# Grasping at straws here!



## cheekyboy (Jul 14, 2009)

Hi all, 

I havent been online for quite a while, so I probably dont know half of you new folk!  Anyway, Im at my wits end with one of my tiels.

Some of you would remember my newest edition Pickles, who is now around 12 months old. He was hand raised, and was the sweetest little button.

But over the last few months, he has become a monster! 

He hates my hands.. absolutely hates them. And the problem is, he isnt scared of them. He was hand raised, and has been handled since he was a tiny bub. But now, he seems to willingly and aggressivley attack my hands. He used to love head scritches, but now he will only occasionally let me do it. 

I've seen this type of behaviour before, especially at the age he is at. Both my other tiels went through a similar thing, although not nearly as bad as Pickles. He CRAVES human attention, but takes any opportunity to bite the crapola out of my hands. 

He is even at the point where he will seek out my hand just to attack it. When i wish to move him, I often put him on a rope swing, with him on one side and me on the other. It started to work, until he realised that my hand was still attatched, and that he could still attack it :blink:

I love him, but he is driving me nuts! My other two are fine, its just little pickles thats gone wacko :wacko: 

Advice? Similar stories? Success stories perhaps?


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## Cheryl (Dec 27, 2008)

One of my tiels, Kisses was like that.. In fact, he stayed like that for almost 9 years LOL. I don't mean to be discouraging.. but he would ask for scritches, then once I touch him.. he'd freak out and bite me (sometimes breaking the skin). He had the worst attitude ever. He used to also randomly attack my face after sitting on my shoulder for a while (the foster said he did it to her daughter too).

Since I got him back from the fosters he hasn't bitten me once! He now constantly craves my attention and jumps on my shoulder. He lets me give him scitches too. His bad attitude is now gone since he has moved in with me at my new place.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

He might be hormonal, so try some hormone control on him - the long nights treatment and other techniques aimed at getting birds out of breeding mode. 



> It started to work, until he realised that my hand was still attatched, and that he could still attack it


Here's an easy way to make a hand guard. Cut the top few inches off a 2-liter soda bottle and stick a perch through the mouth of the bottle. Your hand goes on the "inside" part of the bottle and the bird sits on the other side. It should look like you're holding a sword with a nice hand guard and the bird is sitting on the "blade" portion:


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## cheekyboy (Jul 14, 2009)

Thanks heaps for that tielfan!! I hadnt thought of that, but I will definitely make one!

I am trying like heck to believe that it is just hormones, and that possibly in another 6-12 months he will snap out of it, but my hands are certainly coping a caning in the mean time, not to mention my ego! haha

I think the problem is that he is inconsistent. He's a very cute little guy, and he really loves attention (and he will annoy the other birds to get it!), but just has this weird aggressiveness happening with hands. Today he flew into the bathroom and landed on the floor.. he was a bit upset about this and proceeded to walk himself out, locate me, and climb up me until he got to my shoulder. So I know that he really isnt very scared of me, he just likes to destroy me with his naughty little beak!

Daylight savings has kicked in, so the days are getting longer which may contribute to the problem. I will make sure the blinds are closed earlier and see how it goes. They are in a quiet room, so they do get a good rest every night, but hopefully longer hours will help combat the hormones!

Gah.. its like having a tantrum 2yr old, that hurts! *sobs*


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