Biting reaches new highs with pierced nose and nipple! Asking for help.

[Scottallen]

I know it sounds funny. I assure you it's not. Two years ago I got my Green Cheek from craigslist. She (I am only guessing gender) was 6 months old . The owner couldn't keep her because she was the only one able to handle her without getting bitten. I have had a conure before and never had problems with biting. I got her home and she did bite for about a week. Then she just stopped. After that we were inseparable. Complete trust. I fed her seeds that I held in my lips, just to freak people out. Even when she was making a strong statement with her beak it was never painful. After a year with her I had to take care of a very ill relative in another country and had to leave her with my mother for 8 months. Coming home and so excited to see her I was shocked when i was bitten 6 times in quick succession. Each bite piercing skin. Ok, I get it your pissed and I know not to react.
Its been three months. The biting has gotten worse. I cannot handle her at all with bare hands. Though she follows me everywhere. Landing on my neck she tears a hole so I have to constantly carry a towel around. She is perfectly happy and normal as long as I handle her with the towel. I keep trying to not react. I don't get mad. I have never given up. But last week she was good for a few days and got stealthy on me. I nap afternoons and leave her out whenever I am home. I woke up to a bite clean thru the nose right where a person would get a piercing. One of the only ways I can handle her is allowing her to cuddle and sleep on my chest. Two days ago she bit my nipple thru the shirt and almost removed it. When she bites she doesn't let go.
I am committed to caring for her as I understand my responsibility as her owner and take it seriously. I have to wonder though will she be better off elsewhere.
I have tried several techniques to curb the behavior scouring you tube and the internet for a solution, yet she only gets worse.
Please understand. Other than the biting she is never happy until she settles down near me for her little naps. She eats when I eat and god help me if I start without her. She is upset when I leave and is relieved and happy around me at my return. To anyone who sees us together it's obvious she wants to be around me. I do not let her dictate like my mom did. Bed time is bed time like it or not. There are rules like no perching in the kitchen that I stay consistent with. Still she becomes hostile when not getting her way. All I can think of is a. She has reached sexual maturity and is undergoing hormonal changes b. My mother let her dominate her completely. She also mad the mistake of teaching her that humans can be really hurt by biting.
I am desperate at this point and don't know what to do. I love my bird like a child. But for everyone there is a breaking point. I am near mine.
I welcome any and all advise.
Thank you,
Scott

 

[plumsmum2005]

Sorry to hear you are going through with your GC. I think after such a time apart it may have been wise to start from day 1 again and http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/49144-tips-bonding-building-trust.html this may help?

It will take a while to change to your rules again, hormones as said may be adding to things, she clearly loves to be around you but sounds confused and angry with you.

You will have to make sure that you are consistent with enforcing your rules, flip-flopping will only serve to confuse her more.

Other GC parronts will come on later I am sure. Chin up, you will win this!

PS search through here as I am sure you are not the first person to have this problem? http://www.parrotforums.com/conures/

 

[Flboy]

Hi,
Biting like this is a learned behavior! Most do not agree with ignoring the bite. If it is hormones, very possible, be careful to not create any long-term habits that will affect your relationship! Give this thread a long study!
http://www.parrotforums.com/training/57935-brainstorming-biting-parrots.html

Also, do a search on 'MonicaMC+hormones' without the '

 

[wrench13]

Thats a problem with an extended absence like you had. A couple of things can have happened. Lets enumberate them

1. Parrots have long memories. You were her person, and dissappeared for 8 months. Did you exlain, many times that you were going away, but that you would be back? To her, it was like being rehomed. Pretty sure she was upset. Salty gets very upset even when I am gone for 2 weeks, and that with explaining many times that I will be back in 2 weeks. And he stays with his normal familty . So you baby has every right to be mega pissed off.

2) Your mom let the parrot run roughshod over all the rules and routines you set up. So and disciline you taught her is out the window.

3) From your parrots point of view, she had been rehomed again! And you sound like you tried to pick up where you left off with her. Why should she trust you again?

4) Plumsmom is right hormones my be kicking in, and that presents a whole galaxy od issues.

5) You introduced a new player in the mix. A towel. Unless you previously used a towel in playtime, or used one to prevent bites before, Mr Towel is going to be associated with nasty vet visits etc. Amd now you use it daily

Plumbsmom is right, you must start at the very begining agsin, like you just got her as a new bird. You need to build up the trust that you both had with each other. And that might take time, a lot of it. So read, read read, decide on a course of action. and stick with it. Cant over emphasise that. Consistentcy is key here, or you will confuse the bird, and result in set back after set back.

Now none of this is set in stoe, you may have a very resilient bird, a very smart one, and very much still in love with her 'person'. Or the exact opposite, or anywhere in between ( most likely). Its up to you as the human to observe and decide whe to move to the next level. But always keep in mind Sailboats mantra - "It's never the fault of the parrot" Its up to us, the big brain Humans ( who invited these wild creatures into our homes to share their lives with us) to figure out what is wrong and to make changes.

You sound like a devoted parront who will figure things out and get your baby back. Use this forum as you sounding board, crying towel, cheering section, whatever. There are hundreds of years total experience here, and we are rooting for you and your parrot ! Good luck.

