Biting Caiques - New Member Parula

Parula100

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I have 2 Caiques, both of which I got when they were babies. My male is about to turn 19, and my female 18. They are a mated pair, and have been together 24/7 for 18 years. My male has never bitten me, but my female has bitten me twice in the past when she was near me and I was talking to someone on the phone and ignoring her. So, I've learned that if I pet her or include her in the conversation when I'm talking on the phone she won't bite. Which was true until 2 weeks ago. Earlier in the day, my Senegal (who does have a history of biting) attacked and bit me when I was attaching a toy to the top of his cage. I admit that I yelled at him after he bit me, and I'm guessing that my female Caique found that exciting. Anyhow, several hours later I was talking to someone on the phone, and both Caiques were on me. My female was actually sitting on my lap and I was scratching her head (which she had solicited), and all of a sudden she attacked and bit me on my lower lip. I had to pry her beak off of me. Of course I screamed with pain, which probably was a reward for her. After I peeled her off my lip and flung her away, she flew back up and took a chunk out of the back of my hand. At that point I grabbed her with a towel and put her into her night cage in my bedroom.

She did not try to bite me again until this morning, when both Caiques were walking down my hallway. I walked by them and as I did my female flew up and attacked my arm. Fortunately, I was wearing a thick sweatshirt, so even though I have a nasty bruise she barely broke the skin. I grabbed her with a towel, said "No bite!" and gave her a 20-minute time-out in her night cage. Unfortunately, I couldn't leave her in there any longer because my male was getting upset and wanted to be with her.

I should mention that I keep both birds' wings clipped, but she was still able to leap up and bite my arm.

I know it's breeding season for them now, so maybe her hormones are going wild. Nevertheless, I am very upset about this and don't know what to do to stop her from biting. I know I have to not react to her bites in order to minimize her excitement, but is there anything else I can do? I could keep her caged all the time, but that would be hard on my male, who loves to be out running around the house and following me around. Anyone have any advice?
 
:welcome: Parula! Sorry you are having trouble with your female Caique.

Attacking and biting are operant (ie. not respondent/reflexive) behaviours which means that there has to be an antecedent (something that sets the stage for it to happen) as well as a consequence (something that either keeps it happening or not). So whilst you were on the phone something must have cued the attack. Maybe because hormones are afoot making her more sensitive to her surroundings, the phone has become an issue again? I know I would get attacked by two of my birds if I picked up the phone with them on me. You reacted by using punishment/aversives... flinging her away, toweling her, etc. to try to stop further attacks. The trouble with using aversives is that you yourself get paired with the aversives, which is why I think you got bitten/attacked again this morning. Also using punishment has it's fallouts... increased fear or aggression to the point of phobia in the extreme.

The idea of a time out is to swiftly remove any reinforcers for a very short amount of time. It works if it is quickly put into action without any drama. Because you toweled her first there was lots of drama with either reinforcing or punishing consequences. If the toweling was aversive to her, you get paired with that aversive. A 20 minute time out is too long. It is not teaching her anything. 30 seconds to a minute or two is enough, then she should get the opportunity of earning reinforcement for doing a desired behaviour.

Right now it seems you are in a spiral of using aversives. Easy enough - that's how most of us were raised. She needs to earn reinforcement for doing desired behaviours rather than punishment or reinforcement for undesired. I would say do all you can to avoid setting the stage for the biting. You probably know what is likely to set her off. Are there any other behaviours she knows how to do that you can cue instead and so diffuse the situations as they arise? With Kobe my Pionus I have to be careful of eye contact which can spark him off, and I have to be careful of walking towards him/his territory. If I have to walk towards him or if I think he is in that sort of mood I cue a behaviour he already knows how to do (even if it is just repeating a word that he usually says when relaxed) and reinforce that which allows me to pass him by without incident.

Get teaching her useful behaviours like targeting. The more behaviours she knows how to do, the more you can cue.
 
Roz,
Thank you so much for your suggestions. I will try not using the towel next time, but I'm afraid she will just bite again if I try to pick her up right after a bite. I definitely will lock her in her cage when I make a phone call (I've been doing that the past 2 weeks). Other than my being on the phone, I have no idea what incited the attack on my lip. One second she was on my lap, facing away from me, with her head feathers fluffed out and me scratching her head, and the next second she flew up and latched onto my lip. As far as this morning goes, both my Caiques walk around on the floor quite a bit, usually when they're trying to find me. I have no idea what caused her to fly up and bite my arm. Both attacks seemed totally out of the blue to me.

I'm not sure what you mean by targeting. Do you mean behaviors like stepping up or repeating a word? And if she does that, should I give her a food reward (e.g. a pine nut)?
I didn't realize her time-out should be so short. I will definitely try that if she bites again. That's very valuable information.
I really appreciate your suggestions--I had no idea what to do to stop this behavior. Although I've dealt with my Senegal occasionally biting during the 21 years I've had him, my Amazon (who I've had for 41 years) and my other Caique have never bitten me.
 
Hi Parula and :welcome: to the forum, we’re U.K. based, but have members across the globe, I know wing clipping is still quite a common practice in the US but rarely carried out here.

Maybe you need some “me time” so that you can make phone calls, etc in peace. So you could try giving the birds some in cage/in aviary time, but as caiques are such high energy birds, make sure they have things to keep them busy, make up some foraging boxes, egg boxes, small cereal boxes that sort of thing, so they can go off hunting for a nut or other treat.
 
:welcome: Good advice given. I will add that 2 of my parrots will bite me if they are out when I am on the phone, so I don't use it if they are around, or go into another room.
 
Welcome to the forum

I cannot talk on the phone whilst my caiques are out, they have to go in the cage or I have to leave the room, Archie fully attacks people who are on the phone and makes their hands bleed, so just dont talk on the phone whilst they are out, they hate it!
 
