Increasing biting: How to control/discourage

[Stephable]

Hey guys! My green cheek Momo is growing up/moving out of their baby stage and is getting more and more nippy.

90% of the time they don't mean to hurt and have never broken the skin but I've had a couple of really hard bites lately and I'd like to discourage Momo from being so rough especially as they get more hormonal. I'd really just love if Momo's first instinct wasn't to bite.

Do you think molting would be affecting this behaviour? Also Momo was clipped when I first got them and is starting to grow in flight feathers for the first time since I got them so a flying bite monster wouldn't be ideal hahah.

I'm not sure if time out in their cage would help because it's near the budgie cage and Momo loves the budgies. Momo is very smart though and picks up tricks very quickly! What have you guys tried? Has it worked? Any suggestions are welcome!

At the moment I don't have any kids around but with a 30 yr life span Momo will likely meet my future children so setting good habits now is a must!

 

[tduane]

Following

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[GaleriaGila]

My three cents... some of it may apply to you, and some may not.

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 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. I am sure I'd have to clip him if I were to try time-outs.

I'm sure some folks with bite-related training will be along to add.

I myself suppose that moulting might make a bird a little cranky or sensitive to touch?

 

[goodfellowsheryl]

Mine bites a lot too so im learning what not to do

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[Stephable]

Yeah I definitely try to take into account what Momo dislikes so I don't get bitten for crossing their boundaries but the real issue is the biting out of nowhere. Sometimes Momo's sitting on me napping and then just bite my lip or something. That's the real problem.

 

[MonicaMc]

Read this thread first

http://www.parrotforums.com/training/57935-brainstorming-biting-parrots.html



And if you need training advice, this thread

http://www.parrotforums.com/training/72250-free-training-resources.html



Birds often bite for a reason. If you can figure out why they are biting and avoid or redirect the behavior before it occurs, you can teach a bird not to bite. Simply "allowing" a bird to bite reinforces their need to bite, so if you avoid getting bitten, you teach them they don't need to bite in order to communicate with you. If you do get bitten, don't punish or ignore the bird! Instead, simply get the bird off of you and go nurse your wounds! Then, consider what happened before, during and after the bite. How can you avoid that situation in the future?

You won't necessarily get the behaviors you want by telling an animal what you don't want. - Lara Joseph