# African Gray Help



## damienjakk (Jul 27, 2013)

Hello, I recently took in African Gray and I'm having a bit of a problem with her. The first few days were neutral, I didn't try to pet or pick the bird up, just talked to her, fed her a few things by hand, etc. After about 3 days the bird made it's way to my shoulder, allowed both me and my mother to pet her, started talking more, would come out of the cage when we entered the room, all was fine. So it's about a week now and the bird has taken to my mother a bit more. She'll come out of her cage to the floor and walk across the living room to come sit with her. All this while I've been able to pet her, feed her, etc. Yesterday however she came out of the cage as normal to greet me, I fed her by hand, all the normal stuff. When I put my arm up for her to go on she very quickly snapped at me to bite. I got my arm out fast enough but it was definitely an aggressive action. I thought maybe she was just in a mood, no big deal, and let her be. Today the bird attempted the same thing while I was changing her food, and I can't get too close to the general cage area now if she's on the floor or she'll run up to bite my feet.

So my questions are, is this just the bird bonding with a single person and shunning everyone else? And if so, is there anything I can do to at least be on neutral terms with the bird from this point onward? Thanks.


----------



## AlexArt (Apr 25, 2010)

Firstly never let a bird, especially a new one, on your shoulder as they can cause serious damage to your ear/face if they get the urge, I've heard of people loosing ears and eyes to parrots so please be careful, one of my birds I won't let sit on my shoulder even though I've had her 2yrs she's too temperamental! 
Often new birds will be quiet and like everyone for the first few days then if they're a hand reared bird, which it's most likely yours is, they'll pick out one person they like for whatever reason and attack everyone else! 
My little goffins cockatoo was nice to all of us for the first few days but soon decided I was her best buddy, so she attacks everyone else and will stalk my mum and my sister when they're not looking and go for their ears when they let their guard down!!! I've had her 3yrs now and she'll never change, no amount of telling her off - saying NO to a parrot just winds them up even more! - or putting her back in her cage when she does attack stops it - she's too smart for that!! So we just work round it and she sits with me while I'm painting all day, my sister if she's in my studio working she either wears a silly hat which Peachy is scared of or has a card board tube behind her - equally scary!! She doesn't come out when my mum is around though as she seems to delight in making her whoop and dive bombing her!! My Mum and sister do feed her though to try and associate good things with them, but she fluffs up her face feathers and raises her crest at them if they put their hand too far into her aviary!!
That's the reason I got my cockatoo as she'd had at least 6 owners before me, you'll find most birds are put up for sale at around 2 or 3yrs old when they hit sexual maturity and start to bond with one person and attack others and then go from home to home as people buy them because they are cute but have no idea what it means to keep them!

As for the biting, you say the bird is walking on the floor - am assuming the poor thing has had it's wings clipped?, this often makes them very insecure, some birds are also very possessive over their cage and attack anyone who comes near it - am not sure how you'd get round that one - a parrot forum would have far more experienced bird owners on them so might be worth joining one. How old is your bird? Where did she come from - do you know her history? Also what are you feeding her?

As for agressive biting - it can be down to fear as well - my rescue amazon used to bite me and really mean it, and I'm her chosen one too!! The only way I stopped it was to show her that biting didn't get a response - yes that means getting chunks taken out of you!! Once she had bitten me a good few times really hard, it is hard not to shout and pull away!, but she realised that didn't do anything so she stopped, she does still take the odd small nip at me if she's in a bad mood or is in a silly mad 5mins mode, but I know now when to avoid her when she's grumpy or silly and just not interact with her, then when she's happy again she'll look for a scratch, so it's just perseverance and patience and getting to know the bird! 

They do also take along time to settle in as birds are so family orientated and pair for life, when sold from home to home they feel very insecure and rejected, it would be like selling a child into a new family! My amazon took a year before she'd let me stroke her, stepping up on my arm is still a work in progress as she's not the sharpest crayon in the box either!!


----------



## damienjakk (Jul 27, 2013)

Thanks for the reply, lots of useful information. One question, the person the bird does bond with, do they need to be careful of possibly losing an ear as well, or just every other person? Right now the bird sits on my mom's arm, shoulder, lets her pet her, and even falls asleep on her bed. Should she still be wary of an unprovoked attack, or just the rest of us? Thanks.


----------



## cornishmist (Sep 16, 2013)

Hi we have an african grey called artie, shes in love with my husband, it seems girls like men and boys like women, she will do anything for my hubby but doesnt talk to him but me she talks to but likes to bite me even when I am changing her cage she trys to go for me, I just tell her no, no and she settles down and tells me to get out! lol
I hope you have fun trying to bond but if the bird is in love with your mum youve got no chance.


----------