Hello and welcome, I have found that involving my flock at all times with what ever I do is important and making them part of what I am doing and not ignoring them but also acting as if things are fun has helped the bond I have with all my flock. I have found that this is very important with my Caigue and my senegals as they will show there discontent in being ignored very quickly. I have quite a large flock and during the day most are out and its important that I give them recognition. I do not have a static phone so I can walk about my home with the speaker on so they can hear both sides of the conversation. I know they do not understand our conversations and many birds will not like or understand what the phone is but they will see it as a thing that takes over and also see that it gets more attention from us than they get. this is a problem I have come across many times with parrot owners and one that I have helped so many to overcome. As in many problems I approach thing from a different angle. Each time I get a call I try to make my flock part of the phone call going to as many flock members that I can and getting the caller to say Hello and the birds name (even to any flock member that dose not talk) it involves them as birds know the word Hello and they know there name. they are now learning that the phone is not just for you and allowing them to be pro active in what is going on I have never come across a jealous reaction. I start when a bird first arrives in my home and even if they are in the cage I still pass the phone near them so they can hear there name and many will reply. if a bird is on me it is more important that they are involved and I do not ignore them. there are other triggers that you may find can trigger a bite that you may need to recognize for example my caique and two of my senegals just hate the sound of rustling paper so I know not to un wrap foods whilst they are in the room and one of my senies will change in an instant if I started to use the microwave. getting too know the triggers and putting your self in there position is just as important as making them happy at all times. getting closer to there breading time dose mean you have to be extra cautious.
 
Roz,
Thank you so much for your suggestions. I will try not using the towel next time, but I'm afraid she will just bite again if I try to pick her up right after a bite. I definitely will lock her in her cage when I make a phone call (I've been doing that the past 2 weeks). Other than my being on the phone, I have no idea what incited the attack on my lip. One second she was on my lap, facing away from me, with her head feathers fluffed out and me scratching her head, and the next second she flew up and latched onto my lip. As far as this morning goes, both my Caiques walk around on the floor quite a bit, usually when they're trying to find me. I have no idea what caused her to fly up and bite my arm. Both attacks seemed totally out of the blue to me.

I'm not sure what you mean by targeting. Do you mean behaviors like stepping up or repeating a word? And if she does that, should I give her a food reward (e.g. a pine nut)?
I didn't realize her time-out should be so short. I will definitely try that if she bites again. That's very valuable information.
I really appreciate your suggestions--I had no idea what to do to stop this behavior. Although I've dealt with my Senegal occasionally biting during the 21 years I've had him, my Amazon (who I've had for 41 years) and my other Caique have never bitten me.

With any unwanted behaviour the best method to use is differential reinforcement. That is removing the reinforcement for the unwanted behaviour and at the same time reinforcing another desired behaviour. So removing reinforcement in this case is definitely not by picking her up in a towel or otherwise. If she's on you, remove reinforcement by gently and swiftly putting her down (no more contact with you/human skin), or if she is not on you, just turn your back and walk away (no anger etc). As soon as possible when she is calm again positively reinforce another desired behaviour. Better still positively reinforce another behaviour BEFORE she looks like she is going to do the undesired. Do all you can to avoid using punishment and aversives as she will pair you with them and your relationship will spiral downwards. You want to mend your relationship by using a lot more positive reinforcement.

Really good idea to have her in her cage when on the phone next time. Positively reinforce her stepping into her cage when you have to put her in every time.... or she will begin to try to avoid it. You could give her some treats or have a kind word for her etc. Tell her she is only going in for a few minutes. When you've finished the call, bring her out again (most likely reinforcement in itself).

A time out includes just turning your back on her for a few moments or putting her down. But even with a short time out it is important to then positively reinforce another behaviour. You want to be pairing yourself with positive reinforcement/awesome experiences or items.

Targeting is teaching a bird to touch some sort of target. A chop stick is a good one. You may have to shape the behaviour (reinforcing tiny steps towards the final desired behaviour starting with maybe her looking at the stick. Praise and pinenut! Then turning her head towards the stick. Praise and pinenut! Half a step towards the stick. Praise and pinenut! etc. until she touches the stick. HUGE praise and pinenut!!) or she may go all out and attack the chopstick right from the beginning which is also great. Reinforce with a pine nut (she did the behaviour asked for).... she'll learn over a short amount of time she only has to touch the stick very lightly to get her pinenut. Then you can shape her touching the tip only by reinforcing the touches that get closer and closer to the tip. Shaping is a fantastic tool - you can teach anything by breaking the final behaviour down into small manageable steps. Roy had an awesome video about how to teach to shape targeting @RoyJess

With Kobe when I have to walk towards him when he's on the swing outside the kitchen (I know this may lead to a lunge or in the past an attack) I cue a word from him that he says when he's relaxed and happy. So I may just say 'huh" without directly looking at him (direct eye contact can be a problem for him sometimes). His feathers go down and he may repeat it. I reinforce his "huh" with another of my own as I pass by. It can be very subtle. Job done - I redirected the behaviour BEFORE it could happen - no lunge or attack. Plus I have paired that passing by with something good so the experience will be better next time (hopefully!). Because he can be a pain in the kitchen I cut the time he was in the kitchen. Then gradually I built it up again. I am careful to reinforce his good behaviour once in a while whilst in the kitchen with either a treat or words (he finds both reinforcing). What is the point of engaging in unwanted behaviour that earns no reinforcement when good behaviour earns tonnes of it?

It can be a slow process but will pay off in the end.

Golly you've had your Amazon for 41 years???? Would so love to see some pictures of your birds and learn some more about them.
 
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