Need Senegal Help

[megangranger]

I got a senegal parrot about six months ago. I absolutely adore him! He has spent the majority of his time in our room which is only a walk thru room. There is never really anyone that stays in there. This evening, we moved him into our living room hoping he would get more social interaction and begin to mimic more. Since we moved him in here, he's been mean and biting everyone. It's hard to even get him out of his cage. He is also dumping his bowls. Why is that? Does he just need to get used to this new room?? I really don't want him to be mean. Help!!!


Megan

[Wolf]

I would put his cage back where it was and let him out more for interaction. Senegals do get territorial, but if he is not out of his cage for a minimum of four hours per day, then he definitely needs more time out to socialize.

[Pajarita]

Well, you can't expect a bird that has been virtually alone for six months to be nice! Senegals are naturally aggressive birds and males are much worse than females so they require lots of out of cage time as well as one-on-one because, once they love you, they are very sweet to you -they might be nasty to everybody else or just ignore them but they will be nice to you.

Now, you are not giving enough information. I don't know how old this bird is but if he was a baby when you got him and you kept in a room that people only use to pass through for six months, you are going to have to work hard to win him over because a baby is easily traumatized and been alone will do a lot of psychological damage to a baby -damage that might not be completely reversible (you, obviously, are not aware of this but solitude is torture to a parrot) Again, if this is the case, the reason why he is now intractable is not only because he never really bonded with you but also the fact that he is now growing up and coming into his own (baby birds don't stay babies forever). If he is a rehome and was already an adult when you got him, you will still have to work to win him over (he knows it's the humans' fault that he was isolated for months and months) but the damage is completely reversible - unless he was neglected and/or abused in his previous home.

So, please, give us more info (diet, light quality and schedule, housing, routine, diet, age when you got him, background, etc) so we can give you specific advice.