Ban all biting or use it as a form of their communication?

[Boki]

I wonder if others see their conures biting as sort of communication? I think I once read here that one should never let their parrot to bite. But it is clear to me that my conure applies different types of pressure when biting. There are times when she is not really biting but just pinching loose skin as part of rough house play. Then there are times when I think she gives me a slightly harder bite when she is slightly annoyed about something. And then there are really hard bites that might draw blood when she really does not like something or is hurting or very frightened.

So here is my question to other conure owners? Should I stop all biting in all forms or try to figure out what might be communication? If this was a bigger bird like a cockatoo or a macaw, I would want nothing to do with any form of biting. But this small conure really has to work at causing real pain.

 

[Ria.345]

Yes I have a picture of a cockatoo on here lol but I also have a sun conure actually. Precious angel. She bites hard though. The cockatoo? Forget it. 💀
To answer your question, we can’t really stop the biting because parrots will bite when they want to and yea you’re right, usually they’re trying to communicate something and I just wouldn’t want to restrict that natural behavior for them. Simply because they are being parrots. And they’re wild animals.
I use a stern but simple “no” gesture when trying to “scold” or tell my conure that that’s not okay. They learn quite quickly and therefore she bites a little bit less. Does she still bite?
Yes of course!
But biting cannot be completely eliminated and it sucks I know lol.

 

[clark_conure]

There is such a thing as bite pressure training. Also there's a difference between a conure biting you (gently) to steady themselves to move onto your hand and aggression biting.

My best advice is the the bird can bite, gently, like on an earlobe (it tickles!!!!!) and a mean aggression bite.

If the bird does an aggression bite you need to shun them....that means taking to some place, NOT THEIR CAGE, that they have to come back from. This separates them from whatever was going on and they have some time to think about um....why am I on the floor now. The floor like 10-15 ft away is a good place as its in a lower position and separates you and any other flock member from them.

It won't happen all at once but in a say a few days, a week the biting should stop.

 

[fiddlejen]

When you are working with Pressure Training -- the key is, your command is "BE GENTLE." This will help you know how to respond, and will help your bird learn that, Yes, it IS okay to use their beak to communicate, as it is their nature to do so. Socializing in the flock they would have learned this early on, as biting too hard will cause another bird to fly away or respond differently than they wanted, whereas gentle beaking is often encouraged amongst each other.

So using the command "BE GENTLE" trains not only your bird, but also trains yourself how to best respond.

PS regarding the whole shunning system. Keep in mind, birds are very emotional and social creatures. They will sulk, and more importantly they Understand a sulk, in the form of "i'm turning my back on you, and glancing back just enough to make sure you know you did it," as meaning "you have hurt my feelings."

My Sunny is usually gentle but now & then might have a reason to actually bite. Just recently she simply got over-excited & bit at me for no reason when I was getting her food. I did that turning away behavior without even thinking about it, and she immediately Forgot!! about her food and went into full-on "please cuddle me, need scritches, let me give you super-gentle preening-kisses" mode. (This is her version of apology!)

Be careful, not to do the fake-sulking thing very often, it is quite serious to birdies. But combining this with "BE GENTLE" as your command (instead of relying upon "no bite" or something like that) will automatically help her to learn to communicate better, AND will help you to intuitively respond appropriately based on her actual use of her beak.

 

[𝕾𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖒𝖞𝕻𝖎𝖈𝖆]

It depends. I 'ban' my budgies from biting when they're throwing a tantrum, or just in a bad mood and being mean. Sometimes, though, they use biting to explore their surroundings, and that includes me.

 

[Laurasea]

my green cheek i pretty much ban/avoid all bites. She can do gently pressure when she wants to boss me into keep petting or other...but as thats a bad habit I discourage that.

I allow beak steadying, beak preening.

My green cheek if she is going to bite , she means it, and so I've gotten good at reading her. If I'm petting, then she threatened to bite, I usually only have to wait a few seconds before she settles, tgen I can keep petting her.

She us often to worked up when I first get her out for any pets or cuddling. So I just talk to her and wait till she is more calm. Then I can move her to my shoulder to hang out.

 

[YepHereIAm]

Mine bites harder when he wants to go in his cage... so I'm teaching him the word home... I repeat this when he bites , then put him on his cage and say home.
My hope is that he will use the word home soon! He says most everything else!

 

[YepHereIAm]

my green cheek i pretty much ban/avoid all bites. She can do gently pressure when she wants to boss me into keep petting or other...but as thats a bad habit I discourage that.

I allow beak steadying, beak preening.

My green cheek if she is going to bite , she means it, and so I've gotten good at reading her. If I'm petting, then she threatened to bite, I usually only have to wait a few seconds before she settles, tgen I can keep petting her.

She us often to worked up when I first get her out for any pets or cuddling. So I just talk to her and wait till she is more calm. Then I can move her to my shoulder to hang out.

I agree, trying to avoid most nips by redirection!

 

[Squeeing_Onion]

Mine bites harder when he wants to go in his cage... so I'm teaching him the word home... I repeat this when he bites , then put him on his cage and say home.
My hope is that he will use the word home soon! He says most everything else!

I would actually be worried you might be inadvertently teaching him to bite you when he wants to ask to go home, whether he learns the word cue or not.

I’d try to move him back to his cage before he resorts to a bite, if you can pinpoint any antsy behaviors or posture that precedes the bite, and if he does bite, perhaps simply setting him down and doing the “fake sulk” Fiddlejen described. Another option is to bring him to a perch and walk away, instead of his cage. You don’t need to turn away for long, just enough to redirect the situation.

Basically, keep teaching him the word command every time you bring him to his cage, but don’t bring him to hiis cage every time he bites you, or he’s learning two cues…. And only one of those you want!


For my green cheek, I am teaching her to use her beak gently. She came to me as an absolutely awful biter - i have numerous scars from that tiny hookbill! - and has made huge progress.

She’s gone from biting me full-force for even the tiniest of “infractions” to her perspective, to often just giving me a gentle nip that doesn’t bruise or break the skin.

However, she often forgets her own strength if she’s over-excited, or startled and panics, and bites too hard even if she didn’t mean to. I can usually tell whether it was intentional or not.

(edited to fix formatting)

 

[Rozalka]

Personally I allow biting to some level - until I feel pain