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Post by biteybird on Dec 24, 2015 5:13:53 GMT -5
We are at our holiday caravan at present and I came down yesterday with Bonnie. Normally in the mornings hubby sneaks her food into the cage before she's awake (he gets up at 5am every morning..  ). This morning she was awake when I got up and I took her food dish out and put some pellets in it and then soaked them in apple juice (a new thing we are trying) while I had a shower. I then went through the routine of trying to get the food dish back in without my fingers being pecked - a compulsion that she can't resist, it seems...after 5 minutes or so of saying "Off you go/move away/go on/out of the way", along with withdrawing the dish every time she tried to peck at my fingers, she finally went up to the top of the cage so I could put the dish in.
She came rushing down to get the food - oh, disaster! No seeds, only pellets - I'd neglected to mix in the requisite seeds amongst the pellets. You've no idea of the drama. She gave me a look of absolute disgust and retreated into her happy hut...then, 5 minutes later, greed won out and she had to resort to eating the pellets.
A short time later I dutifully took the dish out again and mixed in the compulsory seeds, then we went through the 'move away' process all over again... |
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Post by easttex on Dec 24, 2015 5:53:24 GMT -5
It sounds like Bonnie really has you buffaloed! Have you tried giving her treats through the cage bars while she's in another part of the cage, so you can go in and out without bleeding? |
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Post by Jan and Shah on Dec 24, 2015 18:29:45 GMT -5
Shame on you Biteybird. And shame on you too, Bonnie - you have obviously let your human slave training slip due to the holiday season.
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Post by aaron on Dec 24, 2015 18:34:37 GMT -5
Sheesh. A thankless job we have with these little birds. Bonnie is quite a handful, isn't she!!
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Post by cnyguy on Dec 24, 2015 21:09:14 GMT -5
Just like Ralph, Bonnie seems to have trouble understanding the old adage "don't bite the hand that feeds you."  The only time Ralph ever bites, other than playfully, is when I'm trying to access his food dish. |
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Post by biteybird on Dec 25, 2015 5:23:21 GMT -5
Have you tried giving her treats through the cage bars while she's in another part of the cage, so you can go in and out without bleeding? Unfortunately she's in her smaller cage because we're away, and the openings are the slide-up type (which requires one hand to hold it up while the other hand puts the dish in). Even if that weren't the case, she wouldn't fall for the diversion - the compulsion to rush and attack is just too strong for her to resist. 
Aaron, yes, she is 'quite a handful' at times! Gary, I'm actually glad that Ralph does this too, as it means we're not necessarily bad parronts. It seems to be a common quaker trait/behavior.
My hubby was speculating earlier about what she would do if she tried to bite/peck, then we put the food and water dishes on a table (in her sight) each time she did it - would she take long to realize that if she attacked they don't get put in the cage? I think she would cotton on pretty quickly, but probably wouldn't be able to resist the compulsion...who knows, but it would be an interesting 'experiment' to try.
She does understand what I want her to do (move up to the top of the cage while I'm putting the dishes in), but I have to be willing to spend at least 5 minutes going through the process. This morning, though, I got the water dish in there in record time - after a couple of times of moving it away from the cage when she rushed down, she went up to the top and it was fine. She actually knew what I wanted her to do. It's just that, most mornings I don't have the time to wait before I have to leave for work. She's very smart!
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Post by easttex on Dec 25, 2015 7:12:25 GMT -5
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Post by julianna on Dec 25, 2015 14:28:32 GMT -5
Definitely having outside access to the food bowl is a must. Oscar has his food on top of the cage that he usually eats from and still .... I have to be smarter than him to get the bowls out and back before he sees me.
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Post by cnyguy on Dec 25, 2015 22:15:56 GMT -5
If Ralph is busy untying his strings or something, he won't notice that I'm taking out his food dish. If he's not busy, he'll perch on the dish, and as soon as I open the access door, my hand is fair game. I try to distract him with my left hand, maybe by pretending to open the front cage door, while removing the food dish with my right. Sometimes it works.  As I said, he doesn't normally bite with intent at any other time-- he bites playfully and usually not painfully, but doesn't always remember to be gentle. |
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Post by aaron on Dec 28, 2015 19:32:24 GMT -5
Gosh, we must be the luckiest QP owners in existence having a QP that is not aggressive about food changes like this. Cupcake will occasionally bite me if I am moving a perch or a toy, but even then it's rarely a serious bite.
Of course, her primary feeding zone is not in a cage, but on top of a shelving unit that she can fly to when she wants to eat, so that helps. But in general she doesn't really care if I stick my hands in her cage or not... My wife can do it too without a problem.
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Post by Jan and Shah on Dec 28, 2015 22:18:15 GMT -5
Like Aaron, I don't have these problems with Shah. But that is probably due to the fact that he loves his food and can hardly wait until it all goes into his cage.
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Post by zim on Dec 28, 2015 22:30:57 GMT -5
I haven't had any problems like this yet with Yoshi, but it could (and probably is) because he's very young. He still shys away from my hand, so I don't foresee him rushing to bite it any time soon.
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Post by bruce on Jan 2, 2016 0:07:43 GMT -5
The paces these little dinosaurs put us through ! Chuckie is still in attack mode any time I change out the water in his sipper bottle. He also makes lunges and threatening sounds when I change his food cup, fortunately I can usually distract him; the drama and fussiness that ensues would probably alarm anyone not familiar with QP Territoriality. It always amazes me when I read that in the wild they build large communal nests, and frequently share the older areas with other animals. My attempts to arrange his bird condo into three zones like a wild QP would have (visiting social, family social, private den/nursery) has been somewhat successful. I do not interact with him in the back half of the condo unless he shows signs of wanting attention. I will talk to him, and of late he comes out to the social zone fairly regularly. Oddly enough once the condo door is closed for the night, Chuckie likes to roost on the perch attached to the door. I am very careful in the morning to talk to him to make sure he is awake before I remove the covers, the one time I didn't he was startled and fell off the perch. Thankfully other than needing to put some displaced plumage in order he was OK. |
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Post by julianna on Jan 2, 2016 16:04:37 GMT -5
Bruce... Oscar builds these houses all the time. I do not discourage it... although many on here would think it is a good thing to do that.... but he loves to build and it keeps him occupied... and he has not become anymore or less aggressive with us... so I let him continue. You must look at the pictures I posted... under... How many houses does a QP need? Also my picture on the left shows you one of his houses (I think number 4) and this one has a huge hanging basket in the front... and three rooms in the back. Other than me helping with the basic floor structure he did this himself with 5,000 plastic tie wraps. When people see this... they are totally shocked.
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).
The only time Ralph ever bites, other than playfully, is when I'm trying to access his food dish. 
As I said, he doesn't normally bite with intent at any other time-- he bites playfully and usually not painfully, but doesn't always remember to be gentle. 
