Biting Conure! Plz help!

[Sabrina.919]

Hello! I have a green check conure who was born March of this year. I?ve had him for about a week and he is doing so good. He?s very curious and likes to play with all his toys and eating and drinking. When I purchased him from Petco, the person who was trying to catch him I think may have traumatized him a bit. She had a towel over her hands and trying to catch him, and he kept biting this lady. Well now that I have him, I feed him treats through the gaps in the enclosure. Sometimes he likes to maneuver around the bars and tries to bite me. He doesn?t bite me through the bars. I?ve seen online that you can try to hold a perch up and let him get on it that way he isn?t as close to your hands. He goes down the perch to purposely try to bite me. It?s not like nibbling though, it?s hurts pretty bad. Hasn?t drawn any blood yet, but I don?t want it to keep going to where that happens. I?ve even tried holding a treat in my hand and he still bites. I?ve tried shaking my hand and that doesn?t really do anything. I?m not so sure what to do.

 

[Kitekeeper]

Hi Sabrina,

It seems to me that your conure has not yeat bonded with you. It is also my perception that this bird was hand raised so he is not afraid of hands or people.

In that case, you might consider that he is not afraid of you and have not yet built a close tie with you to be gentle.

Please consider that conures might act as most other parrots, they are expected to be very protective of their territory, which means his cage and toys.

Thus it is natural he will try to bite anyone he is not bonded with, most particularly if he is in his cage.

I would try to gain his trust and affection before trying to engage in physical contact. First try to talk gently with him and sometimes offer him treats. When you observe he is coming to eat food from your hands without trying to bite and also he shows curiosity in a relaxed way to your talking, it might be time to let him out of the cage. Try to allow him to get off his cage by himself, be patient to wait him take the initiative.

When he is out of his territory, try to approach and offer a perch instead of your hand. If he climbs, give him a treat. After some repetitions of this exercise (that might take a few days) try to approach your hand to pet his head. If he allows you to scratch him, you might try to let him step on your hands. Just try to not make any sudden moves and if you are bitten, put him back in the cage.

 

[T00tsyd]

It's only been a week and it sounds as if it was traumatic so this little one is possibly terrified. Think about it from his point of view. He doesn't know you, he has been removed from everything that he knew and accepted as his home. He is now in a different cage with different surroundings outside, lots of different sounds etc etc etc and you keep coming at him and as far as he knows your one aim in life is to hurt him. Poor chap!
How would you feel?
My advice is back off big time. Settling a bird into new surroundings can take weeks even months and the one things needed most is patience. The more you can be patient the better your relationship in the end.
Give him a chance to get to know you from a distance. So let him observe you as you go about your day, talk to him all the time but quietly and calmly. Don't attempt to touch him or even go near until he approaches you. Never put him in a position where he has no choice. We humans have to learn to go at their pace not the other way around. There are certain essentials of course (cleaning food and water) but every interaction with you needs to be something pleasant so that his association with you means good times.
Give him time and he will respond but watch his body language to judge if he is comfortable before you take the next step to making him a friend.
You'll get there - just take lots of time. Don't expect too much as mentioned earlier it can take a long time, but learn to follow his rules and it will be quicker. Lastly read like mad there are lots of threads on this.

 

[Flboy]

Hi! You have a very frightened little bird that is completely lost in knowing what to do! Treat him like you would treat a human that has been molested over and over! Go slow, no forced friendship! Give him time to heal! Many store environments are hell on earth!