Male Senegal - Vicious dive and attack

[GatorsMom]

Hi I found my Senegal flying in my neighborhood 2 years ago. It took me a week to catch him by leaving a cage outside filled with fruit, veggies nuts and fresh water daily. I advertized for his parents at the vet, the pet food stores and on line, but no one has claimed him. He is really quite remarkable and though he did not say a peep or a whistle for the first 3 days.. as i sat next to him having my breakfast oatmeal, and he his veggies and fruit, after looking at my oatmeal and then looking me in the eye he said "can i have some" I was so stunned that i put some on my finger and put it thru the bars of his cage... he gently ate it all and then said 'mmm good' I could not believe my ears, I almost fell off my chair! Well he has not stopped talking since and has a Guinness World Records vocabulary, and often makes up his own sentences after learning a new word. A few months later he told me that his name is 'Gator, and that he is a good boy' I was calling him Cocoa.

He is amazing! ...but he bites... and will viciously attack me from a dive.. any body part will do, but has on occasion deliberately attacked my fingers, face, head, arms and breast... and just last night as i was putting him in his sleeping cage, he dove at me with lightening speed and bit thru the skin on my upper arm right through and as i shook him off he grabbed onto my shoulder and bit my arm in a second place till it bled, i was a little hysterical and hit him with the perch he had been on and he fell to the floor and was attempting to run at my bare feet to attack again, but i was able to keep him away with the long perch, until i could get him on it and into his sleeping cage... And 'yes' i was upset, and i said 'bad boy'.. "you are a very bad boy"!

It was bed time and usually i sing him songs before bed and have a little scritching, love-in before bed (i call it a tickle) But i was so upset, i just covered him up and did not speak to him till morning.

Now in the beginning i assumed his biting me was my fault as i was learning to be a parrot mom and so learned how not to move to fast or spook him, but he did bite me down to the bone on my fingers and always draws blood. It is a very painful experience as he does not let go, he just tries to gnaw on me harder.. and 'yes' i do scream as it is always unexpected and mean... and as i shake my hand or whatever, he finally will let go and fly away laughing, and mimicking my terrified screams... he finally stopped biting for a year or so and then last summer he dove at my face digging his beak into the side of my nose while his claws held on to my chin and nose, my nose was bleeding but he would not let go, i was waiving the perch and screaming and accidentally clipped him and so he flew off and i immediately got him back on the perch and put him in his cage, saying 'bad boy'.

I found out it was because i was talking on the phone and playing with him at the same time. He now gets my full undivided attention! Maybe he was diving at the phone, but he grabbed my nose viciously.. it took a week or so for me to get my confidence back and become his loving mommy again. ... and two weeks before my nose began to heal.

So until last night, he has not bitten me or taken a dive attack at me since last summer. Last night my guard was down as i am coming down with a cold, and though i thought i saw him looking at me funny and felt a little apprehensive, I just got him to step up on the perch and then he dove at me and attacked me again though it was the most vicious attack as he was not backing down, and he had no fear of his own life, only to bite me again and again.. a full out attack! I do love him very much and he makes me laugh every day, as he is so funny with all the things he says. .. but i find i am a little afraid of him now and I would really like the violence to stop. I also do not want to hurt him, and i could have accidentally done that last night as i panicked and waved the perch around trying to stop him from attacking again and again - he is lightening fast!

Hope you can give me some advice, I sometimes wonder if his original parents who must have loved him very much as he has a remarkable vocabulary of mostly love words and sentences and teasing, if they ran outside during an attack... and they did call him 'Gator' I am assuming for alligator... Despite all this i tell everyone he is the angel who has flown into my life, and brings me joy everyday.

Thanks for any insight and help.

[Wolf]

