NEW weird biting behavior

[GFGC]

Hey everyone! My little green cheek has always been and probably will always be a little monster. However, over the past month a brand new and very violent new behavior has popped up: he will just be sitting there having his quiet time and will suddenly LUNGE and clamp down on me. Usually it's my hand although it has also been the back of my neck (ouch!).

His usual biting is just when he's annoyed or whatever, and that's totally different. This is like a death blow and it seems to come from nowhere. Sitting on my shoulder while I read and then BAM! he sinks his beak into my neck. Nonchalantly walking near my hand and then BAM! Acting as if he is going to step up like any other time and then, nope, he lunges and tries to kill my finger. His last one was on the meat of my hand near my thumb and boy did it hurt. I had to physically remove his beak from my skin because he wouldn't let go.

Some background: he is pretty much exactly a year old. He went through a serious molt this spring and is all done with that. He was grumpy as hell during that period, but then it ended and he was a little cuddle bug for a few days and now this... Is this a hormonal issue? I assumed that would be over with after the spring. Has anyone else seen this kind of behavior? Whenever he does it i put him on the floor and leave the room. He doesn't like that one bit, but hasn't changed his behavior.

Any help? Thank you!

 

[Midnight]

Hm it may be a hormone issue. They all usually go through a nippy period, not sure if that's the problem? When he's violent and its unpredictable when he will bite, I suggest that you keep him off your shoulder for a while. It is easy to access eyes and mouth from shoulders and it also may make him feel superior to you. When mine bites, I usually drop my hand or arm slightly and that works like a charm haha. She pretty much stopped randomly biting after a day of that. You can also lightly grab their beak and remove it like you did. If the going out the room method doesn't work, you can try some other ones and see how it goes. Maybe his behaviour will change after a while, birds are quite unpredictable lol. Also since it's the summer, is your house too warm? I've seen a few bird cranky because of heat.

 

[Printer bird]

I found my conure - especially when we first had him - could be unpredictably nippy. It could be "pay attention to me!" or "I'm testing if I can be boss" or "I forget if I can play with this or not" or "I have so may emotions right now and I can't deal with them and I have to release them somehow!". Hard to say. You are doing the right thing - I agree with Midnight in that you should restrict shoulder time right now, perhaps use a play stand for him to run around on and then watch him when he's out. If you are consistent with your "no" and putting him on the floor, he'll get the picture and will pick it up but it can take a loooong time (weeks/months - don't give up! be consistent!). You will also be able to read him better and know time limits better (he can be out for xx amount of time before I need to move him to another place as he will get bored and bite me or do some training etc. to distract/have a different energy output). Our conure was snuggly in the morning/evening and otherwise we just expected him to mostly run around and play. he also used to sleep in our hand like an ice cream which was pretty cute.

 

[MonicaMc]

The best way to try and curb this behavior is to figure out what occurred before the bite and what happened afterwards. Was there some trigger to it? It may help to keep a journal of his bites so you can better figure out what those triggers are.


It may also help to have him with you for shorter periods of time. That doesn't mean that he has to go back to his cage, simply put him on a playgym with toys, treats, food and water rather than directly on you, or have some foot toys and foraging toys for him to play with near you.

 

[snowflake311]

My little BCC is only about 6 months old and we have had him 2 months. He nips and bites me too and hard at times I have marks on my hans right now.

They always bite for a reason but yours could be hormone induced.

Some times mine will bite my finger for what seems like no reason. This often happens after I gave him trests then stop. My husband figured that out. This is his first bird. If I use treats as reward he is more likely to bite me for them out of frustration. Oh yeah mine bites when frustrated. If he wants to somthing he can not have, bam nip turns to bite real fast. I have to pysicaly remove him. My bird had a bad reputation at the pet store for being mean. He is not mean he just likes to communicate using his beak.

