Please learn from my lesson. Don't approach a grey with glasses on.

[Darci]

I should preface this by saying I'd approached her for her good bye kiss with glasses on before and got a nasty bite. I absently mindedly did the same yesterday and nearly needed stitches. She grabbed me from inside her cage so hard that when I jumped back, she came out too and ended up on the floor. She ripped all the way through. I'm having trouble eating.

Don't approach a grey while wearing glasses. This has been a PSA from Shadow and Darci.

 

[labell]

Yikes! Looks painful!

 

[Kalidasa]

Ouch! What a painful bite! Lip bites are the worst. Neosporin cream + pain relief really helps with that. The good news is you don't wear a lip-ring.

 

[Kiwibird]

OUCH! Lip bites are so unpleasant. Kiwi inflicted one upon me once that left the upper left part of my lip numb for a few months afterwards. I am not sure about CAGs, but usually birds display some sort of body language that indicates fear or aggression and we must be ever diligent to read our feathered friends to prevent bites. I think we've ALL made a similar mistake before Don't take it personally, but now you know what not to wear around them!

They are actually very sensitive, visual creatures and learn to recognize us as we 'typically' look. My bird is the exact opposite to yours. If I am without my glasses, he goes into full on attack mode. He appears to only recognize me with glasses, and as I am the only woman he is ok with, he takes one look at me without them and thinks I must be a different human female that must be exterminated immediately. When I put my glasses on he comes running up all proud as a peacock like "look at that mommy, I protected the flock and chased the scary intruder off"

 

[Darci]

I know that the glasses are a trigger but she strikes fast and hard. No squawk, no puffing up. Just straight out. She's fast and stealthy and strong. My boarder /breeder says she's the strongest grey he's ever met.

I'm really afraid of how I'm going to have to sort things out if I decide to have a kid.

 

[Allee]

That must be really painful, I hope it heals quickly.

My cockatoo doesn't recognize me if my hair is wet or if I'm not wearing my glasses. She raises her bonnet, fluffs her feathers, lowers her wings and rocks side to side. When she hears my voice, I think it just confuses her. Her body language is pretty easy to read.

 

[BEWolf]

Start wearing your glasses when around her so that she gets accustomed to seeing them on you and recognizes that it is you. Then offer treats and touching through the cage bars at first so that you don't get bit in the face. The glasses scare her at this point as well as not realizing that it is you.

 

[mh434]

Parrots are very, very visually-oriented. Any change to your overall appearance can be upsetting & threatening (even dogs can display odd behavior - my dogs will go nuts at me, at first, if they see me wearing a hat). If you let her see you with glasses frequently, she will get used to them.

That having been said, some birds love glasses...as toys. A close friend of ours can't wear glasses near her 'Too, as he takes great mischievous delight in gently but firmly removing them from her face and hurling them across the room. Then, he laughs uproariously. She has quite the collection of glasses that didn't survive his attention!

 

[Nero]

I don't know why this is, but for some reason, African Greys seem to have some trouble discerning between the objects you car and you. Despite all of their intelligence, they can't seem disassociate you from 'connected' objects. My CAG is extremely peaceful and would never bite me but I have learned not to approach with gloves on. My previous Grey hated cell phones and remote controls, and bit me very hard on several occasions because I made the mistake of touching her while holding either of these items in the other hand.

 

[Darci]

I don't know why this is, but for some reason, African Greys seem to have some trouble discerning between the objects you car and you. Despite all of their intelligence, they can't seem disassociate you from 'connected' objects. My CAG is extremely peaceful and would never bite me but I have learned not to approach with gloves on. My previous Grey hated cell phones and remote controls, and bit me very hard on several occasions because I made the mistake of touching her while holding either of these items in the other hand.

I've been hanging out near her cage and talking slowly and quietly and saying all the normal stuff I'd say while wearing glasses but truth be told I don't think I will ever get close enough to where she could hurt me again while I had glasses. I knew going into this I was going to get a bite here and there. I hope this was the worst of it though.

 

[Taw5106]

OMG OUCH!!!!! That looks painful. I'm sorry to see and hear that happened. So far I haven't had bite issues like that and I'm hoping it stays that way.

 

[Paperboy40]

New to the forum and have new lens today. Always wear my glasses around my 14 year old congo. He tried to catch himself when he slipped off my shoulder. Glasses did not save him or my glasses. Never has been destructive toward them. Even liked to spring the titanium earpieces. Sorry you took the bite.