food aggression

[TheNzJessie]

has anyone had a problem with birds becoming extremely aggressive over one particular type of food? my lorikeet its becoming increasingly aggressive over fruit or vegetables. he gets them at the same time every day so i dont understand why hes becoming aggressive over those particular food, there is no aggression anywhere else not even for other types of food. i want to stop it before it becomes unbearable and starts drawing blood, he has bitten me about 3 times quite hard but not enough to draw blood. i want so stop it before it gets to that point. has anyone else had a problem with this and give me some advice?

[entrancedbymyGCC]

At what point does he bite? Where is he Shan you deliver the food or remove it?

Scooter sometimes gets bitey when heis at his dish on the counter eating and I go to add more. However if I go slower or ask him to step up away from the bowl he's fine. It seems almost like an instinctive response defending the food.

[TheNzJessie]

when im placing the stainless steel bowl in the ring, hes on his perch on the other side of the cage and just jumps to lunch then bites until i remove my hand, he only does it with fruit and veges but not his wet mix or dry mix and hes only started doing it since yesterday, he used to be fine and nothing has changed

[Athena&beepbeep'smom]

I agree, just avoid the situation. Ask him to step up and maybe even place him out of the cage while you're putting in the food. The very best reinforcer for those nasty biting behaviors is our agitated reaction to the bite so sometimes the best way to stop the behavior for good is just to avoid giving him the opportunity for a while.

[ptuga72]

I agree, just avoid the situation. Ask him to step up and maybe even place him out of the cage while you're putting in the food. The very best reinforcer for those nasty biting behaviors is our agitated reaction to the bite so sometimes the best way to stop the behavior for good is just to avoid giving him the opportunity for a while.

I think this is a great suggestion! Scarlet for a while thought her water dish needed defending. So I used her target stick to move her to the other side of the cage and give her a treat that would occupy her long enough to change it out. But, if she did step up I would definitely move her somewhere other than her cage when changing it.