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Evie, is obsessed with me, mainly going down my jumpers and tops...and is very possessive. She has drawn blood several occasions this week..We're in Sydney Australia, and its winter at the moment, is this her coming into breeding season?

Yes it is breeding season in Australia. She will most likely be looking for small, dark places to nest. They get protective of their nesting places and can bite, with more aggression than usual. If you have clothes she can't crawl down, I'd start wearing those. Do what you can to discourage her. Try to make other places more interesting for her using treats, shreddables, etc.

From now on, you should never let her in under your clothes, even if its not breeding season as it will make her think it is an okay place for her to go. It also encourages her to form a pair bond with you, which is unhealthy.

Does she have perches around the house she can sit on? How old is she?

Ellie.

She'll be 4 in november, when we stop her going down my top she bites us, hard! I have tried to distract her with all the 4-5 stands we've got around the house and lots of shreddable toys but no avail. Its driving me nuts because she is so possessive and now everytime she comes onto my shoulder or anything i cant get her off! I want to blame my mum who gave her a shoe box which i said I didnt want her to have as told by the vet last year not to give it to her.

Is she bonded to you? Does she attack when others get near you?

Ellie.

She's bonded with both myself and mum, she doesnt bite mum. She bites me when she is on me, she bites me when i go t scratch my face etc. She went through a stage when she snubbed me and just wanted mum, now she's snubbing mum and wont leave me alone! no matter what i wear, she is trying to go down it... my bra, work clothes pjs anything...

Now, not matter what i do, she keeps trying to go down my tops and biting me! This morning she attacked me and bit my lip! What Can I do because I dont want to have her locked in her cage all the time

Think of the most recent bite and tell me what happened directly before that. Also, what do you do after she bites you?

In the meantime, can I suggest you wear clothes she cannot bury into (eg. turtleneck shirts) - even if it means getting changed before you interact with her. Also, for your own protection, you need to keep her away from your face. Try to keep her off your shoulder.

I've had similar bouts of those types of biting behaviours from my Janey but they happen but rarely now. Things can change. One thing that helped me was understanding what triggers these behaviours and learning to avoid them. For Janey, during breeding season, it is opening cupboards and drawers and also long, flowy things (eg. towels, blankets, a loose fitting robe). I also found increasing foraging greatly reduced lunging behaviours and made her more responsive to treats from me. Do you have treat foods that you give her? Holistically, the things that can change your birds behaviour are diet (decreasing fatty and sugary foods), changing their physical environment and enrichment (which includes foraging), changing the nature of their social relationships and training.

Can you also tell me some more about your bird's cage and where it is situated.

These types of behaviours can sometimes be induced by too much pent up energy (not enough stimulation and activity throughout the day) or excitement (something in the environment or something that someone does has agitated your bird) or breeding season. Trying to increase your bird's level of activity during the day with "projects" for them to do (eg. foraging) and trying to interact with your bird only when she is calm can help.

Best wishes.

Ellie.

This bite now, i can see the warning signs, she had her head tilted and pinned eyes I was like whats wrong and she lunged and bit me, and went to my shoulder. I calmly got her to step up and put her in her cage. Her cage has been in the same spot since I got her, against a wall in a corner. where she can get sunlight but quiet at night its located in my bedroom. I have a playstand with a variety of toys, ones that can be destroyed, foraging ones(basically toilet rolls that have treats hidden inside them) and her food and water is on the stand, she gets seed fruits nuts and pellets(currently trying to get her off the seed diet, but wont eat any type of pellets) Fresh fruit and veg, apple, pomegranate, passionfruit, pear, grapes whatever i can get, veg carrot peas beans corn. I dont own turtle necks, no matter what i do she comes running at me jumps on me and then bites my hand when i ask her to step up...I am not scared to be alone with her cos half the time when she's on me i cant get her off...

What size is her cage?

You could try moving her cage somewhere that she will be exposed to more people (eg. family room). Depending on the size of the cage, you could move it around to different areas at different times of the day. You could also try moving her playstand too.

You can also introduce foraging into her cage - this is where my birds do most of their foraging. Cage time can be boring, so having foraging in there gives them something to do, especially if I'm away during the day. It's great that you give her a variety of food. I'd be interested to see if you cut out or reduce high sugar fruits (eg. passion fruit) and veges (not all veges just high sugar ones eg. peas, corn) and high fat foods such as nuts, whether her behaviour improves. You could use these as training treats and not include them as part of her diet.

Do you do any training with her? Are you interested in doing any training?

Also, where in the world are you? If you are in Australia it is breeding time, so this may be hormonal behaviour. Does she show any other nesting behaviours other than trying to bury under your clothes?

I'm glad that you can now watch for the signs of the bite, but I'm also wondering what happened before her eyes were pinning at you and then bit you? What got her agitated/excited in the first place?

Ellie.