Define "Nippy"

[Fifi28]

Hey giys,

Thinking of getting a GCC in a few weeks. I have 2 kids ages 1 and 4. I have been reading like mad all about them on temperament/care ect. Now even the breeder who I will be getting the baby from has said they are "nippy" as does many people and all of the sources that I have read. So when we say "nippy" do we mean aggressive or just the usual parrot fashion of chewing and investigating everything but can get a little rough at times?

If you have any experiences to share with the GCC and kids, I would love to hear them to.

 

[SolarCat]

You know how young babies like to grab everything and stick it in their mouth?
That's "nippy".
They're not being aggressive or trying to hurt, they just want to feel everything.

They may bite a bit hard at first, like any bird can, until you train your bird about what sort of pressure is too hard. (Training would be to "ostracize" the bird for several minutes after the too-hard bite. With Sunshine I'll tell her "NO biting" and put her in her cage and ignore her for a few minutes.) It doesn't mean they're aggressive, it means that their beak and tongue are very sensitive and they're "tasting the world".

The big concern on your end, with young children, is that when it looks like a bird will bite you the reaction is to pull your hand away. The bird likes this reaction and thinks it's fun, and may start biting or pretending to bite just to get the reaction again. In essence, the bird may learn that biting is FUN! So the trick is to either make sure that your children understand not to give the bird a "reinforcing" reaction when it bites, or else make sure that your children are not in a situation where they would think the bird would bite them.
(This would be something for any handheld bird, not only GCC's.)

Sunshine is a Pineapple GCC, she's the sweetest little thing and I love her to pieces. She loves to nibble on my fingers, but it's more a sign of affection (like if a cat or dog licks you). She's cuddly and sweet and not particularly vocal unless she gets excited by what's on television. Currently she does have a habit of biting me when I try to remove her from my shoulders, because she loves my shoulders and hates coming down, but we've been making great progress on that. (She's learning that if she won't come down off my shoulders when I want her to then I won't let her up there in the first place. I can get her down without incident using a chop stick, still working on the finger part).

 

[Fifi28]

Oh that is just wonderful information thank you. My cockatiel was "nippy" but he was just nibbling and would get rougher when spring came. This is the answer that I was hoping for. Re-the kids. My 1 year old will have her hands kept away from the bird at all times and my son will learn to react how I tell him and both will be supervised at all times with the bird. Training is very important to me and it will be enforced as soon as I feel the new bird is ready.

Thank you again for responding. It has really helped me.

 

[Brisch]

I work in a pet store....I know I know.... anyways the last yellow sided conure we had, a mother bought fo her 4 year old daughter. the girl was confident with the bird and that makes a huge difference. My GCC will bite my youngest sister any chance he gets because she played the whole hesitation game when it came to picking him up. GCC are drama queens and if you give them a reaction they like, the behavior they had to do to get the rection will get worse.

With any of my GCC or my similar sized birds, as soon as you show them you are afraid of them, they become afraid of you therefore they dont want to be picked up. intale biting ect.

You also have to remember that around 8-12 months most GCC go though a biting stage, you have to be strong during this time because this is when you will most likely determine the birds behavior going forward. I also find, and this is in my opinion dont austristize me, you have a less nippy bird if their wings are clipped. If they know they can fly up and bite you and fly away they will.

Another thing is if/when you get bit you want to do 2 things.
1. dont pull away, when you pull away you tear skin and you give them a satisflying reaction. you want to push in to the bite, they arent used to this and will usually let go.
2. dont yell at them when they do bite, birds think of yelling as a sort of singing, you will get your point across with a stern ¨NO!¨ and a dirty look. these birds are always watching facial expressions.

My Honey and Conrad were ¨biters¨ when I got them, the only time they bite now is if im clipping their toe nails. they will always play with things with thei beaks, its like their hands. like stated above you just have to let them know when they are playing to hard. And Im sure some people will disagree with some things Ive said, but this is all in my personal experience of working with them at a store and owning 4 myself (all rescues/rehomes).

Dont be discouraged by what you read, I always tell people the negative stands out more then the positive, so you are going to read more negative thigs then positive. these are great birds. Big birds in tiny bodies, full of personality and love. Just make sure you handle what ever bird your thinking of buying/adopting. You want to make sure you and your bird get along. have a coversation in baby talk with them before handling them, helps put them at ease.

 

[MonicaMc]

The only bite that can't be rewarded is the bite that never occurs.


Learn to not put your bird into a situation that will result in a bite, and instead work with (not against) the bird.

 

[BoomBoom]

I agree with Monica. Usually when a bird bites (aggressively) it is because it ran out of ways to tell you he doesn't like something. They would do it as a last resort unless it became a learned habit.

So by respecting its boundaries and avoiding triggers for a bite or knowing when to back off will be very helpful.

 

[Nocturnal]

GCC babies tend to grab and investigate everything with their beaks and can be a bit rough. And if left unchecked, they might turn this into nipping to get their way as well. It's pretty easy to discourage, but breeders and sellers mention it because there are some people who consider all "beaking" done by a bird to be a form of biting.

 

[Peanutsmum]

Peanut only aggressively bites if he's guarding something, remote controls and mobile (cell) phones are the worst! If he does bite then its straight into his cage and gets time out for 10 to 15 minutes. If Pea does get grumpy and very nippy its normally because he wants a bath! Getting to know individual conures is both painful and great fun. It depends on our little friends personalities, some are more nippy than others. The only possible issue I could see arising with the kids is that they may get the nip that hurts and that they then fear or hate the poor bird for doing whats natural. You may just need to reinforce that fact if and when it does happen. Its not that the bird doesnt like them, they may have surprised or scared it and its a natural reaction

 

[tokensmom]

I agree, you just have to get to know your individual bird and what their needs are. Token starts getting very fidgity and nips harder at times when he has to poop. Its like his warning..."take me to a place that isn't the bed or couch...or beware of poop". Also at bedtime when he is exhausted and has to go to bed, he hates being put away, but you can easliy remedy that with a little bedtime treat. My biggest problem, is getting everyone in the house to follow the same training techniques for nips or bites.

 

[JasmineGCC]

With my son and friends children I ensure they wear a jumper with sleeves so they pull their hands inside and enjoy letting her walk up and down their arms. My GCC Jasmine is 99% ok but if she bites it is on your hands and occasionally draws blood. This is different from her baby nipping/exploring phase. We had a difficult few weeks when she was 10-12 months old when only I could handle her and we re-established a few boundaries. Now she is very cuddly again with me and lets other people stroke her head and feed her pine nuts but the difficult time recently (she's now 14 months old) means my family are more wary and this lack of confidence shows which she'll pick up on.

Don't get me wrong we all love her to bits but she definitely isn't an easy pet.