Hi all! I have a Forsten Lorikeet named Basil. Shes very sweet in many ways. Unfortunately the primary reason for rehoming her is that I simply cannot handle her anymore. While she is the sweet bird shes always been (super awesome loves to cuddle, lick my face, and is overall sweet), a few years ago she started attacking my hands (and just mine, nobody elses) and I can not pinpoint why. I also cannot simply put her away when she does this because it is random. I can tell shes about to do it only a millisecond beforehand so there is no way for me to catch the behavior before it happens. For this reason, her out of cage time has been drastically reduced because I am, quite frankly, petrified of getting her to latch onto my hands for seemingly no reason.
After some thought, I would not be surprised if it's the fact I clip her nails myself. I grab her with a cloth towel but she probably still sees my hands as the enemy for this reason. That would be my only guess.
I've worked on trying to figure out the trigger to avoid doing it, and work on training it away. But without identifying a trigger, there is not any way for me to do this.
She does not do this to the others in my household.
She is not bird friendly and will attack all other birds - typical lorikeet. She is super interactive, not horribly noisy (she makes a lot of constant noises but they aren't ear piercing by any means). Shes a lot of fun with the typical lorikeet banter! She does not hop, though. I believe that is primarily a male behavior. I could be wrong, but she hasn't hopped since shes been a baby.
She cannot talk but she loves to whistle and sing. She is DNA tested female, and I have that paperwork proof somewhere. Not clipped, can fly. She prefers to stay on you or designated play stands; does not run off to get into trouble.
Another behavioral fault with her is that she will bite you if you have treats or food she wants. I give her treats through cage bars. Can probably fix this behavior with some work.
Steps up totally fine, never bites when stepping up and will HAPPILY hop onto your hand anytime you put it out to her. She doesn't play any tricks or biting games! TOTAL FRICKEN SWEETHEART. Will ride your shoulder all day and be very invested in what you're doing, hanging upside down on your shirt when you bend over, etc. Wants to be in way of everything
So a mixture of my fear of handling her and the fact she cannot come out with my other parrots. Before when I could handle her better without fear, we had a nice system going where she'd get late night time with me and randomly through the day. But now, I just interact with her through the cage bars and take her out to walk around with me occasionally. It's not fair.
If anyone has any other advice I'm all ears, but I've tried to figure out how to train to get this behavior curbed. I have failed.
She would come with her cage, toys and remainder of her food.
I live in the VA Beach area. I am pretty nervous about this whole thing. I have no trust in anyone.
After some thought, I would not be surprised if it's the fact I clip her nails myself. I grab her with a cloth towel but she probably still sees my hands as the enemy for this reason. That would be my only guess.
I've worked on trying to figure out the trigger to avoid doing it, and work on training it away. But without identifying a trigger, there is not any way for me to do this.
She does not do this to the others in my household.
She is not bird friendly and will attack all other birds - typical lorikeet. She is super interactive, not horribly noisy (she makes a lot of constant noises but they aren't ear piercing by any means). Shes a lot of fun with the typical lorikeet banter! She does not hop, though. I believe that is primarily a male behavior. I could be wrong, but she hasn't hopped since shes been a baby.
She cannot talk but she loves to whistle and sing. She is DNA tested female, and I have that paperwork proof somewhere. Not clipped, can fly. She prefers to stay on you or designated play stands; does not run off to get into trouble.
Another behavioral fault with her is that she will bite you if you have treats or food she wants. I give her treats through cage bars. Can probably fix this behavior with some work.
Steps up totally fine, never bites when stepping up and will HAPPILY hop onto your hand anytime you put it out to her. She doesn't play any tricks or biting games! TOTAL FRICKEN SWEETHEART. Will ride your shoulder all day and be very invested in what you're doing, hanging upside down on your shirt when you bend over, etc. Wants to be in way of everything
So a mixture of my fear of handling her and the fact she cannot come out with my other parrots. Before when I could handle her better without fear, we had a nice system going where she'd get late night time with me and randomly through the day. But now, I just interact with her through the cage bars and take her out to walk around with me occasionally. It's not fair.
If anyone has any other advice I'm all ears, but I've tried to figure out how to train to get this behavior curbed. I have failed.
She would come with her cage, toys and remainder of her food.
I live in the VA Beach area. I am pretty nervous about this whole thing. I have no trust in anyone.
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