why are everyone scared of pet parrots!?

[skeetersunconure]

I had a group of friends over recently for a party and out of 8 only 1 person really felt comfortable holding him but even then she was still a tiny bit nervous about him biting her sure the others held him buut mostly because he climbed on to them and they were like ahhhh get it off and then one was like acting totally freaked out ad wouldnt come anywhere near him and was screeching and other people i have over are mostly scared of him to..... Im wondering why they are so scared of him because they have dogs that bite and cats that scratch and skeeter isnt really that big and i explain to them before they hold him that he is pretty welll behaved but can bite and when he does ignore him and blah blah blah and they see me holding him and my sister and ect and its not like im expecting them to love him but i dont see why they are so terrified to hold him well i guess the beak its just that i find it annoying when people act like big girlygirls and sissy wimps whenever they see him i dont know does anyone else see this with other people?

[Kim S]

People grow up with dogs and cats in their home, or homes near them. Relatives might have a cat or a dog, or a horse. Not many people have parrots. Even then, how many parrotowners take out their bird when you come to visit. So you grow up reading dogs and cats bodylanguage. It took me 5 years to learn to read the parakeets bodylanguage. And now that I have a parrot, I'm learning even more!

Plus, dogs and cat are mammals, so are we. I am absolutely convinced that's the reason we connect easier with dogs and cats than with parrots.

[Michael]

Don't force anyone to hold your parrot. They will only mess up, drop their hand or shake it off, and the parrot won't trust other people and really will bite everyone else. Only let people who are reasonably confident and want to hold it actually do that.

[Rue]

I wouldn't let anyone hold my birds, unless they were at least a little knowledgable and really wanted to.

All it takes is one bad experience and you could end up with a behavioural issue...

Not to mention, if your bird bites someone (and a scared bird is more likely to bite) you could end up with a legal issue...

Unlikely, but the potential is there.

[skeetersunconure]

no i never force anyone but its just sortof annoying when people act so scared but your right and i dont ever force anyone

[TheNzJessie]

i remember my grandad having a rainbow lorikeet called bow when i was about 5. i remember him having really sharp claws and flying over and gripping onto my leg. haunted my childhood up until i was about 10. never went near birds after that...but look now i own one...i wonder wear bow is now..... my grandad gave him away because he became aggressive. he should still be alive....somewhere..... maybe hes my ones father!..no not likely....

[Java]

My daughter and son are dying to just hold Java, but because she has lunged at them, they are petrified she will bite them. I try to tell them that a bite will not kill you, it is not the end of the world and i'm not talking about 2 year old kids, but 13 and 12, and if you need to, get a glove and just hold her, and that she can sense they are afriad of her. And then they inforce this desire to bite them cause they will try to touch her really quick when her back is to them, to which I tell them to stop teasing her( i do consider this teasing) or she will never want to be touched by them.

I tell them to sit by her cage, offer her treats and/or food while talking to her, and generally talk to her alot nd what not, but they are afterall kids with better things to do, I suppose.

[Kim S]

I had a friend over for a bbq today, and she asked if Kika would sit on her hand as well. I told her she could try, just hold your hand out low and flat and let her choose if she wants to or not. Kika stepped on very gently. My friend doesnt know a thing about birds and aproached her the way you do a dog. Trying to pet her back and all. Kika got a bit spooked, ducked a bit and made herself as small as possible. But she stayed put, didnt bite, didnt threaten or nothing. She was brilliant about it. After a while my friend got the hang of it (scratching her head) and she started to really enjoy it.

A chance for my friend to learn something about parrots and my parrot to learn something about people

[bmsweb]

So far all our friends and family have come around and in "their own time" ask if they can hold our birds. I encourage it and like my birds to be held by as many people as possible. All our birds are very social and happy to go to anyone once they've both been introduce

No aggression is shown towards anyone by our birds and that's the way i want it.

[Brittanyv326]

I don't think people are so much afraid as they are inexperienced. Parrots are fascinating, but also intimidating in that many people have never handled them and find them unpredictable because they don't know how parrots are. I've been surprised at how many people just won't touch Sadie. They stare at her and watch me interact with her and do their "oohs" and "aahs" but when I ask, "want to hold her?" they refuse. I need to keep her socialized with people while she's still young so that when she's older, she's familiar with all people and not just certain people. But only a family friend, my neighbor with a 15 year old Quaker, and my sister have held her. She does totally fine with strangers and I want to keep it that way!