African gray biting

Question
My gray is 16 years old ow and I've had him since he was 3 months. He has over the last 3 years turned into a vicious biter. He will just come after you unexpectedly. I use a ladder to pick him up and down but now he's running down the ladder to bite me. He is only in his cage at night, has loads of toys and swings and mostly the run of the house. Besides seeds, I feed him lots of fruits and veggies.  This morning he took a chunk out of my hand and I've put him in his cage and covered him. I plan on leaving him in his cage for a few days which I've  never done before. I'm at the end of my rope with him but know I couldn't find him a new home, i feel he would probabely be mistreated because f hs behavior. We bought a companion bird for him, a lavender naped green parrot  but that hasn't helped.   What can I do?

Answer
--By putting him his cage you're rewarding him.   It's likely he'll become cage bound and actually prefer it since there's no pressure on him to behave.   When a bird starts biting, adhering to a routine is even more important.   


  He shouldn't have such freedom though.  It shouldn't be HIS decision to go here or there.  You need a perch or play gym that confines him to one area only

When it comes to adding another bird, well, that made things worse too.  Why should either of them bond with a human when they have each other?  And the biter will teach by example that biting is ok and a way to get what he wants.

When people add another bird for the wrong reasons they simply double their troubles.

--- Check here for steps to get your bird back on the right track

  www.4animalcare.org/birds   Scroll to the 'biting and screaming' section


Good luck!