another biting question :/

[Sarvesh]

sorry i know this prolly been asked hundreds of times, feeling pretty depressed tonight cus the girl i liked very much isn't interested in me so im trying to distract myself in this time by focusing on my conure, but i still feel so sad and lonely :'(

i read all the things bout how if they bite you, don't move your finger away - but what else can i do because i will hold my finger there and he will just keep holding his beak biting down harder and harder!!! and earlier today when it hurt more than i could handle i started pulling away and at that point he was hanging from my finger with his beak...he's like those turtles that bite and never let go!!

 

[riddick07]

What leads up to the biting? Birdmann has some biting protocols on here somewhere I believe....I'm too lazy to find it for you though....

 

[Sarvesh]

What leads up to the biting? Birdmann has some biting protocols on here somewhere I believe....I'm too lazy to find it for you though....

its unpredictable really...he just does it randomly sometimes...

 

[YoYo]

You could try to clench your fist and get him to bite/nip the back of your hand as there is little fleshy areas to bite onto while if he bites your fingers there is lots of areas that can be latched onto by those beautiful hook bills (I've tried this method on birds as big as african greys and eclectus so it should work for a quacker). this method uses the same theory as the (don't pull away when the bird is biting one) but it results in allot less pain from the bird owner. i hope this will help you and your bird bond closer.

 

[Sarvesh]

You could try to clench your fist and get him to bite/nip the back of your hand as there is little fleshy areas to bite onto while if he bites your fingers there is lots of areas that can be latched onto by those beautiful hook bills (I've tried this method on birds as big as african greys and eclectus so it should work for a quacker). this method uses the same theory as the (don't pull away when the bird is biting one) but it results in allot less pain from the bird owner. i hope this will help you and your bird bond closer.

lol ya i saw that trick online the other day - he's a smart little guy though, he can tell the back of my hand doesn't hurt so he will arch his neck over and bite the soft flesh between my thumb and pointer finger lol.

 

[YoYo]

Well that sucks that he has worked out a way around it . i guess you will just have to put up with the pain until he stops biting. maybe you could try distracting him with a treat, but don't let him bite you and then get the treat as this will reinforce the biting. then when he is distracted by the treat try to get him to step up/be petted. i hope this will work for your bird, good luck.

 

[Sarvesh]

Well that sucks that he has worked out a way around it . i guess you will just have to put up with the pain until he stops biting. maybe you could try distracting him with a treat, but don't let him bite you and then get the treat as this will reinforce the biting. then when he is distracted by the treat try to get him to step up/be petted. i hope this will work for your bird, good luck.

right on, what i do is what a lady at the petstore showed me, like if he is on my finger and starts biting, i lower my hand that he is standing on real quickly which causes him to lose his balance so he stops biting and centers himself - and i say "dont bite!" - is that a good trick or is it bad?

 

[riddick07]

How old is he again? Is it full on attack you no matter where you are? Is it more often in the cage getting him out?

None of us do the pretend it isn't happening around here. The proper why to handle it though depends on why he is doing it at all.

What you are doing is called quaking by some. Sometimes it can snap them out of the mindset of biting. Some believe it damages trust others think it works just fine for them. Really it just depends on your opinion. I've given my arm a shake to snap my amazon out of whatever kill mode he gets into sometimes when he sees someone he doesn't like. He's my most bonded and knows I won't actually drop him though.

 

[TacoNTiki]

We did the quaking at first but twisting our arm/finger rather then dropping our arm. It worked well for us. We also gently but firmly without hurting him, grabbed his beak and said no. Do not shake his beak though when doing it, but you can push into his bite a little. He doesn't bite hard now and if his pressure is harder than we like, we just say no and he now stops.

 

[Sarvesh]

How old is he again? Is it full on attack you no matter where you are? Is it more often in the cage getting him out?

None of us do the pretend it isn't happening around here. The proper why to handle it though depends on why he is doing it at all.

What you are doing is called quaking by some. Sometimes it can snap them out of the mindset of biting. Some believe it damages trust others think it works just fine for them. Really it just depends on your opinion. I've given my arm a shake to snap my amazon out of whatever kill mode he gets into sometimes when he sees someone he doesn't like. He's my most bonded and knows I won't actually drop him though.

right on - well he doesnt ALWAYS Bite, he's actually very cuddly and stuff - but sometimes when im scratching his head he will close his eyes in ecstasy, then all of a sudden his eyes open then turn red and he just bites onto my finger and doesnt let go lol... otherwise he isn't very nippy, he was a lot more nippy the first week i had him. he is still molting though and was molting when i bought him, so thinking thats a huge factor. - otherwise he isnt very nippy, so maybe when his molt ends so will the biting and he will be the most cuddly conure

mostly bites randomly or if im trying to get him back in his cage at night. he spends 99% of the day on my shoulder and wont come down :/

he doesn't bite a lot, but when he does bite it hurts a lot.

 

[riddick07]

Sounds like he is getting a bit of spoiled brat syndrome. NO shoulder anymore. Shoulder rights are a privilege that he has not earned if he is biting and not coming down. What we do at the shelter is put our hand/wrist between the bird and our face and sweep down to get them off the shoulder when they are starting to be aggressive.

