Senegal biting suggestion

[charlotte&mango]

Thank you so much for getting back to me! Do you recommend doing all of this inside the cage or once she is out? I am worried I am scaring her in the cage as she will back into the corner if i put my hand in. Although when she is out (we usually play in quite a large room) she will keep flying off before I get a chance to get my hand near her.
Also, when she does bite do I still say no?
In addition, how do I stop her from flying off?

[Dave & Karen]

if she's backing into a corner in her cage then she's definitely scared, you may be able to get her to step up onto a stick to get her out of the cage, but if that's scaring her too, then it's best to just open her cage and let her come out on her own... of course, this can take some time since she may prefer to stay in the cage when anyone's in the same room.

You may need to take a few steps back in her training if she flies off anytime you try to get your hand close to her... just let her out of the cage and let her fly freely in the room, maybe place a few perches for her to land on or just let her land somewhere and offer her a treat, if she flies off, place the treat where she can see it and easily get it after you set it down, finding out her favorite treat really helps here.

Anyway, what you're doing here is gaining her trust because everytime you aproach her it's to give her a treat and she'll soon catch on that you mean her no harm and she should start staying on your hand or finger long enough to touch her beak, this is another good rule for aproaching or touching a bird that's shy or skittish... always go for their beak before trying to pet her until she's comfortable around you, they like a good beak rub and they have a much harder time biting you when you got your finger on their beak, but you can usually pet their beak then work your way onto their cheeks or the top of the head. If you try to pet a shy bird on the top of the head first, they do tend to go into defense mode and fly away or bite, but with their beak, they can see you and they like it too.

But back to what I'm getting at is that you first need to get your bird to stay put on your hand long enough to touch her beak and give a reward, anytime she lets you touch her beak, give her a reward and praise, then once she's comfortable with that, go into the "gentle beak" training. You will run into problems with her flying off at first, and you may get bit but keep your cool and be patient, even if you get bit, do your best not to react and talk in a casual calm tone of voice. If you do get bit or see a bite coming, it's ok to pull back to avoid the bite, but it's not ok to yell at the bird. Also once she understands the "gentle beak" training, she may touch you with her beak open but won't bite down so you'll have to trust her as she gets better at it.

One more thing that helps in training your bird which works for just about anything you're teaching her is to take her into a different room that she's not familiar with as she'll be more likely to pay attention to you then fly off to her favorite distractions like her cage or her favorite perching place. They also tend to depend more on you for keeping them safe in unfamiliar territory. I can feel my birds holding on tighter on my shoulder and not wanting to fly off just by walking into the living room, then they also won't let me out of their sight if I perch them and walk around a corner etc... The bathroom is a good training room since there's few distractions and it's a very small area so flying off isn't so appealing to them as well.

Our parrotlet will often grab my finger but not bite down when I ask him to show me "gentle beak" sometimes he just nudges me with his beak closed and sometimes he opens his beak wide and does everything but bite down. He knows not to bite quite well but I still go thru the drill with him at least a few times a week by asking him to do it for a millet reward.

Best advice I can give you is to stay calm and talk in a calm casual tone as it will keep the bird calm and let her know you're in control... it goes a long way no matter what you're teaching her to do if she sees you calm and in control she'll trust you much better.

[charlotte&mango]

Thank you so so much for all your advice. I have been working hard with her and I think we have finally cracked it.

Mango now loves to be with me. She next to never bites me anymore, and will happily run to the front of the cage when I open the door and step straight onto my hand. She rarely flies off around the room now and when she does, I know she will fly straight back to me within a couple of minutes. She always lands on my head when I call her rather than my hand, we're still working on that part, but she is happy to step from my head to my hand so I guess thats ok for now. She also likes to sit and chew my fingers .. gently so it doesnt hurt at all, but I'm worried maybe this is because she 'wants' to bite but doesnt want to hurt.

