Advice for a cuddly, non-nippy bird?

[scorpiosue]

Hello all! Thank you in advance for any advice you can give me I am new to the forum, but have had birds for many years, including being a vet tech and working with birds. I would love to have a small to medium/large sized bird that loves to snuggle and play with me. I currently have an African grey, whom I love, but like many greys, he does not like to be touched much - just head scritches. I respect that, but I see people with their birds that climb in their pockets and roll on their backs to play and cuddle with them, and I would really like that.
I am home all day now, so getting attention is not a problem, and have no preference as to talking or looks, just personality - hoping to avoid a bird that bites a lot. I have a fair tolerance for noise, as long as it is not constant screeching just for fun. Contact calls are OK because I will usually be in sight or with the bird when home and we live in a rural area.
My husband is allergic to cockatoo and cockatiel dust and I really feel green cheek conures are too nippy for me (so many GCC's I know are so bitey - and not just using their beak to play!), so I'm afraid those are out. No one has hand raised budgies here, so no luck there either.
What are your recommendations for a cuddly non-nipper that will likely stay that way as an adult (since pretty much all babies are cuddly)? Unfortunately, there are no rescue groups within several hours of my house, so that eliminates adults with established personalities. I hope you don't think I am being unreasonable about the biting. I know birds bite. I have been bitten and it's not the end of the world. I know you have to read your bird's body language and don't invade their cage space, etc. I am talking about the unexpected, frequent chomps or not wanting to be touched.
I was thinking maybe a male lovebird (if I can get someone to DNA test)? What about less nippy conures? Thank you so very much for any opinions you can share. I hope I did not ramble on too long - just wanted to give you as much background info as possible.

 

[Scott]

Welcome to the forums, we love detailed intros!

My first reaction was to suggest a smaller cockatoo until I read dander is an issue. Somebody please correct me, but my impression is the galah is less powdery than the white toos?? They tend to have nice mellow personalities.

How about an Eclectus? I had a female who was a total lovebug though the male was a bit more reserved.

 

[MonicaMc]

I would have recommended a cockatiel.... they can be snuggly, in their own right, and are generally more bark than bite. That is, they don't *WANT* to bite, but if force comes to shove, they will bite. I'm medicating two cockatiels right now and neither one bites! One is oddly taking his medicine without issues, the other one is spitting it out on my fingers... Not to say I haven't been bitten by a cockatiel! I have! But even with ex-breeder tiels, they'd rather avoid than bite.

I have a 17 year old cockatiel and, IMO, she has only ever truly bitten once in her entire life! Sadly, it so happened to be my sister who is not a bird person... Casey had gotten her wing stuck in her cage and I wasn't home but my sister was over visiting. She freed Casey but got bit in the process.


Cuddly and non-biting? Yeah... cockatiel would be first recommendation.


After that? Kind of tough! I have two foster green cheeks right now, and one doesn't bite at all! At least, not what I'd consider a bite! And nips aren't painful either. And he's actually the more scared/skittish of the two! The other one that's more friendly is more mouthy but also not a terror.


If you know how to read a bird's body language, then you can avoid many nips and bites. The idea is that instead of putting a bird in a situation where they feel the need to bite (aka communicating in the loudest way they know how to) then punishing the bird for that behavior (aka punishing them for communicating), we instead try to avoid situations that would result in that so that the bird never learns to bite in order to attempt to communicate with you.

That said, young birds are often like puppies in that they are very "mouthy" and explore a lot with their beaks! Instead of punishing them for that behavior, one should be trying to encourage them acceptable behavior to do instead! Instead of chewing on my skin, chew on your toy! Forage! Learn a new trick!

 

[katiea]

If you're looking for a certain personality it's more about the individual bird and less about the species. My green cheek begs for cuddles all day and I can't even remember the last time he bit me. My cockatiel despises me and tries to bite me through the bars when I walk by her cage, and she isn't bluffing, if I get too close she draws blood.

 

[scorpiosue]

Thank you all for your great advice. I really wish I could consider a cockatoo or cockatiel, but my husband said the dust from the grey is all he can handle. I think you've convinced me to rethink my green cheek conure phobia. I have never had one of my own, so maybe what I saw was a result of how they were treated by their owners, not hardwired in the species. I feel like I am good at reading body language and I never push a bird when they try to tell me to back off, so maybe I could avoid much of the aggression I have seen in others. Thank you again!

 

[ChristaNL]

Just stick to the south-american ones if dander is a problem.

I have 2 greys and they really make a mess (and they do get serious showers several times each week).

(of course there are exeptions but generally speaking)
Australia/dry circumstances: lots of powder for the feathers, Africa: medium powder, America (mostly wet/rainforst-types): not so much powder but glands to keep the feathers in good condition.


Good luck in finding your cuddlebutt.