Tiki suddenly hates me. I don't know what to do!

[LaurenB]

I don't know what has happened but Tiki suddenly hates me. Overnight. Last night before bed we were cuddling like we always do and she bit me and drew blood. I figured it had to do with her molting and that she is a little moody so I didn't think anything of it and put her to bed.

This morning when I was feeding her breakfast (filling her bowls) she bit me again. Sometimes she becomes a little territorial about her food bowls so I just put her back in the cage and left the room for 10 minutes.

When I went back, she was acting fine... but something about her I just knew something was up. I don't know if it was her body language, or something in her eye, I just knew she wasn't being herself. And sure enough, she bit again and drew blood, I couldn't get her off. She just kept chewing as hard as she could, and it hurt so bad, and I shook her and she bit somewhere else and I finally got her back in the cage and left the room. I was crying hysterically. She hasn't acted like that since I first bought her home and I gave her the snuggle hut and I thought that's what caused her aggression.

So just a few minutes ago I went in and she came out on my finger and it only took two seconds before she chomped down as hard as she could again and again in different places and I couldn't get her off! I held her inside the cage and tried to pry her beak off and couldn't get her to let go! She bit me seven times and drew blood all over my hands. I am an absolute mess right now. I don't know what happened I don't know what I did wrong I am so beyond upset. What could I have possibly done?! What do I do?! She has been the sweetest most lovable snuggler in the world and I love her so much and I'm just absolutely crushed. I'm hurting really bad... physically and emotionally.

Can anyone help? I'm so sad.

 

[Flboy]

It's a GCC, don't take it personal! Something upset your baby, ignore the set back please! For now, only use a stick for her to step up up. If she is playing hard to get, then the resulting relationship will be that much stronger.
Remember, for you, she is a cute, cuddly 'pet' that you will grow to love. For her, this is a nightmare beyond understanding, you are the reason she has lost everything she knows. She WILL see you as her bond and protector, but give her time to heal and trust you..

I said she sees you as the reason for her situation, wrong, better way of seeing it, she has been through more than can be imagined and has no way to blow that stress off. Misdirected anger, frustration, fear. Call it what you want, but as she bonds with you, she is dumping what she has gone thru on you. She's still terrified!

 

[Kyoto]

Hi there,
This seems to be a common things with green cheek conures on this forum!! Happened to me with Kyoto as well. How old is Tiki? Kyo started her biting phase at about 15 weeks old (2 weeks after bringing her home) and it felt completely out of nowhere.

It's really hard to deal with. Sometimes when Kyo is having a bad day biting wise I feel really sad and it's a struggle to make myself go upstairs and spend extra time with her. But for the good days that happen and she brings me so much joy, it's worth the minor struggle.

Bite pressure training has mostly worked for me, as well as stick training. Give up the cuddling for now and focus on safely handling her while she is in this funk. If she likes cuddles, only give them to her when she is kind to you. Kyo likes to sit on me, so I use that as the message to show her when she has been really good and gentle towards me.

Otherwise, Kyo is not allowed to sit on any of my body parts. And when she is sitting on me, I try to make it interactive and keep her busy (working on talking, tricks, etc) so that she will be less likely to chomp down.

When she does get me, if it's tolerable I just tell her "be gentle" and most of the time she'll stop. When she ignores that and gets carried away, I move my arm so that she feels off balance. If she chomps down harder, she gets put down on the floor and told "no biting". Most of the time, she calms down after this because she wants to be with me and not on the floor. However, if she still gets carried away I pick her up and put her in her cage and try to do some target training in there.

Most of the time she will calm down and come back around to come back out after a few minutes, but there are some days that she will not stop biting. It's a process, that's for sure, but we have had many good days where I haven't been bit at all Tonight for example, we practiced going into the new celtei travel back pack and some flight recall training.

another thing to keep in mind is that she could be trying to tell you something. Biting is how they communicate to each other, and unfortunately it is what she will naturally try with you too. Is she maybe jealous of the other bird? Is something in her cage different and upsetting her? Is she coming out on her terms or yours?

I move everything around in Kyo's cage each week. I'll usually pick 1/2 of it (right side or left side) so that she has one part that is familiar and something new on the other half. This gives her some unfamiliar territory which is neutral.

