Conure has new bad biting habit - Help!

[island_girl]

I've had my dusky conure, Helios, since he was a baby, about 10 years. He love me and my boyfriend even more (we live together). My parrot usually lives with my parents, hours away, as I go to university, however they went on vacation for a month, we decided to have Helios stay with us instead of a baby-sitter.

It started out great, but then Helios hurt himself and ended up with a serious eye ulcer and infection. It's now been two and a half months, and thanks to the amazing avian vet in our area, he's better and off his medication. It was over two months of eye drops and oral medications, and we thought he faired the experience quite well, considering. He's recovered from the illness better than anyone thought, and has stayed happy and lively throughout the ordeal. Apart from trying once, we didn't use a towel to restrain him, however we once had to wear gloves because it was getting to be too much for all of us. He really didn't like the eye drops!

But I started noticing in the last couple of days, that Helios has been acting strangely around cloth and fabric, like if we are folding laundry, covering his cage, etc. He's fine when we're wearing it. He's never been a big biter, and had never even drawn blood, but twice in the last week Helios has bitten my boyfriend so hard he's taken a chunk of skin out of him, just because he picked up a shirt.

Could this have to do with the trauma he's been through in the last few months?

I'm quite worried about this, because we love him so much and I don't want this to end up causing a big problem. Any thoughts? Advice on how to get him used to cloth again? He's definetly a food modivated bird, but I don't want to make the situation worse by making a mistake.

Thanks in advance.

 

[antoinette]

Hi to our great forum.
Poor Helios, injuring himself and having a serious eye ulcer and infection.
Glad he has made a fully recovery.
I am no expert at all, from what you have described, he has been through a very traumatic experience. It might seem like a small episode to us, but more traumatic for him. His fear of cloths and clothes could be related to you trying to restrain him with a towel, even though only one time, when applying the eye drops. He could be angry and upset, remember birds have a long memory.
I have attached a very informative link, which will definitely help you out
Sure other members will assist you with valuable input

Bird Biting article "How To Stop Your Bird Biting Problems"

 

[island_girl]

Thank you very much for your reply and warm welcome! I think you're right about the trauma, although he has still faired better than we expected.

One thing I didn't mentionA was that I don't think he's getting enough sleep. We have a small apartment, and we're both university students, so we have late nights. We try to turn off all the lights when we're working at night, but he'll still chatter at as. He also seems to have sepration anxiety, so our vet tells us, which he lets us know by screaming everytime my boyfriend goes out of view. We're trying to deal with this slowly, it's not a new problem. He just loves James so much!!!

Anyway, back to biting.

I've started trying the approach I took when Helios decided he didn't like new people in the house, and wanted to bite them. When someone new came over, he would bite anything close to him to show the new person how tough he was. We know that when Helios is excited, happy or really wants something (like a nut), he will make a kissing noise. I used this by kissing peoples shoulders when they come over and Helios immediately stops biting what he is and stands up tall, paying attention to how we treat our new guest. He now has a few new freinds because of it (although we don't encourage guests to go anywhere near him), who he really loves.

Yesterday I started kissing cloth while picking it up, and as soon as I do, he stops trying to bite it and instead just pays attention to us. A little pecan also seemed to calm him down. Hopefully this positive reinforcement will help him recover a bit more.... does this logic seem right? He's my only parrot and I got him when I was 12, so I'm not an expert in training.

 

[antoinette]

Hello again....... a bird needs at least 12 hours sleep.
Not sure where the cage is, and how big it is, or where Helios sleeps.
If you are able to place the cage in your bedroom, where it is dark, and quiet, he will get
sufficient uninterrupted sleep.
Seem like you have made progress with the cloth issue, positive reinforcement will definitely help him, continue with what you are doing.
Helios is trying to get attention from James by screaming, that's quite normal. When I walk out the room Mishka calls me continuously mommy mom mommy, LoL at least I know someone loves me.
I have a strict rule, when someone new comes to visit, Mishka must be in her cage. Mishka checks them out, and how. I then encourage them to sit near her cage, and talk to her. Later offering her treats. After a few visits, I then have Mishka on her playpen. She watches them closely, eventually talking treats from them. She has often given them high five's, and turns for them on command. When Mishka does tricks for anyone, I know she will be comfortable with them holding her.

 

[island_girl]

Yes, we've been told about the number of hours. I think we should maybe put him in the bedroom, but its COLD! We have his travel cage and an extra tent, so maybe we should start doing that. Maybe that will help him.

Helios doesn't fly, and we almost never close the cage, so we usually leave him like that when people are over, warning them not to get too close. We also found that if, after a few visits, the person would really like to get to know Helios, they can offer him a pistacio and they'll be friends for life.

Thanks for the advice

 

[wildheart]

I love your kissing trick!

I work in the garden every weekend and I wear gloves. ALL my animals are terrified of it - they must be thinking "it ate my hands". Even after seeing it for years they are STILL terrified of it! Covering your hands while handling a parrot or any undomesticated animal that TRUSTS your hands is a real bad idea. There are techniques of how to hold them so they cant bite. If you ever have to give meds again then search a bit for the technique or come and ask here.

How is Helios feeling about clothes now? My girl is afraid of a lot of things and I found that the best thing for her was to try and avoid using the 'scary' things close to her. Over time she has seen me use it as a distance and she is already at a point where she does not freak out anymore. I am going to do the kissing trick as well and see what my girl thinks.

Covering the travel cage at night sounds like a great idea, sure Helios will hate it at first but it is best for her.

 

[island_girl]

Well, we won't make the gloves mistake again! Here's hoping he doesn't need eye drops or nose drops again.

Helios is actually pretty well adjusted to most everything, he doesn't seem to mind new things and when we're home he'll be with us while we do everything, providing it's safe. This is why we'd like to make him more comfortable around cloth, so we'll work hard to easy him back, as he used to love playing in laundry and under blankets. Once he even got stuck in a sock and we had to cut him out, but he didn't seem to mind. He won't crawl in them anymore though!

 

[wildheart]

He really sounds SUPER cute!