Biting problem

[Allentheamazon]

I have had my amazon for a year and a half now. He is my first bird so I know I am not the best at this, so please do not judge


My amazon loves me, he follows me around, regurgitates to me, always wants to be near me. When I am out of sight he says "hello""peekaboo" for me to go back into his sight.
But recently he has been nippy. He would fly onto my shoulder and nip my neck and ears. I am sure I am reinforcing him somehow because it happens more often than before. I usually tell him a firm "no" after he nips/bites, but he would always nips/bites again, then I try to target him down to somewhere else (if I ask him to perch onto my hand he would bite my hand). And then most of the time he would fly back onto my shoulder again so then we have to repeat the same thing all over again.
Yesterday he was perching on the tree stand next to my laptop resting(with one feet up). After a while I noticed he had his feet down and was looking at me, I ignored him(because I was on my laptop doing work) then the next thing I knew was him lunging at my hand and then he bite me.
Also today when I was doing some training with him, he was all amazon with me(tails fanned out eyes pinning),maybe I should have stopped the training and wait for him to calm down..but I did not,after he succeeded in doing the trick I asked him to do I showed him the sunflower seeds in my palm then dropped them into his food bowl.. he then lunged at my hand and bite me again...maybe he wants me to hand over the seeds to him?
The biting never drew blood. But I do not want it to escalate. I thought maybe he just wants attention or wants me to do certain things that he wants, but I can not give him attention constantly..and I do not think it is right to do everything he wants either.
What am I doing wrong? How do I improve our relationship?

 

[wrench13]

Could be your Amazon is feeling his oats ( puberty) for the first time and is , like most teenagers, pushing the boundaries. THis is the time for being very rigid in how you react and what you do when he bites. For me, if Salty bites me and its not my fault for inciting it, he gets put on a chair back and shunned for a few minutes. Shunned = back turned, no eye contact no contact at all. Since your bird is flighted, you may need to put him in his cage far the shunning, though I dont like to use the main cage for that ( its his house after all.). Some people will clip their parrots during this period so they do not get swooped upon and they can maintain a bit of control over the bird. But yeah, you need to nip this in the bud before it becomes a patterned behavior. Shunning usually works because parrots are flock animals. Flock members that dont obey the flock rules get shunned in the wild. what ever you decide BE CONSISTENT. Nothing screws up remedial actions more than applying it sometimes and sometimes not.
If he bites you with more bite pressure than is acceptable, whoosh, a NO, and on the chair back you go. If your parrot is learning tricks it won't take long for him to learn what is OK and what is not.

BUT - if you ignore the body language that says "Dont F... with me right now" any bite you get is well deserved . Read 4X the sticky at the top of the Amazon forum. Commit it to memory if you can because it will prevent any misunderstanding between you and your parrot.

 

[Allentheamazon]

Could be your Amazon is feeling his oats ( puberty) for the first time and is , like most teenagers, pushing the boundaries. THis is the time for being very rigid in how you react and what you do when he bites. For me, if Salty bites me and its not my fault for inciting it, he gets put on a chair back and shunned for a few minutes. Shunned = back turned, no eye contact no contact at all. Since your bird is flighted, you may need to put him in his cage far the shunning, though I dont like to use the main cage for that ( its his house after all.). Some people will clip their parrots during this period so they do not get swooped upon and they can maintain a bit of control over the bird. But yeah, you need to nip this in the bud before it becomes a patterned behavior. Shunning usually works because parrots are flock animals. Flock members that dont obey the flock rules get shunned in the wild. what ever you decide BE CONSISTENT. Nothing screws up remedial actions more than applying it sometimes and sometimes not.
If he bites you with more bite pressure than is acceptable, whoosh, a NO, and on the chair back you go. If your parrot is learning tricks it won't take long for him to learn what is OK and what is not.

BUT - if you ignore the body language that says "Dont F... with me right now" any bite you get is well deserved . Read 4X the sticky at the top of the Amazon forum. Commit it to memory if you can because it will prevent any misunderstanding between you and your parrot.

Thank you for the helpful advice!! It is really hard to get him into the cage since he is flighted. And believe me I have tried before and it did not go well for both of us! I am now taking your advice and considering to clip him for a while just to get him out of that pattern..because even if I just ignore him he flies right back on me lol!

