Senegal parrot behavior

[Eli1970]

Hi there , I just adopted a Senegal parrot ( male) I think , and he is 1 1/2 yrs old and really nice parrot . He is only a few days with us , we got him from a lady that couldn’t keep him due to move overseas and unable to take him . I have a 8 yrs old son that love birds just like me . My husband also like birds but he don’t like loud parrots , this is why we chose Senegal parrot for been the quiet of the parrots . As soon we got home skipper( his name) love his new cage and did great . We allow to give him head scratch and step up . However he tries to bite me and my son sometimes , I don’t let my son hold him yet , but with my husband he felt complete love and bond . The problem is , he screams loud when we are not in the room with him and even if we are close , he continues to be loud . He sees my husband and want him . My husband is not liking the loudness and i don’t know what to do . Is only a week that he is with us but he still loud . I didn’t know Senegal’s were that loud . He is adorable , talks few words and comes to me when he want . He love that I scratch his head and on , but my husband became his favorite . How can I make him stop the screams ? We don’t respond when he is loud . I love him so much already and my son too that I can’t imagine our family without him. Thank you

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum, Skipper (I hope this was his old name because changing it upsets them) and new family!

Senegals ARE quiet parrots but it's only relative to other parrots and not to what we, humans, consider 'quiet'. And, yes, there are some that scream all day long but they only do it when they are unhappy so, please, tell us a bit about him. What are you feeding him? What is his light schedule? How many hours of one-on-one and how many of out-of-cage (this is the main reason why they scream when they are young)? Where is his cage located? Is it a good size?

Now, PLEASE do not allow your son to handle the bird! Let me explain. All parrots are one-person birds but, although they all have the trait, companion species have it to a greater degree (hence the 'companion' attached to these species) and senegals, in particular, are the ultimate one-person birds - they NEVER work out as family pets because they bond VERY deeply with their chosen one. Which brings another issue, it's the parrot who decides who is going to be 'his' human. Now, this does not mean that a senegal cannot work out in a family environment. It can. It's only that it will require its human to spend a lot of hours with it (to keep it happy and satisfied) and the other family members will not be able to really interact a lot with it. My female senegal, Zoey, loved me from the first time she saw me and hated my husband with a passion. This was the same behavior that got her rehomed in the first place: she loved her human and HATED his wife. They tried everything they could think of but, after years of this, the wife gave the husband an ultimatum, it was her or the bird -the wife won and I flew to California to pick her up. Here, the whole thing continued for a couple of years but, eventually, she calmed down (she has a senegal male boyfriend, too) and she is now OK with my husband. She flies to his shoulder without biting his neck or face and allows him to carry her from one place to another on a stick (she can fly very well but she won't go into her cage on her own).

So, although there is hope that your bird will get to regard you and your son as flock-mates, the thing with male senegals is that they are HIGHLY aggressive and, for all their small size, have POWERFUL bites (and I have the scars to prove it!). Sweetpea, the 'boyfriend' male senegal, is the ONLY bird that I have ever been afraid of to the point that I dreaded going into the birdroom because he would relentlessly attacked me several times a day every single day for 3.5 years. So, please, do not let your son interact physically with him because he can end up hurt. Your senegal is now in what we call 'the honeymoon' stage which is when they are at their very best behavior and when even aggressive birds don't bite but yours is already biting (or is he just nipping?). To put the icing on the cake, he is also at a very difficult age because he is going through bird puberty and as soon as the days start getting shorter (they are short day breeders) he will produce sexual hormones which translates into aggression no matter how tame and loving the bird is. So, please, spend as many hours as you can with him, let him out of his cage to fly, talk, sing, whistle to him, offer him a treat (but be careful not to feed too much protein because that makes them aggressive, too) every now and then and, if you have to move him, use a stick, do not offer your hand because they do the 'come into my parlor trick': they look all innocent and sweet and put out their foot as if to step up and BAM! bite HARD and don't let go (they are like little pitbulls! I've had Sweetpea hanging from my right eyebrow, with blood running dowm my face and me pulling with both my hands his body away from me and he would NOT let go).

Now, not responding to his screams is not going to make him stop. If this very commonly recommended trick worked, cockatoos would not end up in rescues in droves because of their constant screaming. Parrots don't scream just because, they do it for the same reason a baby that woke up alone in a room does: they need company. And, to them, company does not mean you in the same house and him in a cage. It means riding the shoulder of its chosen human or perching on some part of his body (Zoey is perching on my right knee right now) so I am thinking that, when he is screaming, he is locked in his cage - is this correct? If so, does he stop when he is allowed to come out? Does he do it all day long or only at dawn and dusk? Does he do it when he is with your husband? (I doubt it). Do not make the mistake of not allowing him shoulder time. We have a member that bought a baby and decided, based on some stupid advice he got on the internet, not to allow her on his shoulder but, by the time she was almost two, the bird screamed all day long non-stop. Once he allowed her shoulder time, she stopped. It's as simple as that. They need what they need and they will NOT adjust to what is convenient to us, we need to adjust to them. Have you ever heard the expression: "If momma ain't happy, there ain't nobody happy!"? Well, change momma for birdie and you got it! And that's why it's so hard to keep them happy and healthy and why almost all of them end up rehomed, because their needs are always in a collision course with the lifestyle of a normal family. So I strongly suggest that you plan the right husbandry now from the very beginning so the bird doesn't get used to screaming and biting which will be harder to correct later on. The honeymoon is the foundation of your future long-term relationship with the bird so do it right and you will have a companion for many, many happy years.

