Hey everyone. I posted a little while back about my green cheeked conure's biting/lack of tolerance for touching and hands got some good responses. In short, he was an angel when he first came home. He stepped up nicely and only gave little nibbles. He was cuddly and gentle for two days. I have had him a little over a month now. We were told he was "8 weeks old" and "12 weeks old" by the two owners of the bird store we got him from, so we will assume he is between 3 and 5 months old.
Since then, I have bought the BirdTricks.com videos and watched them all. I bought the Parrot Wizard's book. I watch tons of videos and research bird behavior and taming. He literally takes up my entire day, which would be fine if he was still friendly. I don't react to my bird's bites. Instead, I try to switch gears and get his mind on tricks and reward his positive behavior. He's very smart. He learned how to wave hello in 24 hours. He can also spin on command and is target and click trained. He's a little genius.
He is also ruining my life.
He simply WILL NOT STOP biting. He had a brief period of a few days where he seemed to be improving, and since then, with no changes made to his life or environment, it's been a drastic downhill slide.
On top of finger and hand biting, recently he has decided that he now enjoys flying onto my shoulders and biting all around my neck, HARD. Attempts at getting him to step up or target off of my shoulder sometimes works and other times results in more screams and more hard bites, now with TWISTING. I can't even describe how hard it is to sit there and not react while I reach for my chopstick and the skin on the back of my neck is being pinched and twisted, but I do as they say and remain quiet and calm. Ignoring his bad behavior and rewarding the good. He is not "allowed" on my shoulders, and previously he would nicely step up on my finger to be lowered back down to his playground where he would hop off and receive a treat. Now he bites and resists, and his biting has become progressively harder and more enthusiastic as the days have gone by to the point where he consistently tears skin and draws blood.
The only time I could actually handle him physically was after his bath. He would be wet and pathetic and allow me to touch and pet him. A few times he fell asleep while I was doing so. He definitely is not afraid of me. As soon as he was dry though, forget about it. He has recently also started refusing his bath time, so even the short quality time he allowed me to spend with him when he was wet has been completely eliminated. I have to admit that I am losing my ability to remain optimistic about this. I wake up and think "Ok, it's a new day. A new opportunity for better interactions. Maybe he just had a bad day" and then he has a worse one.
I currently have a pet that I am afraid of and that will beg to come out and spend time biting me. When on my finger he will notice wounds he has already given me and re-bite and chew them, pulling off my skin and making me bleed all over again. Any time I am working around him I have to quickly do whatever it is I have to do before he is able to come over and aggressively chew my fingers.
He still steps up nicely, but once he is on the finger he will dig his beak into my cuticle or put my whole finger tip in his mouth and chew and twist. My hands don't take him to bad places. He goes to his playground or his training perch (in a different room than his cage), both places where he plays happily and gets rewards. There aren't any negative connotations surrounding my hands.
I bought the DVDs. I watch the videos and bought the books. I did a ton of research before I brought him home. I am an educated, respectful person. I have had cats, a dog, turtles, lizards, a ferret, snakes and not ONE of these animals has ever bitten me to the extent that my bird has. I follow the instructions and listen to advice from those who know best. I try so hard to give my bird an environment that facilitates him behaving, but I am failing. I am willing to put in the time he needs from me, and I have been, but it's not resulted in anything remotely positive aside from him learning tricks.
I keep thinking "Ok, let me assess WHY he may have just done that. Did he want food or something? Did he notice something weird? What am I doing that is making him want to bite?" I don't know. I'd say it's a seemingly "random" occurrence, but it's becoming pretty predictable: interact with the bird, and you're going to get torn up.
It doesn't help that I see so many photos and testimonials from people who have little birds that just love to play and cuddle and aren't always chomping their owners. I follow all the rules I am supposed to when it comes to this little guy, to the point that it annoys my girlfriend at how I am when it comes to not reinforcing bad behavior like screaming and biting (she thinks its adorable when he screams in his cage and I've reminded her not not give him attention when he does it, to her dismay). I don't know what to do. The worse he gets, the less time I spend with him, but what am I supposed to do? He doesn't seem anything like the birds I see on YouTube or in photos people share. I am feeling pretty lost here, feeling like I am letting down my bird and I can't figure out what to do.
