She Bit Me!!!

[Amie]

So. . . .when you were raised a tom boy and very rarely do the mani/pedi thing. . .it's easy to forget after 12 years of owning your parrot that you're NOT supposed to wear red shiny nail polish around them.

Scarlett bit the living ****** out of my finger. First time in 12 years (almost 13!) that she bit me. Nasty bite, too! AND she let go as soon as I screamed and she realized it was me so she never got the chance to do that beak grinding thing parrots like to do.

Then, Brian remembers, "Hey, don't parrots really hate red shiny things?"

Something which would have been wonderful to remember before painting my nails for the bridal shower I went to that day!!!

Stupid humans, forgetting things that lead to painful, throbbing fingers!!

[Icednova625]

Bet that was a shocker! I can imagine an ekkie has a pretty good bite too!

[Catherine J]

I'm sorry you had to suffer a bad bite......I confess I have fears still, fears of being really badly bitten by Odo. I'm a nurse, and a bloody, ripped up finger would not be so good, work-wise. :( Odo has never really bitten me, but sometimes gestures as though he's trying to. However, he once bit my grown son and drove his beak right through poor Will's fingernail, and wouldn't let go!
It took a long time to heal up, and now, Will can barely go near Odo's cage......Odo will sometimes lunge toward him. It makes me sad, because Will loves this bird and very much wants to be buddies with Odo. I've read books, seen videos, and everything suggested has worked only minimally. Any help out there from all my new bird pals? Thanks!

[Sashagirl]

Amie

I am shocked I can't believe Miss Scarlett actually bit you.I hope that your okay?Elliott is the one that usually takes all the bites.Feel better!

Marcia

[KimM]

OUCH! Hope you're ok. Also a reminder to everyone. NEVER drop your awareness around an animal.. no matter how much we think we know them. Particularly these little guys since they are still really wild.

[Tombstone]

OUCH! I didn't know this about nail polish (as a fellow tom boy!) :) That's good to know, but I am sorry you had to suffer the pain of it. I remember once my Macaw was on my shoulder - her first time outside after years of NEVER being taken outside. She crawled on my shoulders, then was trying to balance on my shirt on my back holding on with her beak. Something scared her, and she let go of my shirt and started slipping, so she grabbed into that really sensitive area on the upper arm toward the back - YOUWCH! I cussed for hours...it hurt so much! I managed not to freak out as she hung on to my flesh, but I calmly walked her to a lawn chair and convinced her to let go and step up on the back of it. She broke the skin and left a HUGE bruise. The only other worse bite I have EVER suffered was, believe it or not, a HORSE bite. My mare was in heat, and she just reached around out of nowhere and bit the h_ll out of my upper thigh - I had a bruise that covered the entire front of my thigh! That horse was so sweet - and she NEVER did anything like that before or since. It just goes to show that when we sometimes forget that these creatures have instincts that don't always follow "our" rules - that's when we get hurt...that and when we have to paint our nails for special occassions! LOL

Hope you feel better soon.

Catherine - this may sound harsh and not realistic - but as long as your son is scared of the bite, he'll never be close to that bird. So long as the bird knows how to scare him away (and they sense fear through our body language) then the bird is not going to do anything but keep driving him away. I am sure that doesn't help, but that's what I have come to believe working with birds most of my life. I also totally understand the fear because these birds can deliver a substantial bite, and it isn't in human nature to stick our fingers at something that is more interested in biting them off than looking at them! :) As for me, I have found my CAG is a bit nippy - never anything malicious, but I have a male, and they can be a bit more prone to using their beak a little aggressively at times. Is yours a male? I should know by the name, but I have never heard that name before! :)

Angela

[BigBird]

My ekkie hen alexis is starting to show what she is capable of. She is starting to bite harder and harder lately. She has taken an interest in my ears and my nose. so now if she comes over to me when Im on the lounge she will sit on my head, then I will see this upside down face looking at me inbetween my eyes, so I now just put my hand over my eyes and arm over my ear and she chomps on my nails instead. She's hooked my nose a couple of times and today Im scared Im getting an ear infection as yesterday one of her long talons went in my ear and scratched the inside of my ear, it really hurt!! She's getting a bit violent but have heard its not uncommon with the females!! She bites, really bites, my husband all the time which he isnt happy about!! I just hope it doesnt get any worse.

[macawlover]

Thank you for convincing me to stay a tomboy! :P
I'm sorry you got bit, though... I still have scars right below my lip where my old greenwing macaw got me.

[Okanairda]

Ouch! I kind of found that out the hard way too. I painted my toes pink for a dinner party and ever since my CAG thinks they're her new "foot toys." (Haha, ok, really bad pun.) She hasn't bit me super hard yet, but those big beaks still hurt! Hope your finger feels better.

[Ashling]

How DARE you wear bright red nail polish! Just kidding. Hope it feels better by now! The only time Ash ever bit me 'hard' was putting on her flight harness for the third time ever... we were in the car (not the best place for it) and she got a fright and dug in. Of course, it only left a pin head sized wound, but that's pretty nasty for a tame little lorikeet! Honest!
Mmm all dogs bite, all cats scratch, all horses kick... we must not forget that.

Catherine, my 7 year old sister is constantly lunged at by my lorikeet. Ashling would never ever bite anyone aggressively, or on the face- but she does to my sister. As my sister becomes less afraid, it reduced tension and is making Ash less inclined to bite.
There is a good method of getting your grey used to your son using clicker training. I've seen it work on a video- maybe you could try it? It's done on a macaw and cockatiel in the vid...
YouTube - Parrot Training Video THE 'Power Pause' Technique