my new Baby Eclectus Lilo biting. . . hard!!

Hi everyone,

I just signed up to this website for discussion purposes
I recently bought a female Eclectus parrot and she is beautiful!
She was really placid at first, but now bites often, and hard!
I am excusing it on the grounds that two days after i brought her home my sister passed away (23rd December 2011).
As her cage is situated in the living room, there were many people coming and going and even kids trying to touch her at one point. (When that happened i took her out of the cage and into my room, which she liked)
When she does bite, she bites reeeeally hard. Normally when people try to touch her. But she bites me too but not as much as others.
She hasn't quite learned to step up yet but I feel the biting has made me more reluctant to touch her and train her. When i DO pick her up with no problem she loves to hold onto the top of my shirt or my necklace and nestle into my neck/under my chin. So she seems to love that sort of physical contact. She also squawks in response to us talking to her.

I also bought her some foot toys which she is terrified of, if i put one near her she holds her mouth open and will strike at it like a snake if she's really feelings threatened.

I guess i should just give her months to settle in right?
Just wanted some opinions

Your bird has not learned her manors yet. Did you get her from a breeder and how old is she. The first thing you should do is teach her to step up. I would use a stick and force her to step up on the stick with a treat as a reward once you have found the thing that she likes to eat the most.

To me, stick training is must. It will allow others to deal with her in case you are unable to. She will also appreciate your hand more once she realizes it's a lot softer and more stable than a stick perch. Now is the best time to start teaching her, her manors. You have to realize, with all birds you will get biten, how hard and how often will depend on the bird and the situation.

No worries, have been using my arm but will replace it with a stick!
Yeah I got her from a breeder, she's fully hand raised but was only just learning to step up when I got her. Not 100% sure how old she is I'll get back to you. But I'm assuming 3 months or so.

Hi there!

Firstly, I'm very sorry to hear about your sister Terrible news!

Don't worry my girl did the same thing, she bit me so hard once it drew blood :\
Audrey would just lunge at me at first and it was scary so I was scared to get her out. I found it helped to just grab her out with a small towel until the lunging stopped.
Basically she is just stressed and very afraid, hence the biting.

I've had Audrey for about 7-8 weeks now and things have totally changed, she doesn't bite at all (Though she does often have a playful nibble) & she is always begging to come out of her cage for a cuddle. If you feel more confident it will help with getting her out (Though I know its much easier said then done lol!)

Good luck with her, don't worry, she will get better!

Also about the foot toys, don't worry too much yet. Audrey still doesn't like her foot toys, but hanging toys with rope & wood seem to go down well with her

I'm glad to read that we had the same problem haha! and our babies are from the same place Yeah I definitely still get her out and interactive, once I have her she is fine and loves me it's just picking her up or asking her to step up thats dangerous !
I can tell it's just from being frightened. So she should be fine soon She loves one particular hanging toy , has already eaten the star block thingy off it hahah
Thanks !

I actually came on here too worried if it was normal LOL! But its all good

Yes I saw you got her from Savada, that's awesome! Maybe they are sisters hehe ^_^

Hi & welcome, Please accept my sympathies for your loss.

Have you contacted the breeder to ask advice where you possibly have gone wrong.

The poor girl is terrified & needs time to adjust to her new environment. Slow & steady will win her over. She needs to build up trust with her new family.

When she lunges she is telling you to leave her be, just retreat & let her calm down. Just because she has been hand reared doesn't mean when your new baby arrives it's going to love as soon as you unpack it, you have to earn it's love & trust. Any mistakes made now could have lasting effects.

I wouldn't use a stick to get a baby to step up, I would use my arm. Just tuck all fingers into the palm of your hand & offer her a closed fist. If she lunges back off. Play tickle toes, if she is still stand offish leave her, come back later & see how she is. You want her to come to her not force her to do something she doesn't want.



A pic of 1 of my babies i hand reared.

Thanks Pedro.

I've been doing exactly that and will continue to do

Awww Pedro that baby girl is adorable!! Especially in that pose LOL

The point of the pic was to show what you can do when a young eclectus hen fully trusts you. She would just lay in my lap & fall asleep if she was there long enough. I also have an adult male that will also let me lay him on his back.

I agree. The last thing you want to be doing is trying to force her to step up or any other training. She needs tO settle in and trust you first. Take it slow. Eccies are such amazing birds, and that early trust building is so so important - they need to feel safe with you. Once they do, they will let you do anything you want with them! They do not respond to 'discipline and dominate' ways of training. Build trust, be firm, and they will love you forever.
good luck!

