Biting. How can i teach her not to do it?

Hello I'm Anette, and I'm a new lovebird owner. And i'm new in this forum, hello everyone.


I really love her. But she has a very bad habit, she's a biter. But all the time when she sits on my finger, she bites it. When she can flies around the room, she's looking for our head, then our finger.. I dont know why but it gets really annoying cause now it hurts a lot.
Can you give me some advice? Can I teach her not to do it? Or is it some special reason why is it a thing?

Hello Anette, welcome

As far as my experience goes (relative to their size) lovebirds are the nastiest biters of all, they just seem to love doing it - it is a good thing they look *so* adorable.

There are a few topics here related to biting and bite-pressure-training.
Have you had a chance to look at those yet?
(I dislike telling people things they already know, though sometimes I need reminding myself lol)

Thank you for including a picture- she really is a cutie!

Thank you for the fast reply
I didn't know these species are especially biters. But yes the cuteness can make us forget it.
I haven't read topics from here yet. I didn't find them, can i search? Sorry i didn't want to make an umpteen post about this topic

Why not?

We all started at the beginning, so some questions will always come back- it's just the way it works.
Ask anything and everything your are not sure about.

It takes a bit of time before you find your way around here, I should have given you the links (but I am really lazy sometimes).

Just read the topics on the top (sticky) and you will find a lot of relevant information,

you even have you own (species) corner @ Lovebirds - Parrot Forum - Parrot Owner's Community
but for basics and really good tips/advice try this one (and all the sticky's ) General Parrot Information - Parrot Forum - Parrot Owner's Community

How old is your baby? Certain birds go through a sort of "puberty" stage, sometimes called bluffing, in which they become a little more prone to resistance behaviours like nipping and biting. My two hand reared budgies went through a stage like this when they were around 6 months old, biting so hard sometimes that they drew blood! They grew out of it at around 8ish months, luckily.

I'm sure others will have insight to prevent such behaviours, definitely have a look elsewhere on the forums as suggested already.

This thread is worth it’s weight in gold!
http://www.parrotforums.com/training/57935-brainstorming-biting-parrots.html

You have to figure out why she is biting in order to stop it...When you know the reason behind the behavior, you can find a more appropriate way to meet that same need (or avoid the need) by manipulating the environment and rewards.

Does she bite everyone?
What do you do when she bites?
Are there times when she bites more?
Has she always done this?

Welcome to the forums, Anette! Beautiful lovebird, hope you can find a strategy to minimize biting. Time, training, and patience often win this battle.

The link provided by Flboy is superb, yet another to consider: http://www.parrotforums.com/training/63988-bite-pressure-training.html

Beautiful bird, beautiful picture.

Thank you for the replies and the links ChristaNL , Scott
Flboy , i will read them

reeb said:

How old is your baby?

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She's one month old, and we brought her home about 2 weeks ago. But it's good to hear, they can grow out of it. The original owner said, she bit him too as well. So i'm glad she doesn't simply hate me, she hates everyone haha

noodles123 said:

Does she bite everyone?
What do you do when she bites?
Are there times when she bites more?
Has she always done this?

Click to expand...

Yeah you're right, i should find the reason, but i can't find it yet.
She bites everyone, and everytime. The original owner said, we should make a negative impact when she bites, in order to make her stop it. So I blow her, or tap the beak, and then she is surprised and stop for a second, but after that, she happily continues.
Maybe i have to be more patient and she will stop it I just don't want to make her afraid of me, because of these.
It's so precious, she loves sitting on my finger and my head

Curious, is the age of one month verified? Did she look much the same when you got her 2 weeks ago?

Wondering because a bird possibly not fully weaned can develop all sorts of behavioral issues.

So picture a kid biting for kicks and giggles....
Possible reasons for biting:


1. To get something (if I bite you, you will give me your toy)
2. To get attention (If I bite you, you will talk to me/yell at me/make an exciting scene/ interact with me)
2a. Control (not always a category, but often related to attention and escape)-- exp= I refuse to eat and everyone begs me to (attention) and I don't have to try the food that scared me (escape).

