Got bitten again - what to do when a bird is angry?

[lorika]

Hi everyone,

Just now I was cleaning my lorikeet's cage with a little sponge to get the food residue off the bars. Loki's always kinda aggressive towards "things that move quickly", so he tried to bite the sponge. I just continue on the cage somewhere else.
Eventually I have to reach inside of the cage, so I open it up. Everything's fine for the first 5 minutes or so, Loki still wants to get at the sponge but I switch hands or put him on my shoulder of something. Then suddenly he starts biting me. Hard. I put my arm between him and my face to protect my face (he's bitten me there before) and tell him: "No", firmly. His eyes are pinning like crazy and he attacks my hand. By this time I'm slightly panicked and in a lot of pain, so I sort of brushed him off my arm and he fell back into his cage. I've been ignoring him for the past 10 minutes.

What. do. I. do!? I now have a small hole and a superficial, yet painful, cut on the palm of my hand. What should I do when he misbehaves like this? I know I should *calmly* put him back in his cage, but... there's just no time, he'll hurt me if I don't act fast.

I notice that I'm being extremely careful with him, afraid that he'll freak out on me. That means I usually only take him out of the cage when I can give him my undivided attention. Working on my laptop or playing a game while he's out is absolutely impossible since he'll just be a pain in the ass (biting or sitting on whatever I'm touching with my hands). Is this normal!? =\ What am I doing wrong?

I need some help guys =(

Thanks so much in advance...

 

[Peppo]

Does he have a playstand? If so, make sure it has interesting toys on it and add some treats. Put him there when you want to clean and maybe that will keep him occupied ( and rewarded for staying put). If he wanders, keep returning him to the stand, reward after a few seconds, rinse..repeat. He will get it.

 

[henpecked]

Socialize, socialize, socialize. He needs a world that doesn't completely revolve around you.

 

[lorika]

Does he have a playstand? If so, make sure it has interesting toys on it and add some treats. Put him there when you want to clean and maybe that will keep him occupied ( and rewarded for staying put). If he wanders, keep returning him to the stand, reward after a few seconds, rinse..repeat. He will get it.

That's a good idea. He does not have a playstand. I'll try and convice my boyfriend that we need one ^_^

 

[lorika]

Socialize, socialize, socialize. He needs a world that doesn't completely revolve around you.

He does, though... He also socializes with my boyfriend, my sister, some friends... He's fine with other people, after he gets used to them. It's weird...

 

[Flboy]

Also, he was warning you to stop! Take a slow study of this!
The concept changed our dynamics with Bongo and JoJo!
http://www.parrotforums.com/training/57935-brainstorming-biting-parrots.html

 

[MonicaMc]

I agree with Peppo. Instead of trying to ignore the bites or punishing the bird for biting, avoid putting him in a situation that will result in a bite!

The link Flboy posted goes into more details about what to look for and more about biting in general.

 

[lorika]

That's really helpful and I will definitely read it.
However. I'm scared that I might be too careful around him. If I avoid all the situations where he gets excited (and when he gets excited he usually start biting, either playfully or agressively), then I can't:
- run the tap
- grab a plastic bag (he doesn't like the sound of it)
- throw something in the trash (sound of plastic)
- use toilet paper to clean the couch/my arm if he's pooped on it (he somehow dislikes and fights paper)
- clean out his food
- give him new food
- spray him with the plant-spray-thing (he likes it but it makes him nippy anyway).

So should I avoid ALL of those situations? I'll do it if it means he'll stop biting, but I've been trying to do it like this for a while and I feel like I'm tip-toeing around him. Doing this, kinda feels like he always gets 'his way'. I'm thinking maybe he's thinking he's the boss. Isn't that a problem?

 

[Anansi]

It's a matter of degree, I think. If there is something that Loki doesn't like that you can reasonably avoid doing around him, then it doesn't hurt to do so.

For instance, your cleaning the cage while he's in it obviously gets him worked up into a state of agitation that can lead to a bite. This is not exactly uncommon. Lots of birds become territorial of their living spaces. So the best, and least stressful, solution for you both is to simply remove him from the cage when it's time to clean it. He can spend time on your future playstand or hanging out with your boyfriend in the meantime.

With other things that aren't as reasonable, you can try working with him and acclimating him to them. For example, my female ekkie, Maya, once had a major phobia of brooms. And I do mean MAJOR! As in, I would enter a room with a broom and she would have a meltdown from 14 feet away! So I worked exhaustively with her until I got her phobia to completely disappear. Nowadays, she'll perch on a broomstick without a second thought.


Basically, it's not about you being a slave to his whims. But it's also not about you dominating his will, either. It's about finding a common ground wherein each of you has a healthy respect for the other's boundaries.

And for those behaviors of his that you do need to adjust, the key is to utilize associative learning to get him to equate something positive to the action you'd like him to take. In that pic, Maya was not forced to perch on that broomstick. She learned to like the idea of perching there. She grew comfortable with it. You know what I mean?

 

[lorika]

It's a matter of degree, I think. If there is something that Loki doesn't like that you can reasonably avoid doing around him, then it doesn't hurt to do so.

For instance, your cleaning the cage while he's in it obviously gets him worked up into a state of agitation that can lead to a bite. This is not exactly uncommon. Lots of birds become territorial of their living spaces. So the best, and least stressful, solution for you both is to simply remove him from the cage when it's time to clean it. He can spend time on your future playstand or hanging out with your boyfriend in the meantime.

With other things that aren't as reasonable, you can try working with him and acclimation him to them. For example, my female ekkie, Maya, once had a major phobia of brooms. And I do mean MAJOR! As in, I would enter a room with a broom and she would have a meltdown from 14 feet away! So I worked exhaustively with her until I got her phobia to completely disappear. Nowadays, she'll perch on a broomstick without a second thought.


Basically, it's not about you being a slave to his whims. But it's also not about you dominating his will, either. It's about finding a common ground wherein each of you has a healthy respect for the other's boundaries.

And for those behaviors of his that you do need to adjust, the key is to utilize associative learning to get him to equate something positive to the action you'd like him to take. In that pic, Maya was not forced to perch on that broomstick. She learned to like the idea of perching there. She grew comfortable with it. You know what I mean?

Thank you

I will avoid cleaning his cage with him near it in the future, though it's pretty hard, cause he definitely wants to be around the whole cage-cleaning process XD

I'll also look at some ways to get him comfortable with some of the other things like toilet paper. It's kinda annoying =P

Thanks so much!

 

[MonicaMc]

You can try teaching him to station somewhere and constantly rewarding him while you clean his cage or mess with something he may not like. Basically, trying to teach him to ignore those objects. Pretty much what Anansi said!

Lara Joseph has a great article on station training!