# Cockatiel Picking at my pimples. (Sorry gross)



## BirdsRAdorable

So my cockatiel loves climbing over me and when he gets to my shoulder he tries to pick at mt acne. I have chronic severe acne and I'm pretty sure he can get sick from the bacteria. How can I stop him from picking at my pustules? He ripped one before and i think he tasted the pus/blood. I really try to keep him off my shoulder and place him away from me when he tries to pick at em but he just comes right back. Also I don't like placing him in his cage, I go to school from 9 to 4 and when I come home I let him out until I go to bed (12am).

Please help I don't know what to do, he keeps walking over to me he won't do his own thing! I don't want him to get ill by him popping my pustules and tasting the blood. I'm sorry I know this is gross  but I can't help that I have acne 

Thankyou


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## ollieandme

it's not gross! i think most teenagers have their birds pick at their acne  in my experience, birds hate blemishes (be it pills on clothing, or dirt on benches, or acne on faces.)
i think you really would need to keep him off your shoulder. sad as that is for you and him. try to put some fun things for him to play with on his cage - or on a spot in the room where he can hang out. maybe his favourite toys.
you could give him treats when he's on his part of the room. sit next to him and make sure he knows you're happy with him. it's a tough position to be in though.

otherwise you could wear a scarf - a high one which goes halfway up your cheeks - lol you'll look strange but he won't be able to reach above it! let us know how it goes...

best wishes


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## steph84106

Hey it's not gross!  I get some pretty bad acne myself... I am having one of those times right now and just yesterday, my Chloe caught me off guard and OMG it hurt! lol... I agree with what ollieandme said - they just can't stand blemishes or anything that doesn't belong!

On one hand, I think it's adorable that they have this obsessive compulsive characteristic! I also think it's adorable that they're so familiar with our faces that they know what doesn't belong  Chloe will follow my pimple with her eyes and head as I move my face away from her little beak while she's on my shoulder... I have OCD myself (an actual diagnosis) so sometimes I look at her like "I feel you Chloe... I totally get it..."


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## BirdsRAdorable

Thanks for replying you two  I don't have classes today so I let him out and first time ever he is doing his own thing xD One of the toys he likes has strings on it so I placed a cloth with strings coming off it and placed him on his favourite couch and he is nibbling away haha xD Now I can do my homework without worrying about him picking at my pimples. Also the scarf idea is very good since I have a heavy breakout along my jawline area so thanks Ollie. Steph I hope your OCD gets better, I see how hard it can be as my brother has it 

You guys are so nice  Thanks again for replying and for the ideas. Take care!


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## Haimovfids

My cockatiels LOVE buttons 
They will fly on my shirt and nibble away
So if you have an old shirt you can sew buttons on it


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## BirdsRAdorable

Yes Baruch so true! When I'm wearing shirts with buttons he loves picking at them but after a little bit he goes right back to my shoulder so sewing buttons on an old shirt is a great idea thank you  I'm not very good at sewing so I'll ask my mum to do it hahah xD


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## ollieandme

ooh! another idea  you could wear a couple of different necklaces - my bird's love necklaces  just buy some cheap ones and maybe they'll detract attention from your face. i have some freckles and Ollie always tries to eat them off lol!


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## BirdsRAdorable

Thanks for the reply again  I have some old necklaces lying around so I'll wear them when he is on my shoulder  Thanks for the idea  Aww Ollie is soo cute  I love birds  why are they so adorable? haha xD


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## BirdsRAdorable

Were your cockatiels picky eaters when you first got them? Cause my little guy is extremely picky  He wont touch a veggie  Im persisting everyday. Do you think he will come around sometime?


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## ollieandme

Ollie's never liked veggies. only now that she is being influenced by Bjorn is she starting to eat. Bjorn likes them cause he was brought up on them.

it's so tough trying to get them to eat. Ollie likes spinach leaves - try some of that  and Bjorn loves broccoli. sometimes if they see you eating they get brave and try. I find that once they actually try them, they like them. it's just getting them to try a mouthful...

here's a useful sticky. this method might work.
http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=30647

you could also make birdie bread. it's a grain-seed-veggie bread. the idea is that the bird wants the seeds and the grain, and eats veggies by the way  here's some recipes:
http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=844
http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=33851

good luck! my vet suggested only offering veggies in the morning, and then some seeds after lunch. that way the bird isn't starving, but it isn't getting seeds all day. you have to be careful though, and make sure your tiel is healthy, before you start doing food deprivation.


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## BirdsRAdorable

Thanks for h recipes I've wanted to make birdie bread for a while but didn't know which recipe to follow. The recipes you linked me look good. I'm hoping he eats it. I tried giving him a little wholegrain bread today and he really liked it so I'm guessing he will try the birdie bread. I give him spinach almost everyday. He nibbles at it but doesn't actually take a bite :/ I feed him a little bit of seed and mostly pellets during the day. I just wish he would eat fresh stuff :/ Also thanks for the sticky. Very good read.


