Biting Scaley

[Melzawelza]

Hi everyone, i need some advice on Pickles my scaley breasted lory.

He (or she) is about a year and a half old now. I've had him since he was 5 weeks. He has always bitten, but it has usually been in a result of getting a fright, or some kind of provocation. It didnt happen often, at it was rarely a very hard bite.

In the last 2 weeks he has started biting me completely unprovoked. These are VERY hard bites, always making me bleed. sometimes taking chunks out of my hands. It has usually been on the hands but he got me on my lip today and i was pretty severely pissed off!

He is his usual sweet self, letting me scratch him on his head and sitting on me, and it seems these bites come out of no where. To give you an idea of how aggressive he is, when i automatically pull my hand back from the pain (knee-jerk reaction), he is usually thrown halfway across the room because he HANGS ON.

It's incredibly aggressive behaviour and because of it i'm starting to be reluctant to take him out of his cage because i know where it will end up. I'm also unwilling to play with him the way i always have (rolling him on his back, tickling him etc etc) because i dont want to excite him too much and cause him to bite.

In addition to this, he's been very active and vocal at night time. Usually he'd be noisy for a minute or two when the lights go off but now he's been yelling for up to 10 minutes after the lights go off. This could be because he's in my room and as such is subjected to my sleep patterns (late sleeper, late riser), but it has always been like that and never been a problem before.

He's also started a lot of odd, almost obsessive compulsive behaviour of getting in the corner of his cage and scratching his feet across the bottom really fast.

I'm guessing this could be some kind of hormonal thing, and starting to think he may be a girl (going to get him dna tested when i have time to trek to the avian vet), but i was hoping for some sort of clarification of this and some advice on dealing with the biting. I always put him straight back in his cage, tell him off and/or cover him for 10 mins, but it doesnt seem to make any difference

HELP!

[Monica]

It doesn't help that you are reinforcing him biting... when he bites, as hard as it may be, it is better to either ignore the bites (i.e. DON'T pull away!) or push into the bite. Firmly say "No Biting!" or "Be easy!", and continue on interacting with him. If he continues to bite, you can try either setting him down on the ground and ignoring him (assuming he wont come after you), put him in a cage/carrier with NO toys and NO food/water for 10-15 minutes (but NO longer)...

Be sure to NOT yell at him or even make a sound when he bites... as this only reinforces the behavior. If possible, move his cage to another room that would get complete silence/darkness for 12-14 hours, and be sure he stays "in bed" that long.

It may also help to distract him from biting... i.e. have toys and/or treats with you while you are holding him... some small foot toys or a few hanging toys... maybe even a toy necklace or toy shirt (shirt covered in toys hanging off of it)

Here's a couple articles on biting.
Taking The Bite Out Of Biting | By: Liz Wilson
When Birds Are Biting... |by Valeri McFarlane

[Melzawelza]

Thanks for your reply monica!

I'll try not to react to the bites, i'll have to exercise a lot of self control haha he's been biting SO hard.

I also didnt know to not put him back in his cage, ill try to keep interacting with him, although the othre times ive done that he has bitten me again. He loves to run around on the floor so ill have to find something to put him in if he continues.

Im going to read those articles now, thanks so much

[Monica]

The thing about putting him back into his cage when he bites, is that it could mean that he'd rather be IN his cage than with you... so to speak, his cage has food, water, toys... thus if he does bite you don't want to put him in a place of comfort... but an area that has nothign for him to do for a good 5-15 minutes.

Also, it may be a good idea to keep him exercised. If he's flighted, encourage him to fly until he's starting to get exhausted... each day. If he's clipped, fly him around the room with him on your hand... forcing him to flap his wings to exert some energy. Just basically try and keep him busy thus hopefully he wont bite.

[Valo's Moirana]

i posted my advice regarding biting just yesterday, so i don't wanna re-type everything

Please Help stop pionus from biting - BirdBoard.Com

[Melzawelza]

Monica- i was thinking a large shoebox with holes in it for just 5 mins. Is that a good idea or too scary/restrictive.

Bee i just read your other post and it was fantastic, and believe it or not i know you! I know gayla from another website and she has raved about how much you have helped her and Pita, you're a wonderful lady :-) I'm going to take all your suggestions on board.

I recently bought pickles a boing but have yet to set it up somewhere. Because he's so demanding and wants to be with me ALL THE TIME i cant have him out of the cage as much as i'd like to. so im going to set this up in a way that i can put him on there while i do other things around the house and he can be entertained.

[Melzawelza]

I just read on that other thread about bathing, and realised pickles hasnt had a shower with me in quite a while because the shower head was broken and as such the water was coming out too hard for a little birdie. im going to take him in with me today and see if it makes any difference to him!

[Valo's Moirana]

Originally Posted by Melzawelza

Monica- i was thinking a large shoebox with holes in it for just 5 mins. Is that a good idea or too scary/restrictive.

don't do that... not a good idea.... he'd just be scared to death, and that's the last thing you want - you'd want him to see you as your friend and support.

Originally Posted by Melzawelza

Bee i just read your other post and it was fantastic, and believe it or not i know you! I know gayla from another website and she has raved about how much you have helped her and Pita, you're a wonderful lady :-) I'm going to take all your suggestions on board.

how funny - small (online)world we're living in....

Originally Posted by Melzawelza

Because he's so demanding and wants to be with me ALL THE TIME i cant have him out of the cage as much as i'd like to. so im going to set this up in a way that i can put him on there while i do other things around the house and he can be entertained.

you can also make him a play stand... there are tons of DIY ideas out there. valo has a drying rack that i simply decorated with toys, and he loves it (of course, since he's flighted there's no way he stays there when i leave the room LOL )
you can see pics here Loosing my Drying Rack - BirdBoard.Com

i adjusted to the point where valo can come with me at all times, except when i'm cooking something....

best of luck!

[Monica]

A cat carrier or small square cage (rodent or such a "cockatiel" cage) would do better than the shoe box... besides, a shoe box can easily be destroyed!

Then, having the carrier or small cage in a quiet room would work as a "time-out".

If you don't want to buy one I'm sure you could find one off of Craiglist or similar...
craigslist: sydney classifieds for jobs, apartments, personals, for sale, services, community, and events

[Melzawelza]

Since i have a cat, i have a cat carrier! haha So that will be his time-out place.