Having a REALLY hard time with bird i adopted

[neeko7]

Hello everyone,
My roommate had purchased the most loveable, friendly, talkative black capped lory that was on consignment at the bird store we shop at. Shes almost 8 and was originally given up because of her bad behavior, primarily biting of her old owner. I couldnt even believe this bird had bitten before, she was perfect! She was EXCELLENT for about 2 weeks and even when we visited her several times at the store before taking her home. I have loads of experience with birds of all breeds, ages and training techniques. But I have never seen a bird put on such a show for 2 weeks!
She slowly started straying from my roomate and attatching to me. So much to the point where she would scream and scream until i came back and started attacking my roommate. I tried to ignore screaming, tried short time outs, tried setting her up with foraging toys to prevent the screaming. It all made it worse :-D. Shes a really intelligent bird, and has obviously had serious behavioral issues due to her previous owner. Well... I lost my job, and could no longer afford the rent, I had no other choice but to move back in with family and leave my roommate with the bird that despises her. :-/. I already have several birds of my own, and I know that I dont have the time or space for another bird , so i cannot take her :(.
She was everything her old owner said she was.... she bites hard and latches on and hold on for dear life. I believe what happened here is that she chose me as a mate, and is defending me by biting the living hell out of my old room mate. She has bitten me though, still cant figure out why it was very random. I should have known better, considering her favorite words are "no bite, no noise, stop, please be nice" lol.
Anyway, nothing changed to make her change so drastically... no schedule changes, no changes in her room etc. What I dont understand is how a "bad" bird (as her old owner said) could be soooo good and then turn bad again so fast. I've had 'second-hand' birds before, I have a cockatoo that has been abused before ... shes an angel now! I've given my roomate all the advice i'd give anyone else, but It's getting to the point where my roommate cant work with this bird because it will mangle her again, and of course, she is very fearful of the bird now. I'm feeling guilty because I cant take her, and that I am only able to visit her a few times a week... It's also not fair for her to be in her cage a lot. If anyone has any suggestions or has had a similar experience i'd really appreciate to hear about it .

[hollyhawkz]

Sorry to hear she has started old behaviours. Could you talk to your old room mate and get her to join BirdBoard? Then people could suggest some training/behavioural modification ideas and she can keep in touch as to how things are going.

[Lori~D]

#1 how many hours of sleep does she get now?
#2 How many at the pet store?
Hormonal behaviors can be stimulated by the amount of light they receive each day. Yes she may have chosen you as a mate. If so she/he will drive away intruding suitors AND sometimes bite the mate to "push" the mate away from a perceived danger. Some birds have an issue where if they cannot bite the one they want they will bite the closest to them (indirect biting). Its just the way birds are wired.
I can bet her new home has given her someone to which she has bonded with (you being the bird person)
Longer days due to not having a "closing time" lol
Check on these things and see that she starts to get at the very least 12 hours of good dark quiet time each and every day if that means a "sleep" cage in another room.

http://www3.upatsix.com/liz/articles/spring.html
This one is really great
http://www.companionparrot.com/Sexual%20Behavior.htm

[neeko7]

RE: Holly,
Yeah I will definately tell her to do that. She'll be able to give more accurate updates/info

RE: Lori
She goes to bed at sunset, gets covered at around 12pm (when she gets home from work) and uncovered around 9 or 10 am. So thats pretty much 12 hours.

I believe the pet store was a 9-9 business hours... she was only there for 2 days before she came home.

The articles were very helpful, and I appreciate them. She does flatten out and she does pin her eyes and fluff up at me and has regurgitated just once. If i go to scratch her head, she flattens out and stays that way for a few minutes. She's all about shredding toys right now, should I encourage her to play with other toys? I will also be eliminating the newspaper over the grate so she cant get to it anymore. I will definately set up sleep cage for her. Hopefully it is seasonal! Thanks again.

[LoryLory]

Hello, I'm the owner of the silly little lory :-) she is the first parrot that I’ve owned, but have worked with plenty and have had them in my home prior to bringing mine home. My roommate has a rainbow lorikeet who is very good with me and I can read her well, but it’s the complete opposite with my lory, or at least it is now anyway. When I first met her at the store she would let me do anything to her and she would sing and dance and just talk her beak off. It seems like after she came home for a while she was fine and then she would let me do less and less with her. Such as: playing with her on the floor, now when she hits the floor she runs away; ‘step-up games,’ now on the second ‘step-up’ it’s her saying “no bite, no bite, no no no no no;” then I couldn’t take her out of the cage and my roommate could take her out and put her on the java tree and I could pick her up from there, now it looks like any time I go near her she is going to lunge at me. It seems like everything spiraled out of control so fast that I don’t know what to do, and I hope that there is a way to help her.

[neeko7]

Hey you made an account!

[LovelySydney]

Am I in deja Vu land or was this thread posted elsewhere as well???

[neeko7]

elsewhere too :-D.

[RubyMuse]

Well, you have already mentioned things that work. The first is that her behavior is different under different circumstances - ie: store and home. I would try to get her to step up onto something that prevents you from being bitten like a towel or a stick and then take her into another room for training. Move her away from her cage that she might be territorial/guarding/or fearful around.

Next, understand that her "bad" behavior was not necessarily bad for her because it is obvious that it worked in her eyes. She probably got attention, let out, or something for acting out (and probably got nothing for being quite and playing with toys except being ignored). Your job is to find what she likes and to teach her how to get it appropriately. Start replacing her sad vocabulary with good and encouraging things.

I can not stress this enough: ignore what you don't like. Punishment or consequences for bad beahavior will do more to strengthen that unwanted behavior than you could imagine. Ignore it.

Focus instead on rewarding her with treats or praise or time out of her enclosure when she is quite, playing with a toy, acting calmly, or anything you like and can live with.

She knows why she is acting that way and sadly she has been doing it for a long time. But, she is in a new situation and her brain will be working overtime to figure this new arrangement out...she will learn that she is safe, you provide good things, and that she will not be spoken to so poorly if you teach consistent and gentle calm behavior/reward contingency.

On another note...this is why I am so opposed to the "second hand bird"., "consignment" thing... the bird is not an object and you can not possibly predict behavior in your home based on behavior in a store. Thanks for sharing your story - hopefully others will realize this and people will continue to become more and more educated on all of this misinformation out there.

Best of luck.

[Angelsmum]

I suggest buying a good parrot book too. Another school of thought too is yes the positive reinforcement for good behaviour but in the wild, if a bird gets out of line or bites it does get a negative reaction back regarding the bite by the bird that is bitten so some find that a NO, followed by short time out in cage persistently, every time it happens can help. (only for a couple of minutes maximum.) The bird learns that the good times stop if he does this.Then reward any good behaviours. Rewards can be voice, a foot toy to play with a food that is liked.