3. To meet a sensory need (teething, overly excited, tooth problem etc)
4. To get out of a situation (when I bite you, you run away)


My question for you is, has tapping the beak or saying "no"/ making a big deal out of it stopped the behavior? If no, then that is not helping (or the behavior would have decreased). If the behavior is increasing due to these reactions, then this reaction (tapping beak/saying "no"= forms of attention) is strengthening/reinforcing the bad behavior.

If your intention is to punish the bird, then keep in mind that a punishment in your mind may not be a punishment in his mind. You could also scare the bird.


If you know the bird WANTS to be with you, you could basically do a short time-out (remove yourself and remove any attention to the bird) if biting happens. The problem is, you would never want to do this with a bird who was biting in order to escape people, because then he would just be getting rewarded if you left post-biting and HIS escape (reward) was provided. That is why you have to figure out the reason for the biting.


That's why you have to really look at what is happening right after the bird bites.

Scott said:

Curious, is the age of one month verified? Did she look much the same when you got her 2 weeks ago?

Wondering because a bird possibly not fully weaned can develop all sorts of behavioral issues.

Click to expand...

I don't know her age exactly, just approximately. Maybe she's older. She looked like exactly the same when we took her home.

Noodles123, thank you for the explanation

noodles123 said:

My question for you is, has tapping the beak or saying "no"/ making a big deal out of it stopped the behavior? If no, then that is not helping (or the behavior would have decreased). If the behavior is increasing due to these reactions, then this reaction (tapping beak/saying "no"= forms of attention) is strengthening/reinforcing the bad behavior.

Click to expand...

It stops the behaviour for just a second, and then she countinues the biting. I don't think it can strenghtens the behaviour, but it seems like , it doesn't solve this either.

She does it all the time when we touch her, and when we are around she flies to us to bite us.

I tried to bring her back to her cage, she doesn't like it, she always tries to fly away when she knows we want to bring her back. So maybe this can be a form of punishment. But if thats the case, I could carry her back, every second ..

1 month old chicks aren't even weaned yet... more likely to be around 2+ months old.

What's her favorite treat? Would she be willing to go back into her cage for it?

What does she get to engage in when she's out of the cage? Any toys or foraging activities?

Have you tried training any new behaviors such as target training or station training?

Hi. I own a conure (similar to lovebirds) and he used to bit... a lot. It REALLY hurts because they have super strong beaks. Over time, after being bonded to the parrot, they stop biting and go down the gentle path if needed. The Twist and Earthquake are the easiest ways to stop your parrot. When your parrot is on your hand/finger and he or she bites, wave your hand up and down. Sometimes I twist my hand around too. Did this help?

The "earthquake" method has the potential to result in birds not trusting hands or potentially even biting harder... not really recommended. Yes, it *can* work, but it does not solve the reason *why* the bird is biting in the first place.

When she flies to bite you, what are you doing ? Can she see you? Are you ever alone when she does this?

Welcome and beautiful love bird! I have no experience with them, but I do have experience with biting parrots, lol who doesn't?! When I got my first conure 17 years ago, I got a book called either the Idiot's Guide to Parrots, or the Dummies Guide to Parrots. Who knows if it is even still in print but it was a great help and I was able to stop all biting, save for a few blue moon nips. You don't want this to become a game to her. You do need to find the cause, some are are over stimulation, you've had them out to long and they need a break and a snack and some water, they are saving you from a perceived threat, jellousy, fear. ....sone things that work for me, endure the bite with no reaction and move the hand they are biting slowly toward them untill the have to step back I also say no very softly, abd I keep my hand there until bi see they aren't going to bite again. Then I have them step up. If a second bite happens I say no and gently place them on the floor (if it safe no dogs or other pets can get them) I then angel of Mercy rescue them from the floor usually they thrilled to step up. Then move them to a play pen, their cage give them a toy or a treat and try to figure out what I was doing wrong to cause the biting. I keep reading and researching and learning from other people.