Conure Wants Cuddles But Bites

I recently adopted a conure from someone. The bird has no problem with new environments and is very calm and quiet. She loves cuddles and wants them 24/7 , however she bites me almost every time she cuddles me. I go to change her water and I get bitten. She wants the contact, she just wants her old owner to do it. When she bites I go "OUCH" so she knows that it is bad. She bites when I feed her treats, she bites all the time. I don't know why. This is her second day here and the first had no biting.she wants out and I feel bad for not letting her out.But letting her bite on me and learn that behaviour isn't good in the long run. She is 9 months old. Suggestions for getting bit on less?

I think you assume too much.

Maybe she has a problem with new environments, have you thought about that? If it's only the second day you've had this new bird, i will suggest leaving it alone for the first two weeks or longer if you can manage to do that. Let her settle in, If she bites you, then she doesn't want cuddles. She's telling you very clearly: "leave me alone!". You have to be very careful what you do now, so the bird doesn't associate you with something negative. Make a plan of how to slowly and gradually build up a relationship, and earn her trust. This took me 7 months with my bird. Don't assume that you are allowed to do the same things as the previous owner right away. Hope this helps.

And please... avoid getting bit!

Perhaps I was hasty, thank you so much. I just didn't see any behaviour indicating fear of the environment. But is suppose she is a bit spooked. Thanks again!

slowing down is key here. Remember she's wired differently to any other pet humans keep.

The environmental change and losing her old flock is cause for upset in her. Leaving alone for 2 weeks is a bit much, some birds are ready to interact in a couple hours others can take months to come around. Try interacting with her but do so on her terms and slowly. Drop the "ouch" a loud noise like shouting ouch means fun to a parrot. when bitten they key is a calm controlled reaction. If they won't allow touching then what I like to do is move my hand flat in front of them like you're signalling stop, making it so they can't grip any skin and they back down pretty quick when they realize they're smaller. If she is okay with being picked up then quickly picking her up and putting her on the floor looking away from you is a good method if you don't have any other pets. Combine either of these with a stern but ordinary speaking volume "no" and they learn

Wife’s Bongo the Braveheart, formally, the Barbarian, wants cuddles from me- on his terms!
He will sit on my chest and rub his head\neck on my fingers. If I move a finger, he nails me!
Your ‘ouch’, make sure you aren’t becoming a squeaky toy!
Read and reread!
http://www.parrotforums.com/training/57935-brainstorming-biting-parrots.html


"The only bite that can't be rewarded is the one that never occurs."

the time out method is best for bonded birds, put them on the floor or someplace they don't like, not their cage. And have them come back to you. If a bird is in a flock and bites it will be shunned, same rule applies, let him know with a time out that behavior is not allowed and more often then not they will, walk back and be very sweet....might take a few times but they will catch on.

Actually its fairly normal to..at least for my conure... to bite when giving him treats... he gets his PROTECT FOOD instinct kicking in. Same way about toys. Note he is NOT a bitey bird...but when those instincts kick in he will go on the offensive. I don't even bother trying to "train" that instinct out of him. I just avoid tripping his lil trigger and biting is no longer an issue. Its been a while since either of my youngins actually bit me, and they are out on me A LOT. Other incidental bites I managed to teach them itsa no no. A brief restraint...a lil wag of the finger and a stern NO a few times took care of that.

Thank you for the training advice! I was just keeping consistent with what the training her previous owner was doing. But the time out seems very sage and I'll start to do that. Thanks so much all!

Notdumasilook said:

Actually its fairly normal to..at least for my conure... to bite when giving him treats... he gets his PROTECT FOOD instinct kicking in. Same way about toys. Note he is NOT a bitey bird...but when those instincts kick in he will go on the offensive.

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very good point there

Most animals are like that. The amount of dogs and cats I've had in my life that will never hurt a fly but the second they go to offer food you need to get your hand out the way quick or get a set of teeth wrapped around your hand

My bird doesn't bite with treats, but if he crawls down to his bowl and comes up with some of his favorites...I'll turn my head and look and he will "gripe" at me, so I snap my head back, ....then I look his way again and he chirps again....repeat, repeat. He doesn't bite, but he will do the Incan war dance at times.....I THINK he considers it a game because I back off each time, and never take his treat, but if he bit me I'd think otherwise. I think it's a passive aggressive love/kill thing.

interesting read...my 2 yr old conure has never bitten me about a food/treat issue and almost never bites me just out of the blue....but she bites and mouths my fingers and hand when we are playing...my hand and fingers go everywhere on her body except her vent area, she rolls over happily and makes all kinds of sounds but my finger is usually in her chompers...it doesnt bother me one bit, she doesnt generally bite too hard, .... and I let her bite me (unless its REALLY hard) as I think its just what they do, its the easiest method they have and most natural way to interact with you.

Great advice, and great support !

But, there's always THAT PERSON who has THAT BIRD. I'll tell my tale...

The Rb was an angel until he becam a rooster at about age 4. And then, he became a raging, demanding little stinker. He's a fun mimic and an entertaining character, but..
I have reduced biting to almost zero over the decades... not because I've changed the bird, but I have changed me. And a lot of that has involved giving up on a lot of my desires/expectations. After years of battle, I surrendered. I don't do stuff that gets me bitten. I don't scratch his head much, ever... tail is okay. I NEVER do stuff that makes him mad... I don't touch others when he's out; I rarely try to get him to step up onto my hand first. Hand-held perch first, then hand. In some ways, I swallow my disappointment at having such a little monster for a pet, but he is what he is. I ALWAYS wear my hair down when he's on my shoulder, so all he can bite is hair. Really, I don't involve hands much... he doesn't like them. He seems to think the real ME is my head, perched on a weird moveable tree with questionable appendages.
Since he's fully flighted, the ONLY way I get him into the cage is to toss a chile pepper in and he flaps in after it. So food reward is a necessity for me. Time-out doesn't exist in the Rb's kingdom.
But please... listen to and try all the good advice you'll get here. Don't surrender until you know you've done your best. Then just accept and love whatever/whoever your bird turns out to be.
My darling is kind of a worse-case scenario, but we have it all worked out between the two of us.
Very, very best of luck to you.
Good for you for reaching out!

Wraith said:

I recently adopted a conure from someone. The bird has no problem with new environments and is very calm and quiet. She loves cuddles and wants them 24/7 , however she bites me almost every time she cuddles me. I go to change her water and I get bitten. She wants the contact, she just wants her old owner to do it. When she bites I go "OUCH" so she knows that it is bad. She bites when I feed her treats, she bites all the time. I don't know why. This is her second day here and the first had no biting.she wants out and I feel bad for not letting her out.But letting her bite on me and learn that behaviour isn't good in the long run. She is 9 months old. Suggestions for getting bit on less?

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The conures (Sun and Blue Crown) in my home have long term memories. When I was seperated from my husband for 5 years, he kept the conures to keep him company. My husband was going through mood and anxiety issues and was not well enough to have a relationship. When my husband got better, him and the birds moved backed in. The birds do not talk to him but they do talk to me. When they saw me again after 5 years, they started calling out to me, "Mama! Mama!" The Blue Crown retained my laugh. The sun and blue crown conures pretty much ignored my hubby and kept calling for me, the dogs and my son.

I can only conclude that the conures bonded to me as their primary parent/companion and retained that connection even after a 5 year separation. It takes patience and bribery to get some conures and dogs to warm-up to you and a new environment or toy. Eventually, they will warm-up to you. You'll know when they start mimicking you, your laugh, your speech patterns, your expressions. Parroting you is their way of getting your attention by rapport.