To Scritch Or Not To Scritch

[Liz Ball]

Hi Everyone,
It's been awhile since I have been around because my husband was very ill. But he is back on the road to health and recovering nicely. P'nut has had a growth spurt and is talking up a storm and is now eating from my hand. He likes to have me rub the top of his head with my chin and I can rub my chin down his entire body. I can kiss him all down his body as well. However, if I go to touch him he doesn't like that all that much. Is it normal for a tame bird to not want to be touched like that? I also think that he has hit puberty. We had broken him of the habit of pecking/biting at our ears and my ponytail holders. I have long hair so I pull it back so he doesn't get caught in it. He is back to doing that. And can he get mad at his toys! It's so funny though! Is this normal? Is it puberty? I can say that we are all having so much fun with him.

[DesertDweller]

Is it possible that he's starting to molt? My cockatiel didn't do that but I heard other people say that when their cockatiels were molting they didn't like to be touched. Normally cuddly cockatiels get upset at being touched. But once the molting has progressed, the birds revert to begging for cuddles. People say that it's because the new pin feathers hurt when touched. Maybe I didn't have the problem because I always stroke Misty in the direction of his feathers and don't scruff them up except on the neck.

Just a thought...

And, glad to hear your husband's health has improved!!

[Liz Ball]

I don't think he is molting yet. I have been reading up on molting and he doesn't have the signs of it yet. I also read in a few articles that they will molt when it is warmer out. So far, here in southeast WI, we have not experienced much warm weather. I thought they would molt whenever their body said it was their time to molt. I think it really just is an issue of these are hands trying to touch me and I don't like that very much. I guess I will just keep trying. I just find it so weird that I can smooch and love on him just not with my hands.

[maxollie]

Personally, I like to give my little tiel scritches on the head only, but don't do it all over her body, because from what I've read, touching them other places instead of the head area can cause them to become "hormonal". That might be another thought for P'Nut right now, because Springtime is usually the time when tiels mate. Even though you don't have a female tiel around, he can still get hormonal. And I agree it could be puberty issues. Is he about a year old by now? Another thing to consider is that all birds, including tiels, are just not very fond of human hands. For some reason, hands "spook" many birds.

[Marrie]

My tiel is like yours, he hates hands touching him, he'll bite me if I try but a chin or nose... it's like "scritch me! now! now!". Some birds are just hand shy. Over years if you work with them slowly sometimes you can get them over it. For males, petting down the body isn't as bad as for females (it can lead to egg laying in females) but you can erm "put them in the mood" doing it, best not to go below the neck. It can lead to aggression and hormonal behavior.

Pecking at your pony tail holder will be an on going battle, my bird LOVES to chew those if I have them on ... his favorite toy. I try to buy ones that are safe if he does nibble on it (no metal, cotton with threads that won't cause a blockage if he accidentally swallows some).

My tiel when he wants to "mate" will start biting me, not hard, but kind of frantically trying to "latch on" to get in position - can be my ears, my hands, whatever. It can look like aggression if you're not used to it. My tiel started trying to mate with my hands, it takes him about a minute of biting to get in a position where he'll start trying to put his tail down. When he does that I give him a toy he uses as a rubby toy, he handles his business, then goes back to being sweet tiel until his next hormonal mood strikes (in spring, usually he does it once every few weeks, other seasons he doesn't at all). Another way to tell for my tiel is when he begins biting out of hormones, he kind of makes a panting hiss, whereas when he's angry he'll make this angry fussing like a squirrel on cartoons when someone gets near their tree.

If your hands ever get attacked, make a fist, makes it harder to get a hold so the bites hurt less. As for attacking toys - yep my tiel when he starts playing with a toy will get so mad at them sometimes, usually cause the dummy pushes like the bell then it swings back and bumps him so he gets mad and pecks it harder, so it swings further and bumps him again... I can't help but laugh.

[Liz Ball]

Thanks everyone. It just cracks us up when he gets mad at a toy. One of these days I will get it on video and post it. I do have the hair ties with no metal in them. I told my husband once he gets snapped with one that he breaks that will be the last time he chews one lol. He has a preener in his cage he really um "likes" a lot. I think I am going to just not try to touch him with my hands if he just doesn't like it. When people come over they automatically assume my bird likes to be petted. Um no. I have started to tell people not to touch him and explain how most birds don't like to be touched with hands. I am happy with just smooching on him and giving him his crest scritches with my chin. He is finally over being food picky. He has his veggies everyday. Loves carrots, broccoli, sweet potatoes, cilantro. Not real big on fruit. He also eats unsalted crackers. LOVES those. He begs as well! Crazy bird! Because of my arthritis it's hard for me to get up and down every time he wants me to hold him and play with him so we put his gym right by me. Every time I eat he paces the part of the gym closest to me. He goes up the ladder, comes down, walks over by me, then goes back to his ladder and repeat many times lol. So, that makes my house a begging house. Dog does it. The rats do it. My bird does it. He also has added "come here" and "what are you doing" to his vocabulary. We are teaching him to whistle the Andy Griffith Show theme. He's getting it slowly but surely. We taught him to whistle part of the melody to "The Hustle." And with that, I just aged myself lol.