Punkin's behavior.

[AlovebirdMom]

Hi LInda

I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving.

I had to write as Im frustrated with lil Punkin. Ive had her 6 wks now and cant seem to break her from this habit of gnawing-- going after my fingers everytime she jumps onto me. It may be she thinks shes playing but I cant distract her with chew toys, paper anything. She just want to bite my fingers. Not hard but enough to make it annoying. I appreciate that she trusts me enough to take a bath in my hands when Im filling their water cups. But its no fun trying to hide my hands from her when I let her out for playtime and no toy is more fascinating. She'll even abandon Skyler to find my hands. If I hide my hands she'll feverishly crawl under the apghan to look for them.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Ellen

[linda040899]

My Thanksgiving was quiet and I enjoyed our home cooked meal! Thanks for asking. Hope yours was nice, as well.

Seems like Punkin has a finger fetish and that can be hard to break. Parrots don't understand punishment, so I never suggest time outs. For them, it's just a change in venue. Have you tried a spray bottle with the spray set on "stream?" Each time Punkin goes for your fingers, spray her. This has to be an instant reaction on your part so she knows why. The mist setting can be pleasant but stream is entirely different. This is not punishment. It's action and reaction. She does something you don't like and stream is the consequence.

I've used this method when my Macaws go off on a screaming tangent and it works. They don't like it, plus they have to take time to preen their feathers that got wet. Now, try that with my Double Yellow Head Amazon and you are wasting your time, initially! He LOVES any kind of water, no matter how it's delivered. He will proceed to dance around until each and every feather is drenched. I get the desired effect because he quiets down to preen....

Hope this might work. Breaking an obsession is very hard.

[AlovebirdMom]

OK Thanks. I'll try that.

Ellen

[linda040899]

You should always get a reaction of some kind. You may even find that all you have to do is go for the spray bottle. She knows what's next and stops. I hear that from a lot of parrot owners.....