HELP!
I have adopted a 17 year old IRN from a well known Aviary/Sanctuary in Colorado. His history is unknown because he was brought to the aviary by a good samaritan. I have had a Cockatiel for 24 years and a Cockatoo for 10. Both are gone so I am not new to caring for birds.
My problem is, "Billy" was fine for almost a month, coming along with training until I introduced him to a mirror. Great mistake. He has turned into T-Rex, lunging, snapping and biting. I know the mirror has made him aggressive and I took it away about a week ago. Did I screw up his head?
Is there anything I can do to reverse this behavior - I am at my wits end.
Try changing his environment to sort of 'reset' him. Move all his perches and toys around to new locations in the cage. It might help him refocus. You'll want to do this at least every one or two months anyway for some excitement in his life.
And welcome to the forum.
I've been called 'birdbrained' before, but somehow I don't think this is what they meant. say:hah-nay
Thanks...sounds like a good idea but the problem is that he spends a lot of time at the shiny latch to his door and the stainless food dishes. Before I replace everything, I am a seamstress and thought I would try hanging a fabric "curtain" in front of the dishes. I know the key is to redirect their focus, just like kids.
And right now he spends NO time with toys-- just his shiny obsessions.
You do need to try getting his obsessive behaviours under control as MissK & Melika suggested; but I was just wondering if you have worked out his fav treat foods yet?
oh yes, thanks for asking. His very favorite is almonds, followed by birdie bread, grapes, nutriberries, apples, sunflower seeds (used sparingly) and he loves coming to the table and helping himself after our meals.
For when you are working on his cage, you can also try to train him to "station". By that I mean have a perch that is away from whatever you are doing and have him sit there. It took me a while but I seem to be able to do this with my guys now. Before I open their cage, I get them to go to their particular perches in the cage and I feed them a few sunflower seeds. Then I open the cage, do something (eg. put in / take out their water or foraging toys) and then feed them again whilst they are on that perch. Usually they stay on the perch. But when you train the behaviour, you need to start with really small sections of time between the initial feeding and the next one. You can gradually lengthen them and eventually the bird should get the idea that if they stay put whilst you are doing things in the cage, they will get treated.
Whether he responds to this will depend on how strong the obsession with shiny is compared to his love of the food.
Another thing to consider is getting him a birdy friend. Hopefully, then he may not obsess over the shiny things so much.
Stationing sounds a little complex for him right now but I frequently underestimate him. Good advice. As far as the birdy friend, I would love to do that - in fact, he had a female sharing the cage with him at the aviary. I was hesitant to take him away from her because she is older and I was afraid it might damage HER emotionally but could this also be a "missing her" reaction on HIS part? Also, SHE is a bit of a handful. Lunging and biting as well. I don't know her history. Plus, I was afraid he would not bond with me.
I would really not want to expose any other bird to him in his current agitated state for fear of someone getting hurt. He seems very angry.
It could very well be that he is missing his mate. I think separating him from her would be very traumatic for him. My Charlie sometimes gets upset when Janey is in the next room or she's in the cage and he's out of the cage.
New behavior this morning is that he was out on the table and sat very low, lifted one foot an began ducking his head up and down and followed that up with more "heart shaping" and then was very aggressively protecting a pair of sun glasses on the table, lunging and biting again. This sure looked like mating behavior to me. He gets veyr excited and throws up some of what is in this crop. At this age, isn't he too old for this?
The only problem is, i do get him away from the cage to interact, like stepping up, and he just pins his eyes ready for a bite. Even with treats.
You mentioned only into half of his life. I thought they only lived 25-30 years. Although Anniie, I'm told, is 40. I was going to say that same thing about men and leering over women into old age, but I didn't want to sound indelicate. Yes, I think Annie may be in our near future, for everyone's mental health.
Thanks for the info about feeding toys - soooo interesting!
Annie was his cagemate at the Gabriel Foundation aviary. We live about a mile from it. We often volunteer there because we are retired, me because of M.S. (27 years still on my feet), husband just because its time.
I don't wait around for the bite - if I see pinning, I'm away from him.
The mirror may or may not be what caused him to turn on these behaviours - could it possibly be breeding season where you are? He might settle down again when its over.
If it were me, I'd bring his mate home too if I could because I personally don't like the idea of splitting up birds that have already bonded and been together so long; even if it may change his relationship with you - but it may not.
Yes, I pretty much agree with you. I have to wait to see what the Foundation says. And my husband. And do I really want another possible problem child?
Yes, I understand. It's a hard decision. I guess it depends how hands on you want to be with the birds... but no matter how wild a bird is, you can always make them tamer... but they won't all progress to the same levels of tameness.
Before I let you go, what is your opinion of wing clipping. I had a Cockatoo that really calmed down and became a whole different bird after trimming and then a cockatiel (24 years!) who was always fully flighted and was fine. I love my birds as hands-on as possible. My IRN is very independent and hand-shy. I think he was always just a show-bird in the cage just to look at. But what personality! Hope I can get my hands on him soon!
There are people who think wing clipping is unethical and others who think that wing clipping makes it safer for the bird (they don't fly into things, can't fly away, etc.). I sort of waiver between the two camps.
My two are not currently clipped, they have been fully flighted for 2 years and I really love seeing them fly around the house. It does make it difficult to keep them out of places they shouldn't go. Last year, during Janey's hormonal, nesting period, she got obsessed with our laundry which unfortunately doesn't have doors on it. She wanted to nest in the washing machine or the dryer and getting her out of there was almost impossible. One day, the power went out because she had bitten through the electrical cable for the dryer. We are lucky she's alive... and it cost us a couple of hundred dollars to get the power cable fixed by an electrician!
When they first came home to us we got them clipped by people who knew what they were doing (avian vet or a particular bird store that knew what they were doing). They always clipped them so that they could fly down. If they can't fly down, if they fall off a perch, they can injure themselves. I learnt the hard way that I still couldn't take them outside. Our yard is really steep and one day, Janey got scared and took off and ended up in the low branches of a tree on the edge of the forest... we were so lucky to get her back! I kept ours clipped for a couple of years.
I hope to never have to clip them again... but it doesn't mean I wouldn't do it if I really needed to... but I certainly wouldn't do it lightly. I came really close to doing it last year when Janey got extremely hormonal during nesting season. She was really hard to manage and would land on me and starting chomping into my skin and wouldn't stop until she came out of the sort of hormonal "trance" she seemed to be in.
The good thing about clipping is that providing it is done right, the feathers will grow back and you can choose to keep them flighted then.
I believe in some European countries it is illegal to clip birds' wings.
Yes, I was just at the Gabriel but one of the people confirmed that he is indeed in the middle of hormones, given the behavior I described to you earlier and that perhaps the mirror intro just kicked it off...December to February. They laughed about hormonal birds, I don't find it quite that amusing.
I'm quite sure they would be willing to foster but I'm not sure my emotions could stand giving her back.
I'm really after an adorable Black Capped conure that I found at a pet store. Hand-raised and oh, do handleable (word?), cuddly. My husband is waiting for our IRN to be that. I fear he will wait forever. Anyway, no more right now, one is enough to get under control and we are considering moving hopefully within the year.
