An unfortunate event

[Eurycerus]

So I don't handle bites well, at all and have a very difficult time remaining calm which usually means the situation blows up quickly if and when a bite occurs. Unfortunately for the first time in months Nika bit me. I decided for once in a blue moon to let her back out after dinner, which was fine. I also allowed her to come over and hang out with me, which is extremely unusual, so I was playing with fire I suppose. I actually just thought I was being nice because we've developed a fairly trusting relationship. Well too much trust apparently. I went to use my mouse (which I've done in her presence but never with her nearby) and I guess that was a no no. She gave me a pretty legit bite which resulted in a bit of spazzing on my part (aka flailing, not screaming) and then she went for my face and I deflected (still got a nick) but the situation went out of control fast. I managed to get her back safely in her cage, for cool off time for both of us (not punishment, though it may seem that way, when she and I get amped up it's difficult to get the situation in control). Needless to say I am annoyed at myself primarily and her secondarily (though I realize she's a parrot, still a little annoyed right now)... :/ After all this time... such a failure. A nice reminder that I'm working with a wild animal. Thankfully I'm not a lion tamer, otherwise that would've been my arm. After a few minutes I went back, opened the cage door and had her do a couple tricks for treats, to leave a nice taste in her mouth rather than potentially remembering the craziness that just happened. *sigh*

[Andromeda]

Sorry to hear you had an incident with Nika.

So I don't handle bites well, at all and have a very difficult time remaining calm which usually means the situation blows up quickly if and when a bite occurs.

I can empathize with this. When my GCC bites, even if he draws blood, I can remain calm. However, I have a hard time with my Poi's bites because they are very severe. He bites down as hard as he can and then he GRINDS and GRINDS and won't let go.

He's only bitten me maybe five times since I adopted him in mid-2008 but they have all been very bad bites. The last one was one year ago this month on one of my knuckles and it was the worst one I've ever had. For a while I thought I had permanent nerve damage because it was very painful for me to bend that finger and the joint was stiff for literally four months. I still have a scar but the pain eventually went away.

Needless to say I am annoyed at myself primarily and her secondarily (though I realize she's a parrot, still a little annoyed right now)... :/ After all this time... such a failure. A nice reminder that I'm working with a wild animal.

Well, I think all people that own parrots have setbacks sometimes. After all, as you said, a parrot is a wild animal. Nika gave you a displaced aggression bite and it sounds like you know how you can prevent it in the future so that's the important part.

[Pricey_boy]

you could buy a trackpad and get rid of the mouse

[Eurycerus]

She gives pretty nasty bites and it's usually not just one. I'm sorry to hear about your nasty bite. :[ She gave me a scar tissue nodule that just won't go away. I tried to massage it away and then it got huge and inflamed and hurt when I bent my finger. Oops. Now it's tiny again. Someone in the rescue was bit by her Senegal and she does seem to have permanent nerve damage on her finger, numb fingertip. He apparently bit and ground just like you were describing. These pois are strong little buggers.

I really just wanted to hang out with her like other people seem to just hang out with their parrots. I guess that's out of the question at least for the next long while. I suppose it's akin to parents that see other kids get straight As and trying to make their kids be like the other kids. No such luck... :/ I just feel bad how little out time she gets but originally it was because after thirty minutes she'd start to get aggressive so our time would end. Now it's that if she's out we can't just be chilling. I can give her undivided attention for a while but then I'm tired and want to relax. She's rarely taken an interest in playing by herself when out. Oh well... Maybe in a year things will be different

[marie83]

I really just wanted to hang out with her like other people seem to just hang out with their parrots. I guess that's out of the question at least for the next long while

This is a myth, it just doesn't happen. it might sometimes but rarely for very long. There will always be something, like an unexpected nibble or them trying to climb up your hair and scratching the side of your face to interupt that peace.

Ollies been out his cage since 10 this morning whilst I am trying to work, in that time ive had at least a dozen nibbles which had the potential to turn into bites, 1 actual bite because I caught a pin feather, he has pulled my USB stick out the laptop around 6 times, emptied my pencil case twice and then snatched the pen I was writing with and dropped it behind the radiator at the other side of the room, tried to pull the remainder of the rubber stoppers from around the screen off several times, tried to stop me beating up the keyboard with my finger twice with aggression but I saw the warning signs (typing), landed on my head and tried to slide down my face once, walked down my arm repeatedly, would say at least 30 times to sit on my hand whilst I was trying to type and every time I tried to return him to my knee or shoulder he climbed right back.... The best bit is he has tried to demolish my assignment brief and I have to hand it back in. In all those 7 hours he has been "chilled out" on my knee for about half an hour.

When you have parrots, you dont get to relax

[hnhobu]

I really just wanted to hang out with her like other people seem to just hang out with their parrots. I guess that's out of the question at least for the next long while

This is a myth, it just doesn't happen. it might sometimes but rarely for very long. There will always be something, like an unexpected nibble or them trying to climb up your hair and scratching the side of your face to interupt that peace.

I agree with Marie, but I don't think you should give up on spending time with your bird! Me and my husband have an office area that consists of two connected desks and a bookshelf. Cassette will often spend hours hanging out with us there, and with a bit of training he has learned what he can and cannot chew on/play with. We resolved him chewing on our mouses, keyboards or wires by covering the object with our hand and saying "this is mine" in a stern voice.We would continue to keep our hand on the object until he went elsewhere, and then praise the heck out of him when he did so. At first we were doing this almost constantly, but now we do it very little if at all.

As I'm typing this Cassette is sitting on my laptop keyboard half asleep, which is a big step since he used to attack my hands while I was typing. We still have our moments, but they're getting better. It just depends on his temperament at the time! Just be patient and don't give up!

[Eurycerus]

Thank you both! You have no idea how much your stories make me feel better. I always had this impression that everything was just wonderful with everyone else and their parrots would occupy themselves happily for hours. Not sure how I got that idea, but everything I've read sort of seemed to indicate that. Okay well I'll take smaller baby steps at introducing her to being out longer and closer to me. I'm glad that Nika and I aren't just total oddballs, sounds like she's fairly normal. *sigh* I guess that's good :] I know she wants to hang out with me and get attention, so I'll just be more careful about finding that balance between relaxing and having her out.

[GreenWing]

Since Tiki sees me as her mate, I like to joke that it's a very unhealthy love relationship because of the jealousy and demands of my beaked brat.

Senegals need CONSTANT reinforcement. And even then, there may be slip-ups. Just today, after not being bitten by her in MONTHS, Tiki attacked my hand when I dangled a toy at her during play. My finger bled, and as I put her in her cage after she bit, she got pissed off even more and gave me another merciless bite. Ten minutes later, she had forgotten all about it and vocalizes her "Love yous" non-stop, wanting kisses again, petting, attention. Like I said, unhealthy love relationship!

Sennies are always a work in progress... it's exactly like having a toddler. As Michael told me, these birds get excited as they get angry and the response is the same: eye-pinnings, and, of course, BITES. Try not to let it get you down, target her, tell her to step-up, praise her. These feathered beasts crave our attention and they'd rather get the love and praise over anything else. Don't give up, you've made a lot of progress as I have with my Sennie.

[cml]

I really just wanted to hang out with her like other people seem to just hang out with their parrots. I guess that's out of the question at least for the next long while.

This is a myth, it just doesn't happen. it might sometimes but rarely for very long. There will always be something, like an unexpected nibble or them trying to climb up your hair and scratching the side of your face to interupt that peace.

I agree with Marie, I dont think your comment is the case for anyone. No parrot that isnt clipped will stay in one place forever, and they do alot of goofy stuff. Of course, people paint the best picture when telling stories, but the fact is, I think everyone have their own struggles and problems with their birds.

I dont trust Stitch on my shoulders, he used to have a biting-problem, which we've reduced to almost nothing. BUT, he still bites on occasion and he has a wierd fascination of my ears, they are definetely in the danger zone if he's on my shoulder, so he's not allowed there.

Both birds are out for a few hours when we get home from work, and they love this. They fly around, goof about, and spend time together. We can interact with them, play with them, scratch them, but their main focus is on each other. If I want quality time with either parrot I take them out individually and train, give them a shower or watch youtube.
This might sound very nice, and it really is, but still, its not a situation in which there are never problems either. Disturb them while they are playing and Stitch might snap to tell me that they are busy and dont want Daddy to join them, or they may get into a squabble and start screaming, or they might land on us for attention. They can also show a jealous streak if I pay more attention to one of them.

Still, in my book its an awesome time, and even though there's sometimes setbacks such as the one you described, I love it. I think the key reason it works so well is that they keep each other company.

Dont worry that she bit you, its two steps forward, one step backwards with parrots. You are doing great with your parrot !

[Andromeda]

I guess I am the exception here because I can generally just "hang out" with my birds---not always, but most of the time.

Although my Poi is flighted he doesn't really know how to fly (I am working on it) and he pretty much stays put if you place him on a stand or his tree. I hang a long chain from the stands so he is free to climb to the ground if he wants but he rarely does so. He mostly just stays on his perches and plays with his toys or sometimes naps.

My GCC is more active and while there are times he's running all over the place and getting into things and I have to chase him, most of the time he just wants to cuddle or get head scratches. Since my hands are not always free to give him a scratch I taught him to sit on my shoulder and cuddle my neck where he scratches his head on my ear. He has a tree with lots of toys but he'd rather be near me or my husband and since I spend a lot of time on the computer (both for work and in my spare time) I have used positive reinforcement to encourage him to "hang out" either on top of my monitor or next to my arm (where he can cuddle) in a way that still allows for typing or moving the computer mouse.

I also do training using positive reinforcement every day and I do a lot of recall with my GCC so I do more active things with them but they are both very good in general about "hanging out" when I am busy working.