She does however seem to be well and truely living up to the one person bird thing .. she hates my family and will still launch herself at the bars of her cage when they pass and bite them if they give her half a chance. She has on occaision, flown from me to them screaming and seems to dive at their face and away just before she touches them. This is really worrying, I have to make sure no one else is going to come in the room before I let them out. They dont have the time to spend as much time with her as I do, so im not sure how to overcome this. They also dont really want anything to do with her as she's mine not theirs. But its concerning that she isnt socialised with them enough to tolerate them

[Dave & Karen]

That's good news that she's came around so well and so quickly
As far as her chewing on your fingers etc, that's ok and can be allowed as they tend to do this when playing with you and they usually do this only to someone they really like

The part about the one person bird agression thing, the only real way to stop this is to get your family involved with her and interacting with her on a regular basis, then it can still take some time. Part of this problem is that the bird has bonded with you and may see you as her mate. When this happens, she's going to fend off anyone who tries to pet her, pick her up, or if someone just gets too close to her. It can range from anything from a warning nip or growling to a nasty bite. The bird may also attack anyone that gets too close to you or gives you a hug or affection, the same way they would fend off any competition in the wild. This is more common with a mature male bird, but the females can have their fits too. To fix this you would need to limit the amount of affection you give your bird and pay attention to her body language, discouraging any signs of mating behavior, then working more on socializing her with as many people as possible.

The other part is where the bird just isn't socialized and only trusts you but nobody else, this is most likely the case. What happens here is that the bird won't let anyone else get close to her or she'll fly off, or if you got her and someone tries to pet her she'll growl and maybe strike at this person. She will bite if this person pushes the issue, but usually only after warning them to back off, and attacking for no reason is uncommon, the bird will keep to herself for the most part when out of the cage and others are in the room, she'll fly off if anyone gets too close and won't do anything to anyone unless cornered. She may protect her territory like her cage or the room she hangs out in, but for the most part she just won't tolerate others touching or petting her. This can be fixed by working with her socialization skills and by introducing her to anyone who comes to the house. People should be told which commands you use when stepping her up, and know to stay calm and not act scared of her. If you're using the "gentle beak" or "be gentle" commands, whoever else is going to handle her should know these commands and the bird will usually obey.

Just keep working with her and keep building up a strong bond with her but try to get the rest of your family involved with her by stepping her up, letting her hang out on their shoulders, or hand her treats etc to help her tolerate them better. You can also bring friends over to help you work with her as well.

[charlotte&mango]

Mango is progressing so quickly! To say that a few weeks ago she was extremely timid, and appeared to hate me, she now absolutely loves attention. Has learnt a lot of things like flying back to me, stepping up, letting me in her cage, eating from my hand, running to see me at the cage door as soon as I appear. She does however scream excessively when I'm in the house but not holding her. And will appear to sulk whenever play time is over and knows to fly off as soon as I start to take her towards her cage. Its not like her cage is a bad place for her - it is a LOT bigger than the 'recommended' size and there is no shortage of toys she likes and her favourite foods. I try to leave her alone for a bit to see if she will calm down, but the screaming can go on for hours and she doesnt give up until she has another cuddle. Whether she screams when I am out of the house, I have no idea. She does atleast sleep well at night.

I agree that people need to pay her more attention, however, whether I am in the room or not, she will attack them when they go near. It is worse than it was before when she would let no one near her. She has actually flown from on top of her cage at my dad's face and bit his lower eyelid (to the extent of bleeding) as some indication of how much she doesnt want them around. She has also flown at my dog and attacked him (who thankfully would never retaliate)

They have tried the gentle command and this works occasionally so they are continuing to do this. But she wont take any food off anyone but me. She has now met pretty much everyone who would normally come to the house and when it is a stranger she seems ok with them. It is the family members who she recognizes, but doesn't like, who she will attack. And when in her cage will stand puffing herself up and (hissing?) at them, even if they are just in the room and not doing anything towards her at all. The only way I have got her to sort of behave is if i put her on someone's hand (with them putting up with being bitten straight away) and then I stroke/distract her whist she stands there.

I'm thinking of giving up with other people. And just having her out when im on my own with her (which is most of the time) and I will move out with her sometime in the not so distant future. But still, not ideal.

