Janf
New member
Hi all,
We have a Senegal (sex unknown, we say "her") that is approaching 2 years old. When we got her at 6 months of age, I was her early favourite but since then she fell in love with my husband.
My husband and I both agree that I do way more for Kiwi than he does. We don't know why he's the favourite, but he clearly is. She rarely gets moody with him and will always choose him over anyone else, although I will usually do as a second choice companion.
My husband has had a couple of longer trips this fall (one for 4 weeks, one for 3 weeks) and I noticed when he's away, I have no problems with her after the first couple of days. She doesn't bite, she's affectionate, not moody, etc. As soon as he gets back, I have to be much more careful with her, watch her body language, etc.
I am not always sure I respond the right way to her bites but if the problem was just me, I would think she'd bite me all the time whether my husband was around or not. (When I see she wants to bite, I just leave her alone if I can; if she's somewhere I have to move her, I take a no-nonsense approach and scoop her up so I'm not reacting to the bite, then wobble my hand while I'm walking if she tries to bite before I get her back to her cage. My general response to all biting is to put her back on her cage or closest perch, then try again later with a "fresh start" approach.)
When I mentioned that she can be moody in the Welcome forum, someone suggested she might not be getting enough sleep. I know she spends about the same amount of time in her cage whether my husband is away or not, but he works shift work so she might get more stimulation during the day when he's in town. Still, she's fine on weekends when he's away and I'm home all day.
Does anyone have ideas about why my husband's travels have such an impact on my relationship with the bird? I'm pretty sure I don't do things differently...
Jan
We have a Senegal (sex unknown, we say "her") that is approaching 2 years old. When we got her at 6 months of age, I was her early favourite but since then she fell in love with my husband.
My husband and I both agree that I do way more for Kiwi than he does. We don't know why he's the favourite, but he clearly is. She rarely gets moody with him and will always choose him over anyone else, although I will usually do as a second choice companion.
My husband has had a couple of longer trips this fall (one for 4 weeks, one for 3 weeks) and I noticed when he's away, I have no problems with her after the first couple of days. She doesn't bite, she's affectionate, not moody, etc. As soon as he gets back, I have to be much more careful with her, watch her body language, etc.
I am not always sure I respond the right way to her bites but if the problem was just me, I would think she'd bite me all the time whether my husband was around or not. (When I see she wants to bite, I just leave her alone if I can; if she's somewhere I have to move her, I take a no-nonsense approach and scoop her up so I'm not reacting to the bite, then wobble my hand while I'm walking if she tries to bite before I get her back to her cage. My general response to all biting is to put her back on her cage or closest perch, then try again later with a "fresh start" approach.)
When I mentioned that she can be moody in the Welcome forum, someone suggested she might not be getting enough sleep. I know she spends about the same amount of time in her cage whether my husband is away or not, but he works shift work so she might get more stimulation during the day when he's in town. Still, she's fine on weekends when he's away and I'm home all day.
Does anyone have ideas about why my husband's travels have such an impact on my relationship with the bird? I'm pretty sure I don't do things differently...
Jan