There are many things that could account for his behavior, and if this is your first parrot then you are at a disadvantage because you don't know about them or how to deal with them. I will try to help you and I am also going to ask a lot of questions so that I can get a more complete picture of what is going on and what the variables are that are affecting him.
I am thinking that you have done some research, that you also have some experience possibly even some from prior to this parrot showing up. So I am not thinking of you as a complete novice.
One of the first things that you mentioned was feeding him veggies and fruit for breakfast, which is absolutely great and I am sure that you are aware that with birds that their diet affects their behavior. So if you would tell me about his diet, what he gets for breakfast, to nibble on through the day and what he gets for his dinner, please.
What type of a lighting schedule does he have ? Are you using artificial lights or is he on a solar schedule and is exposed to both the dawn and dusk and then goes to bed ?
On to his cage, I don't know how large it is or isn't or how much time he is normally in it, so could you provide that information ? Please never use his cage for time outs or for any form of punishment as this will make him resentful of being asked to go into his cage. This must always remain a safe haven for him and should have toys for him to play with and generally to keep his mind working as well as his food and water. Also if you don't do it already, start giving him a treat when you go to place him in his cage. Senegals are somewhat territorial about their cage and I let mine come out of hers before offering to let her step up on me. In fact once I open the cage she will usually come flying to me more often than I go to get her.
Senegals do indeed bite hard, so hard that mine usually bites a piece of me off, although thankfully that seldom happens any more. Her bite is harder and more painful than either my Amazon's or my Grey's bite. You need to learn your Senegal's body language as this is your best tool to keep from getting bit. If your Senegal's eyes are pinned, his feathers are flattened to his body, and/or his body is horizontally positioned especially if his wings are held up and about half opened, do not approach as he is in full attack mode and you will just get hurt. If you avoid getting bit then he will begin to forget about biting you.
If you are married of have a male companion and your Senegal sees you hugging or interacting physically them he views this person as a rival and is prone to attacking either them or you. In this type of case he is trying to drive you away from his rival for your affections. In his mind he is protecting you from an intruder in his space as well as from an un wanted suitor.
Never hit him ! I know that that can be difficult but you will do better to grab him and remove him from you that way and putting him down. Yes, he will probably still be biting and it will hurt. In an effort to help provide you with some protection as well as a way to remove him and stop his attack until this can be resolved, place a nice thick towel over your shoulder or around you neck, where you can get it if you have need of it. Try to understand that in his mind he is doing nothing wrong and his only protecting his female. It is not his fault that as a bird we are defective and that what he is doing causes us as much pain and damage as it does. It would not hurt a normal bird nearly as much. Also try to understand that a parrot is a wild creature, not a domesticated one.
I hope that this will help you some as there is no quick and painless fix for this.

[Harpmaker]

Welcome to the forum GatorsMom!

Wolf has excellent advice on taming parrots, but as he says, it takes a LOT of time and patience. He is really good about sticking with you through the process, so you are in good hands.

Many people with a variety of parrots say the Senegals bite hardest. However, they are not generally considered avid talkers, so your Gator appears to be unusual. Take good care of him! Someone loved him to get him started, and you are clearly continuing their legacy.

[GatorsMom]

Thanks Harpmaker, thanks Wolf, Well Gator has a day cage that is about 4.5 feet wide and 6ft tall in the front living-room window where he gets sunlight or can go to a shady spot in the cage if he wants. He has rope things to swing on and branches from a lilac bush to walk or nibble on as well as some small balls to play with but ignores and a stuffed chickadee that he plays with/beats up every day. His sleeping cage is about 2ft by 2.5ft and he is covered every night after i sing him lullabies and love songs.

When i first found him and we became comfortable with each other after a few weeks i started to give him about an hour of out of cage time to play with me, but, he has taught me that i must have all my attention on him completely... for instance i was on my bed surfing the net with my remote mouse in my hand, and Gator was on my bed just hanging out with me when he dove at the hand that held the mouse, it was obvious that he was jealous of me (playing) with the mouse, so that stopped after that knuckle bite down to the bone. Another time i thought we could cuddle while i watched tv, he seemed to be very happy and so was i that i could have this relaxed time with him, but as he walked up my chest he gently wiped both sides of his beak on my breast and then bit down hard thru the skin till I bled, i screamed and he flew away, this seemed completely unprovoked. We don't watch tv or hang out much any more out of cage, as i got him the big cage and i talk to him on and off all day long from one room or another or just sit with him while he is in the cage and and scritch him on the head and neck while he passes kisses on to me and acts like a baby with his tongue waggling in is mouth like he is feeding. Sometimes i let him stay out of the cage for a bit but he likes to chew the furniture and or electrical wires so it really isn't much fun, though i will take him on his perch (started this after several bites to fingers) to the other side of the living room and tell him to fly and we do that several times to give his wings exercise... but that would only be for 10 minutes or so, then sometimes i swing the perch upside down and lay him on his back and cover him with a blanket to his neck like a baby and skritch his head, he has never bit me in this position. ...and for play we will play pee a boo with him under the blankets or i will get him to swing on a sock and he says 'weee' 'weeee' and giggles. We used to play a lot more and on a regular daily basis but since i got him the big cage he does not have as much out of cage time as i have gotten frightened of him. Which is too bad as he is so adorable. Do all birds pretend to be babies? I tell him he is mommy's big baby birdy. He loves to tell me that his name is big baby Gaitor, and that he is a big kid. ...and that Mommy is a big baby birdy. I have never taught him this.. he just puts things together.. He also calls me Momma-Gai.. for Gaitors mommy, he also came up with that phrase, not from me.. I remember when he first asked me my name and i thought about it, and decided that i missed being called Mommy, so i told him my name was Mommy, but he came up with several other Mom names such as Mummy, mum, and Momma Gai. ..and sometimes just Hey babe!

