Parrotlet only nice to me

[64O0]

I have a male pacific green Parrotlet.. He's about 5 months old or so. He won't let anyone touch him except for me. When my mother tries to go in his cage he starts raising his feathers and chattering and if she gets too close to him he tries to bite.

I thought Parrotlets are supposed to be friendly to everyone??

He's also not playful at all and won't for example like sitting on my computer desk playing around or playing outside of the cage.. he'll want to go back to his cage.. Yet I read they are supposed to be bold and playful Parrots.. He only likes sitting on my hand

[Wolf]

I have a female Pacific Parrotlet and she doesn't like anyone other than myself either. If she is not on my hand, when out of her cage, she is into everything that she can get her beak on. She will try to attack any one or any other animal that approaches us, so for her protection I let her run about on the floor part of the time in a hamster ball. She doesn't like being in her cage once she is out.

[Pajarita]

The ones I've known that are single birds only like one person and perching on them all the time. It's when you have a pair that they become more active and less dependent on people.

[nerdybird]

Hi there! It's good that your parrotlet likes you. I only have experience with my one bird, but she had a bad start at taming since the couple that owned her before me kept her in her cage, with no socialization or out of cage time for 6 months. When I got her she was very timid and afraid of everything except me.

Using some of the methods Michael reccomends, as well as other websites, I've introduced her to a few people with some success. She fluffed up and got aggressive the first couple times someone new came over, but we just chatted in the same room until she calmed down, then I had the new person give her treats. I believe there is a detailed description of this process on the Trained Parrot Blog (link above) about socializing parrots.

She's pretty friendly now, I just make sure all her interactions with new people are positive (food bribes). She still rarely sees other people, but I think these methods have definitely helped. She will happily perch on someone else's hand without fuss.

Again, I just have the one parrotlet, my first bird, so I'm not as experienced at this; and my bird was not as aggressive, from how you described yours. But it seems like this could help at least. You just have to go slow, try this when she's hungry, etc.

Edit: As to playing, mine was very shy at first, I had to get her used to various "spots" around my apartment, such as a perch on my computer desk. Again, less experienced with birds, but it seems they are more comfortable if they have a perch to sit on, rather than only a surface like a table.

[Wolf]

Mine thinks that I am the best perch in the whole house, but is beginning to move about a bit, to play with things other than me. S/he was plucked when s/he first arrived and I was told that it was DNA tested as a female but all the markings say male. Any way s/he will now perch on the same arm as my Senegal hen without either attacking or being attacked. S/he is showing a little bit of interest in other people although I don't have a lot of visitors, so it doesn't really bother me that s/he is still a one person bird. I always make sure that every experience that it has is a good positive one whether it is with other birds or animals or humans and this always works out to a more sociable bird in the long run. I suppose I have spent considerably more time getting this little bundle of energy to be more social with the other birds in the house as I like to open everyone's cages in the mornings and let them enjoy themselves for the day. I try not to have any of them in their cages any more than needed. This has taken some time getting all of the birds to accept each other without too much jealousy. After I finish with this so that they can all be out at the same time( I am close) then I will work a little more on socializing this bird with humans more.
This little parrotlet has had the least amount of abuse of any of my other birds, so it has not been all on socializing it as the others have had to work through even more difficult issues and since they are all different species and sizes I just let it take as much time as it needs to. My little parrotlet has started to fly over to my Lady on occasion without doing a lot of biting, so I think that the one person bird syndrome is beginning to fade on its own, we'll see soon enough.
With four birds with different problems all wanting and needing personal time it is difficult to find enough time for each one of them without them learning to accept each other which is why this has been my priority with them.
My parrotlet is indeed bold and thinks the it is as big as a house , s/he is not afraid of any of my other animals whether it is bird or human or dog, s/he thinks s/he can bully them all. It is actually pretty funny to see if a bit scary. The size difference is so great that one serious bite from anyone and it is curtains for the parrotlet, so I am very protective of it. Never a dull moment here.

[Pajarita]

No, Wolf, not DNA'd, the breeder sold Paquita as a hen but Elena and Kelvin don't know/remember if this was through DNA or what.

[Wolf]

Sorry I misunderstood, my bad. And to clarify a little more on a statement I made the parrotlet was not actually abused s/he ended up being alone too much of the time because of changes in the previous owners lives and so they found it necessary to find her a better home. You know there is abuse and then there is abuse, but sometimes we can't control the amount of time we have and it is not like they didn't care, because they did and do. I really need to come up with a better way of saying some things, because sometimes it reads different than it sounds in my head and doesn't always say what I am meaning. Sorry about that.

[Pajarita]

I would call it neglect but then, if we do use that word for a bird left alone during the day (and she actually wasn't because there were other birds in the same room), then we would have to say that 95% of pet parrots are neglected.

[Wolf]

Yeah, just as in the term abuse, there is abuse and then there is abuse and the same with neglect. However to me neglect is a form of abuse and for a bird it is a pretty serious form. But not so in a humans mind set. It makes it difficult sometimes to say what I mean without giving the wrong impression.

[Pajarita]

You don't have to tell me! I well know the problem! People always get PO'd at me for the way I put things but it's because I always look at things from the bird's perspective and welfare and not the human's.