I don't get it

[RedOfTheRose]

As I type this, Russell is on my hand, biting me, trying to eat my hand. It really hurts.
She just flew onto my laptop, and back onto my hand, so she is willingly landing on my hand, and just eating away.

I don't get it. I have no millet next to me, and she won't eat the lettuce instead of me. I don't know why she would willingly land on my hand only to bite me to pieces. I had to grab her and tell her to stop it and lunge her up into the air off the back off my hand so she can fly away, only for her to come back.

Help? :(

[Tammy.w.]

i'm not sure but i have read that they are testing you to see if you are safe to land on but don't move away quickly when they do this you could lose her trust, they only usualy do it when they are climbing on to somthing but i'm not sure :S also she mite just be playing with your had :D

[RedOfTheRose]

Hmm, hopefully, cos it bloody hurts!

Just to clear up, I don't freak out, and only grabbed her once when she nearly frickin made me bleed.

[atvchick95]

could be a couple reasons either she wants your attention , Roxy (my lovebird) does that when I'm typing and she wants all eyes/ hands on her - She has to be the center of attention or she isn't happy

or B, you did that millet training I was reading about and now she's mad because your hands are empty, and she was under the impression your hand would always have millet

But grabbing her up and making her fly off, May not of been a good move - if she does trust you at all that may have ruined what trust she had. But that's not always the case.

If she keeps doing it no matter what your doing, Like if your sitting there watching t.v and not typing, writing etc. and you try to give her attention (I.E. giving her head scratches etc.) and she still bites/ or flies off

then i'd be under the impression she is one mad little bird for no millet being there.
They will associate your hand will the millet and except the millet to be there every single time they see your hand.

[RedOfTheRose]

Hmm I know that grabbing her may not have been a good move, but I did it as gently as possible.

She has landed on my hand plenty before when there is no millet and has no way reacted as nasty as tonight. I just got her to fly to me now with some millet , so she's still fine to do that (as in she doesn't seem pissed/snobbing me), ah, and as I say that, she bites my fingers instead of eating the millet for a bit.

What do I do? I mean, I can't give her millet EVERY time she flies to me, cos that's not really her getting a bond with me, it's her getting a bond with me offering food. She won't let me pet her, nor will she step onto my finger. She will only fly down to me if I am on my bed & laptop (and hold out my hand, with or without millet) or fly to me elsewhere if I have millet. She only lands on my hand. Will not go to my shoulder or transfer to my other hand unless shes attacking it kinda thing.

I don't understand why she would come to me at all if it was a trust thing. She just came onto my hand now and biting viciously, I started clicking and her, and it calmed her down. She nibbled at my face nicely.

I have come to think it's a jealousy thing. She's standing on my keyboard as I type. She is quiet, just watching. I think she may be jealous. Opinions?

And so what now with the millet training? Just keep at it till she starts behaving better?

[RedOfTheRose]

Aww she's sleeping on my thumb. I seriously think it's a jealousy issue cos as soon as I started typing she woke up and climbed down to my keypad and started lightly pecking at my fingers. Time to get her back to sleep hehe.

[atvchick95]

it could be a jealous thing,

how old is she?

I know when my lovebird Roxy (who i hand fed) hit 6 months she became a complete terror biting me constantly for no reason , Theres been times she's been playing on the play tree or on her cage for hours and was fine as soon as the phone rang and I put it to my ear and started talking she'd fly over to me and bite my ear (not fun to have blood pouring down in your ear lol)

or she bites my fingers, when i'm on the phone, or just sitting here,or typing

she got a good one the other day, I was sitting here talking to her as she was bouncing around from spot to spot ,she came over for no reason and bit me right on my wrist

Took a nice chunk of skin with her, I bled and then bruise and she had no reason to bite me I was giving her attention Giving her her scratches she wanted, etc.

she's just very moody since she hit 6 months old

[RedOfTheRose]

russ is 8months I'd guess. I got her 7months ago, she was still v.young. She's only recently started landing on me.

[softie]

I think you and atvchick both hit it on the spot. It does sound like she is one jealous little budgie. I don't know if this will help, but it may be worth a shot.

For nippy budgies, I have trained them with a beige colored cotton glove on my hand. Could you try wearing a glove as you type? (Might be kind of hard hehe) and see how she will react. Some budgies wont see a difference (especially if its close to your skin color) and they'll try biting away and it won't hurt you nearly as much. I've seen some budgies try and munch away, and then quit after a few minutes as they see it's doing nothing.

And there are some budgies that do see a difference and will bomb onto your hand once the glove is of. :rolleyes:

You may want to give it a shot if you think it will work. You can't really lose anything by trying :)

Peanut also like to climb down to my fingers when I type, and he'll lay himself out right on the keyboard to stop me from typing, and nibbling on my fingers to get my attention. Once he does, he'll turn his head and fluff his feathers and expect a scratch. He'll do this over and over again, and once decides it's time for me to get off the computer, he'll bite me harder than before until I get off and bring him with me.

Birds are such clowns :)

[RedOfTheRose]

Thanks softie, I will try with the glove :)

Also, she doesn't like me touching her at all, will this loosen up as time goes on with her sitting on my hand, or is there anythiing I can do?

[softie]

My budgies didn't like me touching them either. They were very paranoid on where my hand goes, even if they were bonded very close to me. Budgies are like that in general, they don't like to be touched. There are a few selects that do like to be cuddled :) Suzie was a cuddle bug when she was a baby, and as she grew older, she matured out of that.

The only thing I was allowed to do was to kiss their tummies. They didn't really mind that :)

[RedOfTheRose]

Oh right. I would love to be able to scratch her head or stroke her belly, but she would spaz if I did that ;p

[missmadison]

I've heard of this happening when the bird is getting into a breeding mood. One thing that works is to make sure they get 12 hours of bedtime. This worked with Winnie - the sweetest budgie there could be...but he wanted to bite when he got frisky!