Ok, back to the questions, he eats organic pellets on and off throughout the day and in the morning i give him raw baby carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower, and now that my garden is flourishing he gets cucumber and green string beans, and some yellow zucchini and sometimes a few cooked beans, a little piece of egg, or a small piece of flax or chia bread the size of the tip of my baby finger and occasionally a noodle. I usually have a separate little dish for a grape or some diced organic apple, with a few pieces of nuts, which i will not do any more as i have read in your post that i should only give nuts as the occasional treat.
The other night when he attacked me he had more protein than usual, a small piece of walnut, an small almond, a pistachio, and a small piece of a cashew and i gave him some scrambled egg, the size of a nickel for an evening snack.

I have no partner, so there is no one to be jealous of. I wake up at 8:30 or 9am and then i get the birds up and i put them to bed around 10pm as the sun goes down around 9 at this time of the year. I do not give him dinner as he snacks on and off thru the day on pellets, with a treat of apple or a grape or broccoli or a carrot in the evening.

Today I gave him a lot of scritches and kisses (kiss noises) to try to rebuild trust as he seems to enjoy passing kiss sounds back and forth, sometimes he seems to want me to kiss him, and i would love to but i don't trust him not to bite my lips. He says Mommy will you please kiss Gator, or Mummy! kiss me! He was not apprehensive at all today after the attack last night, and just lapped up the attention so i don't think we broke our bond of trust for him ... just me, and i was scared to put him to bed tonight so i just sang him lots of songs and baby talk and let him out of the cage for a few minutes and then put him to bed. All went well.

That same summer that i found him, i also found a female cockatiel a few weeks earlier. I had a few cages as i used to have two budgies and a cockatiel years ago.. The female cockatiel wanted to be caught as she just flew up to me and started rubbing her face against mine. She is quiet and adorable, but is very afraid of Gator. He used to fly up on her cage and say " hey baby, whats your name? Gimmie a kiss, (kiss sounds) and then come on give Gator a kiss.. come on pretty birdy, come ere, and he would make a little love dance on her cage, but she would just hiss back at him, so i don't let him go on her cage as it seems to really stress her.

I am realizing as i am telling you this story that poor Gator has really lost most of his freedom even though i have put him in a large play cage during the day. It did start to feel convenient as i also have two elderly rescue dogs that also need attention. So i think i will have to get up my courage and make more play time just with him on a regular basis. He has even dove at me cuz he didn't like my new hair do.. I used to have long hair and i cut it short and spiky.. he hates it but seems to now accept my new look but in the beginning he wanted to rip my hair out or attack my head.

Hope i answered most of your questions Wolf.. will look forward to hearing from you...

[Pajarita]

I have a male Senegal that hated my guts with a passion for over three years and would attack me mercilessly and relentlessly several times a day so I well know how vicious and fearless they can be! He is now my friend, not a close friend but he no longer bites me, perches on my shoulder and, sometimes, he even kisses me of his own initiative. And he is not only one of the best talkers I have, he also is a genius at speaking in context.

The way I see it, you have three things going on that need to change:

1. You are feeding too much protein (this makes them hormonal and that always means physical discomfort and aggression)

2. You are keeping him up after dark (again, hormones and aggression)

3. He doesn't get not anywhere near enough out-of-cage time (he needs, at least, 4 hours a day and it needs to be after breakfast and before dinner -not your breakfast and dinner, his).

1. Senegals need a bit more protein than other species but free-feeding protein is always a no-no. His breakfast of raw fruits and veggies is great so all you have to do is add a dish of cooked whole grains mixed with some pulses and cooked veggies (you can prepare a large batch of it and freeze individual daily baggies) to it and just leave this mixture all day long until his dinner which should be the meal with the high protein (pellets, seeds, nuts, nutriberries, etc).