He bites my face and neck so I don't let him on my shoulder. The neck and face bites are more of a hey pay attention to me nip. If he is on me I have a mirror so I can watch him.

When he bites I say no bite and do like you do remove and leave. I want to let him know No bite means. Sometimes when I say No bites he will stop. I think teaching a word is good.

They tend to bite when overly excited or scared too. My guy also has a bed time 9pm. He might get nippy around bed time.

They are like kids and like to test you too. I will let mine touch me with his beak and be gentle. He then will test me and bite harder and harder to get me to do something. So here he is nipping hard because he is testing how haRd is too hard.

You need to pay very close attention to when he bites to figure out why he bites. They are always trying to tell you something it can be hard for us humans to figure it out. Good luck. When you get past this you will have an even stronger bound with your bird. Getting past this with my senegal was magic. Once we figured eachother out I could totally trust her and she could trust me. It was awesome.

 

[plumsmum2005]

As well as all the previous information it could be worth ruling out that there is something wrong with him and he is biting for a reason so pay attention to the obvious signs; eating ok, pooping ok, playing and sleeping normally? Any hesitations see your AV.

 

[Notdumasilook]

Heck the last time I offered a lil advice on a biting birdie here was lots of disagreement. But my method worked and biting has not been an issue with my lil Booger. I simply wrapped my hands around him (gently of course) thumb and forefinger wrapped under his beak so he couldn't get ahold of me, shook and finger in his face and said a firm "NO". Took a total of 2 times and issue stopped. Of course he still "bites".. but its mock "play bites" and "love nibbles" like its suppose to be. Teaching them what "no" means opens a lot of doors when it comes to teaching a bird.. along with praise and rewards for good behavior. Now if Booger does something he should not be doing.. all I have to do is shake a finger and tell him NO. Remarkable how quick birdies learn. If you have had birds before you already know how to hold em.. the same way ya do it when trimming nails, giving oral or injectable meds, emergency doctoring of any kind, broken feather removal, a good soaking bath.., or.. heaven forbid, trimming flight feathers. etc. Good luck.

 

[snowflake311]

Heck the last time I offered a lil advice on a biting birdie here was lots of disagreement. But my method worked and biting has not been an issue with my lil Booger. I simply wrapped my hands around him (gently of course) thumb and forefinger wrapped under his beak so he couldn't get ahold of me, shook and finger in his face and said a firm "NO". Took a total of 2 times and issue stopped. Of course he still "bites".. but its mock "play bites" and "love nibbles" like its suppose to be. Teaching them what "no" means opens a lot of doors when it comes to teaching a bird.. along with praise and rewards for good behavior. Now if Booger does something he should not be doing.. all I have to do is shake a finger and tell him NO. Remarkable how quick birdies learn. If you have had birds before you already know how to hold em.. the same way ya do it when trimming nails, giving oral or injectable meds, emergency doctoring of any kind, broken feather removal, a good soaking bath.., or.. heaven forbid, trimming flight feathers. etc. Good luck.

Agree a bird just like any animal or kid needs to know that No means NO. Finding the best way to teach no for a bird is hard. I might have to try what you did.

 

[MonicaMc]

If a bird is trained right, there is no reason to hold the bird during nail/feather trims, injections or medications. Reminds me of a video of a 40+ year old cockatoo that learned how to take injections into the breast muscles. A clear plastic cup would be placed on his head where-in he'd pay absolute full attention to (quite hilarious actually to watch!), he would get the quick injection, then the cup would be removed. No big deal. Bird on perch. As if nothing ever happened! It may sound cruel, but you'd have to see the video!

Or birds lifting up their feet to have their nails trimmed, or spreading their wings to have them inspected/trimmed, or a bird eager to take medication, no matter how nasty it may taste!

 

[GFGC]

Thanks for the info guys.

There is nothing wrong with him. He's a healthy little guy and this lunging aggression is new within the past month or two so I am HOPING it's a hormonal stage.