As for snuggle tents, I take Kyo's out during the day and give it to her at night. It's how she knows it's bed time we even play with it out of the cage and play peek-aboo so that she gets used to me touching it and doesn't get possessive of it.

I hope this helps you. I'm sure others will have even better advice to give you. This forum has been wonderful in helping me.

 

[LaurenB]

Thank you both so much for taking the time to respond. I am so heart broken over this.

Flboy - I'm not sure why after 5 months she would suddenly be upset about her situation. When I brought her home, she was glad to leave her previous owners. When they tried to scratch her head to say goodbye, she bit them. As soon as she got into my house, it was like she'd been living there for years. Like she owns the place. She was never shy or scared, and has always been outgoing and friendly.

After the first two weeks at our house, she became extremely aggressive towards me. I discussed with my vet, and she recommended removing the snuggle hut. So I did, and Tiki made a complete 180. For the past 4 months she has been an absolute doll. She loves to cuddle in my hands and be scratched all over.

Then suddenly, this.

Kyoto - Tiki is at least 5 and a half years old - we're not sure of her exact age.

"Is she maybe jealous of the other bird? Is something in her cage different and upsetting her? Is she coming out on her terms or yours?"

Tiki has not met Nacho yet. She answers his calls when she hears him, though. He has been here for 3 weeks now, I'm not sure if she would suddenly get jealous as she never actually sees me with him. Plus... some of the times she's attacked has been when she's already been out and cuddling for a little bit then CHOMP out of nowhere. I haven't changed anything in her cage. She's definitely coming out on her own terms... this is why I am so confused...

So last night I had my husband go in to put her to bed because I was just too upset to try again. He said the whole time he was in there, she was just waiting for me. Any time she heard a noise that she thought might be me, she flew from him to her cage which is right by the bedroom door and waited.

When I finally went in, she flew right to my shoulder and did her head-bob "happy to see you" dance and stroked my cheek with her beak. I put on some gloves, which is what I had to use before (she is NOT afraid of them... this bird is not afraid of anything). After a few minutes of climbing on me, she hopped to the floor. When I asked her to step up, she started trying to bite through the glove. So we put her back in the cage and left the room.

I am just so confused. She's happy to see me, she wants to be with me, but then she's attacking.

Could this maybe have to do with her molting? Do they become THAT aggressive? She does have quite a few nasty looking pin feathers right now... especially along her back and her cheeks.

Thank you for your support! It's so nice to talk to people who understand. My husband just doesn't get why I am so upset about being bit... "It's a bird!" is his response. Not that he doesn't care or love her, he just doesn't understand why I take it so personally.

 

[Flboy]

So much for my psychology 101 training! Misread how long you have had her.
Your so upset because that bonding thing goes both ways! If my JoJo started to get ornery with me, I would be crushed! We are also at the 5 month point.

 

[Delfin]

BITING IS NOT A NATURAL CONFLICTS RESOLUTIONS OR COMMUNICATIONS IN BIRDS. Instead they are handled with body language and vocalizations. They convey their feelings beforehand or will fly off to avoid physical contact.. If needed, the beak is a protection against predators such as snakes and raptors or if it feels cornered and frighten then the need to bite will be from the natural instinct of self -preservation. But not against others in their own flock. In their natural environments, competition and/ or conflict between parrots rarely escalates to physical violence. Instead, they vocalize (scream) and/or use body language by strutting, posturing, and fluffing feathers to make themselves look bigger. Beaks are used for climbing, eating, playing (wrestling) and preening... not for biting each other

I was told many years ago not to use the earthquake method. (Shake your hand when the bird goes to bite). When your bird is on your hand don't shake your hands to unbalance the bird has this will cause trust issues between your hand and the bird. This person told me the idea is to make your hands a safe and trusted place for your birds and if you shake your hand to unbalance the bird then the bird will come to see your hand as unsafe and will learn to distrust your hands. If your bird views your hand has unsafe and distrusts your hand it will more likely bite the hand then fly away. The use of gloves can also cause problems further down the line. It would probably be better to find out what is triggering the bite and there are many different types of triggers.

Just keep in mind that patience is key. Never mistreatment a bird who bites. Birds remember mistreatment, and they hold grudges. Any interaction you have with your bird should be bonding and trust-building. Parrots and other animals learn best when wanted behaviour is rewarded right as it occurs and BAD behaviour is not. (It’s that simple).