2. Long days mean sexual hormones and, in senegals, it always means aggression so you need to bring his glandular system back on track. This is the perfect time of the year to put them on a strict solar schedule (the ONLIEST sure way to keep their endocrine system attuned to the seasons so there are no hormonal surges) because we have just gone through the summer solstice on June 21 so the days have started getting shorter (there is already half an hour less daylight since Jun/21) so, if you start right now, his body will have plenty of time to adjust as gradually as it's supposed to (birds can register a difference of 20 minutes in daylight length). High protein and long days means sexual hormones = overly enlarged sexual organs = discomfort and aggression.

3. One hour a day is not anywhere enough when it comes to out of cage time for a lone bird and ten minutes is absolutely nothing. It's no wonder he is not happy with you, my dear. These are highly intelligent animals and he knows you are the one keeping him in jail all day long, day after day, week after week, month after month. I am not trying to make you feel bad, I am trying to make you see things from his point of view and explain why he is behaving the way he is. He needs to come out 4 hours a day and the best times for this is 2 hours after breakfast and 2 hours before dinner (his dinner which should be served when the sun is halfway down the sky) because those are the times that parrots in the wild would interact.

He will continue to bite for a while (in my personal opinion, male Senegals are one of the most aggressive, stubborn and recalcitrant parrots there are and it takes a lot of work on our part to convince them that things have changed) so, until he stops producing sexual hormones and is no longer resentful of his captivity and calms down, you need to not only learn his body language (so, when you see he is getting upset, you distract him so he would not attack you) but you also need to figure out a deterrent (could be a towel that you carry on your shoulders). So, the next step in the rehabilitation is to identify something that can distract him (could be a toy, could be a special treat, could be singing and dancing around, etc), and something that will stop him from attacking you when you can distract him (I had a mean amazon that would never attack me as long as I carried one of those long foam tube things that children use as floaters or to bang each other over the head and I used a broom tied to my waist with the straw up above my head for an aggressive macaw). And, then, there is always your leaving the room for a few minutes.

I warn you, it will take months because aside from all the physical issues you need to get back on track, you will have to deal with the fact that you hit him (they are forgiving but they do have long memories and he hasn't forgiven you yet) but, if you do what you need to do and keep at it, he will stop attacking you.

[GatorsMom]

Hi Pajarita, Thanks for all your good advice. I will be making some modifications to his life, for his happiness and well being. But I am beginning to think i should find another home for Gator.. I can balance his food for breakfast and dinner so that he does not get too much protein, I can also put him in my spare bedroom for bedtime so activities and light in the rest of the house will not bother him. ...but what does one do with a potential attack bird for 4 hours per day... he is not big on toys, he only likes to interact with me playing peek a boo or swinging him on a sock, or having a cuddle on his back where i skritch him, but i do not allow him on my body, so just what do we do together? He is also destructive if i leave him to his own devices.. he will eat/rip apart door frames, cabinets, book shelves, and make holes in the walls, destroy keyboards, mouse, etc... actually anything in front of him.

I also have 2 dogs and do volunteer work for 4-5 hours per day. Where does a normal human find the time to spend 4 hours with their bird out of cage every day? I interact with him from morning to night every day, through out the day, i sing to him, and i talk to him, i dance for him, sometimes we dance together, we laugh together and tease each other... but with him mostly in the cage.

I get that he needs more out of cage time, but doing what?

I am a little upset that i do not believe i can do what is needed for him to be happy if 4 hours of out of cage time is a requirement.

You say that he will need to build his trust of me now that i have hit him. In the two situations where he has gotten hit it was accidental, as i was waiving the perch and screaming as he would not let go of my bleeding skin, while he flapped his wings pulling at it! He was not hurt at all but probably a little shocked that something startled him enough to stop him from biting me. I personally am not brave enough to grab him with my hand so he can chew on it.. no thank you.

I like the idea of having a towel or blanket over my shoulder to try to get control of the situation, but his attacks are so fast that i am totally unprepared. As i mentioned, he has been attacking me about 1time per year.

You have suggested many great things that i can implement to give him a better life, but i really need to know what one does with a bird out of cage for 4 hrs. per day ? I have had trouble finding things for him to do for 1 hour a day... thanks for your advice.

