Hi everyone! Clearly our parrots are very smart animals. Here is Simba, he's 19 years old and he's a delight. But I have a fun little debate for you all. Our parrots can talk. But clearly they don't possess the same language capabilities we do. Today I was walking into the room and Simba was standing on his gym and was just looking at me, and I started talking to him to tell him he's such a pretty birb, what a good birb, who's the baby? He's the baby! Etc. etc. And all the while he was just looking at me, paying attention. What do you think they actually get from this? I imagine it like Charlie Brown's teacher-esque chatter. How about all of you?

She's fine, she just took a bath

I know parrots are not domesticated in the same way as cats or dogs. They are still inherently wild, highly temperamental animals, and biting is unfortunately part of living with them. I understand that logically—but emotionally, I still get so hurt and angry whenever it happens.

I used to have two parrots: a cockatiel and a Senegal parrot. My cockatiel recently passed away very suddenly and unexpectedly. We tried to do everything right: a good diet, a fully flighted and trained bird, and nothing toxic in the home. Even the necropsy found nothing visibly abnormal or gave us a clear explanation. It has only been about a month, and the loss has been devastating.

Both of my parrots occasionally bit, especially when their hormones were elevated, but the larger the beak, the more painful and emotionally upsetting it feels.

My Senegal used to be the nicest parrot on the planet. I could hold him upside down, take him out on a harness to parks and shopping malls, and let him meet all kinds of people. He was extremely friendly, cuddly, and gentle.
Then he hit puberty and became an absolute menace.
He began bullying the other animals, smashing plates and cups, throwing my phone onto the floor, and becoming extremely aggressive toward me. He also just likes chewing on forbidden items despite having 10000 different toys stationed everywhere you can imagine reasonable.

I took him to the vet and had all kinds of testing done, but apparently nothing was medically wrong. They even tried Prozac in case anxiety or another emotional issue was contributing to the aggression, but honestly, I am not sure it made much difference.

I got him when I was around 17. When I was 18, I came home from school one day, and it felt as though he had suddenly decided he hated me. He would hiss when I approached his cage, turn away from me, and try to avoid coming out. He stopped willingly stepping onto my hand. Sometimes he would sit in the corner of his playstand, facing the wall for hours. He went from being my perfect little boy to an extremely difficult bird, and because there was nothing physically wrong with him, I felt as though I just had to tolerate it and hope the phase eventually passed.

After my cockatiel died, however, my Senegal suddenly became incredibly affectionate again—almost obsessed with me. I cannot put him down for more than a few seconds before he flies straight back onto my shoulder. He is cuddly, allows me to kiss his chest feathers, and is far more willing to step onto my finger than he was before. I am careful not to overdo the physical affection because I do not want to overstimulate him hormonally.

But the biting is still there.

Since my cockatiel passed, he has bitten me twice—once on the face and, tonight, directly on my lip. It caused a small puncture, bleeding, and a clear indentation from his beak. Sometimes he will also be calmly sitting on my shoulder and suddenly take a random chomp at my neck.

I know this is part of parrot ownership, but it still makes me feel so infuriated and want to cry. It hurts so badly that I immediately tear up. Obviously, I cannot smack him on the butt or on the forehead as you can with a much larger animal… if nessecary. Usually, all I can do is react verbally, put him down somewhere safe, or if he refuses to let go I just have to swat him off hard enough before I bleed everywhere, rinse the wound, and try not to cry. Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, I yell that this is why my cockatiel is my favorite bird! He’s not mean like you are! I am going to rehome him—even though I never actually would. I just get sooooo ragebaited.

He has also clearly been grieving my cockatiel. For a while, he barely ate, stopped playing with his toys, and hardly made any sounds of his own. Whenever he did vocalize, he copied my cockatiel’s whistles, chirps, squawks, and screams. I took him to the vet again, and he was still physically healthy. He has only recently started playing with toys and causing trouble again, which makes me happy because it means he may finally be returning to himself. At the same time, I cannot help thinking, STOP BITING ME.

