# Increasing Problems



## mareeder (Jul 31, 2013)

Pip is not a nice bird, and it is getting worse.

We've had him since August and have had moderate problems with him from the beginning. He has always been a biter. He does not like fingers. He is isn't scared of them, he just hates them. I can not get him to step up on command (only food-bribed and only on my fist and only when he knows it means he gets to come out of his cage.) He hates my wife and children. We were very patient with him when we first brought him home and I spent so much time with him while we attempted to bond. We eventually found common ground enough that he could be bribed onto my fist and he'd climb up on my shoulder where he would happily stay all day if I let him.

He loves to ride around on my shoulder, and he gets a lot of out of cage time (several hours a day) He gets veggies and seed/pellet mix. He has lots of toys and perches, on top of his cage and inside. He gets mist baths. 

According to the tons of research, we seem to be doing it all right. If I do ANYTHING at all near him with my fingers, other than scratch his head, he goes bananas. (I still find it weird that he even lets me touch his head.)

Over the past week, Pip has become increasingly aggressive. Not only has his finger biting (and I am not talking about nipping, I am talking about flesh-puncturing BITING) increased, but he is now displaying outright aggressive behavior. While he is on top of his cage, he flares his wings out, hisses, sqwaks and chases my hands around lunging at my fingers when I attempt to open the top of the cage, or adjust a toy. When I offer him a nub of millet or a treat from my fingers, he does the same thing, attacking my fingers, then the treat, then the fingers again, wings flared. He is even worse with my wife. I had to come at him with a perch this morning to get him back into his cage because he was being so aggressive.

I'm not sure how much longer this behavior can be tolerated. He is breaking my heart and I am getting angry at him and my kids are scared of him, even as they want to love him so much.

The behavior seems to stop when he gets onto my shoulder, but I'll be damned if I'm going to allow a bird who displays that kind of behavior be rewarded with time on my shoulder on even top-of-cage time.

Any advice would be appreciated, but more than anything, I think I just need to express that this is becoming a disheartening experience for our family. We ultimately settled on a cockatiel because of their reputation for being sweet, gentle, social birds that become part of the family. This just isn't the case at all with Pip. 

We have been so very patient with him, have loved him, spoiled him with toys, treats, out of cage time, taught him four songs and even took him on vacation with us. I am home most of the day with my kids, so he isn't alone all day (we are in and out of his room all day long, and he is often on my shoulder.)

Why is he being so cruel to us, and why is it getting worse? If things don't turn around, we may have to do what I thought I would never do with a pet: rehome him, which would break all of our hearts.


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## mareeder (Jul 31, 2013)

I feel the need to amend that once Pip is on my shoulder, he is an absolute sweetheart. He does preen me somewhat aggressively at times (plucking beard hairs and blemishes, i.e.) but he's been getting better with this. But on my shoulder, he's happy as a clam... until I try to get him off my shoulder, or if someone else gets too close. Then watch out.


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## CaliTiels (Oct 18, 2012)

How old is Pip?


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## sunnysmom (Sep 23, 2011)

I know August seems like a long time, but it really isn't. I think you've made progress with Pip. And it could be that Pip right now is going through a hormonal stage. Longer night treatments may be needed. When we first got our tiel he didn't not like my fiancé at all. It took months- they're now friends. But it took awhile. One thing that helped was having him help take care of Sunny- change his water, give him millet, etc. Also, my tiel always steps on the flat of my hand. He doesn't like to step up on my finger, and that's okay. It takes some birds longer than others to build trust, etc. I would just keep trying and try not to be discouraged. And I suspect your tiel is currently going through a hormonal stage.


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## mareeder (Jul 31, 2013)

Thank you. I also wondered about Hormones. We think Pip is about 9 months old. And part of the trouble stemmed when I went away for the weekend and my wife took care of him. She was very patient and sweet with him, but his behavior was very aggressive. 


