Posted by kogster on Sun, 10/19/2008 - 16:04 :: Cockatoos
We bought a hand fed unbrella cockatoo named Ollie we visited him every two days until he was ready to come home. He is so loving He will roll on his side or back to get love if he could he would love to sleep with us. He also Loves to chase golf balls with all his feathers up in a huff. attacking them but just recently he will climb off his cage and run after one of us like he would the golf ball and he will bite it started as a little pinch but now he has drawn blood. Any one have ideas what I can do???
Posted by karen on Tue, 10/21/2008 - 23:23.
You definitely need to try to stop the biting behavior before it gets worse. Cockatoos have extremely powerful breaks, as I'm sure you've noticed from how he chews up toys.
The biting is most likely not aggressive, just an attempt to play, but it could develop into a more problematic behavior if you dont try to stop it, if he learns he can manipulate people by biting.
Most likely he got overexcited while playing with the ball and accidentally bit. And he found that people got more excited when he bit. Parrots love excitement and drama, so yelling at him or scolding him is fun for him. He thinks it is a game you enjoy.
What you should do when he bites, is turn away and ignore him completely for a short time (half a minute or so). If he wanders off or tries to get into trouble as soon as you turn away, have a cage or plain t-stand ready nearby. But the idea is that the 'punishment' of ignoring him briefly should come as soon as possible after the bite.
Sometimes a quiet, stern 'no bite' may help as well. Avoid scolding or reacting in an excited voice since that is likely to be rewarding for him.

Karen
Chico (conure) and Pippin (budgie)
WI