African Grey help.

[hassan94]

Hey guys!
I am having some problems with my African grey.
He is just 8 months old and he is super sweet, he lets us pet him and he is handtame.
Although we have been noticing that he like to bite really really hard when he is inside the cage. When he was little it was not so hard to just not react while he is biting but now he has some crazy bits, and he often rips of skin while biting aswell. So I´m not sure how to handle that.
He is very energetic and he has also started biting my lips instead of "kissing" while he is on the shoulder. He is actually sitting here atm. Is there a "dominance" problem going on?
We also notice that it is hard to put him inside the cage during daytime. At night it is easy as cake.

I will accept my fault when he bites i actually have to "as a reaction" pull my hand away.. I guess that only scares and or excites him even more?
What should i do?

Thanks!

[Eurycerus]

I have a few comments that may help out. First, I know that some people do the "kissing" thing with their parrots but to me that's an accident waiting to happen. I know it looks cute but I would stop doing that for now and see how you both are doing after many months of training and bonding. It's putting you in a very vulnerable position where it's going to be hard to not react to being bit. If your parrot gets frightened by something unrelated to you and your sensitive face is the closest thing, you will receive a nasty and potentially scarring bite. On the same note I do not carry my parrot around on my shoulder because she has been a bit of a biter, which is fairly normal. In addition, as I noted, parrots that get scared lash out as the closest thing, which if they're on your shoulder, is your face. Bad combination. Keep that in mind. I've been lucky and any nips I've gotten to my face and neck haven't scarred. However, my boyfriend has some scars on his face from Nika, so I will never trust a parrot near my face.

I'm not sure how you're getting your parrot out of the cage but be careful to not force your parrot into a corner to get him out or chase him around, unless there's an emergency (even then try to be nice about it). Train your parrot to come up to the front to your hand to step up and come out. This means if your parrot doesn't want to come out he won't come up the front. To me this is a trust building thing. It sounds like your parrot likes being out so he'll figure out pretty quickly if he doesn't start behaving nicely he doesn't get to come out. I initially trained my parrot to do this with the target training detailed in Michael's blog: http://trainedparrot.com/Taming/ but now she does it automatically and begs to come out by coming to the front and hopping around.

I am terrible at not reacting when I get bit so I have to try my hardest to avoid potential situations that could result in a bite, so although it is probably your fault, don't worry about it too much. I've stressed a lot about it and that doesn't help much either. :] Just try harder from now on out.

Also on the same page I linked above is information about how to make going in and out of the cage fun. If you don't already only keep food and water in the cage, except treats for training and hanging out. There are other helpful suggestions on the link.

For me this meant tricking/distracting Nika when I was putting her away in her cage, by targeting her somewhere in the cage so that she associated a nice treat with going back in the cage each time. Now I don't have to do that all the time, but I did for the first many months. Even now if I have to put her away prematurely before she thinks she's done she'll get mad and bite me, so this trick is helpful to distract her.

Good luck! I'm sure you'll sort it out. Some parrots also are just more bitey and you just have to learn how to handle the situation.

[hassan94]

Thanks for the great reply!

My parrot really loves to come out of the cage, there is no forcing going on at that time..
It is really wierd, maybe he thinks that the cage is "his territory" and that he therefore bites? But he never rages, h just reaches for my fingers. Maybe he thinks that i am playing with him? Even though i almost cry out of pain lol.

[Toyer12]

African greys are super smart and once they learn a behaviour works for them they will use it to their advantage. I'm a strong believer in observing body language and also that behind each behaviour there is a reason, is he hungry, is there a toy he doesn't like in his cage, are his cage toys stimulating enough for him, did the bites start happening after a stressful or scary experience?

I have a 2 year old AG who I love to bits but if I try to tickle him in when he is not in his cuddly hour (just before bedtime) he will give me a warning nip....if I persist the nips become bites. I have had 4 greys over the years and nine of them have been super touchable birds, super smart but from what I understand they are not known for their cuddly charm but instead their intelligence. I do agree that the shoulder can be a recipe for disaster and even the steadiest bird can be spooked and bite.

Good luck

Donna

[janetafloat]

I would suggest you don't put your hand in his cage. From what I hear a lot of birds are somewhat territorial about 'their' space and rightly so. I echo what the others have said about kissing too, it's an accident waiting to happen. I'm always kissing my Sennie but even though his beak is a lot smaller than your Grey's I will only kiss him when he's in a mellow mood, and then I hold his beak (which he loves) and kiss him on the top of his head.