Question

Maighen · Feb 20, 2011

Ok here is my 1st question.....

If Frankie should bite me.....how should I react? I know its going to hurt but what should I say to him? If I give the wrong reaction will he figure out that biting me will make me go away? I would like to try to scratch his head

willist · Feb 20, 2011

My advice would be to say nothing (that might be hard) and just put him back in his cage and ignore him for a while before letting him back out.

MikeyTN · Feb 20, 2011

One of the best thing you can do is to ignore them like it was mentioned above!

Maighen · Feb 20, 2011

Thank you! I have decided that maybe scratching his head is pushing it a little right now! When I put my hand in his cage without food lol he puffs up and growls a little still. Slowly but surely we will be friends

antoinette · Feb 21, 2011

This works for Mishka and myself. When he attempted to bite me I did the following.
I made a fist with my hand, put my fist near his head, showed it to him and said uhh uhh. Now when doing something wrong, and I show him the fist, he lowers his head, and says sorry.
Before I give Mishka head scratches, still today (hes 3 years old) I stroke my fringe, a few times saying lovies, then he lets me give him head scratchies.

Erithacus · Feb 21, 2011

I'll give a stern "NO".

MikeyTN · Feb 21, 2011

antoinette said:
This works for Mishka and myself. When he attempted to bite me I did the following.
I made a fist with my hand, put my fist near his head, showed it to him and said uhh uhh. Now when doing something wrong, and I show him the fist, he lowers his head, and says sorry.
Before I give Mishka head scratches, still today (hes 3 years old) I stroke my fringe, a few times saying lovies, then he lets me give him head scratchies.

HAHA! I used to teach that to my dogs and it works quite well! I made my Macaw go back in his cage last night cause he bit me on my chin, even though he did not hurt me, no cuts or scratches and it didn't hurt. I still let him know that's a BIG no no!!! He knows I wasn't happy, then I went back in a few minutes and he was behaving a lot better. That's when he sat on my arm chattering away while I was on here typing last night....They're like little children, as long as you enforce what you need to and be stern about it, they will listen. They know who loves them best and who will protect them, mine tucks his head under my chin when he's shy or nervous around others or any animals they felt threatened by.

antoinette · Feb 21, 2011

Erithacus said:
I'll give a stern "NO".

The reason I told Mishka uhh uhh, knowing he will say it, it sounds better than him saying no.

Maighen · Feb 21, 2011

Thank you! I think I still have a little while before he is ready for me to touch him.

EvieWg · Feb 21, 2011

I don't give a response if Bob bites me... he's only done it once (when he didn't want to step up), I just kept asking him until he did. A piece of advice I got from a bird guy around here is that any reaction you give to a parrot is reward, so if you don't want your bird to do something, don't react.
Also, the other thing is, don't give your bird the opportunity to bite you... don't put him up on your shoulder if you know he won't want to get down, etc.

nofearengineer · Feb 21, 2011

I think you have to understand that a bite is not always the same.

If it's because you accidentally tweaked one of his pin feathers, and he just did it out of pain and surprise....instant forgiveness and some soothing talk is called for.

For general youngster twerp "see if I can get a response" biting, I don't recommend totally ignoring it, but for sure don't do anything they will see as interesting. Slightly annoying to them is better, like the fist technique Antoinette describes. Something that isn't threatening, but makes them back up. They very soon connect biting with having to give up ground.

For genuine anger biting, I would recommend as little reaction as possible, swiftly followed by alone time. Your parrot is already over-emotional, and you getting in an uproar will only make it worse...it probably isn't a teachable moment. Quiet time in their cage is the best solution.

Maighen · Feb 21, 2011

We are having a quiet day today.....Frankie seems a little moody. Growling more then he has been the last couple of days and throwing his treats again. I have put my hand on the sill of his cage door and he pretty much just stared at me while I was talking to him quietly. He has only came out of his cage once and has not touched his toys. Could he just be having a bad day?

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Help help !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bird wont stop chewing on what looks like flem?

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