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## Double Trouble (Nov 24, 2013)

Is Pip definitely a male? because this behavior sounds so much like my female Cockatiel who i had to rehome for her own health reasons, it broke my heart.

She was going through a moult and was also in breeding condition, and i had taken every possible step to bring her hormone levels down, and 2 months later even tho she was separated from my male (separate cage, separate room, limited hours of daylight etc etc, though she could still hear him) she just would not come out of condition and wanted babies and she was still so very very young.

She has since been rehomed with a friend and is no longer showing these signs of aggression.

I'm not saying rehome your bird at all here, lets just make that bit clear lol.. but what i am trying to say is this behaviour is/was identical to my females


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Definitely sounds like hormones. How many hours of sleep a night does Pip get? Even my Fuzzy, who was bonded to me and saw me as his mate got nippy at this age. This could also be why he doesn't like your wife and children, he sees them as competition.

Another thing to think about regarding fingers...he may just not trust them. If he has to step up on your fist for the rest of his life, I don't really see that as a bad thing.


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## mareeder (Jul 31, 2013)

Fairly certain Pip is a male, he has increasing orange spots on his cheeks and sings many songs. Haven't had him sexed yet, but his coloration and vocal behavior make me think that he's almost certainly of the boy variety.


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## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

mareeder said:


> I'm not sure how much longer this behavior can be tolerated. He is breaking my heart and I am getting angry at him and my kids are scared of him, even as they want to love him so much.
> 
> The behavior seems to stop when he gets onto my shoulder, but I'll be damned if I'm going to allow a bird who displays that kind of behavior be rewarded with time on my shoulder on even top-of-cage time.
> 
> ...


I hear you, mareeder -- this is why we're rehoming Elvis and Georgia. (We have a wonderful home for them but are waiting until their molt is over and temperatures are a little warmer so they don't get a shock from the cold when we transport them.) They're getting more aggressive by the day and I still have a scar from where Georgia bit me and refused to let go a few weeks ago. (We don't have kids, but I would not be comfortable having a biting bird around children if we had them.) Because I'm moving out of our house due to a new job there will only be one person to attempt to keep training them, my BF, and he's at the end of his rope with them. We had the same problem... he thought that tiels would be these sweet-natured pets and then ours turned out to be very, very difficult.

That said, Pip is 9 months old and it sounds like a lot of tiels go through a nasty hormonal phase that does not necessarily last. Our tiels are 5 and 6 years old so they don't have that excuse. We just think they're sick of us! Hang in there, and if it doesn't get better, I don't think rehoming is something to be ashamed of -- heck, we're doing it. Some birds seem to really want to be in an aviary or a big open environment, something that we can't offer to our birds because of space constraints. They seem to be more particular than dogs or cats about their housing arrangements.


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## mareeder (Jul 31, 2013)

Thanks, everyone. Pip has never been an "easy" bird, so this recent development is a sad, if not surprising, turn of events for us.


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## sunnysmom (Sep 23, 2011)

I know it's hard but don't be discouraged. I think tiels sense frustration, etc. and act out accordingly. Try to be patient with him. Whenever I find myself getting impatient with Sunny, which as good as I think he is, there are moments- I actually stop and sing a silly song to him. It sounds dumb but it seems to help.


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## mareeder (Jul 31, 2013)

Thanks! Singing does seem to help. But I have noticed that he doesn't seem to sing as much th e we days either. Just walks around with a quiet little throaty squawk.


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## mareeder (Jul 31, 2013)

mareeder said:


> Thanks! Singing does seem to help. But I have noticed that he doesn't seem to sing as much th e we days either.


That, of course, should have read "he doesn't seem to sing as much these days either."

Good grief.


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## Hellena (Feb 11, 2013)

I'm going through this right now with a tiel i just got. I can't take the biting anymore, she has drawn blood twice today. The breeder has offered to take her back with first pick of the next clutch. Too good to pass up I think. I'm almost scared to handle her. some birds just can't be tamed....


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