I tolerate the bite, which can be really hard at times. Under NO circumstances should you yell. Instead say No biting or naughty bird in a firm and displeased voice and give the bird a very dirty look. Show the bird your displeasure by giving it a REALLY DIRTY LOOK ("The Evil Eye"). Serious -- you have to look at it as if it were the lowest of the low, or pond scum, or something you might find stuck to the bottom of your shoe. Parrots are extremely empathetic creatures who watch our facial expressions closely. He will understand your displeasure if you give him a tremendously dirty look. The bird will understand that you are unhappy and will try very hard not to do it again.

But if you make a show out of being bitten then the bird can find it quite entertaining and can be encourage to bite. This is called learnt bad behaviour.
So the parrot will nip again, because the human inadvertently rewarded it for nipping by yelling. Sooner or later, the experimental nips will actually hurt the human (emotionally as well as physically), and the human's response becomes, Yelling something to the effect of "YOU BAD BIRD, YOUR MOMMY (or DADDY) LOVES YOU, HOW COULD YOU BITE YOUR MOMMY (or DADDY)??!??!! The bird doesn't understand what's happening here, of course..... It thinks this is a wonderful new game. You know, Bite a finger and your person makes lots of LOUD and WONDERFUL noises.... Bite hard enough and your person will also jump around... Bonus points…… This becomes learnt bad behaviour and they will actively hunt out skin to play this wonderful game of entertainment.

You can use a Toy/treat as a distraction, But it's just that 'a distraction'. It's not really teaching the bird acceptable behaviours. What you're really teaching the bird, is that by biting, it gets a toy/treat. Again learnt bad behaviour.

Contrary to human beliefs, parrots think yelling is a fantastic and fun response and it will actually reinforce a behaviour. Parrots really enjoy it when humans yell at them. Parrots often scream simply for the fun of it so it is a fallacy to think they perceive that yelling is a reprimand. On the contrary, they generally interpret yelling as positive feed-back. This is what called The Drama Reward.

Birds use their beaks like a third hand and they will use this "third hand to help them onto your hand when you are start the training of step up. This is because the bird is unsure how stable your hand is so they test your hands stability with their third hand before stepping up.

This scenario happens when an inexperienced owner is not clear in their signals to the parrot. For example, when offering a hand for the bird to step up, an inexperienced owner often isn't quite sure of him/herself... so their hand motion is uncertain. The bird may wish very much to climb on, but is unsure of the stability of the hand will reaches with its beak (The beak functions as a third hand) to steady the human hand. The human, afraid of that beak, pulls their hand away. Now the bird is confused!

Now each time the human's hand is offered and the bird attempts to grab the hand with its beak to hold it steady so it can climb on. The human jerks their hand away. The bird has no idea what has happened but if the scene is repeated (as it usually is), the bird will learn that its beak will make the hand go away. The bird doesn't really want the hand to go away, but it is fun to control one's human's hand so the behaviour will happen again and a-gain. Once again, the parrot has no idea it has done anything wrong.

If you can't handle the bird with bare hands at this time, use a T perch to move the bird around.

I suggest that you remove the food bowl when you put the bird to bed. But leave the water bowl. In the morning before giving the bird their normal breakfast I would conduct a training session then give breakfast. Remove breakfast after a couple of hours. Then put out foraging toys with pieces of food hidden inside. Then prior to dinner I would conduct a training session then give the bird dinner.

 

[Dinosrawr]

Avery, my GCC, will quite honestly do the same thing. She'll be a big giant cuddle bug of love, super happy to be with me and being held by me, and then out of nowhere I get a nice chomp. I often attribute it to hitting a pin feather wrong, not petting her the way she wanted, etc. It's never out of malice, but as a "hey, whatever you're doing - you're not doing it the way I want".

But when they lay into you, it's often out of anger or because they're upset. We can't understand them entirely, and it's hard to read what they're saying accurately 100% of the time. Even my birds will get mad at each other and it will result in beak fighting each other. They don't bite, but they basically have a sword battle with their beaks until one backs down. I rarely have to interrupt because Delfin is right, they aren't doing it to bite one another or because they want to hurt them. It's just physical contact of beaks.
I have yet to ever be fully attacked by Avery. She's drawn blood on me am eager 3 times in two years, and those wounds were pitiful. Mainly because I don't really allow her to... if she's being ornery and doesn't want to be touched, I try to target/recall train her to where I need her to be. If she refuses to responded to that, then I pull out a small hand towel, lightly scoop her, and put her in her cage until she calms down. It always works, and she never holds a grudge against me for it. The towel is always a last resort, too. I can't have her step up on perches because she'll see my hand and charge at it if she's angry, and I don't use gloves around my birds because I don't want to inadvertently teach them that biting my hand doesn't hurt me, because it does and that isn't okay (not saying you have to do that, it's just my personal belief).