Since then, I have bought the BirdTricks.com videos and watched them all. I bought the Parrot Wizard's book. I watch tons of videos and research bird behavior and taming. He literally takes up my entire day, which would be fine if he was still friendly. I don't react to my bird's bites. Instead, I try to switch gears and get his mind on tricks and reward his positive behavior. He's very smart. He learned how to wave hello in 24 hours. He can also spin on command and is target and click trained. He's a little genius.
He is also ruining my life.
He simply WILL NOT STOP biting. He had a brief period of a few days where he seemed to be improving, and since then, with no changes made to his life or environment, it's been a drastic downhill slide.
On top of finger and hand biting, recently he has decided that he now enjoys flying onto my shoulders and biting all around my neck, HARD. Attempts at getting him to step up or target off of my shoulder sometimes works and other times results in more screams and more hard bites, now with TWISTING. I can't even describe how hard it is to sit there and not react while I reach for my chopstick and the skin on the back of my neck is being pinched and twisted, but I do as they say and remain quiet and calm. Ignoring his bad behavior and rewarding the good. He is not "allowed" on my shoulders, and previously he would nicely step up on my finger to be lowered back down to his playground where he would hop off and receive a treat. Now he bites and resists, and his biting has become progressively harder and more enthusiastic as the days have gone by to the point where he consistently tears skin and draws blood.
The only time I could actually handle him physically was after his bath. He would be wet and pathetic and allow me to touch and pet him. A few times he fell asleep while I was doing so. He definitely is not afraid of me. As soon as he was dry though, forget about it. He has recently also started refusing his bath time, so even the short quality time he allowed me to spend with him when he was wet has been completely eliminated. I have to admit that I am losing my ability to remain optimistic about this. I wake up and think "Ok, it's a new day. A new opportunity for better interactions. Maybe he just had a bad day" and then he has a worse one.
I currently have a pet that I am afraid of and that will beg to come out and spend time biting me. When on my finger he will notice wounds he has already given me and re-bite and chew them, pulling off my skin and making me bleed all over again. Any time I am working around him I have to quickly do whatever it is I have to do before he is able to come over and aggressively chew my fingers.
He still steps up nicely, but once he is on the finger he will dig his beak into my cuticle or put my whole finger tip in his mouth and chew and twist. My hands don't take him to bad places. He goes to his playground or his training perch (in a different room than his cage), both places where he plays happily and gets rewards. There aren't any negative connotations surrounding my hands.
I bought the DVDs. I watch the videos and bought the books. I did a ton of research before I brought him home. I am an educated, respectful person. I have had cats, a dog, turtles, lizards, a ferret, snakes and not ONE of these animals has ever bitten me to the extent that my bird has. I follow the instructions and listen to advice from those who know best. I try so hard to give my bird an environment that facilitates him behaving, but I am failing. I am willing to put in the time he needs from me, and I have been, but it's not resulted in anything remotely positive aside from him learning tricks.
I keep thinking "Ok, let me assess WHY he may have just done that. Did he want food or something? Did he notice something weird? What am I doing that is making him want to bite?" I don't know. I'd say it's a seemingly "random" occurrence, but it's becoming pretty predictable: interact with the bird, and you're going to get torn up.
It doesn't help that I see so many photos and testimonials from people who have little birds that just love to play and cuddle and aren't always chomping their owners. I follow all the rules I am supposed to when it comes to this little guy, to the point that it annoys my girlfriend at how I am when it comes to not reinforcing bad behavior like screaming and biting (she thinks its adorable when he screams in his cage and I've reminded her not not give him attention when he does it, to her dismay). I don't know what to do. The worse he gets, the less time I spend with him, but what am I supposed to do? He doesn't seem anything like the birds I see on YouTube or in photos people share. I am feeling pretty lost here, feeling like I am letting down my bird and I can't figure out what to do.
