Biting for no apparent reason

[babyface]

I have a new Crimson Bellied Conure, Darby, who was 5 months old on the 4th of this month. (He hatched on the Fourth of July!) I got him after my 17-year-old Maroon Bellied Conure, Dickens, passed away of Liver Disease last June.

Darby was hand-raised at a small aviary and I'm confident the owner is very experienced. I brought Darby home after he was weaned, at 12 1/2 weeks. He was very cuddly and quiet for a while. Now, it's a different story!

While he still really enjoys being out of his cage and spending time with me, he cuddles quite a bit less and nibbles quite a bit more! I really don't mind the soft little nibbles that seem to be just him exploring with his mouth, similar to the way baby humans do, however, he will be sitting on my shoulder and suddenly, for no apparent reason, will reach out and bite my ear or neck...HARD!

I know enough not to react with a loud "ouch!" and I tell him "no biting" while I either move my head away or slowly nudge him away with my hand, but he'll come right back and bite some more, making some quick little twitters. The repeat biting happens even if I don't say anything and just lean away, without using my hand. Thinking maybe he's had enough "out time" and wants to go home, I'll go to his cage to put him in, but then he gets really mad and will bite aggressively. I put him in anyway and usually will cover him, for at least a little while, but if I'm not really careful about how I hold him, he'll really bite on the way in.

I've also tried offering him food at these times, thinking maybe he wants a little snack. Sometimes that works, but more often than not, he will bite again pretty soon.

I guess what I'm looking for are some ideas or links on how to train Darby to understand the "no biting" command...everything I've found so far has to do with birds who bite when their owners try to get them to step up, or who are afraid of their owner's hands. This isn't the case with Darby...he steps up readily, loves to have his neck scratched, will lay on his back in my hands to play with foot toys, etc. I know he's not afraid of me or my hands. I'm just really mystified as to how to get this behavior to stop. Any ideas?

 

[Julianna]

I own a caique, a species known for being "mouthy" and I've had the same issue. Pippi loves to chew on ears, glasses, clothing, fingers and basically anything and everything else, which was a bit of an issue for a while. However I just say "no biting" whenever she starts chewing on me too hard and I gently pull my hand, ear, clothes, or whatever else she has, away from her. It took a while, but Pippi is a lot better about chewing on things now, so you might try just consistently telling him "no" and removing whatever he's chewing on. When I did research on this, I came up with the same things as you--being scared of hands or not wanting to step up--but I think this is just playful chewing which has gone too far. Birds just need to learn that while it's ok for them to explore with their beaks, they can't chew on us so hard it hurts. Hope this helps...Good luck!

 

[lquan]

My Lily is now 8 months old. I got her when she was 4 months. For some reasons she knows where to bite hard and where not to bite hard. She softly nipples on my ears, cheeks, and lips all the time and I let her. She bites a little bit harder on my hands due to my thick thicker skin there. She bites pretty hard on my finger nails. I can easily distract her from bitting with head and neck scratch. Or just loudly say "No bitting" while rocking her off balance a little bit. After a while, she learned to stop biting with "No bitting" command. She hates been rock while she is only my hand.

 

[legal_eagle]

Remove from shoulder when biting occurs ... repeat as necessary ... don't let pattern be developed.

Great names for your birds, by the way. I'm a big fan of Victorian novels as well!

 

[daviowa]

Hi Babyface,

My CBC (Julio) does the exact same thing. In fact, I felt like I was reading about him! lol Is Darby still biting as you described some time ago (see quote below)? Thanks!

Davi

I have a new Crimson Bellied Conure, Darby, who was 5 months old on the 4th of this month. (He hatched on the Fourth of July!) I got him after my 17-year-old Maroon Bellied Conure, Dickens, passed away of Liver Disease last June.

Darby was hand-raised at a small aviary and I'm confident the owner is very experienced. I brought Darby home after he was weaned, at 12 1/2 weeks. He was very cuddly and quiet for a while. Now, it's a different story!

While he still really enjoys being out of his cage and spending time with me, he cuddles quite a bit less and nibbles quite a bit more! I really don't mind the soft little nibbles that seem to be just him exploring with his mouth, similar to the way baby humans do, however, he will be sitting on my shoulder and suddenly, for no apparent reason, will reach out and bite my ear or neck...HARD!

I know enough not to react with a loud "ouch!" and I tell him "no biting" while I either move my head away or slowly nudge him away with my hand, but he'll come right back and bite some more, making some quick little twitters. The repeat biting happens even if I don't say anything and just lean away, without using my hand. Thinking maybe he's had enough "out time" and wants to go home, I'll go to his cage to put him in, but then he gets really mad and will bite aggressively. I put him in anyway and usually will cover him, for at least a little while, but if I'm not really careful about how I hold him, he'll really bite on the way in.

I've also tried offering him food at these times, thinking maybe he wants a little snack. Sometimes that works, but more often than not, he will bite again pretty soon.

I guess what I'm looking for are some ideas or links on how to train Darby to understand the "no biting" command...everything I've found so far has to do with birds who bite when their owners try to get them to step up, or who are afraid of their owner's hands. This isn't the case with Darby...he steps up readily, loves to have his neck scratched, will lay on his back in my hands to play with foot toys, etc. I know he's not afraid of me or my hands. I'm just really mystified as to how to get this behavior to stop. Any ideas?

 

[Birdman666]

Sounds like displacement biting to me...

Something the bird is afraid of is close by, so the bird BITES YOU to get your attention, for that scarey thing...

What reduces this behavior is to get them over their fear, and used to the object.

Birds rarely bite for no reason... it usually means something.

 

[Bensmom]

I got Ben (my green cheek conure) almost three weeks ago. He is a very sweet bird but he likes to bike and finds it funny. He likes to bite and draw blood and then cuddle with you. I have tried to get him not to bite us, but he just gets mad. Does anyone know how I can get him to stop doing this?