When Avery hit hormones for the first time, I couldn't handle her for months. Every interaction with her was hands off because if she got close enough she'd charge and try to latch on. So I just let her come out by herself, gave her toys outside of the cage, and would bring her on a rope perch with me to a different room where I'd set her on the floor and sit down myself. She'd often crawl into my lap and just sit there while I talked to her. I also recall trained her (she doesn't bite for some reason while recalling her, probably because she's very treat driven), target trained her, and interacted with her in anyway possible without using my hands. Tiki needs to know that biting isn't acceptable, and that biting doesn't mean it will make you go away. Instead it means no cuddles/touching/preening from you, which isn't necessarily what they want.

And I know it's hard, but don't take a bite personally. They would've bitten anyone in that situation given their mood. They aren't doing it because they outright hate you (they would do far worse if they did and you'd know), they're doing it as a last resort to express how they're feeling because we can't pick up some of their subtle expressions or body language.

 

[Puck]

This makes me happy to have a Quaker. He's a bossy little brat all the time who is more than happy to yell and snap at you if you displease His Royal Highness. It's just part of his personality so it's something I love about him. No going from super sweet cuddly to Biter of the Year for him--he's a little twerp even when he's being buddy buddy. (It's how he shows his love for his dearest slave, lol)

 

[Delfin]

Dinosrawr
use a T-perch, the bird can't charge down and get your hand. This shows the bird that even if it's angry, displeased or any other mood, that biting is not acceptable and it's not going to make you go away.

 

[veimar]

Oh, please don't be too sad! and be more careful with your hands - you already got plenty of excellent advice here.
How old is she? This is the time they get hormonal. My formerly sweet 1,5 year old gcc is the nastiest thing now - he would fly over the room to me, scream, jump, walk up to my hand and try to bite it. He was trained not to bite though and knows it will have bad consequences, but he still tries. I never allow him to bite and just take my hand away if I see he's gonna do it. Their body language can be vague, but you learn to read it. He also refuses to step up and would try to bite my hand instead - so I use a long curved stick to get him to step up and take him to cage.
Needless to say, it's very upsetting when your sweetie is behaving like this, but I hope it will pass.

 

[Dinosrawr]

Dinosrawr
use a T-perch, the bird can't charge down and get your hand. This shows the bird that even if it's angry, displeased or any other mood, that biting is not acceptable and it's not going to make you go away.

I just use a rope perch rather than a wooden perch. It stays bent over and worst case scenario, I just put the perch on the ground.

 

[LaurenB]

Thank you all so much for your kind words and advice.

Her behavior has me so confused! It is blatantly obvious that she wants me and wants to be with me. I had my husband put her to bed last night (meaning spend time with her before putting her away and covering the cage). He said the whole time she was just listening for me and ignoring him. So I went in. She immediately flew to me and head bobbed and chirped and pet me with her beak. BUT she isn't biting/attacking him. He can still cuddle and snuggle and scratch her.

Again this morning I went in to wake her up and she is just so darn excited to see me, climbs right out onto my arm (I'm not offering ungloved fingers at this point to step up).

My husband seems to think maybe she's just extremely irritable and uncomfortable because she's molting and just like a bratty child, she's taking it out on her mother (the person she feels most comfortable with).

I certainly don't think she's fearful of me or she wouldn't be so darn excited to see me and come flying over to be with me. Or cry for me when I leave.

And Delfin, I'm guessing all of your advice was copy and pasted from somewhere else? Some of the things you mentioned don't apply to my situation - for example I would never ever mistreat one of my beloved animals. I hope my original post didn't mislead anyone into thinking that. When I say I had to shake her off... it's because these are not just normal "bites". She is not just warning me and giving me a nip... she is chomping down and tearing off pieces of skin and will NOT let go. If I manage to get her beak off, she latches on in a different spot. I know she is a tiny bird but it's somewhat frightening when she gets crazed like that. There is no opportunity to give a dirty look, not react, or distract with a toy. There is only the panic of getting her to let go!

