white cap pionus(2year male,born march24,2005

Question
Everest is a 2 year old white cap pionus.  he bites me when i try to get him on my hand, he does draw blood. I tell him bad boy, or no bite! he laughs at me everytime. i think he is a bit agressive. specially on his cage. everest has freedom in and out of his cage, except night time.  how do i stop this behaviour? thanku katerina

Answer
Hi,

It sounds like this might take awhile to gain Everest's trust and calm him down to the point where he will except handling readily. It might take weeks or months, but Pionus are such sweet birds normally- that I promise it will be worth the time and effort!

One thing that struck me when I read your post is how Everest has full control over his cage (can come and go when he wants, bites you especially on his cage, etc.) It sounds to me like Everest is territorial. This is not uncommon in white-caps (particularly white-caps, since of all the pionus, they have the reputation for being the most "feisty").

Here are some articles with tips for dealing with aggression and territorial-ness:

http://www3.upatsix.com/liz/articles/territory.html

http://www.companionparrot.com/agression-and-biting.htm

I hope this helps.

-Maggie