He needs a schedule. This is when we spend time together, this is when you sit over there all by your lonesome and play with toys, this is when you spend time in your cage and no screaming won't help you. Too bad if he doesn't like it at first...he will get over it.

What does he have in his cage to play with and does he know how to play with toys? (I feel like I should start putting this question in my signature I've asked it so much lately...) The cage should be something he doesn't mind going back to because there is almost as much to do there as there is outside of it.




Stick train him and start bite pressure training him. If he is already in the hormone stage then bite pressure training just got very interesting. Does he play wrestle with you at all? If so that is one of the easiest times to do pressure training because they are having fun at the same time. The fun stops when he adds a little too much pressure and you tell him so...take a brief break and then go back to playing.

Sometimes keeping a hand towel nearby that you can wrap him up in can help. Because he can bite the heck out of the towel and you just look at him waiting for him to calm down.

 

[riddick07]

We did the quaking at first but twisting our arm/finger rather then dropping our arm. It worked well for us. We also gently but firmly without hurting him, grabbed his beak and said no. Do not shake his beak though when doing it, but you can push into his bite a little. He doesn't bite hard now and if his pressure is harder than we like, we just say no and he now stops.

I used to grab my suns beak, twist it to the side then give her a kiss and she sticks her tongue out to taste my finger. I have also grabbed her beak, told her no and then stopped interacting with her for a minute after she has put too much pressure on when she was little. This was in the middle of wrestling when she was a baby and would accidentally bite too hard in her excitement. Now she will grab your finger, while 'complaining' up a storm, when you do something she doesn't like but won't put any pressure behind it.

 

[Sarvesh]

cool thanks a lot for the info!! he has a prevue f040 with many toys and nice perches

what is pressure training and how do you do it?

by stick training do you mean target training? where you get him to bite the stick saying target then click the clicker when he does it? how long should i have him on my shoulder/out with me? i figure if he is awake 12 hours a day should i have him out of the cage for 2 hours a day or how long?

i worry he isnt eating enough lol, cus he literally stays on my shoulder or the stand i built for him, all day - he only goes to his cage and eats and drinks in the evening and in the morning when i put in fresh food :S (besides the snacks i give him throughout the day lol)

 

[Skittys_Daddy]

@Riddick That's exactly what I do with Skittles. He doesn't bite me as hard as others. He sometimes breaks skin but doesn't draw blood anymore. I find he only bites that hard when I try to take him from his bath water when he is not ready. Other than that - only bites hard in danger situations.

When he gets 'too nibbly', I grab his beak and hold it between my fingers and shake it a little bit and say to him in a soft voice "I got your beak! I got your beak!". He will try to remove my fingers with his talon but he doesn't attack me.

He used to get very aggressive if I tried to take him off my shoulder or if I stopped scratching his wingpit.

He was getting to be a spoiled brat. Now, he will usually leave my shoulder on verbal command (and finger point) OR If I try to take him off using my finger he will leave on his own. As for the wingpit rubs, now he only bites when I hit a sore spot (a pin feather that is still sensitive). But not when I stop.

You have to set limits and boundaries with them early on - otherwise they will be training us instead of the other way around.

 

[riddick07]

cool thanks a lot for the info!! he has a prevue f040 with many toys and nice perches

what is pressure training and how do you do it?

by stick training do you mean target training? where you get him to bite the stick saying target then click the clicker when he does it? how long should i have him on my shoulder/out with me? i figure if he is awake 12 hours a day should i have him out of the cage for 2 hours a day or how long?

i worry he isnt eating enough lol, cus he literally stays on my shoulder or the stand i built for him, all day - he only goes to his cage and eats and drinks in the evening and in the morning when i put in fresh food :S (besides the snacks i give him throughout the day lol)

Does he use those toys or do they just hang there and he doesn't touch them?

If you use the search function you will find threads on bite pressure training...

Basically for the stick you are teaching him to step up onto a perch not your hand. I don't know how old the bird is but if he is young then hormones have yet to come. There is a chance you won't have him pressure trained by then or he will forget all about it in the swing of things with the hormones. By stepping up onto a stick from anywhere including inside a cage you avoid getting bitten. A lot of birds won't even bite the stick after they know what it is and will just step up. I did this with my gcc Monkey. She was a devil about her cage during maturity and would bite you fairly badly so stick training her helped in getting her out.

And I may have more to say but work is over and time to drive home

 

[Sarvesh]

cool thanks a lot for the info!! he has a prevue f040 with many toys and nice perches

what is pressure training and how do you do it?

by stick training do you mean target training? where you get him to bite the stick saying target then click the clicker when he does it? how long should i have him on my shoulder/out with me? i figure if he is awake 12 hours a day should i have him out of the cage for 2 hours a day or how long?

i worry he isnt eating enough lol, cus he literally stays on my shoulder or the stand i built for him, all day - he only goes to his cage and eats and drinks in the evening and in the morning when i put in fresh food :S (besides the snacks i give him throughout the day lol)

Does he use those toys or do they just hang there and he doesn't touch them?

