A bitey little booger- new dish and cage guarding behavior?

[GCC_Quijote]

So, Quijote is one of the great loves of my life, and he bites. When things are going excellently well between us he bites much less painfully, and a simple 'ah' will get him to stop. Recently, though, he has been biting really hard. Now, he seems to be trying to give me a clear message without really wounding me, because I know from experience that if he wanted to make me bleed he certainly could.

Now, we already have a sort of plan. We have started taking him out (even though he bites) and letting him on our shoulder (where he doesn't bite unless you turn you face to him). Then we either just stand together talking and singing softly, or we lie down and just relax with him.

This looks like it has an effect, and he will get much calmer and more comfortable with us, but then when we go to get him out of the cage the next time its like we are back to square one.

We have only been trying this "soothing flock time" for a couple of days, so I'm not expecting huge returns right away. I am just wondering if anyone knows why this behavior has started recently, and what else I can do to help it.

Quijote shares a cage with Pearl, our budgie. He isn't aggressive to her, and is very protective of her. She isn't hand tamed, and we make her nervous, so I wonder if that could be part of the problem.

He is especially aggressive about guarding his food dish. Which is new. He even bites me when I go to put food into the dish...which seems counterproductive to say the least.

Also, he still calls to us. He will say "come here!" and "peekaboo!" and make the kissing noise at us. In fact, he sort of screams the kissing noise at me. He has even made kissing noises, and then bit me right after, and then made the noise...which makes me wonder what the heck he means by it.

He has also started absolutely refusing to step up, which he had gotten really good at. And he actually shies away from my hands, and draws away from me when I come near him.

I don't understand why we seem to have taken so many steps back in our relationship in such a short period of time, but my husband and I are determined to mend it. Quijote is such a sensitive little guy, and he deserves to feel safe and loved in his own home.

 

[Vmax]

To save fingers and bird, maybe offer an alternative surface to step up. When we first got Max (BCC), I used a small dowel and coaxed him with a favorite treat. We are still dealing with the bites a year later, but they fall into the beaking category more often than not. I'm interested to learn what others with more experience say.

 

[Skipper]

How old is he? They can get more grumpy as they reach puberty. Gilligan was quite docile when I found him. I could give him head scratches and do his pin feathers. But over the months he decided he did not like fingers or being touched any more. Now I usually pick him up with a stick and he steps right up and will sit on my shoulder making happy sounds, as long as I leave him plenty of room. If my head gets too close, he will bite my ear or face. Some birds are cuddle-bugs, other the opposite.

 

[camelotshadow]

Put a small out perch on the insideof the cage door. Most birds can get cage territorial but are ol out of the cage.
Let him sit on the door perch & open the door. This way he;s sort of out of the cage when you pick him up rather than reaching inside. Or just let him come out himself. He may just be getting older & more sexually mature or hormonal,

Don;t think I'd want him on my shoulder if I had to abide by his rules or he;d bite my face or ears.

He's sounding a bit spoiled.

You just might have to use a stick to transfer him but don;t allow him to bite as its just reinforcing it & he likely now thinks its OK>

Ohhh might have mixed 2 birds up... Anyway its omplicated & I know once its started its harder to stop...I try to be careful from the start as I have not been too successful at breaking birds of bad habits.

Could also be bMinding with the budgie & now you are messing with his love nest, He could be protecting her, Maybe he prefer bonding with the budgie & not so much interested in humans.

 

[GCC_Quijote]

Hi guys, just checking in. Things got way better fast because we realized that this behavior came after a couple of arguments we have had recently. We almost never fight, and they were resolved quickly however, we think the yelling may have been what did it. Our CAG didnt seem bothered by it, so we didnt think it had done anything. Anyway, we left the cage open for him to come out a few times for a couple of days, and he started to come out to be with us. Then we would talk gently to him, and hum to him, and he seemed to get less jumpy about hands. Now he is still somewhat territorial over his food dish, but the biting has stopped being so frequent or so hard, and he lets me scratch and groom him again. In retrospect this seems really obvious, but I feel like I could easily have overlooked it. OF COURSE he got nervous around us after that. I would get nervous too if a couple of giant monkeys started screaming their heads off near me.

 

[Monica]

The best way to teach him not to bite is to not get bitten in the first place.... if possible, try to avoid situations that you know will result in a bite and when you see a bite about to occur, either back off or redirect his attention.


Green cheeks are smart little birds, and he's obviously shown you as much already!