help needed... biting...

[SunnyGirl]

My sun randomly decided to hate some items and if they are on the table it's ok, but god forbid I try to touch it (even worse if I try to pick it up), she attacks and bites as hard as she can, drawing blood, ruffled feathers, attack mode, killing instinct, you name it... The most hated are plastic bowls (of all sizes - even more hated if there is stuff in them), scissors and a stapler...

Now, we normally try to avoid touching any of these items when she is out of her cage, but it just can't be avoided completely, as she is out most of the day... but even when she is in her cage and sees you with schissors in your hand, she completely freaks out, starts biting the bard of her cage, screaming marathon included...

she is a sweet bird, loves cuddles and regularly falls asleep under my shirt, but this one problem is getting out of hand and I just don't know what to do anymore...

anyone having a similar problem? How can I get rid of the hate?...

oh, if it helps in any way: she just turned 5 years a bit ago...

 

[Flboy]

Hi, I feel your pain, almost!
Give this a read and reread!
http://www.parrotforums.com/training/57935-brainstorming-biting-parrots.html

 

[SunnyGirl]

thanks, great thread, loved the advice on how to react to the bite sadly it didn't tell me what I needed to know - how to get rid of the cause of her biting in any other way but to hide things from her forever as that is sadly not possible :bigeyes:

 

[wrench13]

Start to desensitize her to these things. put them far from her cage, and slowly, day by day, bring them closer. If you work in a treat in the course of this, it will work much better. And only do one thing at a time.

 

[SunnyGirl]

she is ok with these things if they are just there... if the scissors are on the table it's ok... but she attacks when my hand is too near the thing for her liking...

like right now, we have a small plastic bowl on the counter (same hight of my elbow) with wrapped candy in it... she saw it and it was ok, if I went pass it with her on my shoulder with only 10cm apart (from bird to bowl), it was ok... the second I tries to take a piece of candy from the bowl I had her hanging off my finger with blood running... I am really confused...

 

[itzjbean]

That does sound confusing....

Why not try to desensitize her to you touching these objects by sitting in front of her cage with all said objects (scissors, plastic bowl) and you reach to touch them, she screams/reacts, just stay touching it until she stops. It may take a little while (perhaps she is worried about your safety with these things? lol) When she does stop, give her a treat!

I know there are members here that have birds that HATE smaller items, like keyboards and mouse, for some strange reason.

 

[SunnyGirl]

she just goes berserk if I do that... fluffs up, screams till my ears bleed, bites the cage bars and all that

concerning my computer mouse - I can use it without any problem as long as it stays flat on the table, if it's off the table it's apparently dangerous...

it's just bothering me cause normally she is the sweetest thing ever and I just don't understand where these hate attacks suddenly come from...

 

[Flboy]

I double what wrench13 said!
Remember, this is a learned behavior and you need to re associate it with good! She may also be playing 'queen of the domain' and developing a bossy attitude! My JoJo does that at times with my daughter! Claims counter as his, and will start to chase anything touched. He does a crackly growl. She gives him a stern 'no', he does more mumbling, which my daughter does right back at him! He then goes back to what he was doing before, and all is good! It is so funny watching those two go back and forth!

 

[Kentuckienne]

So weird. Can you think of any trigger? Like, did she have her wings trimmed with scissors?

Sometimes it's hard to tell love from hate. If she "owns" the stuff in the bowl, it's HER toy, she might be angry with you for touching it. Oliver had a couple of toys like that, if I dared pick one up to hand him I got the Amazon/eagle/peacock display. Could be both, hates the scissors loves the bowl stuff. Time for your inner Sherlock!

 

[SunnyGirl]

I have no idea about anything being a trigger... she was fine with bowls for 4 years and then it changed over night or something... she also never had wings trimmed, we hate that, we even stopped trimming her nails, bought those trimming perches from the breeder so we didn't need to (her nails are great now), she also has many chewing toys, cardboard bpxes being her favourite...

also she was quite fine with bowls already, but this one bowl with wrapped candy is the devil... is it possible that the rustling sound of the candy wrappers is making her attack? other than that I have no explanation

 

[GaleriaGila]

All great advice above.

I am the voice of failure, but I will add my two cents.
I have reduced biting to almost zero over the decades... not because I've changed the bird, but I have changed me. And a lot of that has involved giving up on a lot of my desires/expectations. After years of battle, I surrendered. I don't do stuff that gets me bitten. I don't scratch his head much, ever... tail is okay. I NEVER do stuff that makes him mad... I don't touch others when he's out; I rarely try to get him to step up onto my hand first. Hand-held perch first, then hand. In some ways, I swallow my disappointment at having such a little monster for a pet, but he is what he is. I ALWAYS wear my hair down when he's on my shoulder, so all he can bite is hair (not ears). Really, I don't involve hands much... he doesn't like them. He seems to think the real ME is my head, perched on a weird moveable tree with questionable appendages.
Since he's fully flighted, the ONLY way I get him into the cage is to toss a chile pepper in and he flaps in after it.
But please... listen to and try all the good advice you'll get here. Don't surrender until you know you've done your best. Then just accept and love whatever/whoever your bird turns out to be.
My darling is kind of a worse-case scenario, but we have it all worked out between the two of us.
Good luck!

 

[SunnyGirl]

thank you for your two cents and for everyone else's advice luckily she is not a bitey bird on a normal day (unless provoked or surprised, but that is normal, do it to me and I bite too haha), we managed to turn the screaming off pretty nicely too due to advice from this site <3

we (as in me and my mum) already avoid doing stuff that would make her bite... now me and my mum are fine with it, but my gramps often just forgets that he is not allowed to touch some stuff and then blames 'the damn bird' cause he messed up and she bit... he is 85 and his memory is fine most of the time, but sometimes he just forgets these things and I worry that when she bites him, he will jerk his arm hard and throw her into something, resulting in an injury like a broken wing or (gor forbid) internal damage... this will not get better with years, everyone living with grandparents might understand... that is mostly the reason I need to do something about it and not just avoit touching stuff, not for me, but for gramps and for the fluff...

 

[Notdumasilook]

got a lil Sun Conure myself but my take on what your bird is doing... well... overdoing.
My lil Booger does similar attacks but its not that he is hating on the object. What he is doing is claiming the object as his and saying DONT TOUCH MY TOY. He can go slap goofy over any trinket.. It was amusing at first.. painfully amusing at times. I have the feeling that your birdie is doing the same thing.. just as I said tho.. his lil possessive (instinctive) behavior is in overdrive. Just a guess but I would think he probably does a bit of head bobbing or standing really tall with a lil "sway" when he does his attacks. Booger is the same way about his food or any trinket he claims as his. Luckily, Ive managed to teach Booger the meaning of the word "no".. accompanied with a finger wag. The word PLUS gesture gets an immediate response now.. and he knows Im displeased. Usually.. that's enuff to reboot his brain ....AFTER of course he voices his displeasure. For such lil birds they have a big attitude and no fear when being possessive. Took a lil patience on my part but Booger came around and I rarely see that behavior any more. The key of course is communication. Once he got the concept of what NO meant it made life a lot less painful. Good luck!!!!!!!!

 

[SunnyGirl]

oh she knows the 'no!' + *finger wave* very well and normally listend like a good little girl, some days she would even come up to me after it and give a kiss as in ''I'm sorry, mummy'' kind of way... but I am talking about a killing mode, instant attack with the intent to bite as hard as possible to draw blood thing here... I don't think it's being possessive, she acts differently if she is (like with some toys that she obsesses over) and I know how to deal with that, but it looks like pure hate... it's really weird...