She bit again, and now has a limp! Need advice, also links to your amazons fav toy!

[Beako_N_Kiwi]

Thanks for helping me out so much these first few weeks of adopting my parrots. A lot has been going on (sickness, biting) but lots of great things too! (fun showers, dancing, singing). The bird I've mentioned before, Kiwi, bit my boyfriend last night when he was offering her a nutriberry treat with her medication on it. She didn't just bite him, but she held on to his finger, and he said the pressure felt like she was breaking his finger! He shook his hand a few times, and she wouldn't let go, and he pulled his hand towards the ground and she let go and flapped her wings and landed on the floor. I used a stick to pick her up and put her in her cage. Today she has a little limp going on, and now I'm concerned. First off, I wanted to know - Is it normal for a bird to bite and lock on like that? and Secondly, is it possible she just landed on her foot wrong and it's sore? I would love to hear from you guys. Even though she bit him, we feel guilty now. We also want to know if you have any tips to getting a bird to use her energy? When I get home from work, seems like she is a a big ball of energy and gets worked up. Links to your birds favorite toys, foraging toys, or not - I'd love to see what you have to say!!!

 

[Clueless]

Amazons are unique little creatures with their own personality. I adopted/rescued 2 last fall and just recently discovered both are blue fronts - and was never even AROUND birds! I was making a ton of progress with Secret when she decided to clamp down on BOTH hands (one foot on each) and then bit hard (welcome to the land called "spring hormones"). After limited interaction for a while, I attempted close up interaction again and when she started lunging, we both just went down to the floor in front of the cage. She doesn't get hurt - and I limit the bite because she obviously wants to control where she is landing (more important than biting me). We're both safe that way.

Just remember to watch their eyes - it's their way of telling you what is going to happen. Their body language is important too. I thought holding her foot up toward me was her way of saying she wanted to change hands (note my name I'm using on this forum). Apparently it's her way of saying keep away.

 

[Clueless]

Yikes - I forgot about the toy. Neither parrot had toys in their cage for years. Secret likes the little foot toys, it broke her out of her shell and now she likes to chew apart the little pieces of wood. I bought metal skewers for both cages and try to keep wood pieces on there for them. I also have a leather toy that has a little plastic bowl and other things on them. They both like striking at it with their beak and making noise by flopping it. Lastly MC has a toy in his cage that had 2 rawhides with wood pieces in between it. He routinely chews up the soft wood pieces but the hard wood and the rawhides remain. He stations himself by that toy and I've seen him pull it back and forward on the top of the cage - it seems like he uses it to stroke his neck/head area. MC hasn't allowed me to skritch his neck yet. We've made it to the point of touching feet and he now will stand on my lower arm when I have a jacket on.