Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My gray cockatiel, Cleoria (Cleo) is biting. She (maybe a he)is rubbing her butt on her cage and biting without warning. She was standing on top of her cage, said "come here" which means she wants to be picked up. I went to her cage, went to pick her up as normal, she usually uses he beak to pull herself onto my hand. She was acting normal,started to get on my hand, nd bit down on my hand and would not let go! I shook her off my hand and she flew at my face. I got a towel and grabbed her and put her in her cage, closed the door and covered her. I know it is mating season and she wants to get laid, but I can't help her there! Also, when she is acting normal, she is lovey dovey and wants us (me and my boyfriend) to rub her neck, we do and she will bite us out of the blue, put her head back down and want us to pet her again. MAJOR MOOD SWINGS! (which is why she must be a female, lol) How can we break this habit of her thinking she can bite us and get away with it? What punishments can I give? I can't hit her, yelling and saying bad bird only pisses her off even more. She is running the joint! HELP ME GET CONTROL BACK! She is on a quick road to being buttered and thrown in the ove at 450 with stovetop up her butt! (Just kidding)

Well the first thing to remember is not to get mad. I know you were joking but a lot of people do get annoyed when their loving pet seems to turn on them.

Try changing your birds cage and toys around. Move it to a different location put different toys in or change existing toys around. Limit the daylight hours. When your bird misbehaves do not say anything or if you feel the need just give a stern no, place her back in her cage and cover the cage for 10 minutes. Then take the cover off and talk nicely to her. When she is out and behaving give her treats or have her favorite toy handy. When she has been behaving and you do put her back in her cage make it enjoyable give praise treat etc. This way she will associate nice things with good behavior and biting with being covered and ignored for a little while. Yelling or screaming will not do anything but entertain her. Or it may scare her enough so that she is fearful and bites even more.

You must be patient and if all else fails try a pair of skin colored light weight gloves. Either way do not give her a reaction when she bites except to put her in her cage. If you know her bite is going to hurt and can't help but react use the gloves. Also if you don't already make sure she has plenty of rope and wood toys to love, preen, bite and destroy.

For at least a short time also limit the amount of time she is our of her cage. If she is usually allowed out without being handled only let her out when she is going to be handled this will also let her know if she wants out she has to be nice and be handled. After she is behaving then you can let her play on her own for longer periods of time.

Stephanie

I`m gonna contradict your advice a little.

First, I do recommend using a stern no, along with a displeased look. This works better with the larger, more intelligent, more emotionally sensitive species then with cockatiels, but even little cockatiels can pick up on the fact that you`re unhappy with them, and that`s NOT what they want.

Second, when your bird misbehaves, simply put her down in the nearest, convenient, safe place. Don`t walk all the way back to the cage, this takes too long. The bird won`t understand why it`s suddenly in its cage. So if you`re sitting on the couch and you get bitten, put the bird down on the back of the couch... then turn and walk away. Covering the cage is completely unnecessary,and 10 mins is a bit long. Just a minute or two should be enough.

Yelling, screaming, etc... often doesn`t frighten birds so much as it REWARDS them. Most birds love big, noisy drama such as this. So yelling will only reinforce the behavior.

Goodluck!