite with a toy or a favourite treat in the hand that you're not holding the bird with. As soon as the bird goes for the fingers, distract him and soon he'll forget about biting and direct its attention towards what your holding in your other hand. You might also want to start handling him with a hand held perch for a while, until he gets out of the habit of biting. Basically if there's no hands available for biting, the behaviour will have to stop. Keep in mind that Greys do tend to be one person type birds and it takes a lot of time and patience to socialize them, as they are very sensitive and nervous birds. Your Grey may need suffecient time to observe the other people in the household from afar before deciding that they can be trusted. Take things really slow, and don't try to force interactions too fast.
How long have you had your Grey? Is he a rescue or a baby?
As far as the screaming, how are you reacting to the screaming? Again, you should ignore it. Don't say things like "be quiet" or "bad bird", walk away, maybe to another room, and wait for the bird to stop screaming, and when he vocalizes in a pleasant way, for example saying a favourite word or whistling, then walk back into the room and praise him for being a good bird and offer a reward. Screaming is only a way of getting attention, and if he sees that it's not working, he'll stop.
What type of food dishes does he have? Try the ceramic bowls, they are too heavy for birds to tip over.
I hope that helps, and good luck. Please let us know how things go. |
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Sunday June 26, 2005 12:54 am |
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dim1g
Flutterer
Joined: 15 Mar 2005
Posts: 126
Location: Chicago |
| working with a Grey |
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i have _almost_ absolutely nothing to add - Shirin covered most of it! she's awesome and very knowledgeable. i totally agree with her on how to act when your bird does something bad, and on her suggestions on working with your Grey. the only thing i have to add is to elaborate a bit on saying that you probably shouldn't force interaction with other people on him. take it slow - have them read next to his cage or perch for a while. then maybe have them offer a treat while you are the one holding the bird. have them sit next to you while you interact with him, are holding him, etc. take your time with this bird - days, weeks, months kind of time, not minutes. remember you have 50 years or so to figure things out... then maybe put the bird on a table where you and another person are both sitting, with toys and maybe treats, and see how he acts towards the other person. you never know with these guys. here is an example: my boyfriend hardly ever interacts with Sake especially lately (time, etc) and i wouldn't ask him to take Sake out of his cage if Sake weren't in a very sweet mood - Sake would never comply. but last night, as my boyfriend and i were eating dinner, i had Sake on my lap - he asked to go on the table, and when i put him up there, he promptly walked over to my boyfriend and hopped on his arm. he didn't want any food- his crop was already full - he just wanted to sit on my boyfriend's arm and stare at him. sure, *i* think he's gorgeous, but Sake didn't have to look so worshipful... <grin> and then i simply took Sake back afterwards - my boyfriend did nothing but talk to him a bit and eat his dinner. but it was a good interaction, and sets the stage for more good interactions...
best of luck! hang in there, it is worth it, i promise you.
dim |
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Sunday June 26, 2005 11:21 am |
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Roger54
Egg
Joined: 08 Oct 2005
Posts: 3
Location: Huntington Harbour |
| Re: i need help with african grey |
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quote:
Originally posted by naomi thomson
i have a african grey parrot and he can be so badly behaved he will only allow one person to go near him (me) and bites everybody else he screams most of the time also whenever i give him food or water he tips the bowls over spilling everything to the bottom of his cage i am now getting worried in case he is not getting enough water or food. any advice
The above posters did indeed cover it all. My only comment is that this is not typical grey behavior; they are normally mellow, well-mannered birds who take well to people, particularly the immediate family. You might want to have a bird expert try to determine how you may have inadvertantly conditioned your grey to behave like this.  |
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Sunday October 9, 2005 10:39 am |
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