My Senagal rescue is very aggressive...Help

[schellp]

I got Turk in July, very badly mistreated and very frightened.He is atleast 5 and has really had a rough life from what I gather. But I can just tell there is a sweet sweet boy in there.
He would freak out anytime I opened his cage door to feed him. I finally was able to start giving him treats through the bars, apples, brocolli and such. Well I got brave and decided to try it through the open door, he took it dropped it and when I went to give it back....holy cow he got me good. I didn't pull back, but he didn't let go either. He had such a grip on my finger and when I tell you he was just plain mad I'm not kidding. I finally had to get ahold of his beak and make him let go...he had me for atleast 60 seconds. It broke the skin on the top and bottom, bruised it and gave me a nice blister. Well now I am a bit hesitant to put my hand back in there, and he knows it because now instead of running away he attacks. Runs right for me Now I don't back off, I let him get the scoop (well he really is so fast he just gets it).
I tried to use a traning perch the next day and if he ever knew the step-up command, you couldn't proove it to me. He grabbed ahold of that thing and although I know how strong his beak is now, I had no idea how strong his little feet were. He had ahold of the perch and the bottom of the cage and wow I had all I could do to hold on to it. I did, but I also didn't get him up either. Ok so help...How do I stop this behavior, did I do more damage? I just read in another post to put an ace bandage on my arm, and this might be a stupid worry, but what do I do if he runs up my arm to my face? I am so happy with the progress we have made so far, but now I'm worried I set things back.
Any suggestions would be so appreciated. I have never delt with this kind of aggression before, my tiel use to bite, that wasn't a problem to over come and to be frank a tiel bite is nothing compared to the damage this little guy did. He so deserves a happy life, and I'm willing to do what ever it takes to give it to him, I just don't know what to do.

[shosh]

I have an aggressive lovebird rescue...he is biting out of fear but the bite hurts nonetheless ( no...it's not a senegal bite but those little fellas can pack a punch, too.)
What I decided to do first is NOT approach him when he is inside his cage. I think that the cage is their refuge, their safe place, so to speak. If your guy has had an abusive past, it may be unfair and unfortunate, but there is little reason at this point for him to see you or any other human as anything but abusive...and you can't explain that to him. With time, he will come to understand that you are a GOOD person and a LOVING person....right now, he is just scared and angry.

Although my lovebird was fully winged, I found that I could not approach him that way and although I am not a big advocate of clipping, I knew it would be the only way to train him and allow him to see I wouldn't kill him. So, he got clipped. I would only approach him when he came out of the cage and yes, he tried to bite...a lot. But when he flew away and couldn't and flopped ( nice and soft) I was there to "rescue him". He soon learned to climb into my hand...doesn't like the finger...rather likes to be scooped into my hand where he sits snuggly and actually lets me kiss him. Yesterday, for the first time he allowed himself ( after much running around to escape) to be scooped into my hand from the TOP of his cage. A vast improvement.

He still runs inside his happy hut if I put my hand in the cage but I think we have made remarkable progress in 3 months.

So...although I'm not a senegal owner, I can only give you my feeling on the subject. It's hard with a rescue, especially one that has been abused. I never wanted to scold Linus for biting me because he had a bad history and I didn't think that it was fair to do that. I needed to work with him at his pace ( obviously, though, I had to be proactive because his pace would have been NEVER.)

Turk has been with you a very short time....if he has been abused or mistreated, it will take many months to gain his trust and to boost his confidence. Go very slowly...again, I would try a approach him OUTSIDE the cage rather than INSIDE. If he isn't clipped, I would do so...FOR NOW...so that when he is outside, he won't just fly away from you. Be prepared to be bitten...no fun but it goes with the territory. Try approaching slowly with your hand.....if you see him getting into "launch to attack position"...stop..don't go further. Keep you hand at a comfortable distance from him so he knows you won't hurt him. You can then walk away for a few seconds and try again, approaching slowly and then stopping when he gets anxious. The open hand approach definitely worked better than the finger approach with Linus...I dunno..maybe it'll help with Turk.

Try different things...but don't worry about making things worse. When you aren't an expert in bird rehabilitation, it takes a lot of trial and error to find what works....I'm sure even experts need to modify their approach to accommodate individual birds.

Good luck....and remember. Lots of love and patience will go a long way. I'm sure you will make a great parent to Turk and I'm sure he'll soon realize it.

[kat3k]

I also have a rehomed Senegal, and although he came from a loving home, he was terrified of me approaching him. I had to somewhat aggressively catch him to have his wings clipped and be vet-checked, which was a setback. When he tried to fly and landed on the ground, he was in no mood for "rescue" by me and instead ran under the bed and anywhere else on the floor he could hide for several hours. He does not try to bite, but Will Not let me reach toward him. I have had him almost 2 months and have not known whether to keep trying or draw back. I have drawn back and do believe it is working much better. I can feed him through the bars, which you said you could do also. He now even likes his beak petted through the bars. Just don't reach without the bars. I listened to a bird program recently and the woman was talking about this same thing and said to imagine you were trying to tame a little sparrow in the backyard. I think that is a good image, and from my experience, that is working the best. My bird is coming around and I'm sure yours will also. It does take time though. Let him come to you. Once he knows you will not be reaching for him, he may get less aggressive when you need to reach in for cage maintenance. Keep me posted.

[schellp]

Thank you. I was really worried that I might have made things worse. I've been just sitting by his cage for a few minutes at a time and talking to him. He seems to like that. Today he was doing cute little things and being silly. When I left the room he climbed on the cage door...almost like "hey you I'm not done being cute yet..." He also got really close to the cage bars and ground his beak, that was for a very short time, my tiels decided they were missing out on some attention and started singing....Turk was not happy about that and started attacking his toys..I just got up and walked out of the room for a few minutes. Maybe just maybe I can still get to him after all!

Shosh...I have let him out a few times, It's not to bad, he runs back in the cage when I walk in the room, but if he happens to be on one of the other cages and he can't just run back in it takes a long time to get to him because he "hides" behind the cages. Then of course the tiels are mad because they can't come out and there's a monster hiding behind their houses!! LOL
He also tries to get down on the floor, I would never find him if he decided to hide down there! If he got under my china cabinet I would never get him out. I have a large play stand that I will put in front of his cage, he likes that but I have to make sure I don't leave anything with in reach because he steals it!! LOL
I'm feeling better thanks again for the replies.

[jenseits]

schellp - it sounds like you're on the right track! You're right to just take it slow; focus on earning his trust, but don't put any pressure on him or yourself to reach any milestones by a certain timetable.

I've had a rescue bird for a year (not sure if he was abused or not, but he was not exactly tame when I got him) and the difference I see in him after 12 months is amazing.

While you're in the middle of the training, it might not look like there's any progress, but if you step back you'll probably notice how all the little things are adding up.

Come back and let us know of your progress (small or large)!

[Lessadalinar]

"hey you I'm not done being cute yet..."



That is the cutest thing

[sootykitty]

You might want to check out this post which is located in the Specific Bird section of the board under Poicephalus (that is the type of bird a Senegal is). I think this post might be a help to you.

My senegal hates me!

[schellp]

Thank you sootykitty. I was helpful and I didn't know that was the type of bird a senegal is. That was also very helpful!