Bite Inhibition

[Fae88]

Bruno has been getting lots of out cage time and is more and more tame every day. He has always liked to lick and softly bite my hands and fingers. I call it exploratory biting because it doesn't seem to be caused by fear or aggression. Just curiosity.

The last couple days though his bites have gotten more "pinchy". He likes grabbing the loose skin on my hands/in between my fingers. He is also a fan of trying to pry my finger nails off. He hasn't broken skin or anything like that. But I am wondering how do I teach bite inhibition?

Is it like with a puppy? When puppies bite too hard the owner is supposed to yelp out like a litter mate. It always worked with my dogs in the past. I have started the yelping method with Bruno and it seems to work. But I want all the advice I can get so I know I am not making him a crazy bird lol.

I remember when I had my first Tiel when I was a teenager I was told to lean into the bite and then the bird would back off. And that worked with "Scooter" without any adverse effects. And I was doing that with Bruno a little. But I have read that, that can make a bird fearful of hands. Is that correct?

Any and all advice is appreciated

 

[QuakerMom]

I somewhat disagree with the no-reaction method. My Quaker bit me and I chose not to react.. she continued to bite harder and harder and then began twisting her little head around to tear the flesh off. Annoyed, I bumped her in the chest just hard enough to cause her to loose her balance but not hard enough to hurt her. From there on out, when she tried to bite I would quickly grab her upper beak so that I was 1) not retracting from her and encouraging more bites and 2) effectively avoiding getting bitten. And the best part, she hated having her beak grabbed. Within a week, we made a truce: if she doesn't bite me, I won't grab her beak.
I also paired the correction with the warning "don't bite!" So every time she would think about biting, I could remind her it wasn't a good idea. We are now good buddies. She looks forward to spending time with me and I am more observant of her body language. I personally feel that if we teach a bird not to bite then we also need to back off when they just aren't feeling lovey dovey. Basically they don't have to bite to get their feelings across.

This method worked very well for me but I hear cockatiels are much more sensitive than Quakers.
Good luck!

 

[legal_eagle]

I'd not let the situation arise in the first place. I try to keep my hands and fingers away from my bird's bill, which tends to make biting a rare incident.

 

[MonicaMc]

I agree with eagle in this response... avoid getting bitten. Don't ignore the bite, don't punish the bird for biting. Simply try to avoid getting bitten, and if you got bit, take a moment to figure out why you got bit and how you can avoid getting bitten later on.


If a bird is nipping/biting too hard due to curiousity, then rather than teaching a bird *NOT* to explore with their beaks, teach them what *IS* appropriate to chew on... i.e. always have toys, leather strips, beads, bottle caps, treats, etc on hand when you have your bird with you.


Give your bird something *TO DO* rather than nibbling on you. Keep the beak busy so it doesn't wander into 'off limit territory'!