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Post by siobhan on Dec 29, 2014 23:38:22 GMT -5
I have a chair next to Jade's cage for visiting with her since she will rarely come over to my regular chair. I was sitting in it talking to her and she was bobbing her head and showing off her pretty wings and we were having a nice visit (Clyde was stuffing his face; normally he doesn't approve of my talking to Jade) and she came out and hung off the side of her cage and leaned toward me, so I pulled my sleeve down (I'm gullible but not stupid, LOL) and offered my arm. She plucked my sleeve a few times and I moved my arm closer in case she would miraculously step up, since she was giving every indication that's what she wanted to do and ... CHOMP. I now have a bruise on my right arm to go with the one on my left hand that Clyde gave me a week or so ago.
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Post by biteybird on Dec 30, 2014 2:04:11 GMT -5
Maybe they're collaborating with each other. :-/Sorry about your bruises...just goes to show that what they are thinking and what WE THINK they are thinking can be very different!
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Post by julianna on Dec 30, 2014 12:34:04 GMT -5
I read that the best command to stop them from biting... (if you can)... is to wobble your finger when they are sitting on it. Like in a up and down motion. This makes them feel like a small earth quake and they will immediately sit still. I did this to Oscar when he would nip me every time I picked up my coffee cup. A few "up and downs" and this has stopped completely. I know you didn't get her to the finger but I am sure it would work if she were on your sleeve as well. Or maybe not... lol
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Post by siobhan on Dec 30, 2014 15:03:22 GMT -5
She wasn't on the sleeve. She was hanging off the side of her cage and reaching over to get the sleeve (and my arm). Jade has stepped up only a handful of times in the 10 years we've had her, and every time was because she was in a pickle of some sort. Once she flew into the hall and the light was off and she got confused and landed on the floor. She stepped up so I could carry her back to her cage. That's the sort of situation where she'll step up. She was sadly neglected before we got her for long enough that she refuses to be handled, but we have made such great strides since she first joined the family that you wouldn't know she's the same bird. And she does fly over and land on my shoulder a few times a week for a moment or so, long enough to pull my hair or chomp my shoulder, which for her is a display of affection. Even last night's chomp is a show of affection. She was playing and just bit too hard. I didn't react loudly, I just said, "Ow, you don't have to bite Mommy, you little stinker" at which point she said "whee hee!" and bobbed her head. If she'd meant to be aggressive, she would have squawked and lunged.
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Post by Jan and Shah on Dec 30, 2014 16:13:54 GMT -5
Jade is doing extremely well and has made great progress. The chomp might have been accidental. Now if it had have been Clyde ......
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Post by biteybird on Dec 30, 2014 21:34:21 GMT -5
My parents-in-law are over from Tasmania at the moment and Bonnie bites my father-in-law on the ear/s, fingers and neck, most definitely on purpose. She doesn't do it to me or my hubby, or my mother-in-law - but she does do it to other males. I wonder if it's because their earlobes are bigger...also, my father-in-law has arthritic fingers and they are very bumpy-looking, which Bonnie isn't used to.
Sounds like you've done very well with Jade and the chomp may well have been only partially intentional!
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Post by easttex on Dec 31, 2014 6:52:52 GMT -5
Your father in law sounds like a very good sport, bitey.  |
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Post by siobhan on Dec 31, 2014 11:45:34 GMT -5
No, the chomp was intentional. LOL It's hard to explain unless you know Jade, but there's a different body language entirely, a different expression in her eyes, when she's chomping to be a grouch and when she's playing and chomps because chomping is the only way she knows to interact. She knew when she was grabbing sleeve and when she was grabbing me, too, and she grabbed me on purpose. It's a game. My job is to keep her from chomping and her job is to chomp in spite of me.
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