Ow.

[JamesC]

I suppose I should consider myself fortunate. Gone a few months without a bite from Sidney even with him in a hormonal phase. But that ended this morning. Sid likes to perch on my tray when I'm eating and I usually give him something to munch on from my plate. Today was normal routine and when I finished I asked him to step up and whammo he latched onto my little finger and started crunching away. Took me about 5 seconds or so before I could get him to let go. The linked image is the result. It is a little ugly looking so don't click if that would bother you.

https://goo.gl/photos/5GGfxZ42ZhXJbE7k8

Ahhh, the joys of living with a Senegal with "anger management" issues. Still love the little guy but there are times I would like to wring his unpredictable little neck...

As a footnote, he realizes when he has done wrong. As soon as he let go he blasted off and flew back to his cage and went inside cause he knows he will get locked up after such a transgression. Smart little guy, I just wish he could control himself better.

 

[itzjbean]

Ye-ouch!!! What a bite!!

 

[wrench13]

Oh come on, in a month you will hardly remember where it was, much less remember how much it hurt. I know I got bitten by a big YNA once , a long time ago - the only reason I know it is because he took a melon baller size chunk of meat out of me. I still have the scar from that.

 

[Sandy19]

At what age do Senegal's develop a stronger bite like the one Sidney gave you? My Senegal is a few months old now and I don't think she is capable of that. Actually she's never even tried to bite me so I don't know if she could draw blood if she really wanted to or not.

 

[JamesC]

I have a couple of thin white scars from Sid's beak. I've been bitten by bigger birds and had less damage done. I just wish the little guy wasn't a touch psycho. But the first 5 years of his life doing nothing but sitting alone on a porch with little to no interaction with his keeper(s) had a lasting effect. He is much better now then when I first adopted him though the times when he bites me or stalks the other birds with bad intent it gives me a touch of frustration. It passes quickly though.

He is by far the most challenging bird that I've adopted.

 

[JamesC]

At what age do Senegal's develop a stronger bite like the one Sidney gave you? My Senegal is a few months old now and I don't think she is capable of that. Actually she's never even tried to bite me so I don't know if she could draw blood if she really wanted to or not.

They have a pretty powerful bite for their size. But with a good hand raised and socialized bird you should not have any issues. The biggest time of 'risk' might be when your bird reaches sexual maturity and the hormones start to flow.

My first Senegal was also a rescue. Kelly was a terrified little thing when she came to me. You could not get within 5 feet of her without her trying to fly away and find a place to hide. She only bit me one time early on when I moved too quickly when she felt cornered. But when she came to appreciate my company, she became the most friendly and gentle bird I have ever known. Complete polar opposite of Sidney when he is in a bad mood.

 

[Sandy19]

So far she doesn't seem to have a bad bone in her body except when I take something away from her she's not supposed to have, like my phone charger or cable to my laptop. Then she makes a noise that sounds exactly like Donald duck when he gets mad. Other than that she's very cuddly and lovable and well behaved. I even have her almost potty trained.

 

[Giggleagain]

Hmm looks like little peck to me Hahahahaha. Sorry, I know it hurts, but it could have been a lot worse. Just like Wrench, I've been 'shown the way' by a big YNA. My big YNA. I swore I would kill him, give him away, return him, not ever touch him again..... Instead, I've learned his body language, I've given him 2 years of time to get to know his new environment and me. He was a fearful and shy bird, and biting was his way of telling me to back off. Our relationship took work, he's got moods - and so do I.

 

[JamesC]

So far she doesn't seem to have a bad bone in her body except when I take something away from her she's not supposed to have, like my phone charger or cable to my laptop. Then she makes a noise that sounds exactly like Donald duck when he gets mad. Other than that she's very cuddly and lovable and well behaved. I even have her almost potty trained.

He gets extremely possessive of items he gets a hold of and he can get angry if I try to take it away and can attack with bad intent. For some reason, spoons really set him off. He goes into full battle mode if he can get a spoon. He will fight it as if it is his worst mortal enemy. Somewhat less so with yogurt cups but the following video can give you an idea how he can get possessive over objects. At around the 1:10 mark I attempt to touch the cup and you can see his reaction. So be careful if your bird gets possessive and be prepared to offer an exchange if she has something that you don't want her destroying.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAtuwu30Q3U"]Sidney hates yogurt. Even with strawberries. - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Sandy19]

Coincidently I was eating a yogurt when I read that so of course I gave her the empty cup to see what she would do. She played with it for about two minutes and then lost interest. Normally she likes to play with stuff you can find around the house over bird toys. I have her cage all pimped out with toys that cost me between 10 and 30 bucks and she prefers to be free on the screen porch playing with toilet paper rolls and water bottle caps.

 

[OwnedByGeorge]

Oh come on, in a month you will hardly remember where it was, much less remember how much it hurt. I know I got bitten by a big YNA once , a long time ago - the only reason I know it is because he took a melon baller size chunk of meat out of me. I still have the scar from that.

I've got four bandaids on my hands due to having chunks taken out of me by my hormonal, molting senegal. It happens.