Biting and burrowing!

Captainmcbitey

New member
Mar 20, 2014
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Hi there, myself and my partner have had our conure for 3 weeks now, he is about 8 months old by the name of reggie and he's fantastic apart from certain things.

1) He hates skin! Put a hand anywhere near him and he will launch for it and attack, drawing blood whenever he can! Arms are fair game and he was happily perching on my girlfriends head the other night playing with her hair when he bent down and latched onto her forehead! Whenever we handle him we have to wear gloves which he has almost got used to apart from a snap every now and againbut it's horrible not being able to go near the little guy with any flesh bared.

2) we let him out of his cage every evening for as long as he likes. We do a little clicker and touch training with him with a chopstick and generally let him amble about as he pleases but when it starts to get dark he tries to burrow into our couch. Not a huge problem as we can get him out and I think he's gradually learning not to do it but I was just wondering if he should have snug for sleeping in or something?

He eats a mix of fresh and pellet diet and seems generally happy, grinding his beak regularly when sat with us and before sleep which I'm told is a good sign but his aggressiveness around flesh is really starting to worry me! I've seen all of the training tips about getting him to repeatedly step up if he bites etc but we can't even teach him to step up with the glove as he fears it although is used to it and the obvious happens if you put a hand nearby!

Any advice much appreciated!
Dave
 

MonicaMc

Well-known member
Sep 12, 2012
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Parrots
Mitred Conure - Charlie 1994;
Cockatiel - Casey 2001;
Wild Caught ARN - Sylphie 2013
Your post reminds me of a sun conure that Barbara Heidenreich worked with. Reggie doesn't sound as bad as Chile became, but still, not good.

Good Bird Inc Parrot Training Talk: A Sun Conure Training Success Story

Trailer is neat.
Understanding Parrot Body Language by Barbara Heidenreich

Sounds to me like you need to toss the glove and work harder on clicker training and positive reinforcement.



As far as the couch, it may be a good idea to discourage that behavior and not give him anything dark to get in. His behavior may worsen.
 

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