New Green Cheek Conure Owner! Increased Biting

Hello all! My boyfriend purchased a Green Cheek Conure (now named Zelda) for me from a local pet store on December 23rd (Saturday). She is 7 months old, and really such a sweet bird. She loves to sleep in my pocket and cuddle up anywhere that's warm and cozy.

We were advised by the staff that Zelda initially wasn't so sweet (AKA she would bite pretty hard, often) but that they had been working with her for about a week, and she had made great progress and wasn't biting as much or as hard anymore. I wasn't sure if the bites she was giving them were out of aggression or just her natural desire to nibble.

Anyways, the day we took Zelda home, she was doing great - lots of nibbling, only a few nibbles that were too hard; however, her nibbles have been progressively getting worse. I don't think she's biting out of anger, because she'll start off with very sweet nibbles and tasting us. She'll do this for random lengths of time and then, all of a sudden, in the middle of those sweet nibbles, she just bites really hard (to the point where it has broken skin). Other times, she'll be on top of her cage and act like she's trying to fly over to me, so I go to pick her up and she bites. Again, I don't think it's out of aggression, because she doesn't make any quick movements or anything - just acts like she's gonna nibble or use her beak to lift herself up and then bites.

Does it sound like these are angry/fearful bites, or if they're just Zelda being unaware that she's biting too hard? Also, how can I stop her from biting too hard when she's just trying to nibble?

Thank you!

Are you reacting to the bite with a loud Ouch? It's likely noting having to do with aggression but how you react could reinforce the behavior.

I have a high pain threshold, especially in my hands with lots of callouses etc, my wife doesn't. When we first got Nike she would bite kinda hard, but not hard enough to cause me to react...my wife on the other hand felt pain when I didn't, The result was that my wife stopped handling her and eventually the bites got lighter to the point that even when she's mad they don't hurt much. I attribute this simply to the fact that I didn't react when she bit and therefore no positive reinforcement.

There are folks here with lots more experience with biting birds but I feel confident in saying that as long as the bite isn't caused by aggression, limiting your reaction will help.

One thing I recently did was have the vet take the point off her beak, he just touched it with the dremmel. Now even the inadvertent pinches I get when she's chewing on my clothes don't hurt....now if she was mad and decided to really pinch me it would hurt and maybe even pierce the skin but taking that sharp point off really helped.

Welcome to you and Zelda!

While I'm not familiar with the conure species, my impression is they can be a bit beaky at times. There are many forms of biting, ranging from fear/anger to displacement biting (angry at something else but taking it out on you) and playful biting gone awry.

A week of work at the pet store is unlikely to have altered basic behavior. Parrots often enjoy a "honeymoon" at new homes that will eventually return them to a "norm." There are techniques to quell the worst of biting, check out this thread about "Bite pressure training." http://www.parrotforums.com/training/63988-bite-pressure-training.html

bill_e said:

Are you reacting to the bite with a loud Ouch? It's likely noting having to do with aggression but how you react could reinforce the behavior.

I have a high pain threshold, especially in my hands with lots of callouses etc, my wife doesn't. When we first got Nike she would bite kinda hard, but not hard enough to cause me to react...my wife on the other hand felt pain when I didn't, The result was that my wife stopped handling her and eventually the bites got lighter to the point that even when she's mad they don't hurt much. I attribute this simply to the fact that I didn't react when she bit and therefore no positive reinforcement.

There are folks here with lots more experience with biting birds but I feel confident in saying that as long as the bite isn't caused by aggression, limiting your reaction will help.

One thing I recently did was have the vet take the point off her beak, he just touched it with the dremmel. Now even the inadvertent pinches I get when she's chewing on my clothes don't hurt....now if she was mad and decided to really pinch me it would hurt and maybe even pierce the skin but taking that sharp point off really helped.

Click to expand...

Thank you for your reply!

When she bites too hard, I usually have to pry her beak off of my finger, or just pull away. I usually say "Ow!" or "no" in a firm tone. Most of the time, if she starts nibbling too hard numerous times when I'm holding her, I end up putting her back in/on her cage.

Are you saying that my "ow" and "no" are reinforcing her TO bite?

Thanks!

Scott said:

Welcome to you and Zelda!

While I'm not familiar with the conure species, my impression is they can be a bit beaky at times. There are many forms of biting, ranging from fear/anger to displacement biting (angry at something else but taking it out on you) and playful biting gone awry.

A week of work at the pet store is unlikely to have altered basic behavior. Parrots often enjoy a "honeymoon" at new homes that will eventually return them to a "norm." There are techniques to quell the worst of biting, check out this thread about "Bite pressure training." http://www.parrotforums.com/training/63988-bite-pressure-training.html

Click to expand...

Thank you, that definitely helps!

nhilton1295 said:

Thank you for your reply!

When she bites too hard, I usually have to pry her beak off of my finger, or just pull away. I usually say "Ow!" or "no" in a firm tone. Most of the time, if she starts nibbling too hard numerous times when I'm holding her, I end up putting her back in/on her cage.

Are you saying that my "ow" and "no" are reinforcing her TO bite?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Like I said I'm certainly not an expert on this subject but birds do many things to get our attention, they love our attention. They don't know or really care that oww or no is supposed to tell them to stop, what they do know is that they got your attention and that makes them happy. I believe that it's like yelling at a screaming bird, it seldom works.

Read the posts that the smart people told you to read and see if there's anything in there you can try.