Defensive of Cage

[Diesel_Hyland]

Hi People...I have a query

Diesel our 7month old boy gets grumpy when he is in his cage and we put our hands in to replace his water/feed bowls or put toys in there. He has started actively moving towards our hands trying to bite us when we do this....otherwise he has such a great nature and never tries to bite us when he is out of the cage.

We say no firmly and leave him alone but I was wondering if anyone else has this problem or can answer what we might start trying or doing differently?

Thanks

 

[MonicaMc]

You could teach him to station inside his cage so that you can safely get to his dishes, or you could remove him from the cage prior to messing with his dishes.

My very hands on mitred conure can get 'temperamental' when I miss with his dishes, but it honestly doesn't bother me! He can't harm me so it's easy to ignore him.

My mostly 'hands off' red throated conure that's prone to biting while at the cage on the other hand doesn't mind if I mess with the dishes as long as it's about refilling them!

 

[SandyBee]

Our African brown head used to be that way.
What we started doing is giving him a foraging treat like a nut wrapped in a paper towel, kept him and his little beak busy.

 

[gemini84]

he maybe becoming a little cage territorial. Think of it this way, that is his home, his safe place and you are messing with it. if i try and re arrange the cage when oxy us in it he gets a little upset or if he is not in it and he sees me re arranging it he will come and inspect my work. I have had success in the past with my previous akex that was very territorial by re arranging the cage often.

Good luck, deisel is still young and also may just be testing his limits

 

[ConureCrazy]

Yeah, my girls are cage territorial too. Not just dishes. I just simply take 'em out with me and change their dishes with them. No problems.

 

[Birdlover11]

Try not to say no , even firmly . He doesn't understand English so it just looks to him that we are rewarding him by talking to him. I don't know much about cage aggression , but ignore the bad and reward the good