Pet me; Pet me NOT!

Mango is asking for petting. Bowed head, repeats an Uh Ha or Okay sound. He seems like a gentle pet at the back of the head and will soon start to make a repetitive sort of tongue or lip smacking kissing sound (He does that when preening himself or his cockatiel). But after a bit or a minute, he'll twist around and bite. Maybe not quite an angry bite and sometimes it's more like a hit, but he has caught me with his sharp beak, so I tend to pull away (I've noticed the cockatiel will snap at him like that when he preens her too). He'll then go back to asking for pets again.

Should I just not oblige? Is this just frustrating him/us?

It’s just emotional overload. My guy does the same thing, but not bites. Just pecks. It’s gotten much better over time.

I think if you do it late in the day...the night...when he’s more tired...he’ll submit a little bit more readily. Also...

My guy loves it the most when he’s on my shoulder and rich up to do it. Maybe that arm movement doesn’t trigger him as much as when he gets scratched on the hand.

I figured it's just part of the play. He really seems to enjoy the petting and will start to unleash all manner of verbal enjoyment. A while back he seemed to be getting more open and I was petting the side of his face and he'd turn to expose the underside of his neck, eyes blissfully closed.

He got me once, not a bite but a glance with the sharp edge drew blood, so I'm a bit gun-shy now. He likes to snuggle up behind my ear and will give it some nibbles. I can't see him up there so it's more nerving reaching in. I try to anticipate when he's getting too much - once the timing was just right at the edge and he almost fell off my shoulder reaching for my retracting hand. That just told me he insists on getting his lick in. He's much less interested if I'm holding him.

He's funny sometimes. He lets me touch him so much more, like his feet, breast, and head. He doesn't mind if I rub my cheek on his breast when he sleeps and will sometimes turn and return a few nibbles on my nose or face, but sometimes gives a light peck if I bother his grooming, and then give me a minute of that angry stare before going back to work.

While he can still be moody, he's really shown some great tempering of actual biting. I think succumbing to a few of his more ruthless bites without a reaction helped to build some trust that nothing was going to happen to him. Lately when I just have to pick him up to put him away or retrieve him from his cage, he might come down hard but just ends up shaking his beak against my hand, or if he has enough time he'll block and push away. His kryptonite is coming from the back or side. He naturally extends his leg so I guess his previous owner had trained him that way. I wish I could have spent some time with that guy.

my bird don't like pets on the back. Try just rubbing side of face beak and top if head.
My GCC is very sensitive we always go through pet me dont pet at nearly every encounter. I just pay attention to body language.

Yeah, I won't go anywhere below the back of the neck. I've read that is not really appropriate and he will run off anyway. I've also read that IRNs don't like having their feathers rubbed the wrong way so I just go with the flow.

The Peekaboo Parrots channel with Bowie came in my youtube feed the other day. Their channel trailer is Bowie getting "tickles." I watched that waiting multiple times for Bowie to snap his head around for the kill. I sorted their videos by oldest first and watched a few of the early ones. The first two from when he was a baby 11 years ago are just too cute! That is one remarkable IRN.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkaYdOZtKPw"]Bowie Enjoying Tickles on Mother’s Day - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzNNcPj89E0"]Bowie's first day home - Lutino Indian Ringneck - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaOcybqpMsE"]Cute baby Indian Ringneck in his new home - 11 weeks - YouTube[/ame]

We LOVE Bowie videos! In fact, Salty learned about 1/2 of his vocabulary from Bowie! But IRNs are notorious for not liking to be touched, much less given a scratch. If your IRN accepts it for a little while just try to gauge how long and stay under that.

Bowie’s flock mate, Koolaid (no longer with us) is Bumble’s favorite thing to watch. He taught her to say peekaboo and to count THREEEEEEEEEE.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Pet on the head and neck only, whatever you do, and make sure they get at least 10 hours a night. That should be my catch-phrase lol!

Inger said:

Bowie’s flock mate, Koolaid (no longer with us) is Bumble’s favorite thing to watch. He taught her to say peekaboo and to count THREEEEEEEEEE.

Click to expand...

Owe, I'm gonna have to dig a bit more.

I think mine is done learning new things to say. He's probably 7 and I've been trying peekaboo for two years since I got him. He just seems to get angry, but if I say NUT, he'll smooth out and stand tall, walk to the edge of the cage, and shout YES!

He doesn't need to entertain me. I'm quite happy with the progress we've made and my cuts have usually healed for several weeks before something gets out of sync and I get a refresher.

Dats totally normal.....u gotta get used to silly bites if u have a bird ....hahahah

LoL, seems to be.

A few weeks ago Mango decided I needed a cheek piercing. See, I was finishing my coffee and decided I'd swirl the last bit around in my cup and BOOM, take that you coffee swirler! Later he's snuggled up behind my ear giving me love nibbles between naps.

ctwo said:

Inger said:

Bowie’s flock mate, Koolaid (no longer with us) is Bumble’s favorite thing to watch. He taught her to say peekaboo and to count THREEEEEEEEEE.

Click to expand...

Owe, I'm gonna have to dig a bit more.

I think mine is done learning new things to say. He's probably 7 and I've been trying peekaboo for two years since I got him. He just seems to get angry, but if I say NUT, he'll smooth out and stand tall, walk to the edge of the cage, and shout YES!

He doesn't need to entertain me. I'm quite happy with the progress we've made and my cuts have usually healed for several weeks before something gets out of sync and I get a refresher.

Click to expand...

nope they never stop learning and surprising us with new words!!! My Ta-dah is 7 and all of a sudden has added all these words and phrases! It's crazy, lol, I didn't think GCC could talk so much, and to start after.5!! Before that she had 3 words she could say. Now she has added 25-30!!!