[Pajarita]

You don't need to do much. Out of cage time is not one-on-one interaction time, that's the time when you actually play with him or train him or swing him around hanging from the sock or whatever. Out of cage time means just that: time that the bird spends out of his cage. I just walk around doing my chores with a parrot on my shoulder and I also sit at the computer with one (Zoey, my female Senegal, is on my shoulder right now as I type this and Isis, a new redbelly I took in, was out earlier for two hours while I was doing the dogs, cats and canaries but she likes to fly back and forth and look at what I do from a vantage point and not my shoulder). The senegals are particularly curious about activities and mine bend over or move to the front by hanging on to the neck of my top to look at what I am doing as if it was the most interesting thing in the world -LOL- Some people have these large, elaborate playstands with branches, toys, boings, swings, nets, etc where their birds hang out. I have a friend that converted his dining room area (it's not a separate room, it's a small space off the kitchen that is open to the living room and where you are supposed to put your table and chairs) for the birds and he has all kinds of branches, perches, swings, toys, etc (he even built something like a self-standing screen so the birds stay in there when they are loose but it can be folded when they are in their cages). I keep mine in a birdroom where there is nothing 'human' (meaning dangerous), it's just platforms, branches, ropes, cardboard boxes for them to chew, etc. My male Senegal loves boxes, have you tried giving him one? Get yourself two cardboard boxes, one smaller than the other one so it fits completely inside the bigger one. Put some chewies (dry yucca slices, pieces of balsa wood, pinecones, etc) and foraging packages (wrap a nut with paper like a candy or put one nut inside a little paper cup -the kind without wax- and make a lid for it out of a piece of paper secured around the rim with something safe like sisal twine), close the box and put it inside the bigger one which should also be closed (not with glue or tape or anything, just fold it). Do this in front of him so he can see what you are doing and start by putting it inside his cage so he can figure out how to go about it on its own and, when you see he figured it out and starts going for the box, let him out and put the box next to his cage (better if it's in a corner). This will distract him from coming after you and biting you. You will also have to bird-proof the room so he has no access to wires or anything that might be dangerous to him or that cannot be chewed up (but, having chewed up things is something that you need to expect with parrots -you should see my kitchen chairs, I don't have a single one which doesn't have a whole back, they are all chewed up -LOL)

But, at the beginning and until he calms down, he will go after you. It's like a vicious cycle, you keep him in the cage because he bites you and he bites you because you keep him in the cage so you need to break it because he won't. And it takes time, that's why I said you need to observe him super carefully so you can anticipate his moods and avoid getting bit.

There are two things I forgot to mention that help a lot: good lights and a firm schedule of routines. You need to put a good full spectrum light (CRI 93+ and Ktemp 5000-5500) in the ceiling fixture of the room where he is during the day (you turn them on once the sky is completely lit in the morning and off when the sun is halfway down). Good lights put them in a better mood because it helps them secrete serotonin, the 'happy' hormone (feeding them oat groats helps too because they are very high in tryptophan which triggers serotonin production as well as improves its absorption - and almonds help with dopamine -the 'reward' hormone). And strict routines in a firm schedule help with the stress of captivity so start by thinking up a schedule of routines that you can adhere to - like:
- serve him breakfast when you turn on the overhead lights
- half an hour later, open the cage and let him come out on his own (try putting branches going up and sideways from his cage so he can climb there)
- 15 minutes of target training
- half an hour of games and interaction
- 2 hour or so of out-of-cage time
- back in the cage for the noon rest (lasts about 2 hours)
- let him out again
- target train for 15 minutes
- half an hour of interaction
- 2 hours or so of out-of-cage time
- turn off overhead lights
- place dinner in cage (eventually, he will go back in it on its own)
- sleep

And I know that his getting hit was an accident (I did not mean to imply otherwise, I can assure you). But he just knows that you hit him so now you need to make sure he understands that this will not happen again. Believe me when I tell you I know how hard they bite and that we can't help but react to it so, sometimes, accidents happen. I, myself, once shook my foot to get Sweetpea to let go of me (I had blood running down the side of my foot) and, in the process, he hit the tip of his beak against the floor and bled a bit from it so you are not alone. Lots of us had the same thing happen to us.

