Lorikeet temper

[Totalsweety]

Ok I live with a friend of mine and she has a Lori that is a few months older than mine. He has one of the worse tempers I have ever seen.

My sister told me once that they go through a stage of rebelion and bite and get into trouble alot. Is this right?

Right now my Lori is well behaved (well as well behaved as a Lori can be) and doesnt bite. She is just under a year old.

Will she end up being as naughty as he is???

[Ashling]

Does he bite? If so for what reasons? If you can find out why he is temperamental then you can prevent this from happening to your lory. It all depends on the individual bird; mine is around 2 years old and she has quite a docile disposition (for a lory) towards me. I don't think she's ever bitten me out of aggression, only confusion and fear. Otherwise it's mostly when she's excited that she'll nip. She only really ever gets cranky at night when she doesn't want to be moved into/ out of her cage, or in the mornings when she doesn't want to be moved from her warm spot under the covers! Why does your friends lory react the way he does?

Ash can get VERY temperamental around certain people- like my little sister and my mum. These two people reinforce bad behavior... my sister is jerky and erratic around Ash and this frightens her so she likes to bite my sister to keep her away. My mum is melodramatic, yelling "OWCH!" if Ash nips at her, which Ash finds absolutely hilarious and which winds her up even more. My mum actually taught Ash to say "OW" cause she loves that reaction. I am in the process of reversing this by teaching my sister to be calm and confident around Ash, and by teaching my mum to ignore Ash when she nips at her.

It all comes down to reading and understanding your birds body language in order to prevent unwanted behaviors, and in turn reinforcing good behaviors.

[Totalsweety]

Thank you Ash.

He seems to bit for no reason at all. You'll be sitting down calmly and he will attack your hand, face. Anything he can get his beak into. He is generally just an angry bird.

My Dizzy is also very relaxed. She has only ever bitten me once out of aggresion when she was very young but hasnt done it since. She always lies down on her back and cuddles into my neck.

You could never get my frends bird on his back even if you tried. He would eat you lol. I have been trying to figure out why he does it but there doesnt seem to be any real trigger. He just bites. Drawing blood 90% of the time.

[WhiteRaven]

Whether or not your lorikeet will end up as naughty depends on many different things (how you train her, her environment, her personality, etc), but I believe it is mostly how you train her.

Rainbow lorikeets reach sexual maturity at around one years old. Snuggly baby parrots can become hormonal monsters once they reach sexual maturity. It's called the terrible twos. :P In some species (such as macaws) this can be particularly noticeable for a small period of time each year.

However, these moments can be manageable and even barely noticeable with proper behaviour training in the first place. Teach her to 'step up' (if you haven't done so already) as this may become a life saver down the track. Do not reinforce bad behaviours, such as screaming or biting. Completely ignore these behaviours and don't reward them in any way (reacting or giving any attention is a reward). Reward good behaviour.

You may get to know your lorikeet's body language and know when he's in a grumpy mood. In reality, birds don't bite for no reason or out of nowhere. They give us subtle (and not so subtle) signals (even raised or lowered feathers), telling us to back off but we often miss it. In the end, the parrot learns that biting it the only way to get us to listen and may develop a biting problem. I know this is even more difficult with lorikeets, because they can be nippy and seem to bite for no reason. Also, keep your birds socialised, let him get use to strangers and interacting with whoever else lives in the house. Doing these will help prevent unwanted, naughty behaviours. I highly reccomend the book Guide to a Well-Behaved Parrot by Mattie Sue Athan (it's up to the 3rd edition).


That all being said, I admit that I never taught my rainbow lorikeet to step up, which yes, caused problems. He did seem to bite for 'no reason', but I learnt when those times likely were and to avoid it happening in the first place (while sitting in my lap at the computer, on top of my head, sometimes when i first walked into the room and he's in his cage, when he was over excited, etc). He was 3 years old and besides those occasional bites and shoulder hogging, he was a well behaved and very happy lori because i used positive reinforcement and socialised him well (he LOVED to meet new people!).

Good luck with your bird. :) They are all different.

[Ashling]

Just thought I'd pipe in this bit of info... I met a rainbow lorikeet cock recently that would stand tall, pin his eyes, fluff up his feathers and open his wings slightly whenever someone put their hand near him, then he would lunge to bite (hard sometimes, soft sometimes). The owner of the store said that he had killed any mate he was put with. (I wanted to take him and see if I could retrain him... he was a very dark mutation, almost black and very beautiful. If not for the danger towards little Ash, I may have considered getting him.)
My point is, perhaps some birds are just aggressive (I believe these birds should never be bred). But more often than not, there is some kind of trigger. You just have to find this trigger and either A) make sure the trigger is never present around the bird or if this is not possible then B) change the birds perception of that trigger so that they view it as a good thing, or a non threatening thing. This can be done with training... listen to WhiteRaven's advice, it is good! Especially about step up because as an easily learned and remembered command; if made a familiar and rewarding experience it can be used in a situation where you need gain the bird's attention and redirect a behavior.

Sorry if I am incoherent... it is midnight and I am very tired :)

[WhiteRaven]

Originally Posted by Ashling

Sorry if I am incoherent... it is midnight and I am very tired :)

We can be incoherent together, being in the same time zone, hehehe. :D

I agree that some individuals are just very aggressive.

[Ashling]

Originally Posted by WhiteRaven

We can be incoherent together, being in the same time zone, hehehe. :D

I agree that some individuals are just very aggressive.

I couldn't get to sleep until 2:30. Which, in relation to this thread, makes me remember that with birds (and people), aggression can be brought on by lack of sleep. That is something to consider with your friend's bird, Totalsweety. I know Ashling can be very bitey if I disturb her when she's sleepy! She turns into a monster!

[Totalsweety]

Hey thanks alot guys. My Lori (Diz) doesnt seem to have picked up on any of the others (Astro) beahiour. I can read her behaviour perfectly. When she is in a bad mood or wants me to leave her alone she moves away from me and becomes very still and quiet. She doesnt want to bite but if you dont read that sign probably she will bite. Then she feels bad and runs and hides lol. She always comes back and sits on you after she has bitten you and talks quietly :D I think she is saying sorry lol.

I still cant figure out why Astro bites. I've been watching him alot trying to figure it out but he really doesnt seem to have a trigger. He will be sitting on my friends shoulder and then suddenly bite her lip, cheek, ear, anything he can get. And all she was doing was sitting there watching TV. Whenever he bites her and her partner do react to it, yelling and such. He is around a year and a bit old now. Do you think that maybe he is just doing this to get the attention he wants?

They have tried to ignore him but he just keeps biting. I think it is a mixture of attention seeking and agression.

[Ashling]

That's cute that she comes back and says sorry! My lorry often laughs when she bites someone. Yes I think Astro is looking for a reaction, especially if they yell as a response! What fun yelling is to a lory, he must love all the fuss! Tell them to put him straight away into his cage in a darkened room when he bites and see if that works out. And tell them to give him lots of praise and attention when he's not biting and just sitting quietly, or if he bites a toy instead of them- make a BIG fuss so that it's a fun game.

[WhiteRaven]

I'm not sure why he is biting, but it sounds like it could be an attention thing. There may be another reason too though.

Originally Posted by Ashling

My lorry often laughs when she bites someone.

My lorikeet use to laugh at me when I was upset and crying! :( But I think that's because he thought I was laughing, lmao. He would furiously lick my face too.