DeepLikeNin
09-13-2005, 02:30 PM
Hi everyone! First of all, back story, Mercuri just got her wings clipped (a little too short since she was almost fully flighted before our trip to get clipped two days ago) as a result of her being a little too independent, we still weren't able to hold her without her biting (but she loves to be with us and out of the cage).
My boyfriend, Jason, and I are trying something new with Mercuri as a lot of the time I cannot play with her without a sweatshirt close by to save my hands/arms if she gets too angry. He's not going to touch her until Friday (it's been two days since he has now) so that she gets used to my being the "primary caregiver" haha--because she seems to be more willing to get onto him and play with him. Of course, when she bites him, he feels nothing, when she bites me, it hurts...guys' skin is just thicker, I guess?
Making a tiny bit of progress, only giving her sunflower seeds (her favorite) when she's out with me (bribery? i dunno if that's against the rules), and she's stepping up (she used to step up but then stopped a few months ago) SOMETIMES without biting first... Still, it seems that when she DOES bite, it hurts more and more and she's getting bolder and bolder, so, I started to use a water bottle (she has a thing against the bottle: when she was tiny, we used to spray her instead of let her use a bowl to bathe because she would never get in a bowl, but she hasn't seen the bottle for several months now) whenever she bit and didn't let go. I'm not sure if that's ok to do either...but seems to be helping as when she sees it she seems more cautious.
OH! also, when i have her out, she shreds newspaper, and I've seen her starting to >try< to tuck the strips under her feathers. She's succeeded a couple times, but most of the time, she tries, gives up, and drops the paper. This is called "showing" right? What does it mean...?
Anyone have any comments on any of this? Jason suggested i post this and see if there's any birdie philosophy we're missing or doing wrong? thanks!!!!
My boyfriend, Jason, and I are trying something new with Mercuri as a lot of the time I cannot play with her without a sweatshirt close by to save my hands/arms if she gets too angry. He's not going to touch her until Friday (it's been two days since he has now) so that she gets used to my being the "primary caregiver" haha--because she seems to be more willing to get onto him and play with him. Of course, when she bites him, he feels nothing, when she bites me, it hurts...guys' skin is just thicker, I guess?
Making a tiny bit of progress, only giving her sunflower seeds (her favorite) when she's out with me (bribery? i dunno if that's against the rules), and she's stepping up (she used to step up but then stopped a few months ago) SOMETIMES without biting first... Still, it seems that when she DOES bite, it hurts more and more and she's getting bolder and bolder, so, I started to use a water bottle (she has a thing against the bottle: when she was tiny, we used to spray her instead of let her use a bowl to bathe because she would never get in a bowl, but she hasn't seen the bottle for several months now) whenever she bit and didn't let go. I'm not sure if that's ok to do either...but seems to be helping as when she sees it she seems more cautious.
OH! also, when i have her out, she shreds newspaper, and I've seen her starting to >try< to tuck the strips under her feathers. She's succeeded a couple times, but most of the time, she tries, gives up, and drops the paper. This is called "showing" right? What does it mean...?
Anyone have any comments on any of this? Jason suggested i post this and see if there's any birdie philosophy we're missing or doing wrong? thanks!!!!