Help with attitude change?

[Beastiephile]

Hi, okay so I brought my TAG Martin home 2 weeks ago now. So far he's been doing great. He eats a lot, he's very friendly and playful, and has seemed very well adjusted so far (or until now). I work during the day, but for several hours in the morning and evening, as well as all day on my days off he spends all of his time out of the cage. He has a big perch to sit on with food and water dishes, and plenty of toys to play with. He also gets a lot of one-on-one attention from me and when people come over. He loves to be around me all the time.

For the first week or so, he'd be fine keeping himself occupied while in his cage, or while on his perch. He spends a lot of time on my shoulder/lap, but when I put him on his perch he normally will play with one of his chew toys or eat his food and keep himself happy for hours at a time.

Now for the past few days, he cries and tries to dig his way out of the cage whenever he's in. And when I take him out and put him on his stand he flies off toward me. When I give him toys to play with, he isn't interested. He just wants to sit on my shoulder all day. Well, I'm more than happy to spend that time with him throughout the day, but he wont let me do anything without crying or chewing on my hair/clothes/etc. It's like suddenly he needs my constant attention. This morning he was on my lap while I was doing a paper for school and I gave him some toys and snacks to keep him occupied but he would not stop chewing my hand for attention, and trying to climb all over me.

I want him to be happy, so I give him all my time and attention but I don't want him to be like this all the time! He's only 3 months old so he is still young and impressionable, and I want him to be well-adjusted and confident enough to be okay playing on his own or sitting on his perch. I don't know what caused this new behaviour and what to do to fix it. Any help or ideas? Thanks!

[Addicted to Tequila]

He has reverted... how fun.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Lisa....

LOL

[Marley21]

Our Tags and Cags at work all do the digging thing for awhile too, its very important to get them accustomed to a routine, when its cage time its not time for cryign and temper tantrums, its time to be busy, give him stuff to do like veggies, wheat bread, etc..let him watch tv even, but dotn take him out when he whines, thats what hes doing is whining, how would you feel trapped in acage Id try to dig out too. But you must set the rules rigth away, even with an older bird in a new home, mine all learned screaming does not equal love and pets and that it equals dark and no people around. Make sure hes not sick and give im stuff to do and ignor ehim, its hard but hes got to feel comfy in his environment, and at home in his cage, hes turnign to you for comfort instead of his cage...maybe hang a towel fromt he top inside so he can walk under it and hide, mine like that, hell feel safer. hope that helps...

[xafsmom]

Originally Posted by Beastiephile

I want him to be happy, so I give him all my time and attention

There's the crux of your problem. He needs to know limits and understand that he's more than capable of being by himself for periods of time. He's used to mommy and likes being with mommy. Now, he needs to understand mommy has things to do without him AND that he's going to live through it.

First step is to not rush to him when he cries. Give him a treat and tell him he's a good boy, then leave him alone. When he cries, talk to him, but do not go to him. Keep that up for a while. Tell him you're busy, that you're doing things and you know he's there. Then, when it's time for him, take him out and praise him for being a good boy. Eventually, he'll get used to the routine and calm his feathers down.

[xafsmom]

Oh, when you say 'chewing your hand'... is he just beaking, or hunkering forward all fluffed, wings spread downwards a bit and bumping your hand? If he's doing the bumping thing, then he wants hand-fed. 3 months old is barely old enough for a Grey to be weaned.

[Beastiephile]

He gets upset in the cage, but I think that I can cope with. I give him lots to do in the cage, and snacks, and I always leave the tv on for him and talk to him from across the room when I'm around. The worst of it is when I put him on his big perch outside of the cage, he just keeps trying to fly off. He never did that before until just starting about 2 days ago. Before that he would play happily on the perch for hours with his toys, or eating snacks. Now when I put him on the stand he just wants to fly down toward me.

As far as him chewing my hand, I think it's just a cranky "I want attention, why aren't you paying attention to me?!" kind of thing. Not the begging you described. He is quite young, but he refused the hand-feedings for a while before he came home and he eats like a pig thoughout the day! When I am doing anything, he tries to get me away from it. If I'm writing something he grabs the pen. If I'm eating he will chew the fork. Anything I'm holding he takes away from me or nips at me until I stop what I'm doing and pay attention to him. I don't want to encourage this behaviour but I don't know what to do...

Since it's only been for a couple days, I feel if I correct it quickly enough it wont be too late. Just don't know what to do.

[xafsmom]

Set the boundaries and don't run to him. Talk to him from a distance and set boundaries and be consistent in the boundaries you set and let him know you mean it and there's no wiggle room.

If he flies from the playstand. Get up, go over, put him back, walk away. Rinse and repeat. Do not speak to him at all. Let him know that he doesn't get attention when he's doing that. When he stays on for a time without flying to you, go over, give him a good praising up. Rinse and repeat. lol

[Beastiephile]

I'm going to try that right away! Thanks for all your ideas, they are very helpful.

[Addicted to Tequila]

Just like a kid at playschool! LOL

[Beastiephile]

Martin's attitude has worsened in the past couple of days since the last post. I did everything I could think of to help him behave better but it doesn't seem to work. Every time he flies off of his stand I put him back up. But there is no time in between me putting him back and him flying off. He flies off right away every time, which is very frustrating. He doesn't want to play with his toys and keep himself entertained.

He is basically acting like a spoiled 2-year old, but I haven't really been spoiling him. I spend time with him but I don't smother him. For the first week or 2 he was really independent and well-adjusted. Also, he has had a vet check up and is in good health. A little underweight but he's been eating fairly normally. I can't think of anything else that would cause this change.

I wonder if anyone else has had this kind of experience and how they fixed it...