Hello there, forum. I'm new here in the sense I've never posted, however I've been lurking for a while. Long post here, so give me a moment of your attention if you don't mind.

Recently my parakeet, Church, has developed a bit of a bad habit. He's been trying to bite me and has been doing this for about a week and a half now- while I've been trying to ignore it, and continue with trying to do whatever I was doing before he bit. It started first as just light lunging and opening his beak when I'd get near, so I ignored it and paid no heed to it, hoping he'd get the idea it didn't work- but now it's actual biting, and it doesn't hurt, but I can't get anywhere near him.

He is a perhaps 6 or 7 month old male(guessed due to his range of vocalizations) American budgie, and no he is not hand tame yet. I've had him since May, and he was 4-5 months old then, young enough to have black pigment on his beak. He was bought from a pet store, because we had no option as no one in our area ships parakeets or breeds them, but he's in the greatest health possible for a parakeet, and was then too.

I can get pretty close to him and sometimes get him to get on my hand when he's out of the cage without him biting or complaining, and he does so on his own, but otherwise, I haven't felt like he was ready for me to move onto the next step as he still tends to scoot away from my hand- other times he lets me touch his toes... It's all very inconsistent.

My guess is it's because of this toy that he really loves, so I took that out and replaced it with a newer toy- the biting seemed to stop after a bit of depressed pouting and I even got to feed him a treat from my hand which I've never been able to do before.

This morning, though, he's back to biting very defensively- hunched posture, feathers fluffed a little, and his eyes locked on my hand. I've never struck this bird or grabbed him or anything, I've been VERY careful in my taming process- my dad's been a tad pushy in trying to tame him in the sense he sticks his hand at him and doesn't back off fast, but I got him to stop that- though I still wonder if that might have something to do with it, too.

The toys have a lot of 'frayed' rope on them, and he enjoys preening them and with the toy I took out, he'd chatter to the toy and peck at it like he was trying to 'kiss' it, in typical male budgie fashion. I'm worried that he might think they're something to defend, and that's causing his biting.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm tempted to take his new toy away, too, but I only have so many toys for him to play with and these really seem to make him happy.

ahhhh the bird in question...is it the one in the picture because that doesnt look like a keet...

welcome to the forum at any rate and anything with mirror or stringiness to it should not be given to this bird or anything it can shred...this is aggressive mating behavior and he cant help himself as i suspect besides these toys even other things have brought his testosterone levels up to where this is normal aggression behavior being displayed...

get new toys...make some toys...you dont have to buy toys...very simplistic things that are around the house and SAFE...can be used for toys...a little imagination can go a long way...

Naw, that's the starling I owned for a few weeks before getting myself a parakeet- after the brief adventure there in owning a bird, I felt encouraged to go out and try a more..practical bird. I don't have a decent quality picture of Church to put as my avatar. That'll come when he's hand tame.

This is Church, a day after I got him- you can see the black pigment really well here... http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn274/Hounchain/parakeet.png He looks chubby but I assure you he isn't.

I suppose that makes a lot of sense, then. Because earlier I took away the second offending toy I'd tried, and replaced it with toys that don't have anything the other two did, and ever since then, he's been coming over to my hand and taking treats right from me, even when my finger is on top of the treat and moving around, letting me pet his tail feathers through the bar while I feed him, etc. He only bit me once since then, but his otherwise good behavior tells me he's much better now..

But by 'shreddable' toys, do you mean, toys with paper and things like that that can be torn apart? I'd assume toys with hard wooden pieces would be alright, correct?

It was amazing how fast progress came about after I took the problem away.

I'll look into finding toys or making toys that cater to the guy's...special needs. xD He never had a mirror, for sure, but it makes sense that the ropes and such would act in a similar manner. Thank you for the explanation - it was as I assumed but I needed some advice to be sure. ^^ It honestly surprises me a bird could see an inanimate object that he can't even see himself in as a mate to defend, but I guess you learn something new every day.

i myself dont like wooden toys....and yes any toy that can be torn or shredded and many are called just that ...shreddie toys...most prefer the colorful plastic toys and toys with bells INSIDE them...things that are colorful or make noise they love...foot toys are needed as well...and be sure anything that hangs is placed ...against the bars of the cage...no free suspension as this poses accident hazards....

be careful of chains with links etc where toes can get stuck or toenails...same with some bells like the round type sleigh bells...unless encased inside some sort of plastic...these round sleigh type bells have managed to catch many a birds beak and toes.

Yeah, the only bells he has are the open bottom ones- and unfortunately he's down to only one toy now because he's being aggressive still, and bit me while I was trying to swap food and such while he'd been playing with that specific toy. I took it away as mostly an experiment and..lo and behold, he's fine again.

I'd better get on finding new toys for the guy, I know he should have a few more toys...

I'm going to start putting the cover on him earlier in the day to replicate winter hours, perhaps my bedtime is a little too late for him- wondering if it's stimulating the mating aggression at all.

What's the difference between 'regular' playing with toys, and more..aggressive, mating behavior towards toys? I'm worried I've never even seen regular, innocent playing; so if I saw it I wouldn't want to mistake it for his regular mating behavior.

I just hope the one toy he's shown the least interest in his whole life doesn't turn into his next target. I'm really liking what I'm seeing when he doesn't have anything else to focus on but me. xD

first of all mating behavior towards toys is fine...its the biting that isnt toward you.

reduce all fresh veggie foods to only once a week...reduce hours of daytime light to 10 hrs...

how large is this cage he is in and how often does he get OUT to play and for HOW LONG

this will last for a good month at least and if he is also moulting they get grumpy then if you try to interact...best right now just to let this phase pass ...four to six weeks...it will be difficult but just keep human contact to a minimal ...till his levels return to normal and remember right now the cant help himself and this is normal behavior.

His cage is somewhere around 19 in x 17 in, if I remember my last measurement correctly. However, we recently got a much larger cage(meaning a large parrot could fit into it decently) that needs some TLC I was going to put him in once I got him hand tamed. Now, however, I don't know..

Because he's not hand tamed, he doesn't necessarily get 'out of cage' time; rather, I just leave the door open and sometimes he flies out, other times he'll walk out and explore the outside of his cage- but no further. It's entirely up to him what he does, because I strongly detest grabbing a bird or anything of the sort. The door is open all day every day from the time I get up to the time I put him to bed; somewhere around noon to 7 or 8PM.

He doesn't get fresh veggies or anything right now anyways, I was going to move onto that soon.

How come I need to minimize human contact if removing the problem seems to fix it right away? I'm not trying to be defiant and say you're wrong, I really do appreciate all the help- however, I need an explanation for my parents, because they'd ask why I was suddenly 'disinterested' in him if I started doing that.
I understand when it's due to molting- but he isn't molting yet, unless scratching his head on his toys and perches and losing a lot of down counts as molting. He's been doing that for weeks now though, and hasn't lost a single 'big' feather- surely by now if he was going to, he would have.

aha we may have come across his issue...place him in the larger cage then let him have a week or so to adjust IF the bars spacing is suitable for keets ..3/8ths to 1/2inch the most...

and yep he is moulting and maybe judging by his age beginning a major moult but those pin feathers irrate the heck outta a bird and their tempermanent isnt always stellar...

now if its because and it just maybe it is this...he is getting antzie because his cage is really small and he is also into a moult AND he is also giggle in a breeding way...its no wonder he is behaving like this and thats why its best just to let him work thru this time frame on his own...he will appreciate it...AND THE BIGGER CAGE im certain...