New Member

[luvmeyers]

Hi
I'm a new member here, owned by a rehomed male Meyers named Bronco and my husband has a 16 female month old White Capped Pionus named Xev(Zev) because Bronco doesn't like him! Xev tolerates me but doesn't bite like Bronco who has bit me a few times, but we've only had him 17 months. Xev was about 8 months old and unsocialized to be a pet but is doing great.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Hi there! Looking forward to hearing more about your flock!

[luvmeyers]

Hi entranced
Life is never dull around here with our fids feathered and furry. We also have two senior female de-clawed Maine Coon X's who don't quite know what to think of these things that bite them! They frequently meow and look at me as if to say "what in the .....were you thinking when you got them?"

[Jenny]

They frequently ... look at me as if to say "what in the .....were you thinking when you got them?"

my kitties do the exact same thing. All I can do is respond w/a shrug & tell them that well, maybe mommy wasn't actually thinking.... Welcome!

[zazanomore]

Maine coons are my favorite breed of cats

[lzver]

Welcome luvmeyers. I just adopted a 2-year old female Meyers a few weeks ago. I'm quite smitted with her so far

[Natacha]

Hi and welcome!
We'd love to see some pictures

[thegreatkatsby]

Oh thank heavens for this timely thread of new-ish meyers owners!

I adopted a meyers today. He's super cute, vocal, and was very tame at his previous home when I met him! After I got him home, I placed his carrier around the corner from my pionus' cage so they could vocalize to each other while I set his cage up--and I was surprised at how cutely my Pi was chattering at the new guy!

However, as adorable as their first impression of each other was... I feel tempted to rename the new meyers "Dracula" or "Razorfang" because I have gotten THREE major bites already! The first was through the top of the grate on the travel carrier as I was buckling the seat belt on it. OW! I didn't even realize I had been bitten until I noticed the blood running down my hand. Fair enough, I thought. He's frazzled because he's in a new carrier, being taken by a strange person in an unfamiliar vehicle with his cage disassembled in the front.

The second bite was once he was in his cage after I washed/assembled it and I was wheeling it into place against the wall. Through the cage bars. THROUGH THE BARS! AGAIN! Ok, I thought. Fair enough. He's in a new home, I just rearranged his "house", and he's all wound up.

The THIRD bite was after I took a shower in which I allowed him to sit on the curtain rod (he's molting and itchy and I thought the steam would help). He was very good about stepping up from the cage before the shower, and very good about stepping down from the curtain rod after the shower... but when I went to place him back on his cage, OWWWWWWWW. Not even "earthquake" could remove him! He was clamped on for life! Augh! Fair enough, but... auuuugh! These are deep, painful, bloody bites! His beak is SHARP!

Perhaps he's just wound up from all the changes he went through today, but I'm usually pretty careful with unfamiliar birds and I was blown away that he got me THREE times... especially because two were through bars. What do you all think? Just nervous because he's new? Trying to establish dominance? Possible cage aggression? Nippy species? He seems to go for my fingers as soon as they're near the cage--I'm going to have to be very very careful with feeding and water changes until I can figure out how to work through this behaviorally. Otherwise, he's very vocal and sweet, and he even let me pick at his pin feathers!

[pchela]

It's not a nippy species. I had a Meyers who never bit anybody in her life. If I had to guess, I'd say stress from the moving and new situations. Maybe he hates the carrier or is frightened of it since you got two bites from there. But you say he bit because he didn't want to go back in his cage? Is it a new cage or his old one? Somebody may have taught him that if he bites, he gets what he wants?

[thegreatkatsby]

Unfortunately, because he's a rehome, I know very little about him! His previous owner said he was really good, and they were just rehoming him because his 13 y/o son wasn't taking him out of the cage enough anymore. Nothing specifically was said about nippiness either way--but I suppose I could give them a call and ask if it was ever an issue.

He's still in his original cage, although I did clean it thoroughly as soon as we got home--so it has been rearranged. I'm wondering if the bites were majorly motivated by being with a stranger in a strange place coupled with hierarchy/dominance power plays? Time will tell, I suppose.

I'm noticing other potential issues as well--for example, he doesn't seem to poop much, and when he does, it looks like he's been holding it for a while (i.e. big poop that looks like several poops clumped together). He doesn't seem to want to poop in his cage at all, and has been pooping in his food dish only. This is a totally new issue to me, and I'm not quite sure how to address it yet!