[Wolf]

I must apologise for not answering you sooner, but I was sick and a bit delirious, it is a side effect of the pain medications that I am on and usually hits me every 2 or 3 months, but it is much better than it was before.
Pajarita has done a wonderful job of answering your questions, I know that I could not have done any better.
You have other birds that you also interact with and Gator may well be jealous of them especially if he sees you play with them. Also due to his nature I would not let Gator interact with a cockatiel as it is not safe for it.
If you have a space that you can allow Gator to fly free for a couple of hours at a time that would be great. I don't have that in my home, so I feed and open cages and spend the next two hrs. working on in house projects as I also have dogs and cats in the house. Put the birds up and work outside, go to town or whatever needs doing and somewhere between 3:30 and 4 pm I open their cages until bedtime. This is all subject to the time of year as my birds go to bed with the sun.
I will try to write more later as it is hard to focus for very long, yet.

[GatorsMom]

Hi Pajarita and Wolf, Sorry to hear of your illness Wolf, hopefully you will be better soon. Poor Gator has been stuck in his big cage since i first contacted you because i have come down with pneumonia and two ear aches and have not felt strong enough or confident enough to let him out even to go to his sleeping cage. I have been so delirious and weak, with this, I don't remember ever being this sick before. But now i am on antibiotics and a puffer to help me breath, so hopefully this will be behind me soon and Gator can get back to a routine. I have noticed that both birds do seem happier going to bed as the sun is going down..

So thank you for all the good advice but it is a given that if i do anything in front of Gator, he gets jealous, once i thought a good way to spend time with him would be to fold the laundry. When suddenly as i am flipping the towel to fold it, he dives under the towel with lightening fast precision and grabs my finger, and has bitten me down to the knuckle bone and will not let go, laughing the whole time. .. and i mentioned my being on the computer and how he got jealous of the mouse in my right hand and attacked my hand until it bled. I would have no problem letting him out of his cage if he would not attack me. I will try some of the things you suggested but if he saw me playing with a box, he would attack me for not playing with him, even though i would be doing this for him. I may need a parrot teacher to help me out. I want the best for him but i am scared of him now. His cage is in the front window which gets plenty of direct and indirect light. Do you still think i need extra light? I will do what i can to up his serotonin levels and feel good hormones. Thank you very much, sorry if my last letter seemed a little grumpy but i had a really high temperature and was feeling overwhelmed. Thanks

[Wolf]

Seems like both you and I have been down for a couple of days, I am fine now as my body has now gotten rid of the toxins from the meds again for a while. I do hope you get over yours soon, I have had pneumonia and it can be both nasty and difficult to get rid of so don't take any chances with it.
The male Senegal is normally more aggressive than the female of the species, as well as more territorial and jealous and although it usually is just used to describe them when they go through puberty, I think it rather fitting when they go all hormonal too. I am referring to them being the only parrot that I have ever heard of being referred to as a devil bird. They are absolutely fearless!
One of the things that I have noticed when doing things with my Senegal is that in addition to preferring that all of my attention is on her, mine reacts more aggressively if my movements are too fast such as when you flip a towel out to fold it. Look back at my first reply and take note of the body language that I mentioned in it as it will help you to avoid getting bit a lot of the time.
Do you still need the lights that Pajarita has told you of ? Yes you do. Although you have him where he gets sunshine through the window, the glass actually blocks out the UVB spectrum of light that he needs and that is what the lights that Pajarita told you of is to replace and thereby help to bring his endocrine system back into balance.
As for the box play thing that Pajarita mentioned to you goes, I understand that you may need to get creative in your approach to teaching him about it. With that in mind perhaps you could start with Gator in his cage and set this up while directly in front of him. put it together, showing him several times at each step of putting it together and then take it apart again showing him the treat inside it both when putting it together and when taking it apart. finish by putting it together and putting it in the bottom of his cage. When he starts tearing it open then you will know that he has it figured out, and can then use it outside of the cage as well. It is very common that you need to teach your parrot to play with every new toy that you provide them with or they may just ignore it. Visit yard sales and find wicker baskets of different sizes for him to destroy as well, because that is what they like about toys. It gives them something that they can enjoy destroying. A word to the wise, don't try to pick them up for a couple of minutes after they have been busy demolishing a toy or you may be the next part of the toy he starts to tear up. Instead give him a minute or so to calm back down first. I even use rolled up newspaper wedged in the bars of their cage near a perch for them to tear up. Newspaper is your best friend as it is the cheapest and most versatile toy that you can find for them to destroy and mine just love it.
By the way when you finish you round of antibiotics be sure to eat some yogurt or something that has a high content of probiotics to replenish the bacteria in you digestive tract. That is all I have for now, and don't worry too much about being grumpy at times we all are.