 

[BoomBoom]

Sorry this is happening. I applaude your patience. My sun conure had a bad biting phase when he was a little over 3 years old. I learned bad tactics from the internet that made things worse (i.e. mean stares, light tap on beak, shake your finger if he's perched in you). These were methods people swore on but did not work for me and my bird.

I learned a simple, respectful method that worked. When he bites me, I say 'no biting," and while perched on my finger, take him back to his cage (not inside the cage, just atop it). I close the living room door which is where his cage is, and I close my bedroom door (which is where I stay most of the time since my computer is there). When he and I have calmed down, I will open the door and he flies inside the bedroom. Separation from me is the punishment. He changed quickly but you have to be consistent.

Try it! Just don't cage him because you don't want to associate his cage interior as punishment.

 

[EllenD]

I'm very sorry you're going through this, though I'm not at all surprised for two reasons, first you left her for 8 months and as already mentioned she didn't know that you were coming back. So it is very much like you rehomed her because you basically did rehome her! So you can't at all except your relationship to be the way that it was. I think you acted like she was a human and would react like a human would react, like she was just happy to see you again, let's go home! That's not how birds think, and while it's obvious that she not only remembers you and loves you, she wants to be with you and she certainly belongs with you and IS NOT BETTER OFF SOMEWHERE ELSE, she is very, very psychologically and emotionally upset by your absence. She's trying to punish you, and she is succeeding! Second reason this is happening is because of the bad behavior she learned while you were away. Your mom meant well no doubt, but I tend to think it's not your mom's fault but rather your fault, because I'm sure your bird was just a nightmare to deal with after you left, as most rehomed birds are at first. I have volunteered at a rescue for years and I can honestly say that I've never had a bird surrendered that didn't act very similar to if not exactly like your bird is acting now. So you need to really try to understand why she is acting the way she has been. Hormones may be aggrevating the situation, but I'd stop thinking of it in that way because it is not the main cause of her behavior and the resolution to hormonal issues is totally different than what you need to do to get back to the relationship you used to have with your bird.

I hope that you get the idea of rehoming your bird again out of your head. The statement you made that "you're wondering if she is not better off somewhere or with someone else" is troubling, because obviously her being rehomed did not go well and it has caused her major issues. In addition, if what you say is true about her behavior and her feelings towards you, that she always wants to be with you and loves to snuggle and nap with you, and gets upset when you leave and is thrilled when you return, well then that should be indication enough to you that rehoming her once again, giving her away to someone else again except this time forever, is not what she wants at all. All she wants is to know why you left her and most importantly that you're not going to do it again.

You've lost her trust but not her love. You can earn her trust back, so you need to keep that in the front of your mind. Trust is much easier to earn than love, if she didn't love you anymore and didn't want anything to do with you that would be an indication that she might be better off somewhere else because you can't force love. But that isn't the case in your situation. So as already said you have to start completely over with her, as if you have just brought her home for the first time.

As someone who currently is owned by a green cheek conure and was also owned previously by another one, they are intelligent, loving, clingy, emotional, and yes, they are also vindictive and will absolutely test the boundaries to the breakpoint. I went through a similar behavior with my first green cheek, not because I left her for months with someone else, just because she was suddenly angry with me about something, she suddenly started testing the limits. She acted the same way with me, she would want to be with me constantly, would be jealous of my other pets, would snuggle every night under my hair on my shoulder and go to sleep while I watched TV, she was thrilled when I got home and upset when I left. And she would bite me all day long for reasons that were completely unknown to me. So I took the approach that was already suggested above by BoomBoom. It worked, and it worked quickly. She's allowed to be angry with you, but she's not allowed to bite you, and it's about time she started getting over it. So her punishment should be not being able to be with you when she bites. I gave my green cheek time outs whenever she bit. Sometimes that meant she would bite me, so I would loudly say "No Bites" and I would put her in a separate room on a T-Stand (her cage was in the living room, otherwise I would have put her on top of it, never inside though because her cage should not be punishment). So you loudly say "No Bite", nothing else, and you walk her immediately to a room by herself and shut the door. Leave her in there for 5-10 minutes. Then go back and get her and act normally. If she immediately bites you again then you again say "No Bites" firmly and put her back in the room alone for a bit longer, and so on. I believe my green cheek got the picture in a week or so. After about two weeks I would see her catching herself, she'd be ready to bite me and I could see her stopping herself at the last minute. She would once in a while bite out of no where, and every single time she got the "No Bite" and was made to be alone and away from me. Consistency is the key to this method working, and this means at first you might be saying "No Bite" and repetitively putting her in the timeout room over and over again, but she will absolutely understand why she is being made to be away from you pretty quickly. Just stick to this method, be consistent, and when you are with her and she is being sweet you need to constantly reward her, tell her she's a good baby, and reinforce her positive behavior. If there is a situation where she always bites you and after being put in a time out for a while she suddenly stops biting you in that situation, you absolutely must reward her for it...A lot! Her favorite treats, constant praise, etc. She'll get it. And in time she'll also realize that you're not going to leave her again, and you'll earn her trust once more. And at that point she won't be trying to bite you anymore anyway.

She's upset because you abandoned her and she did not know that you were coming back. They are very intelligent and they have very human-like feelings and emotions. Imagine if you just suddenly left your young child for 8 months without her knowing why you left or that you were ever coming back...That's essentially what you're dealing with here.



Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk