Don't ya know! From Minnesota

[lovewingedhearts]

Hey there everyone! I'm so excited to be a part of this forum, and hope to learn a lot from it. We own a named Tom, who can be very sweet but was given to us from a family friend because Tom hated the female fiancé. Tom doesn't have much training, and has a biting problem. He recently just bit a hole through my lip where I could see my teeth through it. I have been trying to work with him because I feel bad for the bird and know every animal is capable of love with the right training. We also own 2 cockatiels who have bonded and 2 finches who are new to the family.
I am a female college student who has moved back home with Mom to save money. So when I say "us" I am referring to my Mom and I. My mom has owned birds my entire life, and these are technically her birds, not mine. I have a true respect and passion for animals, and I do whatever I can to help animals in need. I own 2 bearded dragons, a Jersey Wooly rabbit, and a painted turtle of my own.

The main reason I have joined this forum is to learn more about birds, since my Mom has seemed to have lost her passion for the birds she has. She knows a lot about them, but she doesn't give Tom any attention and I feel bad for him. This bird sits down in his cage all day long, screaming for attention. So, every day I've been trying to hold him and work with him. I want him to have a happy, loving, and fulfilling life, not a neglected one. When my boyfriend comes over, Tom absolutely loves him and lets him do things he doesn't let me or my Mom do. (Scratch his breast or pet his back). He seems so comfortable around him, and so nervous around my Mom and I. He seems to like Men over women (especially considering he was given to us because of his previous hate for a female fiancé) but I was hoping to get him to trust us. If I can't get him to be comfortable and happy, I may have to sell him to someone worthy that will offer him what we can't. So, I thought I could join this forum and see what I could do to help Tom have a wonderful life. I truly care, regardless of my Mom's lack. Thanks for the support, and I hope to learn what I can from here to help every bird live a loving and happy life!

[Wolf]

Firstly, you can not train love. Not in birds, not in dogs, not in humans and not in anything. You can allow for its expression and you can teach appropriate ways to express love. Secondly you do not want to pet any bird any place on its body other than its head, neck and beak as every other part of a birds body is an erogenous zone and to pet these places will create a hormonal bird. Not a thing that you want, especially in a Senegal.
While it is entirely possible that your male Senegal doesn't like human females it is even more likely that he was bonded to the male family friend and due to the nature of that bond was overly jealous of the attention that the male friend gave to the fiancé. This has apparently carried over to some extent to its present circumstance.

I am thinking that based on what I have read that the bird is overly hormonal and that this needs to be addressed in order to bring this bird back to a state of health. For this to occur you need to understand what factors are involved in this. First the length of the day, second is the availability of food and the type of food available. third is nesting sites and then an available mate. We have done these birds the disservice of first imprinting them on us and once they reach adulthood the bond that is formed is a mate bond, this provides them with us as a mate, we have given the a secure place with a steady temperature, that is predator free ,so we have supplied them with an adequate nesting site. We provide them with an abundance of protein and fat rich food, so food is not a problem for them and we have made their days long enough that once they go into breeding condition they don't go out of it and then we pet them in inappropriate places and get them further sexually excited and this is what we must undo.
The bird, Tom, needs to be placed on a solar schedule which means that he gets up with the sun and goes to bed when it gets dark and he needs to be fully exposed to the twilight periods of dawn and dusk as this will over time bring his biological clock back into sync with the seasons. He can not be fed a seed or pellet only diet as pellets and seeds are too high in both fat and protein which is used in the production of the excess hormones. Tom needs to be on a low fat, low protein diet with a variety of different fruits and vegetables, more vegetables than fruit. He should get the vegetables and cooked whole grains for breakfast and a seed mix for dinner. Also if he flies he needs to be out of his cage and encouraged to fly as exercise will help in dissipating the hormones in his system. These hormones make him more aggressive than he would normally be, so getting them out of his system will help him to not bite so much.
Now , with this out to where you know some of what is happening inside of Tom's body that is affecting his mood and behavior, lets continue with Tom's normal daily needs. He really needs to be out of his cage for a minimum of four hours each day so that he can exercise and hang out with and interact with you and he also needs at least one hour of one on one interaction with you each day. The one on one time is time where you give head scratches and allow him to be on you while you talk to him and love on him, no inappropriate touching. The other four hours are for encouraging to fly, training sessions, time for him to explore his surroundings, time to hang out and play with you and with you nearby.
This is a lot of information and I hope that I have put it in understandable terms and hope that it will help Tom and you.

[Pajarita]

Wolf is correct. You can't fool around with hormones when it comes to male senegals -not that you can do it with any bird because it's terribly unhealthy for them as their entire endocrine system goes out of whack, but male senegals (like male amazons) can get extremely aggressive when overly hormonal. Your poor bird is physically uncomfortable (if not in constant pain) and has been abandoned by your mother to its own devices, something that is contrary to what nature evolved these animals to be so your trying so hard is great - thank you for that!

A good fresh food diet with limited protein intake, a strict solar schedule and enough time out of cage will do wonders for his disposition. And don't worry about him preferring men over women, these are very smart and loving birds and do learn to bond with the opposite gender of what they are used to.