Rhubarb's started something new within the last month.
The first time it happened, she had decided she didn't want to go into her cage after breakfast. I did what I could to use words and body language to calmly reassure her that she wasn't in trouble, but she worked herself up into a circle-flying frenzy within moments. She flew off down the hall and darted into the sleep cage room. I followed her at a walking pace and arrived at the door just as she was about to fly out. The room was fairly dim but when she saw me, she flew back into the semi-darkness for another lap. I followed her into the room and closed the door behind me. There was just enough light for her to see to land, so I stood by the door while she flew around in circles. I had my arm out for a landing spot and was verbally offering scritches. My hope was that she'd land on me or anywhere the room and calm down enough to accept soothing face pets. Once she's relaxed she's usually ok with going back to her cage... And I can't have her out unattended for the whole day.
Instead of landing on my arm, she flew at my face, scratching at my eyes as she ran up my forehead to land on my hair. It hurt and surprised me. I kept talking soothingly and she did let me pick her up from the top of my head.
At the time I thought it was a combination of being in a panic and not being able to see very well due to low light... Until she did the same thing to Husband in a well lit room when she was not in a panic. She was mad about something (can't remember what) and took off on a fly. She happended to find Husband in the living room and flew at his face, scratching at his eyes before landing on her cage.
What does this new behavior mean?
I'm thinking about giving her a partial trim of 2-3 outer primaries to slow her down a bit on the old scratch out their eyes bit. Advice is welcome though!
The first time it happened, she had decided she didn't want to go into her cage after breakfast. I did what I could to use words and body language to calmly reassure her that she wasn't in trouble, but she worked herself up into a circle-flying frenzy within moments. She flew off down the hall and darted into the sleep cage room. I followed her at a walking pace and arrived at the door just as she was about to fly out. The room was fairly dim but when she saw me, she flew back into the semi-darkness for another lap. I followed her into the room and closed the door behind me. There was just enough light for her to see to land, so I stood by the door while she flew around in circles. I had my arm out for a landing spot and was verbally offering scritches. My hope was that she'd land on me or anywhere the room and calm down enough to accept soothing face pets. Once she's relaxed she's usually ok with going back to her cage... And I can't have her out unattended for the whole day.
Instead of landing on my arm, she flew at my face, scratching at my eyes as she ran up my forehead to land on my hair. It hurt and surprised me. I kept talking soothingly and she did let me pick her up from the top of my head.
At the time I thought it was a combination of being in a panic and not being able to see very well due to low light... Until she did the same thing to Husband in a well lit room when she was not in a panic. She was mad about something (can't remember what) and took off on a fly. She happended to find Husband in the living room and flew at his face, scratching at his eyes before landing on her cage.
What does this new behavior mean?
I'm thinking about giving her a partial trim of 2-3 outer primaries to slow her down a bit on the old scratch out their eyes bit. Advice is welcome though!
