graushill
11-24-2005, 10:34 AM
Hello everyone,
I thought I had some experience with lovebirds and that after Houdini and Pontus and Nemo, I would be prepared whatever came. I never did imagine though that I would come to this section. Yet here I am and totally unprepared. It turns out sweet, tiny Pidget is a vampire, at least some times. Talk about looks being misleading :rolleyes:.
He bites both inside and outside his cage, although from the feel of it, he does put more effort in his "I'm defending my cage" bites. Those can draw blood. As much as those hurt, I've learned my lesson and now take good care in cleaning mostly when he's out, making sure no exposed body parts are near him when I need to change something while he's inside and to move my hand as fast out as possible when I've been handfeeding him inside the cage and he's done. It's the out of cage bites that have me at a loss because I don't really understand why he does it or how to react. He doesn't do it all the time, mind you, but for example a typical bite episode goes like this. I'm sitting with him snuggled up in my hand (I could never do this with Houdini, so I loovve it :) ), and he's looking all fat and contented. I'm saying oh you're so pretty and he's apparently agreeing and then suddenly CHOMP, usually in my wrist or the back of my hand. I probably should say he pinches more than bites, but it still hurts a heck of a lot to not use the words I usually do in these ocassions >o . He also pinches my neck or my ears and even my forehead on one memorable occassion if he's sitting somewhere near those places and the mood to bite strikes him. There's been a lot of screaming and crying after the pinch episodes, and I must say that most of the screaming is on his part. He bites, screams like I've struck him or something and flies away. I don't understand :confused: .
The problem is as much as I love having for once a rather socialized lovebird, I'm starting to lose my trust in him. I tense up when he flies over to me because I'm afraid he will bite me. I've been reading a while here, but I'm not sure what to do. I can't say no bite, because he doesn't seem to give much warning (at least I don't see any pinpointed eyes or raised back feathers or such) and he flies away almost immediately afterwards. Is there something else I could try? Thanks in advance for any help you can give us!
Hugs,
Gloria
;)
I thought I had some experience with lovebirds and that after Houdini and Pontus and Nemo, I would be prepared whatever came. I never did imagine though that I would come to this section. Yet here I am and totally unprepared. It turns out sweet, tiny Pidget is a vampire, at least some times. Talk about looks being misleading :rolleyes:.
He bites both inside and outside his cage, although from the feel of it, he does put more effort in his "I'm defending my cage" bites. Those can draw blood. As much as those hurt, I've learned my lesson and now take good care in cleaning mostly when he's out, making sure no exposed body parts are near him when I need to change something while he's inside and to move my hand as fast out as possible when I've been handfeeding him inside the cage and he's done. It's the out of cage bites that have me at a loss because I don't really understand why he does it or how to react. He doesn't do it all the time, mind you, but for example a typical bite episode goes like this. I'm sitting with him snuggled up in my hand (I could never do this with Houdini, so I loovve it :) ), and he's looking all fat and contented. I'm saying oh you're so pretty and he's apparently agreeing and then suddenly CHOMP, usually in my wrist or the back of my hand. I probably should say he pinches more than bites, but it still hurts a heck of a lot to not use the words I usually do in these ocassions >o . He also pinches my neck or my ears and even my forehead on one memorable occassion if he's sitting somewhere near those places and the mood to bite strikes him. There's been a lot of screaming and crying after the pinch episodes, and I must say that most of the screaming is on his part. He bites, screams like I've struck him or something and flies away. I don't understand :confused: .
The problem is as much as I love having for once a rather socialized lovebird, I'm starting to lose my trust in him. I tense up when he flies over to me because I'm afraid he will bite me. I've been reading a while here, but I'm not sure what to do. I can't say no bite, because he doesn't seem to give much warning (at least I don't see any pinpointed eyes or raised back feathers or such) and he flies away almost immediately afterwards. Is there something else I could try? Thanks in advance for any help you can give us!
Hugs,
Gloria
;)