help. i rescued a sulfur crested cockatoo

[sweetcaroleanne]

I worked at a pet store. Over a yr ago a beautiful sulfur crested cockatoo was gave to the pet store. He's been placed in 5 home in that yr and brought back. I have since left the job. I was there to day and so was the bird. They gave him today. We've had a bond from the start but he has some behavior problems. He screams when he's in his cage. He will get off his cage and attack peoples feet. His wings are clipped think god.I'm going to start on training some trick when he settles. I've got to get these behavior under control or my husband will make me get rid of him and I don't want that. Plz ideas. I've got him in my living room. He's ran around the house today. I petted and loved him. I also gave him a baths to give him some thing to do. He also has a cage full of new toys. Plus fresh veggies to pick at.

[pennyandrocky]

if you let his wings grow back that will help with aggression. cockatoo's scream there's not much you can do about that you can lessen it by ignoring the screams and giving lots of attention when they make noises you like. before I adopted my cockatoo I went to mytoos.com and talked to his foster home daily for 2 weeks to learn everything I could before taking her home.

[Michael]

Yes, exactly. Wing clipping is a large part of the problem. Flying the energy off is a good start.

[sweetcaroleanne]

He attacks my husbands feet what will happen if he could fly? I have be working him out. Tons of play time and baths. Plus new foods. He didnt get fresh food. He loves grapes, banana, and bady carrots. I also heard training him to do stuff would help but i don't know how does any one know of a book or web site that tells u how?

[pennyandrocky]

he would have more confidence, less fear and like Michael said cockatoos have a lot of energy that flight would burn off. Michael has training videos on this site and a book.

[Pajarita]

LOL- all clipped cockatoos go after people's feet! It's one of those things they do when they can't fly. Don't ask me why because I don't know but they all do. One thing he can do is to wear a bath towel around his legs (like a skirt) and carry a toy in his hand and, when he sees him going for his feet, put the toy (a stuffed animal seems to work best) in front of his face and distract him with it and by saying something like "Oh, LOOKY HERE, ------ (his name)! Look at that toy! What a nice toy you got there, ..... (name). Is that your toy?" Using a tone of high enthusiasm like when you are talking to a small child (toos are complete hams and LOVE LOVE LOVE attention) and, as soon as his attention is re-directed, ask him to step up and give him love. I have two sulfur crested toos, one is flighted and the other one is not. He has full wings but he must have not been allowed to fledge when a baby and his muscles are completely atrophied and his confidence non-existing so he simply does not fly, no matter what. The flighted one NEVER goes after feet but the non-flighted one used to do it all the time. He no longer does it. He still climbs down and walks on the floor toward my feet but now he only gently grabs my shoes with his beak and waits for me to ask him to step up and give him love (he loves for me to tickle him under his wings and opens them up when I say: "Tickle, tickle" -try that and see if he likes it).

As to screams, well, that's another too thing, my dear. The one that doesn't fly is big on evening calls and would scream for a while but he is getting better (he hasn't been with me that long -I always give them an entire year before I make a final judgment because it takes time to figure the why of the 'bad' behaviors and find the way to eliminate them- and I figured out that he starts the long screams when he hears our voices outside the birdroom door -which is on the second floor where our bedroom, the main bathroom and our dressing room is so there is always movement there after dark- so I will be moving the birdroom to the attic so he won't be able to hear us). He used to scream during the day A LOT (that's why he was given up) but he never does it anymore because he is now in the birdroom with all the other birds for company (he is also living cage-free in there and that also makes a big difference) while, when he was quarantined, he lived in a double macaw cage in my living room and wanted to be with people all the time. They need company, that's all it is. But the evening calls are perfectly normal and something they all do so get used to them. Try having stands all over the place or a couple that can be easily moved and bring him with you wherever you are but not when he screams, only when he is silent otherwise you would be reinforcing the bad behavior.