[Eli1970]

Hi there , I appreciate your feedback thank you for your advise . Skipper is his name and we won’t change. He had a beautiful cage , very big and play top for him . He eats fruits and veggies and nuts. No junk food for him . He stays out of his cage all the time when we are home , he stay with my husband( his favorite ) for sometime on his shoulder then he puts him back on the cage . No matter what he screams , even with us around . When is night time we cover the cage and say good night , he screams a little bit when he hears our voices around , them he sleeps . Today when I try to put him on the cage with a perch( not my hand ) he came so sweet and grab my hand and bit me do badly that still hurt me . I put him inside and didn’t said nothing . I don’t understand his behavior , but I guess you are right , he is going to puberty and for been a male make things worse . My husband and I don’t want to take a chance in stay with him like that with our son . My son is very sad because he can’t hold him or play with him , so we decided that is better for him to be with someone with more time to spend with him and maybe no kids around . It is sad . We drove three hours to get him and this lady never mention his behavior to us , she just said that he was adorable with everyone which is not true . Thank you for your advise and tips , but sadly we will rehoming him . Thank you and take care

[Pajarita]

Oh, geez, I am so sorry you made that decision! It's your bird and, thus, also your decision but (and please do not take this the wrong way because it's only meant as helpful advice) ANY companion parrot you decide to take will be the same so maybe you are not parrot people. Parrots are not for everybody... Everybody wants them because they are beautiful, wicked smart, super loving, funny and full of personality but very few people can keep them well. It takes a very special situation because it requires a stay at home bird lover who also has endless patience, years and years and years of commitment, constant research, cooking every day and having no social life but not because the person has mental issues but because the birds pretty much nixes most of it (I never receive company in the afternoons or evenings except during the summer when the days are long - and my husband and I have not taken a vacation together in 10 years or so). It's a huge sacrifice. I am lucky because my husband indulges me, my children and grandchildren are used to my ways and my friends accept the restrictions the birds put in my life... but they all think I am crazy! A 'good' kind of crazy but kind of demented anyway

[Eli1970]

I think you are just normal like anybody else !! Unfortunately my husband is not like yours , so dedicated to the parrot and willing to sacrice time for them. I am more like you , I can sacrifice everything for them , but. I am not alone and when we have a family , everyone need to get on the same page . If skipper wasn’t to aggressive he probably would agreed to work with him , but when you have a small child that want to play and hold the bird so bad , is hard to control that and I don’t want accidents . I wish you the best with your parrots and I hope you can make a time for your marriage too because life is too short and time that we lose don’t come back . My family is everything for me . Take care and a God bless

[Pajarita]

Thank you for your kind wishes but my husband is fine with the situation - and so are my children and grand children (they were all born into it so they never knew anything else). I've been doing rescue my entire life and everybody in my family, even the extended one, knows how I am and both accepts and loves me (I am a VERY fortunate person!). By the time my husband met me, I already had multiple dogs, cats and birds so he knew from day one what he was getting into. He never had a problem with the dogs or cats but it took years for him to get used to my parrots because birds flying over his head used to freak him out and he was terrified of them (he used to walk around dressed up for the North Pole with a hoodie tight around his head, long pants, gloves, etc even in the summer! ) but he first got used to them, then he liked them and now he loves them (not all of them, mind you, he has his favorites) but he still has no patience with them and they all need a lot of patience when they first come... even the ones that are aggressive at all.

But I hear you on the child getting bit! All my grandchildren know that Nana's birds are to look at but never, ever to touch or put a finger close to them. It doesn't work all the time because children will be children but, if they get bit, they know it happened because they disobeyed me. One of my grandsons got two bites in his hand a few months ago... He has ADHD and Oppositional Disorder so he tends to be disobedient and, although he knew NOT to pester Javi Caique, he decided he wanted him to step up to a perch and kept on putting the stick in front of his face untl Javi got tired of it and gave him two quick bites to his hand - so he got Nana's 'sana sana' (it's a very old Spanish chant I do for them while I rub the booboo and which they are convinced takes away the pain -which it does to a point but not for the magical reasons they think it does ) and a scolding on top of the bites. But a good-natured caique bite is not the same as a male senegal's one!