Little Biter

[Martha]

Hi,

I got a young sun conure about two and a half weeks ago. Chile is very tame and the first couple of days he was sweet as pie, nibbling gently on me with his beak and tongue. But then he started to become very "beaky" and bite me so that it hurt. He is into everything (in fact he is removing the keys from my keyboard as I write!) so I am thinking it is because he is young (6 months). I try to give him something to bite or chew on, as you would a mouthy puppy, but he always gets back to biting my flesh! I don't yell at him but I remove his beak and then he makes an indignant little squawk (it's very cute though) and tries to bite again. If I get fed up I just put him back in the cage. He gets a lot of attention and sometimes he is very sweet, just sort of lying on his back in the crook of my elbow, chewing on his toes while I scratch his head.

Just wondering if this is indeed a stage and whether there are things I can do to get him to stop biting other than what I am doing.

Thanks much!

Martha

 

[Spiritbird]

Hi Martha and welcome to our forum and the world of conures. They can go through a nippy stage for sure. If nipping or biting you just put him back on his perch and turn your back for a short while. With consistency he may soon understand. It is always a good idea to get a baseline avain vet exam with any new bird, especially if they come from a pet store.

 

[Pedro]

Martha hi, i think having Chile for only a few weeks & being a 6 month old he is really testing the boundries. Mostly a Conure will nip especially if it's not able to do what it wants to do. So take note at what you are doing at the time of the nip, it's could be you are doing something he doesn't want to do Or doesn't want you doing what your doing. LOL.

But as already said they do sometimes go through a nippy stage.

 

[Martha]

I think he wants to bite my finger and I am not letting him : ) He is a little stinker--that is for sure. Soooo hyper!

 

[Von1983]

The fiesty nature seems to come with the odd nip lol.

Cal's trigger word to stop is "gentle" and this works every time. She has not actually bitten me since she first arrived (she came from an aviary and I was only the 3rd person to touch her after the breeder and vet - she drew a lot of blood from carry cage to new home cage lol) but sometimes the welcome "preening" can get a bit rough if we do something "wrong".

She spends the day with us in our shop and then on the evening it is out of cage time. If I go out for a couple of hours in the day for example, she reminds me I've done "wrong" with a bit of a rough eyebrow/lash preening in the evening out of cage time!

She is 7months old and I don't expect the situation to change any time soon haha!

 

[Martha]

I've been using "Gentle!" with Chile too. This morning he was a little better as he went back into the cage twice after biting. In fact he treated me to a manicure, which was very nice. But then he seemed to want to floss my teeth. No thanks, I'll manage that myself!

 

[Von1983]

ugh, I don't know WHAT it is with conures and the fascination with our mouths lol....not good!

Our saliva can contain bacteria which can be harmful to our lil ones but still, Cal would have her whole head in there if she had her way.....when she first noticed I wear a tounge bar it was a few days of having to clamp my mouth shut permanantly lol.

 

[Martha]

Too funny about the tongue bar... Chile just pulled out my nose stud and did not want to give it back! I guess face jewelry and parrots don't mix!

 

[Crazy4Birds]

I don't know what it is but keyboards seem to attract birds! I know so many birds that love to pluck out the keys (including Nicky, my sunny).

Nicky was 10 weeks old when I brought him home from the breeder. He used to nibble gently on my fingers and I used to encourage it because I thought it was so cute. But then it would progressively get a little harder each time until it started to hurt. I think he was testing how far he could get away with it and I think that is exactly what Chile is doing now. You have to make it clear that you are the one in charge. If you let it get too far he will eventually be training you,which our birds sometimes do without us even realizing it.

I think so far you are doing the right thing. What I did with Nicky was that if he bit too hard I would say in a stern voice "no bite" (in your case you use the word "gentle") and remove his beak with my thumb and index finger. I found out that if I hold the sides of his beak with those fingers he can't bite me. He doesn't chew on my fingers anymore but sometimes he is moody and especially when he was between the ages of like 3 and 5 (probably due to hormones) he would get nippy and scream at me if I pet him on his wings or tail. What I do for that is I hold his beak for a few seconds and say "no bite". I hold it firm enough so that he can't quickly get out of my grip and bite but gentle enough so that it doesn't hurt him. You can tell that he clearly doesn't like it because it doesn't allow him to be in control.

All in all, sunnies are great companions! They are so cuddly and playful. Nicky does this thing where he rolls on his back and lets me tickle his feet and starts laughing. It is so cute!