One other thing I want to mention. Lately she has become EXTREMELY aggressive toward the food bags. The ziploc bags that the pellets are in and the nutriberries. When she hears those bags, she attacks them! It's terrible! I'm afraid to get my fingers in the way. If I try to hold them out of reach or hide them, she lunges, jumps, and flies at them to bite all over... like she's trying to kill them. She doesn't just want the food... she wants those bags dead! It's the most bizarre thing. Anyone else ever experience something similar?

 

[Kyoto]

Kyo attacks the spoons that I measure her food with. I would say its a perfectly normal thing. I get a kick out of it and make it into a game :3 "Get that spoon birdie! Get it!" and she seems to love it.

 

[Birdman666]

STOP ME IF YOU'VE HEARD THIS BEFORE...

I've posted this several times, but a refresher is in order. Sally Blanchard article entitled "YOUR BIRD DOES NOT HATE YOU!"

Your Pet Bird Doesn't Hate You

This will probably give you new insight.

 

[LaurenB]

Thank you. That article was very informative.

I am still wracking my brains trying to figure out what I could have done. NOTHING in her cage/room has changed. I haven't changed my hair, my face, my clothes. I am an extremely laid back and relaxed person (until my beloved bird turns on me and I become a weeping cry baby) so I don't think she sensed negative energy.

The first time this started we were snuggling like we always do. She climbs into my hand a certain way so that my hand encircles her, and I use my other hand to do the scratching. We do this ALL THE TIME. Suddenly, she attacked. There was no warning, no loud noise to scare her, nothing in the room moved.

The second time was the exact same scenario.

The third time she just latched on 10 seconds after coming out of the cage.

What is confusing me the most is... if it's something I did to offend her (my clothes, my hair, anything)... why is she so eager to be with me, cuddle for a bit, and then suddenly change her mind and attack???

 

[Birdman666]

If she's molting, and you hit a pin feather, THAT HURTS.

 

[LaurenB]

If she's molting, and you hit a pin feather, THAT HURTS.

If that were the case, could she hold a grudge? Because now I don't even have to be scratching her to illicit an attack.

 

[Doublete]

My little brat is really nippy lately. He actually bruised me for the first time today.
Mine has pin feathers all over the back of his head, top of his head, by his mouth, everywhere. I think he's just miserable. But I also haven't had a lot of time the past couple days so today was the first time I had a long time to hang out with him.

 

[Delfin]

LaurenB
Sorry I didn't mean to imply that you were mistreating your bird. but over the years I have read and heard of some advice that is really bad like hitting your bird on the beak when it bites or putting in it's cage and covering it up. I have even heard one person mention 'bite the bird back'. On another forum I read a post about a person who didn't believe in training their bird and was constantly getting bitten (something about letting the bird be a bird). Then out of sheer frustration, this person struck the bird and destroyed the trust between them.

Birds that are moulting are cranky, grumpy, irritable, miserable and unpredictable. They only need to think that you are going to touch a pin feather and they will bite.

 

[RainbowRose]

How old is your parrot? One of my parrots began to do this when he was molting he only went to my significant other and began launching at me when normally he cuddled and stepped up with no issues! I was so upset but it was once he reached his maturing stages and once he was an adult that he started this. But then he calmed down a bit and let me handle him but he would get moody here and there. It was a phase. Males become territorial no matter how cuddly they were before. Even another one of my female parrots is getting like this, she's only 3 and a half months old but she's getting this attitude that she owns the world so I just try to teach her no and wait for her phase to end since I'm usually unsuccessful lol. But yea you need to leave him alone for a few days and maybe he will really want to come out by then, and then you can see how he reacts. If he bites, put him right back and just leave him alone. He needs to calm down if something spooked him and if he's maturing or molting he may just be extremely moody. I wouldn't worry because I've dealt with this with every parrot I've ever owned, even my Senegal gets cranky at times, I just look for signals that he doesn't want to be bothered. But sometimes he just snaps for a second. He doesn't bite hard though it's like a quick tap with his beak, but that's just him saying "stop" as a warning. But yea I'd say just let him be, he needs to settle down.