Does not want to return to cage

[lightweight]

The honeymoon with Bella is over and I feel as though she might be trying to test my authority.

When I bring her out of her cage she desperately wants to step up to be pet. She likes the closeness. Everything is fine while she is on me and I am petting her. When I go towards her cage to put her away, she starts nibbling on my knuckles (not biting but she could if she wanted to). I put her away anyways and she usually steps up but then will hold onto my finger or a hair elastic if I happen to have one on my wrist (which isn't all of the time) until I can pull free. For the first time today, I was wearing a sweater and when I went to put her back she would not listen and would not go onto her perch. She kept climbing up my sleeve to get away from the perch and holding onto the cuff of my sweater. I had to pull my arm out if the cage so that she was up against the front of the cage (inside) which made her step off of my sleeve and hang onto the cage. This has become a habit for her over the past week or so and I really don't like it and it worries me a bit that if I don't respond properly it may get worse and possibly even turn to biting.

Any suggestions????

[Azure Hanyo]

I am thinking this is just "one of those things" with parrots. They are like toddlers, and if they don't like something they throw birdie tantrums. Just ignore her behavior and it will improve. Gal's has improved, and we are still working on it. I usally give her a nice yummy treat to gnaw on, then while she is working on it I put her away. She isn't happy to be away, but she is happy to have a tasty morsel!

Good luck.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Scooter started out like this. And Michael asked, "Why would he want to go back?" At first I thought that was a bit snarky, but actually it is a good question. What's in it for the bird? Scooter likes praise and activity, so what I did was try to ignore it when he was refusing to go in, but if he did step down nicely, I'd sing a song and make a big fuss. I also think he was a bit afraid if he went back in he wouldn't get to come out again for a long, long time (he'd spent the better part of a year in Petsmart, presumably with relatively little time out of cage) so I also tried to get him in and out fairly frequently.

Now he hops right back in unless it is late and he's overtired in which case, he's just a grumpy beaky thing no matter what you do with him.

[lightweight]

So no need to worry because she's just a brat right

I am sure part of it is that I don't get her out as frequently as I'd like to. So that is something that I am working on and hopefully it will improve a little. She started out being very nice with everyone as well...but now she tries to bite the kids so she is off limits to them for now... But she is a sweetheart and LOVES attention so it will all work out in the end