[sweetcaroleanne]

He also licks constantly. When i worked at the pet store a avian vet happened to come in I had her look at him she said it was kinda like a person biting they're nails. Is that true? He does bite some he'll bruise me and some time break the skin. He doesn't do much. I think he gets over whelmed and does it. What's ur oppion on that. I usual putting on the floor an ignore him for a bit.

[Pajarita]

Yes, they are lickers! All parrots are up to a point but the vet was right in that, when it's in excess, it becomes a stereotypie (a repetitive abnormal behavior found only in captivity). It goes away in time as long as he is kept to strict routines (anticipating a specific activity at a precise time and this activity coming to pass as it was expected gives them a sense of control over their lives which, in turn, makes them feel secure -something that is sadly lacking for highly social birds which live without a flock) and provided with enrichment (foraging, flying, training, etc).

As to his hard nips/bites, toos are VERY excitable and some of them (the ones that were not provided with a steady routine, in a loving home, etc) wind themselves up into a frenzy (screaming, whipping their heads down while opening the crest, jumping up and down, etc) so, for these birds, exercise (and this is another reason why flight is so important!), routines and re-directing does the trick - think of a high energy dog (like a retriever) that has been kept in a house, just going out to do their business and without proper training... So, what you need to do is learn his body language and nip it in the bud when you see he's getting excited. Freddy (the one which doesn't fly) gets like that sometimes. Like I said, he hasn't been with me that long and he used to be kept by himself all day long while is owners worked and only interacted at night (which is a real bad time to do it) with them so he got all kinds of behaviors that are not what you would call 'desirable' but he is coming along very, very nicely and, whenever he starts getting his crest up and starts to whip it, I know he is going to start bouncing up and down next and, with every bounce, there is a LOUD scream. He doesn't mean anything by it, he just enjoys showing off but I can't let him scream like a maniac every time he wants to so what I do is, as soon as I see him doing the 'whip', I immediately say: "Whip it!" in rhythm with it about three times or so, laugh and ask him to step up on my forearm and bringing my arm close to my body so he is leaning against my chest, I tell him he is a good boy, that I love him and ask him for a kiss and when he puts the top of his beak against my lips, I make a LOUD smacking sound (he does, too -LOL) and I immediately tell him in a VERY enthusiastic and semi-loud voice: "I LOVE YOU!" which makes him kiss me again and again and again and, by the time he gets tired of it (I start giving him scratches in his head, cheeks, crest, etc and tickles under his wings or he would have me kissing him for hours -LOL), he has forgotten about screaming. The idea with parrots is always to nip the bad behavior right before it starts, re-direct the attention toward an activity that will interest them and/or bring them pleasure and, in time, they will forget about the 'bad' behavior and exchange it for another that is not difficult for us, humans, to deal with. Freddy is already catching on to it and would walk close to me and look at me intently when he starts the 'whipping' so I know he is already starting to make the connection that kisses and loving should come after 'whipping' and not bouncing and screaming.

Now, the tricky part about this technique is that you need to be 100% available (can't not do it 'this time' because you are cooking or reading or whatever), learn their body language and observe them closely for the telltale signs and figure out which other activity you are going to 'switch' the bad one with. But, the good news is that, if you do figure out what to use as the 'switch activity' and do it every time, it doesn't really take that very long for them to catch on... it's like when you get a puppy and need to housebreak it, it's a pain in the neck to take the puppy out every time he finishes eating, drinking, napping and playing but, if you do it, the puppy will be housebroken in no time at all and without any undue stress for him.

[sweetcaroleanne]

Well we are having great improvement. He' ll stop chasing people when told no. His screaming is cut in half. I've really been working him out to get the energy down. I got him a hide for his cage. He loves it. He's learned to left his crest on comand. I'm going to teach him to put it down too if it possible when he gets excited. I'm really amazed how quick his behaviors are changing

[Pajarita]

Great news! Toos are real smart and love, love, love positive reinforcement so although some behaviors need to be accepted by us (morning and evening calls, for example), most others can be re-directed. I am so very glad things are working out for you and him! Toos have a real bad reputation and, although most of it is deserved (the neediness and the loudness of their calls, for example), they are not as bad as most people think they are.