# Squirrel's Issues



## RedFeather (Jul 26, 2009)

I have posted here before, but it was ages ago.  I'm not new to cockatiels, but I've just acquired another one. The first one is really sweet. She was mistreated and used to have trust issues, but now she's awesome. She'll beak you when she's annoyed but she rarely bites, etc. So, I never have any problems with her.

I just got a male from a bird rescue. I was told he's about 4 years old, and we're his fourth home. So, that's like a new home every year for the poor guy. I think it had something to do with his general dislike for males. He's much nicer to women than he is men. That's one of his issues. I do not think that he dislikes my husband, but he has drawn blood biting him the past couple of days. He does bite me too, though not as hard, and he seems to be a bit cage territorial. I'd really love for this to stop. We intend on keeping him - after all, we didn't give up on other other 'tiel and she turned out just fine in the end. However, there are things he needs to learn aren't okay. The biting is one thing. I'd really love for him to warn me in some other way than biting.

He also screams when I leave the room he's in. He seems quite clingy. What makes this worse is the scream he often uses sounds an awful lot like a conure scream. XD (He was around conures at the bird rescue.) It's kind of funny, but grating, and I'd really prefer he not do it as much. So, I'm trying to encourage him to do other sounds - he does really seem to enjoy mimicking (he does various whistles, and can say "pretty bird").

He is a tame bird. He knows how to step up. He's addicted to having his head scratched. He can be really, really sweet when he wants to be, and I'm looking forward to having him around.

I did just get him a week ago so no doubt, he's still adjusting and it will take some time. But, I'm just wondering what the best ways are to proceed with teaching him how to behave. When he screams, I do not go into the room he's in and take him out. I make a point of entering the room and giving him attention when he's not screaming. He doesn't scream constantly, but he does it enough that it really needs to stop. I've heard that you should ignore them completely when they scream; but I've also heard that whistling back to them to let them know you're still around helps. I tried this approach today and it seemed to help, although today he's been screaming quite a bit at times. He did pick up on the whistle that I've been using to whistle back to him with, though - which is much less abrasive and is something I really wouldn't mind so much.

And as to his aggression - I also started clicker and target training with him today and he seemed to be picking up on it nicely. Could such training help with that?

I guess I'm posting this, mainly because I'm up for suggestions, and I'm curious as to whether there's anything I could be doing that I haven't thought of that might help in training him.


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## Jenny10 (Feb 27, 2010)

Hi,

It sounds like you are making good progress with him so don’t really need too much help.

The whistling back is correct, if you are out of his sight and he calls and you call back then you confirmed to him that you are ok, however if he continues to whistle even after you have called back then it could be more of an attention issue, some say you should ignore this because if you react then you are encouraging screaming by rewarding it.

But it can get very load to continue to ignore as well, lol, so it’s a difficult one to know what to do for the best, I am sure others will have advice to.

Good luck with it.

Jenny


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## Siobhan (Mar 21, 2010)

He sounds insecure and no wonder, with four homes in four years. Maybe for now you could just wait and see. Whistle to him -- always the same whistle -- when he calls for you. Our family flock call is Beethoven's Fifth. LOL He'll get so he understands that's the signal for "I'm in the other room" or whatever and he may learn to whistle it back. He's probably clingy because he's afraid you, too, will vanish and he'll have yet another new family, so if you give him another week or two to feel at home, the behavior may resolve itself on its own. Biting is really a bird's only way to express unhappiness with something you're doing or not doing and maybe once you get to know each other better, and you figure out what he doesn't like -- for example, my Clyde hates to have his tail touched, and Freddie doesn't like having his back petted -- the biting won't be an issue either.


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## RedFeather (Jul 26, 2009)

Okay, I'll just have to pay attention to what he does when he calls out. 

Let's see - he bites most when trying to get him out of the cage. Sometimes he's more than ready to come out. Other times, he'll sit there and bite you if you get your hand too close to him. Probably because I'm imposing on his territory? I've been making sure he comes out of his cage at least once a day, but should I just let him stay in there when he wants to bite? But then again, yesterday when he was not wanting to come out, I started working with him with the clicker, and he seemed to respond to that well and after a while, decided to come out. I guess maybe I'll have to play it by ear.

I was hoping I was doing things right - I had to make sure.


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## Jenny10 (Feb 27, 2010)

The Cage issue, yes leave him be if he wants to come out he will, don’t force him, of course you can always try to encourage him with millet spray.

When I first got Tira she was awful and she was supposed to be a hand reared baby, would bite, hiss, and there was times I thought I hate that bird I shouldn’t have bought her, lol

Then I gave up trying to get her out the cage, it was time for a different approach, I open the cage door and eventually she came out on her own, I did try and see if she wanted to step on my hand, at first she ran back in, so left her be, once she knew her cage was a place I wouldn’t go, she started coming out more often, knowing she could go back if she felt threatened and then one day she just hopped on my hand when I offered it.

Jenny


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## RedFeather (Jul 26, 2009)

Yeah, I have been using millet. Sometimes I use scritchies, too, because he loves it and responds well to it when he's in the mood for them. Even if he doesn't want to come out - the other day I let him stay inside the cage, and I worked on target training him a little. Being that I was feeding him millet, he didn't really protest that too much - and then he finally came out when he decided he was done with training.  That's okay to do, right, as long as he seems okay with it?

He did awesomely today, and stepped up from his cage onto my husband's hand without biting him. He also did really well with the target training.

The not screaming thing, he's starting to get the hang of it, but he still has moments where he reverts back to screaming.

Your mentioning of Tira kind of reminds me of Beau. She never drew blood, but she was very untrusting to begin with and although she was trained to step up and all, she didn't want to, and would bite. It took her a good couple of years, but now she almost never bites. She'll just beak you to let you know what's what. That, I don't mind so much.

So, yeah, I hope I'm getting somewhere. It seems like I am.


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