Mavis the Parrotlet- Biting and Behavior issues

[Pinkfam4]

I've had a parrotlet for about a year now, and I feel like her TUDES been getting a bit obnoxious. She seems to be biting me more. I take her out often scratch her until she falls asleep in my hands, baby her, and all the love and attention I give her, she turns around and bites me, and it's continues the entire time I have her out. If I have a scab or a pimple on me she finds it. And bites it open until it bleeds, I keep trying to move her away but she always seems to get it. When I am bleeding, she is constantly trying to go to that area, she's like a vampire. (Her name is Mavis after the vampire from Hotel Transylvania! Go figure, right) She is very possessive over me, if I try to dig in my purse, she'll fluff up in attack mode, dig in a drawer, etc. If my kids try and touch her or me, she puffs up and goes into attack mode. Even if she is hanging out in her bird tree, no one can grab her but me. My daughter has 2 parrotlets (male and Female) that are caged next to her, is she jealous, over stimulated, needing more stimulation? I call her my sour patch kids, sometimes sweet, but most of the time sour!!!! PLEASE HELP!

 

[Mizzely]

How old is she?

It sounds like she might be over stimulated - but more by you than the other parrotlets. Where are you scratching her? If you are scratching her anywhere besides her head, she might take that as an invitation from you to mate. The picking at scabs or pimple is overexuberant grooming. She probably sees them as "pin feathers" as they aren't part of your normal skin and is trying to help you out.

Possessive over you means she sees you as a mate to protect from the competition - your kids are seen a possible rivals to your affection.

Attacking you when you are getting your hands into other things like the drawer and purse - your hands are occupied with something other than her.

What do you do after she bites you?

 

[Pinkfam4]

Mavis is almost a year old, she comes out a few times a day for about 45 min to an hour! When she bites me I used to tell her that hurt and tell her she was being sassy! Upon research that’s not good, so I’ve been trying to but her on the floor or lightly blow on her or put her next to me. I scratch her on her head and neck!

 

[Mizzely]

So I believe about 1 year is the right time frame for hormones, and spring can be a real beast! (My two quakers are reminding me of that!). Since she clearly loves you and wants your affection, make sure she does not get it when she acts inappropriately. For my bonded birds, this means putting them down immediately, giving them a "i'm mad at you!" look, and turning my back on them, or even leaving the room. Body language is much harder to misinterpret I find!

 

[CheckeredTail]

Curtis my parrotlet would just be a real jerk sometimes after he was about 1-2 years old. He would be such a sweetie, eager for love and head scratches one minute, then charging and giving a really aggressive bite outta nowhere the next. The best advice I have is first off to start learning her body language as much as possible. Not always gonna work, because they can really mood swing on you, but sometimes just learning the behavior before the bite can help you not get one. When their tail is fanned, when they start charging at you with their beak open, when they fluff their neck up, etc. If you see those signs, it's a great time to use extra caution, move your hand away early and start having to use a few less bandaids haha.

Sometimes you're not going to have much warning though, and in that case, you can implement some simple "time outs", when you get a bite, you as calmly as you can, trying not to give a loud yell or big react, put your p'let back in the cage and have a short 5 minutes where they have to watch you have a nice fun time without them. If they're good and calmed down, no screaming, then you let them back out right after and try again

They can get themselves really worked up and overstimulated too, like it you're playing around with them with a toy or something, they might start off purely excited and escalate into a bite just because they're caught up in the moment. It can be good to bring in a distraction then, change out the object, or slow down the game and let them settle down.