Update on Marley

[saxypanda]

So we have had Marley now for a little over a month and so I thought I would give you all a little update. When we first got him he was not tame at all and didn't want anything to do with any of us. I have been working with him alot and now he will let me hold him and he will sit on my shoulder but I still need to watch out for his biting. It's gotten better but man does it hurt!! His bites break the skin and bleed! There are times where he will nibble now so its hard to determine which bite he will give next. :omg:

He is a little devil though!!:evil: :evil: He will not let Daisy anywhere near him. I feel bad for her cause she is trying so hard to be friends but he is nothing but a bully! He won't even let her anywhere near the play gym when he is on it. He is very posessive of whatever area he happens to be.. is there anyway to break that? I understand the cage and all but the gym (and my shoulders) should be fair game to both of them.

Other then that he is a doll! His fav thing is when I take a hand towel and warm it for a min in the dryer and wrap him up and snuggle. Its hard to get him to leave from his cozy warm nap! He also copies sounds.. most of it is really adorable but there are a few I wish he never heard..like the car alarm or the machine gun sound that comes from my boyfriends computer game..

I'll post more pics of him soon!

[BarbieH]

Hi Amanda;

Sounds like you are all getting to know each other pretty well, for better or for worse. :) I've lived with a bird that once was a nasty biter (Gracie), so I can share with you some of the things we did with her.

* Always watch the body language. Become very aware of the body language that precedes a bite. For Gracie, putting her head down and fluffing up her shoulders was a big thing. That meant she was ready to charge and bite something ... anything.

In that moment before she bit, I did my best to distract her, either with her dowel or something else, like a squirt of water. I couldn't distract her with food, because she was territorial about that. :\ Made her nippier! Sounds like Marley gets territorial too. Like Gracie, he assumes that everything belongs to him, or should belong to him. There isn't much you can do to break him of that, but you might persuade him to share, with time.

* I didn't always get a warning. Then I had to pay attention to what was triggering her to bite, to see if I could detect a pattern. Once I noticed that something made her bitey, all I had to do was avoid/prevent that thing. :)

* For a bird that sometimes draws blood, I would try to prevent all biting. Some hurt worse than others, but it could be that your bird doesn't control how hard she bites real well. For my own safety, I would try to prevent all bites.

* Based on Marley's reactions, I wouldn't bring him and Daisy out together. It's too risky at this point. He has made his feelings known about Daisy, and you need to go along with his preference.

I have found that it's so much easier to prevent bites than it is to discourage them. Our birds don't get discouraged easily; they get mad, but I have yet to see one get put off from doing something it wants to do.

You can prevent a lot of bites, and over time Marley may learn that coming out with you means not biting. It has worked for Gracie, my charging, biting, bloody little hen. :D

Best wishes,

[saxypanda]

Thanks for the tips Barb! I have been watching and yes there are times that I can tell he is wanting to bite so I can prevent it from happening. I was worried about him not trusting me if I keep pulling away but I will try to distract him instead.