[Dave & Karen]

Yeah, lots of birds get that "one person" thing going and it can be very difficult to break that habit... They also tend to be most agressive to your family and those who get your attention a lot. With your friends or anyone who's a stranger to her, she'll most likely tolerate a little better.
We have a parrotlet that bonded to only me and he can be a real butt to my wife sometimes... even to the point where he'll land on or near her, fluff his head up like he wants to be pet, then turn around and bite the hell out of her then fly off or fly over to me.
I've got him to behave a little better for her by handing him off to her or letting her pet him while I'm holding him and telling him the "gentle beak" commands, and if he lands close to her she's a lot more cautious to his tricks so she pets his beak first before giving him any other affection and this seems to work.
Just keep working with your bird and keep that bond nice and strong, but try to get her socialized, maybe by taking her to another room and seeing if she'll behave for the rest of the family when out of her normal environment. This will most likely be the toughest part of your training with her, but she may come around later. Our sun conure was really bad about biting my wife too, but he finally grew out of it, he's very jealous of the other birds tho and will go out of his way to attack if I try to let him out with the rest of the flock, he attacks our amazon relentlessly so I usually just put him back in his cage when he acts up like that and let him out by himself.
I'm still looking for a way to stop his bird on bird agression, I thought he would be ok out with the others by letting him be the center of attention, but even then, he'll attack whichever bird he sees me paying the most attention to when he's in his cage.
If I can find a way to curb off his bird on bird agression I'll let you know what works... and the little parrotlet, he's doing much better but I still need to be very close to him when my wife tries to give him attention...

[charlotte&mango]

I am hoping that since she is only young still it will be easier to get her to tolerate other people, especially since it is only a week or so since she has started favouring me. It just seemed very sudden that she chose me over everyone else.

I have recently started work at an avian vet's (I am a vet student) and he recommended taking her to 'parrot training lessons'. That apparently her behaviour is quite unusual and the move to live with me must have been particularly stressful to act the way she did. But I am not sure how worthwhile they are if she is ok with me but no one else. Have you ever known or had yourself any 'training' for any of your birds?

Do you think that your birds are better off by not being the only bird in the house? Do they learn from each other that they can like several people at the same time as well as each other? (I'm not saying I would get another bird as I really dont think that would be a good idea at the moment but just out of interest)

[Dave & Karen]

From personal experience, I've never taken any of our birds to a trainer, but I've definitely noticed that the ones we got from a certain breeder came to us very tame and accepting our handeling of them until they got used to us, then they trained a lot faster and easier than the ones we got that were a little older and hadn't had that dedicated attention a good breeder provides. We got a parrotlet before that was 3 months old when we got him and he was the little biter that got me looking for how to train and he's the reason I found out about the gentle beak training etc... it took us about a month of working with him every day before we started to see progress, then we got a 6 week old parrotlet from the same breeder we got our sun conure from. This guy never really bit me or anything, he just had to get used to me and I had him saying "peek a boo" by the time he was 9 weeks old and he could turn around on command at 8 weeks old as well as taking the gentle beak training at the same very young age... so there IS a difference in getting a bird that was just fed and not worked with and one that's hand fed and handled every day until adopted by the new owners. Our sun conure was also very well behaved from the get go until he bonded with me, he does have some jealousy issues, but he tolerates people really well now.

I would definitely say the birds are a lot happier because they're not the only bird in the house, I wouldn't recommend keeping them in the same cage as they'll bond with eachother and have little use for you after that, but they're very happy to see and hear the other birds, and I do let most of them out at the same time where they'll buddy up with another bird or group of birds, but still be more than happy to fly to us for treats or to cuddle or be pet by us, then when it's time to put everyone back in their cages, some of them will go into their cages on their own as I'm putting the others up, then they'll chatter and contact call eachother for a little bit before going back to their own business of eating, grooming themselves, then sleeping or playing with the toys in their cages.

For you, working in a vet's office, you might be able to take your bird to work with you if they let you. You'd need to get a transport cage to get her to and from home, and possibly another cage for her to stay in while over there, this way you could work on her socialization skills on your break times, lunch time, and after hours by introducing her to your co workers and friends. This would also give you an opportunity to see how she behaves around another bird to see if she seems happier to have someone to talk to thru the cages or play with. Just make sure the owner of the other bird is with you and agrees, and that the birds are about the same size.

Another thing you could also do is see if there's any active bird owner's clubs in your area where you can make friends with other bird owners. This has helped us a lot because we have lots of experienced people to talk to and meet with us and our birds etc... we also work the bird shows in our area and I've been put in the education department where I need to answer questions at a "help desk" for potential bird owners or current owners who are going thru issues etc, this keeps me sharp and on my toes but it also gives me a wealth of knowledge and experienced people I can go to when I don't have all the answers, but best of all is that we get to meet a lot of people and make a lot of new friends. I would strongly recommend joining a bird club as well so you and your bird can meet some really cool people and your bird can make a few birdie buddies too.