Please help... I have an African Gray named Paco. I've had him for 22 years. He lives in a Big cage... I have cats that will love to eat him... The problem started with my Mom when she comes down from Canada to visit... She started feeding him treats to keep him quiet... Thats when he ralized that if he knocked on his cage like a prisioner she will give him something... She left an he had beeen good for months..every now and then he will knock like a prisioner so I covered his cage and he shut up... Now he doesn;t stop!! He only does it to me... when we are alone.. When my husband is home he is the perfect, funny, loving, imitating every sound and talk around... but when he sees me or senses me around he starts knocking on metal like crazy!!! Of course I want to kill him..Please help!!Sometimes I want to kill him..really.. Not even covering him up stops. his Idiotic Behavior...I'm desperate!!! gve me options.. I've tried ignoring him but he can ccontinue for 20 or more minutes...and then I explode!!

The general rule for stopping unwanted behavior is to ignore it, and also to reward desirable behavior. If he starts knocking, the best thing to do is to calmly walk out of the room without talking to him or even looking at him. If you're still in the same room he can tell that you hear the knocking and are annoyed by it, even though you're not actually doing anything about it. So ignoring him this way isn't going to work! Pay some attention to him and/or give him treats when he's NOT making this annoying sound. You can't do this constantly of course, but do it fairly frequently at first and then gradually do it less and less as he learns that the way to get what he wants is to NOT make that sound. You can also reward him for making sounds that you like to encourage him.

I'm normally not in the same room when he starts with his prisioner behavior, I can be downstairs, taking a shower or wherever... I have to admit that I had in the past...answered to his behavior by. knocking on his cage, shouting and trying to scare him..but nothing worked. So really when I really try to ignore him... he continues..and goes on and on. Today when he did it. I grabbed my cel phone and put some music for him... it took him like a minute and stopped knocking and sang a little bit.... can this help?? I usually try to ffed him seeds, and fruit.whenever he is not knocking like crazy...he started driving me crazy like a month ago...

Distracting him with music is good, as long as he doesn't start making the noise to get you to play some music. So when you start the music, act like you just felt like playing some music and it doesn't have anything to do with his noisemaking. Don't even look at him while you're doing it. If he stops making the obnoxious noise and starts singing, you can reward him for singing.

The problem with responding to his noise after it's been going on for a long time is that it teaches him that he has to keep it up for a long time to get your attention. It won't be easy, but what you need to do is not respond to it AT ALL. Stay away until he stops doing it, then come into the room and reward him for being quiet or for making sounds that you like. The noise might get worse for a while, because he's likely to start trying harder to get your attention. This is called an extinction burst, and it usually lasts for three days. But once he realizes that he simply can not get your attention this way, he'll give up. Get some earplugs if you need to, or play some music in the other room to help block out the sound.

If he enjoys making the noise and does it just for fun, that will be a problem. But it sounds like your mother basically taught him to make this noise by giving him treats when he did it. Which means that you can teach him that he won't gain anything by doing it so he may as well stop. But you have to be 100% consistent about not reacting to the noise. If you respond once in a while, it teaches him to keep on doing it for a long long time to get what he wants. And if your mother visits again, ask her to NOT reward the bird for making annoying sounds!!

The problem has been inherited to me and I only made it worse by trying to shut him up, telling his name, sying no, and sometimes snapping and throwing him things to his cage..it is literally driving me crazy..... and menopause does not help... please..I've even thought of giving him away.

these kinds of things can be tricky, to get a bird out of doing. Especially if a bird is persistent. My cockatiel has the tendency to scream when I'm in the room, and she wants out of the cage. I would leave the room, and wait until she stops. Then I go back. and before I could let her out, she starts screaming again.

But even as tough as it may be, it's still possible to fix it. If ignoring doesn't seem to work, then try transferring it to a different behavior. This is how you can use the music to your advantage. Reward him only while he sings. Eventually, he'll sing on his own.

Does he have toys in his cage? He could just be doing this out of pure boredom. African greys are smart birds, and require a lot of mental simulation, that can be achieved through independent play. Foraging toys (toys with food in them. Some are in the form of little puzzles) are especially good for this, as it can distract them until they get the food inside. I can refer you to some that your African grey might like, if you want.

Thank you for the advice...any feed back will help! Yes he has a lot of toys..big ones, with knots, he loves to ring bells, he sometimes acts as aBat hanging head down...he can also be a very entertaining animal.... the thing is that now...... NOW from three weeks to today, that I havent been feeling any good.... he has done his best to make me hate him..... Ans i just cant let a bird with a brain the size of a peanut,... control my life and get me out of balance.... he can be funny, obnoxious, entertaining.... he was my companion... I talk and sing and dance with him...Except when he acts like a prisioner for half an hour or more...
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You have to spend a few days teaching him that this behavior won't get him anything that he wants. It might be hard for you to truly ignore the noise, but it's the only way to make him stop. He will keep on doing it as long as you keep responding to it. Put on some music or turn on the TV or something to make it hard to hear the sound.

I would advise you to get some earmuffs until then. I am extremely sensitive to certain sounds and only blocking them out works for me. That should help in the meantime while you're training the behavior out.

Sorry your having a rough time with your bird...
I had a bird who screamed nearly all day... drove me to distraction....
Advise on what I did.... I tried everything, nothing worked for long... in the end I use to go for a walk to get my head together.... I feel for you...
you need to speak to your mum... she isn't helping the situation...
Sorry I cant be much help... Good luck I hope it improves really soon..