How do you get a bird to lie down on their back? Is it just because they want to or do they have to be trained to do it?

A lot has to do with whether the bird trust you or not. Mind you not all my baby eclectus will allow me to lay them on their backs. It all depends on how laid back they are. I wouldn't attempt to try with a nervous bird.

alienus99 said:

that is why i always recommend for beginners small birds Let them bite as they please

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I would rather get bitten by an eclectus than a budgie, my goodness those little buggers know how to bite & they won't let go. With the bigger parrots they bite & let go.

Looking back on my life with parrots i really don't think it has anything to do with the size of bird you choose, IMO it's the confidence in how you handle & train that bird. Yes the budgie or a small bird is a good starter bird for kids as are cockatiels. Personally i wouldn't look twice at a budgie, although i must confess i do have a pair that i inherited & now they have bred.

Pedro said:

I would rather get bitten by an eclectus than a budgie, my goodness those little buggers know how to bite & they won't let go. With the bigger parrots they bite & let go.

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Oh, yes... I do agree with that... I donated a cockatiel to the men I work with, and his bite (even though he just nips) is much more painful than Max's, my Alexandrine.

I have been hand raising babies and there 3 months now I bought them car toys st first a little drum looking thing with bell and a ball with holes with bells, I also bought then a ball from baby dept that is more holes then not... once they got use to that , I bought some dog ropes and they quickly learned to climb I used a hook to hang them... the newest you is a dog toy from walmart it is 3 rings and I laugh at them cause they climb all over it and thru it... she will get use to playing and being held, I have only used my hand/finger even when she attacks and bites I make her step up so she doesn't think she ia boss and then she's fine

mrob said:

I agree. The last thing you want to be doing is trying to force her to step up or any other training. She needs tO settle in and trust you first. Take it slow. Eccies are such amazing birds, and that early trust building is so so important - they need to feel safe with you. Once they do, they will let you do anything you want with them! They do not respond to 'discipline and dominate' ways of training. Build trust, be firm, and they will love you forever.
good luck!

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Do you suggest just spending time with her? patting her and letting her sit on me etc. she does love it when i take her outside and sit in the grass with her. if i move away a little she will walk right up to me and climb onto my knee. So i'm guessing the trust building has begun.

Also, her wings are clipped though she always tries to fly.
This morning everytime I moved away from her cage she'd turn to face me and duck down ready to launch herself. and she eventually did, it seemed like she was trying to fly off her cage and onto me. it was rather cute. although she didn't make it and flopped onto the floor which broke my heart a little

Hey there, new here too! Our female was returned to the breeder by her previous owner after only 4 days... as they purchased her for a 8yr old and she bit the child extremely hard according to them...

When we saw her we couldn't help ourselves, we had never seen a more beautiful parrot.

Scarlet took about 2-3weeks to adjust to our home but we persited with getting her to step up on to our hands and tolerated the biting... she would only bite hard if you pulled away, so the trick was to leave your finger there... seems silly but really worked... we have only had her since July 2011 and she is still only prob 10mths old but she is so easy going now its amazing how it works out in the end....

my kids wore soft gardening gloves when they started handling her, which they dont need anymore....

yep, just spend lots of time with her. Sit with her, give her treats, eat with her, tal to her. Imagine you have a 'trust account' , and you only ever make deposits! Its a process and it takes a long time, try and ignore the lunging or biting, dont react or you reinforce the behaviour. You dont want to let her run wild but if you havnt had her for that long it sounds to me that she is having a few (totally normal) problems settling in and she is either biting from fear or pushing the boundaries. Another thing with female eccies is that they are quite often cage agressive - try and keep your hands out of her cage as much as possible - she will see that as her turf and her security regarding it will be very important to her. If you are going to do step up training only do it once she is out of her cage and away from that area - you might have to wait till she gets out on her own. A free standing play perch is good for this. All birds are much more receptive to training when they WANT to do it. Forcing her wont help. (in saying that i realise thaT sometimes you have to be firm when necessary, ie to get her back into her cage etc). Make training a fun game, with lots of treats and over the top encouragement - and ignore bad behaviour. Parrots HATE to be ignored! Once she loses interest in training, stop and start again the next day. 2 15 minute sessions should be heaps - but dont try and leave it till later if shes in a bad mood! Good luck!