Kestrel
Strolling the yard
- Joined
- 4/4/19
- Messages
- 108
My cockatiel, Ayrendi, whom I just brought home two days ago, seems to be settling in nicely. He/she (not sure yet) has decided his favorite spot when he's out in perched on my shoulder which suite me just fine. I wear glasses though and Ayrendi has also decided that he likes to chew the arm. In fact he is becoming quite fixated on it already. So I took my glasses off today while I was holding him and when I did that he got "mad", made irritated sounds and started biting my ear.
Granted, we are talking about a cockatiel here so it's not like he can cause a lot of damage but nevertheless, it was not a sweet nibble, it was clearly an "I'm mad you took my toy away" bite. Enough to hurt but not break skin. I know better than to do any kind of reprimand, or anything like that so I just ignored the behavior and turned my head away. He calmed down after a bit and cuddled with me again and eventually took a nap.
Then again this evening, he wanted out of his cage, so I opened the door, he came to me and got on my shoulder. I was wearing a tank top, and he started chewing at an exposed metal loop on my bra strap, so I tucked it away better under my shirt so he couldn't get at it and he did the same thing again. Mad noises and biting at me, which I ignore ignored but he seemed to stay upset for considerably longer.
Should I maybe just be putting him back into his cage when he acts like this? Or is there some better way to handle it? Keep in mind he's still a baby, only 10 weeks old. It's not like I'm afraid of him or anything I just don't want to start any bad habits.
Granted, we are talking about a cockatiel here so it's not like he can cause a lot of damage but nevertheless, it was not a sweet nibble, it was clearly an "I'm mad you took my toy away" bite. Enough to hurt but not break skin. I know better than to do any kind of reprimand, or anything like that so I just ignored the behavior and turned my head away. He calmed down after a bit and cuddled with me again and eventually took a nap.
Then again this evening, he wanted out of his cage, so I opened the door, he came to me and got on my shoulder. I was wearing a tank top, and he started chewing at an exposed metal loop on my bra strap, so I tucked it away better under my shirt so he couldn't get at it and he did the same thing again. Mad noises and biting at me, which I ignore ignored but he seemed to stay upset for considerably longer.
Should I maybe just be putting him back into his cage when he acts like this? Or is there some better way to handle it? Keep in mind he's still a baby, only 10 weeks old. It's not like I'm afraid of him or anything I just don't want to start any bad habits.