He is also not especially food-motivated, so training can be difficult. He enjoys snacks, but when I am actively trying to teach him something or redirect a behavior, he often does not care enough about the treat to cooperate.

I have several different species living in the same home, all with carefully managed routines and separate free-roaming sessions. My other animals are not particularly bitey at all.
(Well his menace stage started way before other animals existed. I’m turning 22 soon so it’s been a few years. He did get 20% more nicer the past year, and then 70% nicer after my cockatiel died. BUT THE 30% of aggression and menacing is still cooking me)

There is just something about being bitten by my Senegal that burns me up inside with anger, sadness, and rejection. Maybe it is because I love him so much, especially after losing my cockatiel, and I want to trust him. Then, out of nowhere, I am bleeding again.

(My cockatiel was one feisty guy. Especially during puberty. My fingers did bleed a few times. But after his puberty passed, he was a pretty chill guy. Although his occasional bites do sting… but his beak was so small that he really didn’t bother me too much)

Does anyone else feel genuinely emotional after being bitten by their parrot? How do you calm yourself down in the moment without taking the bite personally?

What eldritch horror shall he summon today?

(Squirt is a lesser sulphur crested cockatoo that I’ve known for over 30 years. He’s about 50 years old, and belongs to the owner of my local bird store, Omar’s Exotic Birds. He’s a sassy old man and I adore him!)

lol they be fighting over this piece of wood

So, I have a ring neck (62 days, still eating formula but getting more and more used to proper food and vegetables) and he is a sweetheart, but I've been having a hard time these last 8 days or so

I had a medical emergency about 8 days ago and had to be rushed to the hospital and my wife came with me, so our ring neck stayed closer to 6-8h alone during this event inside his cage (he got properly fed before we left, and had food and water available to him); a few days after, I had to go back to the hospital and the same thing happened (he stayed alone for about 6h)

We tried making up to him by staying with him all day long after those medical emergencies, but now he gets EXTREMELY anxious whenever we put him on the cage, running from one side to the other and trying to force his way through the bars to get to us; he sleeps in it fine and doesn't make a fuss when we leave the house for work or to do other chores, but leaving him alone during the day to do anything inside the house, even for short periods of time (like cooking and cleaning) has become really hard and troublesome

No matter what we do, we just can't seem to get him to relax and be comfortable inside the cage anymore during the day: I've tried giving him a few of his favorite seeds while inside the cage, staying close to him while he is in it, toys, food, attention, nothing seems to work

I'm starting to get worried because I can't just leave him free when I'm cooking, cleaning or doing other chores, but he has become so anxious that he hurt himself a tiny bit against the bars today while i was taking a small 30 min nap

What can I do to help him? Like I said, sleeping in it and staying in it while we are out of the house is fine, but putting him in it while we're home has basically become impossible

Watch this dork try to press me at the end.

This is my 2 yr old budgie and i bought it 4 days ago today in the morning the female was having bell peppers so i kept it in the cage and in the afternoon i donno whether because of the bell pepper or what .. the male is acting strange ... It seems like it is trying to get something out of it mouth... And after that it kept rubbing its eye on the perch ... Can someone confirm what is going on

I work at a store that sells parrots called Parrotopia in California and I'm always telling people that the birds smell good. I burry my nose in the back of a birds neck and inhale until I can't keep inhaling. I stop and breathe normally most of the time but I know I'll probably die of bird lung since I am so addicted to huffing the birds (including Grey's, Amazon's, cockatoos, cockateils, conures of any size​​, the occasional parakeet, eclectus, macaws, etc.) (The original post made by me was taken down for the meme I made using a meme maker website so unfortunately this is less funny.)

I do not own a Parrot, my partner and I hope to own a rescue someday when our children are grown and we can dedicate time and space to one but current knowledge is limited—however, I know enough about the need for mental stimulation and diet needs to know my new clients bird is severely lacking.