If you use the search function you will find threads on bite pressure training...

Basically for the stick you are teaching him to step up onto a perch not your hand. I don't know how old the bird is but if he is young then hormones have yet to come. There is a chance you won't have him pressure trained by then or he will forget all about it in the swing of things with the hormones. By stepping up onto a stick from anywhere including inside a cage you avoid getting bitten. A lot of birds won't even bite the stick after they know what it is and will just step up. I did this with my gcc Monkey. She was a devil about her cage during maturity and would bite you fairly badly so stick training her helped in getting her out.

And I may have more to say but work is over and time to drive home

right on, i tried doing some 'stick training' and it seems to be no problem, i hold it front of him and lightly press on his chest and say step up - and he hops on like its my finger with no problem.

i saw a couple people mention hormones, do you mean he will get very horny and try to get jiggy with my finger or what?

also i dont mind too much cus i like to keep the bird crap and holes on my shirts and jackets cus then if someone at walmart or something sees and asks why i got crap and holes on my shirt, it's a conversation starter and i can tell them about my conure but when a ton of crap builds up i just brush a few pieces off to keep it from being too much crap.

 

[Notdumasilook]

You mentioned 2 scenes when you bird bites... when you are petting/preening his head and when you try to get him back in his cage at nite. You also mentioned he is still molting. Not sure you are aware of this.. but those pin feathers on his head are "tender" and touching them in just a lil bit the wrong way is painful and will get you bit. His way of saying "ouch you are hurting me". Secondly...when you put him in his cage and he does not want to go. Easy fix there is to find a treat they really like and recognize in your fingers. When its time to go in the cage show him the treat and hold it inside the cage saying "nite nite".. when he goes in the cage give him the treat then shut the door. It wont take long and he will go back in the cage every time you say "nite nite"...and he'll probably tell you "nite nite" too. I use pecan or walnut bits for this and it only took a couple days to get Booger trained to do that.
And a second note.. when/if he lays in to your finger again just roll the finger "under" the bite and his beak will have to turn loose. As far as doing any head scratching/preening on him be very gentle and do NOT go against the grain of the feathers. Watch his reactions..you can usually see him jerk a lil first if your fingers cause him pain and get your fingers away before he lays in to you. My amazon "taught" me how to preen him years ago..and even knowing how I can occasionally hit a tender spot. But Cookie has learned just to bark at me now...and I tell him Im sorry.. he forgives me and begs to be rubbed some more ). Bottom line I guess is sometimes we dont have to teach the bird..we need the bird to teach us.

 

[Sarvesh]

You mentioned 2 scenes when you bird bites... when you are petting/preening his head and when you try to get him back in his cage at nite. You also mentioned he is still molting. Not sure you are aware of this.. but those pin feathers on his head are "tender" and touching them in just a lil bit the wrong way is painful and will get you bit. His way of saying "ouch you are hurting me". Secondly...when you put him in his cage and he does not want to go. Easy fix there is to find a treat they really like and recognize in your fingers. When its time to go in the cage show him the treat and hold it inside the cage saying "nite nite".. when he goes in the cage give him the treat then shut the door. It wont take long and he will go back in the cage every time you say "nite nite"...and he'll probably tell you "nite nite" too. I use pecan or walnut bits for this and it only took a couple days to get Booger trained to do that.

cool that sounds like a good idea, and yeah i know about the pin feathers being tender so thats why i mentioned he was molting because i was guessing thats why but just wanted to get some more input.

 

[Skittys_Daddy]

It's also the degree of force when they are biting that should be considered.

Not all bits are actual bites. For example, Skittles will grab my finger with his beak before stepping on it. They use their beaks to 'test' things out. Texture, strength etc.

They also 'play nibble'. It's just them being playful.

When you are preening them, they should be relaxed and happy. When you hit a tender feather, they WILL let you know. I little guide - only try to preen the long pin feathers. The longer the pin, the longer it has been growing which means less likely to be tender. When I scratch behind Skittles head, if I touch the long pins, he's fine, if I happen to touch the little pins he bites me.

But his bites are not hard enough to break skin. He's more letting me know he didn't like that.

The thing about shoulders is that they have to know that sitting their is a privilege and not a right as others have said. They can become possessive of them quite easily.

 

[Sarvesh]

It's also the degree of force when they are biting that should be considered.

Not all bits are actual bites. For example, Skittles will grab my finger with his beak before stepping on it. They use their beaks to 'test' things out. Texture, strength etc.

They also 'play nibble'. It's just them being playful.

When you are preening them, they should be relaxed and happy. When you hit a tender feather, they WILL let you know. I little guide - only try to preen the long pin feathers. The longer the pin, the longer it has been growing which means less likely to be tender. When I scratch behind Skittles head, if I touch the long pins, he's fine, if I happen to touch the little pins he bites me.

But his bites are not hard enough to break skin. He's more letting me know he didn't like that.

The thing about shoulders is that they have to know that sitting their is a privilege and not a right as others have said. They can become possessive of them quite easily.

right on, ya i notice conures seem to LOVE sitting on shoulders - what do they like about it so much lol? i dont understand it lol