New GCC and I have a question!

My fiance and I recently bought a GCC from Petsmart. We have been looking and reading books for almost 2 years. We waited until our lease was up to make sure our new family member would have a good setting to live in. We have books and have read endlessly. We found Rey, our GCC, and just fell in love. She/he is a spaz and has a great attitude. However I have a question on a behavior and how to react. Neither of us has been around birds before and books can only teach you so much. They can't addresss specific questions.

Rey is nippy, was at the pet store but is worse now. Not too bad, but I want to learn how to curb the problem. This is the third day we have had her and she constatly wants to be out of the cage. When she sees either of us coming she goes right to the door and bounces and jumps around to get our attention. When we let her out she steps right up and sits just fine. She initially let us stroker her wings and she loved head scratches. But she would bite a lot. I just don't know what she wants. She constantly wants to be out of the cage and come to us. She doesn't like to step down to tables or playcage and as soon as she steps down she tries to step back onto either one of us. We let her out a decent amount until she gets really bitey but we can't figure out what to do. She loves to sit on our fingers and likes to try to run up to our shoulders every once in a while but inevitably ends up biting us. What is the best way to react to this?

She is also eight months old so could hormones possibly be playing a role? I just am not sure what to do. She wanted to hang out with us within 4 hours of coming home and constatnly wants to hang out with us but ends up biting us. How do we react?

Congratulations on your new GCC ! listen, if you've only had her 3 days you might be expecting a little bit much. She needs to settle in and get a regular routine. First of all, try to keep scratches and stroking limited to the head and neck for now. Give her (?) lots of breaks between interaction so she can rest and get her bearings. The nippiness can be curbed with patience and time. Do alot of soft talking and slow movements for now. She might seem like she's adjusted, but she's not. When parrots end up in a new home, they go thru a mild (or medium) state of shock. Her behavior right now will change...again and again, and again. It will be like 2 steps forward, one step back for a while, just roll with it. Stick with this forum, you'll learn alot here just by reading up on different topics.

Thanks! I'm so nervous, I feel like a parent who has no idea what is going on. We planned to leave her alone until now but it just seems so obvious she wants to hang out with us. The nipping gets worse and worse as she sits on us. It might be gentle nibbles for a minute or two and then it gets bad. So what should we do? How to we let her hang out with us? Should i put her on the desk where this computer as when I am on it and let her play near me?

When the nipping gets beyond nibbling, simply put her in her cage and let her chill for a bit. Then try again. Keep sessions short for now. Talk to her quietly when she's in her cage. Be very gentle and patient with her. Everything's going to be fine, this will all pass

We are going through something like this with our maroon-bellied conure. She wants to be with us, calls for us when we are out of her sight, but she has the same biting problem yours does!

We've been working with her in the pet store for a month because of transitioning to a new place (and we didn't want to stress her with the move) and she HAS gotten better. Before you couldn't hold her without her biting. Now, she nibbles after a few minutes and decides whether or not she wants to give you a chomp. Even the employees have told us across the board that she is way nicer to them and they don't have to worry about getting bitten when they change her food and water

We did exactly what Kalidasa posted above; we held her for awhile, but when she started to bite again, we'd put her up and walk away. Once she stopped calling us back, we'd come back and let her out again.

I can't wait to hear how your progress is going!

This actually sounds like a fairly common issue to me. It sounds like she's "exploring" but doesn't understand yet, what is acceptable beak pressure.

I wanted to chime in and say that I completely understand about your conure wanting to be with you and excited about out of cage time even though she's only a few days with you. Franklin was the same way...he picked us and he needed absolutely NO settle in time what so ever.

Anyway he also would get to beaking us, exploring and we decided from day one, to teach him that anything OTHER than touching with his beak (what we call kiss) or open beak and tasting with his tongue was considered a bite.

To curb him from the biting we'd gently "pinch" his beak between our thumb and index finger...using only enough pressure to hold his head in place...let me stress...we were not squeezing...just holding with enough pressure like if you were going to rub his beak...which he loves! A beak massage!

Anyway, then while holding his beak, we'd get him to eye level and we'd say..."Frankieee...noooo bite" in a firm warning tone...release and let him go on his merry way. If he "bit" again, even the slightest little pinch...we'd repeat...the beak hold with the no bite phrase.

If he was really stuck on the "biting" we aways kept little footie toys, popsicle sticks, even things like apple slices, carrot sticks, grapes, broccoli...something he could not only play with but sink his beak into and redirect his attention away from "exploring" us.

We've had him 3 years now...anymore, we can tell if his playing/beaking is going to get out of hand before it starts...and we can warn him...Frankieee...beeee niiice...or Frankie...noooo bite. And he almost ALWAYS backs off.

He knows and says "Give kiss" and sometimes if he give us an accidental "pinch" I say...Frankie! Only give kiss! Then I'll tell him...Good birds give kisses, Bad birds bite! And he's soo funny! He starts bawling me out in conure chatter before I even get my phrase out...arguing with me...garbuled conure GIVE KISS! then (kiss sound) garbuled conure chatter...GIVE KISS! Kiss sound. Basically he's telling me...I WAS giving you a kiss!

Hahahahaha!!

Good Luck and keep us posted with your progress.

Toni

My GCC is also a spaz . She is still on the nippy side but the more I work with her using all of the methods above is paying off. She(?) watches us work with our sun conure and sees how she gets good loving when not biting compared to being left alone when she does bite.

Congrats on your Green Check! there's been some good suggestion, the only thing I can add is be patient

My GC has always been nippy and every time I try to grab his beak I get bit again. I must be slow. About half of Apollo's kisses are "hard kisses" that's what we call them. He's very bipolar right now with hormones and a new Macaw. My biggest mistake was shouldering him. When we 1st got him he was so much fun to watch play independently now he won't play with his toys all he wants to do is sit on my shoulder and bite me. It's like he'll get you to cuddle with him then you breath wrong and he bites. We have a lot of work ahead of us.

I trained my GCC no to bite the exact same way as Nakiska; pinch and hold her beak for a few seconds when she starts to bite. I trained her this way when she was 4 months old and couldn't bite very hard. I knew that when she grows older, her bite pressure will be greater, so I trained her while the bite pressure was still at acceptable level. She rarely bites hard on people anymore. She bites hard only to the people she hates (none in her family). I can practically fall asleep while she is on me or inside my shirt.

Oh wow thank you all so much for the helpful replies! I think Rey and us are still getting to know each other. We have been playing with her today and she/he seems to better. She seems to get cranky after about 15/30 minutes. She loves head scratches but seems to get irritated of them after a bit. She dodges my finger and gets bitey. I usually end up putting her back in her cage with a dowel or perch. But I really love this bird. She's such a spaz. And she may be the quietest bird i've ever seen. I have only heard her squack once or twice really quietly. Is that normal for a new bird settling in?

I think that's great. Most birds tend to be quiet when they are adjusting to a new home, but it is not absolute. Just make sure to avoid making bad habits with Rey. If she screeches and calls for attention, do not come running to the cage, no not even answer. Only pay her attention when she makes a quieter call.

If you still come around here, here's another suggestion.


Instead of punishing her for biting, you could figure out why she's biting in the first place. Is she overstimulated? Is she bored? Is she excited? Is she exploring?

Figure out why she's biting, then take steps to prevent the behavior. If she's bored or exploring you can always give her toys, foot toys, pony beads, wooden beads, wooden slats, bottle caps or even a piece of a leather strip for her to chew on and play with while she's out.

If her behavior is excited, try to remain calmer and interact with her in a calm manner.

If she's getting overstimulated then only handle her for short periods of time so she has time to settle down and then interact with her again.