I just got a B&G with horrible biting! HORRIBLE

[mymartianheart]

Okay, so I just adopted this 7 year old bg macaw and he is a jokester... his old owner and him used to be best friends. But he got more and more busy and spent less time with him. SO to get a reaction, the BG started to lunge at him! Because the guy couldn't spend enough time with him and also due to the lunging, he decided to put him up for adoption. He really is a nice bird, but he always lunges at us and I don't know how to stop that! If I leave he acts like an injured T-rex and makes blood curdling noises. I told my bf to not react if he bites, so when he was on his laptop, the giant made his way over there and bit his toe and didn't let go! So my bf was obviously screaming! I then got a towel and picked him up and put him in his cage with the covers around so he doesn't scream. What should I do?? Do you think if I let him out more often and spend more time with him, he will begin to learn that there are more fun things than getting a reaction out of us??...

[Michael]

No. I don't think that would work. Sounds like the bird has been sufficiently trained using positive reinforcement to bite people. I can only think of one way to undo that and that is through counter-conditioning. You're in for a lot of training but if you follow my approach, little to no pain. Personally I would cage that bird until further notice. No more out of cage time at all. All that out of cage time is doing is creating more biting scenarios, pain, and wrong direction. I would focus on target training in the cage and occupying the bird with more peaceful past times such as toys, talking, watching, listening, and more training. Then begin to apply the target training to safe hands off things such as stepping onto a perch, etc.

I'm not gonna lie and say Santina was a terribly aggressive parrot to begin with, but she did bite me pretty hard at the rescue. Using my approach I was able to reverse this very quickly and focus on alternatives to biting. Now my biggest problem is that she gets too excited around me.

[mymartianheart]

Thanks for replying Michael!! You are the reason I adopted my severe macaw and my B&G! I studied your videos from beginning to end, over and over a week prior to actually purchasing this girl. I followed your steps with Toti my severe, from the moment I got her, met her. I taught her target training first. Just like Santina, she would let me touch her everywhere in a week. And she literally will never bite me or even try to nip at me. However, I got Kiko, the BG and I did some extensive research. He is definitely in heat and having hormonal problems. He lunges at every male that walks past him. And then, he is very violent with his toys and every objhim. He also does the wing thing whenever he sees my brother. On top of that, he tries to regurgitate for me almost every 20 minutes. If I did target with him, he would literally take the chopstick and destroy it. And then, he is very violent with his toys and every object, he will shred up all of his toys in an instant. He will endlessly shred newspapers and anything given to him. If you go by his cage, he will follow you around, mouth open. And if you open the cage, he will force himself out. He is extremely powerful. I can't grab him off of anything unless it is a flat surface. He is basically a dangerous teenager right now. I think he likes me though, because when I leave he will start shrieking... I really do not want to give him up but he is IMPOSSIBLE!! Do you have any experience with Truman or Kili being terribly hormonal? I feel like this is a hopeless problem...

I was inspired by your videos to train my parrots as well as yours! You're my inspiration!

[Michael]

I can talk to you directly about some of the issues you are going through in a private consultation if you are interested. Otherwise the extensive library of free private articles on my sites is what I must leave you with because it's all the time I have. Your issue is multi-dimensional and complex so it is a lot to discuss.

[mymartianheart]

Thank you Michael! I will pick him up next week and try to do some more training to see if he gets any better. If not, I will definitely consider a consultation with you!

Marcia