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yrros
Egg
Joined: 26 Feb 2006
Posts: 21
Location: Birmingham, UK |
| My bird hates my hands (Parrotlet) |
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To see how he has come along see my previous thread: http://www.fluffies.org/en/viewtopic.php?t=2282
Austin is becoming better all the time but, one of his habits is getting worse. He is starting to bite in a vicious manor. He had previously “threatened” to bite by opening his beak when my hand came near him. Now he is seeking out my hand to bite when playing with his toys with him. I suspect it’s a dominance thing, he is quite the little character, I want to befriend him and not be domineering but I think it might need to happen. He seems to be a jumped up teenager at the moment (13 weeks old).
He is accepting head scratches from me when I use one of his toys to do it, he really enjoys it. Then I switch to using my finger without him knowing. He then enjoys it until he notices it’s my finger, then he bites my finger (I don’t move away, he dose), its kind of as if to say, “hey what the hell do you think your doing!”
He will sit on me and play with his toys, he will walk onto my hand if he must to get to his toys but as soon as he can climb onto the toys and hence off my hand he dose so.
Yesterday he flew and missed his cage (he has one wing clipped) so I put my hand down to where he could walk up it, there was no other way to get back up, usually I put his rope ladder down and he would climb up that, but I thought as he could not blame me for him being down there I would put my hand somewhere that he had to use it to climb up it. After 20 min (I was watching a movie) and he had tried everything else he stepped onto my hand, hopped up to my sleeve and ran away from that mean hand. He wound up on the floor again in a few min so I did the same thing. This time he took just as long and managed to make his own way up. He is so stubborn!
I would put him into the “naughty cage” but to do so I would have to grab him. (I suppose I could use a tea towel) and his fear of my hands would be enforced.
I have ordered a Clicker and hope to train him with that soon but I suspect it will be a long time before he stops hating those things that keep taking his toys, moving his food, moving his cage. And generally bullying him (in his mind).
Any suggestions would be greatly received.
Many thanks Anthony |
Monday March 13, 2006 11:31 am |
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Fluffy Sue
Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Posts: 10073
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| Re: My bird hates my hands (Parrotlet) |
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Hey there, I’m wondering when he bites you when you’re playing? Is it outside his cage? Or in his cage? Is it in a familiar environment for him? (Livingroom, near cage?)
I wouldn’t scritch his head if he’s not done anything that you want. This may sound a little bit mean, but it may aid you in stopping him to bite. 
Can I ask if when he bites you, will he fly away then? If so, you could consider clipping his wings and have them regrown once he stops biting.
Have you received your clicker yet? |
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Friday March 17, 2006 6:00 pm |
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yrros
Egg
Joined: 26 Feb 2006
Posts: 21
Location: Birmingham, UK |
| getting better, we still have things to work on. |
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He bites when he does not want me to do something, i.e. move his toy, touch him and scratch his head. He will do it anywhere that I interact with him, I think it’s just his way of saying no.
I was advised to towel him and put him in his travel cage on the floor in the corner and ignore him if he bites hard. He seems to be a lot friendlier after that.
I don’t mind the genital bite and grunt he gives when he doesn’t want to do something, but if he is viscous he gets the cage! And boy he hates it. That said I am extra nice to him when he comes out of it.
He accepts head scratches from me willingly now (not all the time) without pretending I am using one of his toys for it. but still wont step up without the use of a toy and patience. But he has a fear of hands. I will keep working on it.
He has one wing clipped, which stops him flying to some degree, I could clip the other but it’s not a real problem.
The clicker training is working slowly I find I have to take his food for an hour before hand to get any good work out of him. Although he has just had some birds eye chills’ and I think I can probably use those as a reward now.
Thanks for your advice and any further input would be greatly recived.
Anthony |
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Tuesday March 28, 2006 1:51 pm |
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