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## BirdsRAdorable

Oh gosh so many people have viewed this thread, how embarrassing. I hope they didn't judge! :/


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## ollieandme

seeds and pellets are good. hopefully he'll get used to veggies in time.
don't worry about the amount of people who viewed the thread. the people on here who i know are not judgemental at all  they just view in case they might be able to help. there's nothing to be embarassed about. i don't have acute acne, but if i have a pimple Ollie tries to "help"


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## dearblythe

Archie does exactly the same thing. This is his routine: 
1. fly over to me from his playperch
2. land on my head
3. removed from head
4. sit on shoulder, attempting to use my glasses as a step ladder to my head
5. perch on my shoulder, bite ear really hard
6. pick my pimples
7. try to climb on top of my head
8. get cranky because he's removed and placed over on his perch again
9. fly to me
10. sit on laptop and steal the keys
11. run away with key in mouth

Repeat steps 1-11.

Meanwhile, Sadie will be happily chilling out by herself, out of mischief. LOL.


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## enigma731

I would second wearing a scarf if you want to have him on your shoulder. I periodically have to do that when my girls get in a mood where they want to try and surgically remove pieces of my skin. It's just their natural instincts to preen you, but you're right that it's not good for him to be ingesting bacteria.


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## ludanmei

Maker! My cockatiels do that to me to when I have my break outs! And when I dont have breakouts, its the eyelashes they go for. They dont just nibble at it, they yank them out and it hurts! 

Azazel was a picky eater when I first got him. As ollieandme has mentioned, eat with them. When they see you eating, they would want to come and have a try as well.


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## cheery

Beauty used to pick any scabs off me and Oscar does the same. Oscar also picks at my moles on the inside of my legs which hurts and also the wick on fingers, sometimes missing and getting fresh skin. Ouch.

He has a tendency to pick at any cracked plaster or paint around the house which we obviously try and stop.


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## BirdsRAdorable

Yes the people on here are very nice, so refreshing to see as people on the net can be really nasty. He is molting right now and I just want him to get enough nutrients  Poor little guy is irritated. He is preening like crazy and demands head scratches haha. I try to bathe him as I've read it helps with the irritation but he gets scared from entering the bowl of water :/

Archie is very mischievous isn't he? No. 11 is very cute haha xD 
Yep it hurts like a mother when they bite ears :/ My little guy is going nuts and attacking everything, the buttons on my shirt, my hair, laptop. He is so hyper lol. Once he tried walking on my face and his nails cut my skin :/ 

Yup enigma I have a scarf on right now which is covering my jawline  He is attacking other things now  If they can get sick from the bacteria in our saliva I'm sure the bacteria filled pimples would do harm too 

ouch ludanmei  Mine never goes for my eyelashes that must hurt a lot. He sometimes bites my ear lobes and it's very painful :/ Well when I gave him the wholegrain bread I ate it in front of him first and he got curious and tried but if I do that with vegies he doesn't seem to care :/ It's strange :/ Vegies are delicious xD he is totally missing out.

Cheery, all I can say is **** ow :/ They just like to nibble/bite everything :/ It can get annoying. He was ferociously biting the keys on my laptop :/ And also sometime tries to bite my lips :/ But birds are so adorable you can't be mad at them for too long 

Thanks to everyone who replied and shared their stories  I received a lot of great tips 

And guys this is bad but I don't really have a name for him yet :/ I'm Turkish and so my mother calls him Sahin (pronounced shahin) but I find that name strange. I'll post a pic sometime and maybe I can get some ideas. I have had him for 4 weeks. I feel horrible that he doesn't really have a name lol.


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## ollieandme

we have a great thread going where everyone is posting what their birds are named, as well as their favourite names.
have a look! maybe you'll get an idea  i'd love to see a photo of him!!
http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=39544


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## BirdsRAdorable

Thanks again for being so helpful. I'll check it out soon  I'll post some photos probably tomorrow  I have a few good ones, but since he is so hyper I have got a lot of blurry ones lol  he just doesn't stay still!


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## urbandecayno5

BirdsRAdorable said:


> Oh gosh so many people have viewed this thread, how embarrassing. I hope they didn't judge! :/


Nothing to be embarrassed about!
I've been viewing this thread but I have nothing useful to contribute that would help
Most of the time people view to see if they can help or if its an interesting thread. We are all here for the same reason: we love our tiels:lol:


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## BirdsRAdorable

A question... my cockatiel is usually loving and nice and today when I went to take him out of his cage he was his usual self, happy and chirping and pacing back and forth on his perch. When I took him out I noticed a feather on his chest that was out of place. I was going to see if it was already out and as I moved my finger to his chest he attacked my fingers  He did this rapid biting thing and he did a little cry and it hurt so **** bad but I didn't react or pull away. Why would he do this?  I'm really sad. Is it normal for young cockatiels to do this randomly? I have had him for a month and he was hand reared... he never really did anything like this before.


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## ollieandme

maybe he just didn't like you touching there.
hopefully he won't repeat it  sometimes they don't like people touching their chests. hopefully it's a one off!


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