 

[GaleriaGila]

Hello, and welcome!

What Mr. Wrench said!

May I offer some thoughts fromthe Conure world? My bird is about the size of a small Amazon, and has a worthy bite, and plenty of oats!


I have reduced biting to almost zero over the decades... not because I've changed the bird, but I have changed me. And a lot of that has involved giving up on a lot of my desires/expectations. After years of battle, I surrendered. I don't do stuff that gets me bitten. I NEVER do stuff that makes him mad... I don't touch others when he's out; I rarely try to get him to step up onto my hand first. Hand-held perch first, then hand. In some ways, I swallow my disappointment at having such a little monster for a pet, but he is what he is. I ALWAYS wear my hair down when he's on my shoulder, so all he can bite is hair. Really, I don't involve hands much... he doesn't like them. He seems to think the real ME is my head, perched on a weird moveable tree with questionable appendages.

Since he's fully flighted, the ONLY way I get him into the cage is to toss a chile pepper in and he flaps in after it. So food reward is a necessity for me. Time-out doesn't exist in the Rb's kingdom.

I have had some success with using the "earthquake" technique for biting. When he bites, give your hand a swift shake... it should make him let go. The idea... every time he bites, a mysterious earthquske shakes him up. Some people feel this is mean and/or engenders lack of trust. The same can work for clothes biting... give your shoulder a shake, or jump! For me, it has helped.

But please... listen to and try all the good advice you'll get here. Lots of smart Amazonians in attendance!

Don't surrender until you know you've done your best. Then just accept and love whatever/whoever your bird turns out to be.

Good for you, for reaching out!

 

[Allentheamazon]

Hello, and welcome!

What Mr. Wrench said!

May I offer some thoughts fromthe Conure world? My bird is about the size of a small Amazon, and has a worthy bite, and plenty of oats!


I have reduced biting to almost zero over the decades... not because I've changed the bird, but I have changed me. And a lot of that has involved giving up on a lot of my desires/expectations. After years of battle, I surrendered. I don't do stuff that gets me bitten. I NEVER do stuff that makes him mad... I don't touch others when he's out; I rarely try to get him to step up onto my hand first. Hand-held perch first, then hand. In some ways, I swallow my disappointment at having such a little monster for a pet, but he is what he is. I ALWAYS wear my hair down when he's on my shoulder, so all he can bite is hair. Really, I don't involve hands much... he doesn't like them. He seems to think the real ME is my head, perched on a weird moveable tree with questionable appendages.

Since he's fully flighted, the ONLY way I get him into the cage is to toss a chile pepper in and he flaps in after it. So food reward is a necessity for me. Time-out doesn't exist in the Rb's kingdom.

I have had some success with using the "earthquake" technique for biting. When he bites, give your hand a swift shake... it should make him let go. The idea... every time he bites, a mysterious earthquske shakes him up. Some people feel this is mean and/or engenders lack of trust. The same can work for clothes biting... give your shoulder a shake, or jump! For me, it has helped.

But please... listen to and try all the good advice you'll get here. Lots of smart Amazonians in attendance!

Don't surrender until you know you've done your best. Then just accept and love whatever/whoever your bird turns out to be.

Good for you, for reaching out!

I will never surrender!!!!XD lol thanks for the advice!
I have tried a fair amount of punishments including the earthquake...and I think it made the biting worse because it might made him distrust my hand so he would just bite my hand instantly without a thought. Also putting him back into the cage after he bites me made the biting worse too.
The thing is he loves perching on my hand...he would fall asleep on my hand. He regurgitates to my finger tips... So maybe at first he wanted to come onto my hand because he loves it...then he thought of the shaking and putting him back in the cage with my hand...so he bites out of distrust?

But you are right on the compromising part, I definitely have to learn more about the body language and change more of my lifestyle.

 

[GaleriaGila]

You know what? COMPROMISE is a much better word than SURRENDER!

 

[SunnyJ]

I have done similar ....don't make the bird mad or you get bit! When my other half was around we could not snuggle or get close or Baby would be in the middle of it...as if to say 'break it up'.
I also use a dowel first then can use my hand with her...especially in the am, she is rather cranky then and will 'hit' the dowel. We learn so many things when we pay attention to their 'signs'...... LOTS of good words here!