ornery CAG

[jj287]

my CAG is about 7 months now. She usually comes out of her cage multiple times a day, and she usually enjoys being out. However, recently, she refuses to come out for a few days in a row. If I put my hand in the cage she bites. This behavior will last 2-3 days and then she will go back to being a sweetheart, stepping up on me and coming out whenever I ask her to.
So... what's going on? Should I just leave her in there? I feel so bad leaving her caged all day but I'm tired of wrestling her out, and I feel like it doesn't get us anywhere anyway. So now when she does this I just leave the cage door open all day and talk to her.
Why does she do this? We usually get along well, she loves coming out and getting head scritches and playing on her boing.

[Newticus]

Parrots are not like dogs or cat where you can pet them any time you want. Sometimes they just don't feel like coming out and playing with you. This doesn't mean she will be like that all day, but maybe at that time she wants to play with the toys in her cage, or take a drink or nap, or do nothing for a while. It's like living with another person and you have to take what they want to do into consideration. You also have to think about what your reactions to this behaviour are. Some birds will bite just to watch your reaction. So if you yelp, or yell, flap around or anything like that please try and refrain from it because it could be spurring on your CAG to bite just to see what you do. Also watch her body language. when you go into her cage to ask her to step up what does she do just before she bites you? Do her eyes pin, does she lean away, does she puff up and hunch down lower like a spring? These could all be body language that she is using to try and communicate with you and you get bit because you aren't listening to her.

Hope that helps
Melanie