Notasdumasilook: Yes, I remember the outrage. In fact it was on my thread! At any rate, I have attempted to pick him up and give him a staredown and a firm, low "no" when he acts up. He is immune. He is immune to all punishment. He does what he wants! Thankfully he is also immune to losing trust in me, as it seems that no matter what I do he still just begs to be on me, climbing all over me, and wanting more of whatever I'm giving him.

I know your advice was frowned upon but, honestly, nothing else has worked and neither has that. I even tried some methods that people say NOT to do in acts of desperation. For example, I tried blowing on him when he bites too hard. Nope. He LIKES to be blown on. I tried spraying him with a spritzer. He didn't care for that, but it's not exactly easy to discreetly carry a spray bottle around with me.

For the most part I have had to make peace with the fact that he is a biter. I don't like it, but for all his intelligence (he is click trained, target trained, knows a TON of tricks, was recall trained when he was flighted, etc), he just doesn't learn not to nip. He's a little bully.

MonicaMC: The only common thread that runs between these particular biting incidents are that they have nothing in common, haha! He might be on his cage coming to step up or get pet. He might be just chilling on my lap. We might be in the middle of a training session. The attacks have happened in all different rooms, at different times of the day, while I was doing or not doing different things. It leads me to believe that there is something in HIM that is just saying to suddenly assert some dominance.

In regard to holding a bird to trim nails or wings, I think that saying if a bird is "trained right" you won't have to hold them is setting a pretty high bar for peoples' expectations. Some birds simply don't want to be touched. There is such a range of personality with these creatures that I don't think it's fair to say all birds will tolerate the same things with the same training. They're like little jigsaw puzzles!

 

[MonicaMc]

At any rate, I have attempted to pick him up and give him a staredown and a firm, low "no" when he acts up. He is immune. He is immune to all punishment. He does what he wants! Thankfully he is also immune to losing trust in me, as it seems that no matter what I do he still just begs to be on me, climbing all over me, and wanting more of whatever I'm giving him.

I know your advice was frowned upon but, honestly, nothing else has worked and neither has that. I even tried some methods that people say NOT to do in acts of desperation. For example, I tried blowing on him when he bites too hard. Nope. He LIKES to be blown on. I tried spraying him with a spritzer. He didn't care for that, but it's not exactly easy to discreetly carry a spray bottle around with me.

For the most part I have had to make peace with the fact that he is a biter. I don't like it, but for all his intelligence (he is click trained, target trained, knows a TON of tricks, was recall trained when he was flighted, etc), he just doesn't learn not to nip. He's a little bully.

MonicaMC: The only common thread that runs between these particular biting incidents are that they have nothing in common, haha! He might be on his cage coming to step up or get pet. He might be just chilling on my lap. We might be in the middle of a training session. The attacks have happened in all different rooms, at different times of the day, while I was doing or not doing different things. It leads me to believe that there is something in HIM that is just saying to suddenly assert some dominance.

Alternatives to Breaking Parrots
The Facts About Punishment
The Struggle for Dominance

In regard to holding a bird to trim nails or wings, I think that saying if a bird is "trained right" you won't have to hold them is setting a pretty high bar for peoples' expectations. Some birds simply don't want to be touched. There is such a range of personality with these creatures that I don't think it's fair to say all birds will tolerate the same things with the same training. They're like little jigsaw puzzles!

Even aviary and breeder birds who are strictly hands off can be trained to accept medications or grooming. Here's one such video of a *breeder* bird being trained to accept inhaled medications.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBUwLTgOFew"]Training a Macaw to Accept Inhaled Medication - YouTube[/ame]


For an aviary bird, you can teach them to hang on the cage wall and groom the bird through the cage bars.



My point is, many people get this preconceived notion that something has to be done a certain way all the time, or else it can't be done. This is simply false. With the right type of training, it greatly opens up the possibilities of what *IS* possible to do!