Sterretjie (meaning little star) came to me last year March she is approximately 5 to 6 years old. Her one leg was broken on 4 different places and the people left it to grow back on bending the wrong way. All her muscles were stiff from absolutely no exercise, she has a damaged wing and her tail feathers were burned. When I took her to the vet we discovered that she also had metal poisoning and had to stay in hospital for a week, it took over a month before she was back to health.
My girl:
![Image](http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh164/terenure/Forest/Sterretjie/20100409_8.jpg)
The x-ray that shows the metal and the leg:
![Image](http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh164/terenure/Forest/Sterretjie/Picture2245.jpg)
The leg:
![Image](http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh164/terenure/Forest/Sterretjie/3_15_12_35_47_1-2.jpg)
She was afraid of absolutely everything. Nobody could pick something up without sending her into a screaming and crashing frenzy. Any fast movement also made her quiver in the corner. When anybody entered the lounge she flew to them and bit them in the face, we had to clip her wings for our own safety. I worked with her daily receiving severe bites but I never backed down. I slowly got her muscles working, got her to eat pellets, fresh fruit and veggies. I introduced toys to her and with a lot of patients taught her how to play with it. I worked on all her fears and December I finally got her over her second last fear which was brooms, her human fear however was/is an impossible task. If any strangers walk into the house she screams, quivers and crash into everything. She turned into a hyperactive girl that does not sit still for a moment, always playing, begging for scratches from me and if she cant see me she would clime down her cage and go look for me. She sings all the time and if anybody looks at her now she seems like a very healthy and happy girl.
However, her biting never stopped. It is as if she gets flash backs of the past or something, I would scratch her head for up to minute while she is begging and in a flash she turns around and bite. She does not bite like normal, she rips out flesh and cause bleeding every single time. She takes treats from my hand and 1 out of 5 times she will bite past the treat and latches onto my finger. She hates everybody else in the household and if she cant fly to them then she drops to the floor, walk to them and clime up and bite. This is not provoked biting, it is her seeking out somebody to bite. She is also very clever or should I say devilish, she would beg my husband for a scratch and when he falls for her cuteness and bring his hand closer she jumps and latches onto his hand. My 17 year old daughter went to live with my mother because she fears Sterretjie so much (there are other reasons as well). Sterretjie is also very hormonal and seeks out dark places all the time. I have been everywhere for advice, bought the books, dvds tried clicker training ... and the top vets said that she is a lost case.
From forum advice I bought her a friend, a baby called Sunny. He was such a loving parrot, trusting everybody and everything, I was in awe watching how a parrot should behave. Sadly I had to let Sunny go because he was diagnosed with PBFD. It broke me, making the decision to let him go was the hardest thing I have ever done.
Beginning May I bought another boy called Rocky. Sterretjie has not stopped chasing him around, biting him with so much force that he bleeds. I dont know what to do any more, everybody calls her the biting demon and the people including my husband despise her. Just as much laughter that she brings she also brings tears. Some mornings I dread waking her up, something that I use to look forward to. I do not have a finger without flesh gone, my husband avoids me until Sterretjie goes to bed and Rocky is terrified of her. I could handle her biting while she was still afraid of everything but it is different now, she acts normal, plays normal but clearly she is mentally damaged. It breaks my heart.
Rocky was an aviary bird, never been handled and he is already stepping up for us and until today he has not even nipped at me or my husband. We got fond of him but it is not right that he is always scared of Sterretjie. I suppose she will never accept him and this means that I will have to let him go?
Does anybody have advice and if she is a lost case what does it mean? Does it mean I will just have to handle her biting until she dies, her always causing problems in our house? I cant let her go, where would she go, she is terrified of humans?
Here is a short video that I took last night showing her biting.
http://www.youtube.com/v/Fqg2tyf8K7Q