Amazon nipping

[Jimdc]

Hi everyone it's been a while since I have been on here. Rory my blue fronted Amazon is now 16 months old. He is still really sweet when he is in his cage however over the last few days he constantly nipped me hard when he is out .can anyone shed any light why he is doing this ? Thanks Jim C

 

[Birdman666]

A couple of ideas.

One is that this is displacement pinching behavior. Something/someone he doesn't like or is not comfortable around is too close. He's afraid.

The second one is jealousy. You're paying too much attention to this/that person and not enough attention to me.

The third one is just simply he wants to play. Zons play rough. And the bird just needs more work on bite pressure training.

 

[Jimdc]

Thank you Birdman666 ! he seems to do it if he is one my shoulder and I am doing things in the house. Regarding play fighting, he dose seem to want to play fighting with me however I was not sure if i should play fighting with him in case I made
him aggressive. Thanks again Jim C

 

[Kentuckienne]

In the macaw forum there's a sticky thread "big beak-o-phones guide to macaw beaks" which is geared toward those scary big beaks, but lots of the info will apply to your bird. I can tell you one thing that worked with me and a blue front....he bit me goood a couple times and I was careful not to react. Than one day I offered him a cheezit cracker...he leaned for it then turned his head to nip at my hand....I was able to pull back before he nailed me...I looked at him, he glared at me...I held eye contact and ate the cracker myself. Saying um yum yum. It was nasty stale, btw. This is where you learn to hone your acting chops.

His eyes grew wide, his beak fell open, he couldn't believe I was eating HIS cracker...he danced back and forth....he looked so surprised and shocked....I ate the whole thing, gave him a look, took another cracker out, held it in my hand and looked at him, he looked at me, I held it out and he took it nice as pie and never tried to pull that stunt again.

Point being...he was smart. I had his attention and he had mine, and we communicated to each other. He knew exactly what he had done, and what the consequence was, and he knew what would happen if he cooperated. It's the same with your guy. You have to pay attention to see what's happening when he gives you snip. Is he just over-excited? Did you do something he didn't want you to do, or try to make him do something he didn't want to do? He isn't going to understand "no"... so let the moment and the circumstance dictate how you respond, to let him know that isn't cool and will have consequences.

 

[wrench13]

With amazons, you have to keep the thin line from them becoming over stimulated. Yes rough housing ( what I call play fighting) is actually a good thing to do with your amazon, it keeps them handleable, helps train them for bite pressure, and is a lot of fun to boot. But you need to know when its time to put Rory back on his play stand or a chair back to cool down. Think about how amazons play with toys. They rip them to shreds. You need to teach Rory that your hands/neck/ ears are not that kind of toy. I have to tell Salty"Easy buddy" when he gets a little too exuberant when we rough house, and he knows now ( at 2+ years old) to ease off on the beak pressure.

While having Rory on your shoulder while you do things around the house, it might not be the best time for that. A parrot on your shoulder means you basically give up any control you may need to exert since you cant see him. For us, shoulder time is one on one time, to get intimate scratchies, watch youtube videos, get treats. If I need to vacuum , work on fixing the lawnmower, or assorted things around the house, Salty stays on his play chain or on his cage or with my wife. And he is a very good boy on the shoulder, but parrots will be parrots. Sometimes they just cant resist that mole on your neck or that waggling ear right in their face.

 

[SailBoat]

Everything above will help you to understand and work to a solution!

All that said, you need to see him prior to, during and after the nip to understand what advance knowledge was provided (Amazon Body Language). This way you can better understand the event and what clue(s) are provided.

Amazons always have a reason, even if it is as simple as a young Amazon pushing boundaries!

 

[wrench13]

Jezz, how did i not reference that! JimDC, top of the Amazon sub-forum, in the 'stickies' read, read, and memorize the thread refered to by 'Boats, Amazon Body Language. Invaluable when you are owned by one. Read it to Rory too, 'zons like to be read to.