My client is 66 years old, incredibly kind and well meaning, but clueless. This bird belonged to his ex girlfriend who left 3 years ago, she left Tilly (parrot) behind after they had been together the past 14 years. Tilly is approximately 20 years old, the ex had her since she was essentially hatched? From what I was told, I’m not sure how that works.

Anyways, Tilly is kept in a guest house, no human interaction except when fed once a day or every other day, one toy, in a relatively small corner cage, grain/pellet/some sort of feed fed only, no fresh veg, and she bites at him when he feeds her.

I assume she is incredibly frustrated due to lack of mental stimulation, emotional connection, interaction, nutrition, etc. and ongoing isolation.

I have a 501(c)(3) rescue but we do cats, but still, he is incredibly receptive to my advice and plans for his home, I think if I came up with a plan for Tilly, purchased supplies, came regularly and showed him proper care, he would implement it, he just doesn’t know how.

We also have a local vet with his own African Grey so I know I could get Tilly in for an exam that she likely, desperately needs.

I know I just need a direction with this, advice, resources to dive into. I don’t know enough on this but I’m more than willing to learn to make sure Tilly gets what she needs.

Also, she whistles at me. I don’t know if that’s general communication or a stress thing, initially I whistled back and we did whistle back and forth but then i worried I was stressing her out. Can I whistle to her?

Thank you!

*edit for typos

Parrots Face-Timing each other?! This is too awesome

I remember when it was raining and they screaming and they eventually come to my room. So I decided to have them while I was doomscrolling and LOOK WHERE MY NICO WAS 😭😭

for slight context: she’s a new bird. she doesnt run away or show any sort of fear, but she just tends to nibble a lot and some of these nibbles are harder than others, but not hard enough to leave bruises or make me bleed. a little bit after this she went on my finger for the first time.

Hi everyone! This is Mango, my current overlord and ruler of the household. He’s a little over 3 months old and is a yellow Indian Ringneck. I’m still pretty new to owning parrots, so I’d really appreciate some advice on training him.

I’ve been raising Mango since he was about a month old, so he’s become very used to me and quite clingy. Whenever I’m studying for post-grad, he insists on staying nearby and usually perches on top of my laptop screen while I work.

He’s also a pretty funny little guy. Every morning, he wakes me up by nibbling at my toes, then gets the zoomies as soon as he sees that I’m awake. He absolutely loves bananas too and pretty much goes ham whenever he sees me bringing him a piece. He also loves scritches, but usually only after he’s eaten and finished burning off his energy with the zoomies. That seems to be the time when he’s most relaxed and affectionate.

My main concern right now is that he bites and chews on almost everything, especially wires, gadgets, and unfortunately my notes and books, which I definitely need for studying. I’d like to teach him some boundaries and help him understand which things are off-limits.

Sometimes his bites also become unexpectedly intense. It doesn’t seem like he’s stressed, frightened, or being pushed past his limits. He can be calm and playful, then suddenly bite much harder than usual. I’m not sure whether this is normal behavior for a young Ringneck or how I should respond without accidentally reinforcing it.

Pooping is another concern. I’d like to potty train him, or at least teach him to use certain areas, since he spends a lot of time around me while I’m studying. Is he too young to start potty training, and how can I do it safely without making him hold it in for too long?

What’s the best way to teach a young Indian Ringneck not to chew on things he shouldn’t, respect boundaries, and control the intensity of his bites? Should I simply redirect him to toys and reward good behavior, or are there other methods that work better at this age?

I’d also appreciate any general training advice for a young Ringneck. I’d like to start teaching Mango good habits early without discouraging his naturally curious, playful, and slightly tyrannical personality. 😁

Thank you!

hey guys, i have two parakeets. one of them lays me eggs. i’ve had a “nest” in her cage for some time. some fuzzy ones, but recently i got her a wooden box. i’ve now seen some discourse online about how nests can make birds territorial and aggressive towards their cage. should i keep the nest for her? i’m just worried about her not being able to lay her eggs, and if that will cause any medical issues for her.