Reptile & Amphibian Forums

No one's posted here in a long time, hopefully someone will see this. Basically we got a female brown headed parrot about a month ago. Right off the bat she kept biting me and I since then have not been able to feel comfortable to really hold her, I have held her a few times, but not very much. She bonded with my husband very quickly, within a week she was doing the bird mating thing lowering her wings and regurgitating food. In the last week she has started to warm up to me being very curious what I'm doing, and has begun to bite my husband a lot.
My first question is can you teach a bird not to bite. I have read that really only positive reinforcement works. My husband tries to 'drop' her if he can when she bites, but she HOLDS onto him. Will we just have to endure the biting or is there hope in training her?
Also, my husband can't do anything at home, if he goes to the bathroom she squawks, if he is just sitting reading, and not moving around entertaining her, she squawks. Has anyone had success in discouraging squawking and encouraging quieter noises?
Any input is appreciated.
Thanks.

Okay the noise question first. The thing I have seen work best for getting the volume to change is the whisper, ignore and treat good behavior routines. The whisper is when the bird starts being noisy talk in a quiet whispery voice. Do not try to overshout the bird or talk loudly, instead get very quiet, whisper only until the loud noise is done. Most birds will want to hear what is going on and will get very quiet trying to hear what you are saying or doing. Since the whisper is a change to normal tone it makes it something of interest. Many birds will even learn to start "whispering". Another is of course the ignore and reward. Basically if your bird is screaming ignore it, do not go over to it or talk to it etc. Once it quiets go talk to the bird, handle it and even give it a treat. Again once the screaming starts ignore or even leave the room. Do not come back in or pay attention until the bird quiets then reward with attention and treat.

The other issue can be much harder to break. When birds are young they will many times have one person they bond to, this person can be male or female and they will see them as a "parent" figure. They may "beg" when they see them by lowering the body, spreading wings and making a smaller chirpy noise. As birds get older they may switch their attention to a new person who they will now see as a mate. They will quit wanting to be around the first person and instead want only attention from the second much as they would do when leaving the nest and finding a mate. Breaking them of this ingrained behavior can be very hard. They are doing what seems to come naturally. The best things is by letting the not-favorite person start being the one to feed the bird and let only this one person be the one to give a favorite treat. They can then start to see that this person is the source of something good. You can also try showing the bird that the other person is "good" by placing the bird onto the other persons arm/hand and telling them to stay, as long as they don't bite they get a treat. If they do bite they go straight down where they are and both you and the not-favorite person ignore the bird. Once it calms and wants picked up try letting the other person pick it up and if it behaves another small treat. You will have to work on this very gradually but it can be done. Just remember patience and yes positive reinforcement. In some bites the "quake" or "drop" (not really dropping but unbalancing) the bird will work but in other cases the bird will hang on tighter due to fear.

Thank you! I didn't expect a response, let alone so quickly! We are going to be trying to train her. We will be trying all the suggestions, I think that it varies based on the bird as to what will work, we'll keep trying what we can.