New crazy member of the family :)

nightinday

Member
Aug 21, 2012
78
30
Poland
Parrots
Louis - GCC, hatched 9.05.2012
Hello everyone :) just found this forum and thought I will write about my sweet birdie :) Probably it's a girl but we aren't sure yet. I'm planning to do her some DNA test to check the gender. She is about 4 months old, bought from the breeder and brought home on Friday. On the first day she wasn't shy at all, came out of her box and started eating like crazy :D She is playing with all of her toys and she is just very cheerful and crazy parrot :D She started biting 3 days ago and those bites are harder and harder, is it normal? And I don't know if her nails aren't too long because yesterday she trapped herself and couldn't take out the nail from the string. But now, when I've changed the strings it's ok but I'm stressing out that nails are too long :p
She didn't go out of her cage yet. I'm planning to let her go on Saturday evening at least that's what the breeder adviced me.
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SOOOOOO CUTE. D;

the bites are probably just coz she's just not used to you and the surroundings.
i'm pretty sure it'll stop soon. oh and, welcome to the forums.
 
A pedicure might be in order. :)

It takes birds a while to adjust to new homes, and sometimes they can be extra nippy during this phase. They are very intelligent, and get stressed out by the move. Don't push her to do anything she doesn't want to do. Just spend time with her, near the cage, but if she runs away, bites, etc., she is telling you she isn't in the mood to interact. Don't take it personally.

I posted something similar when I first got Puck, and I got a whole bunch of replies saying "RESPECT HIS FEELINGS!" Lol.
 
Welcome, he/she is SO cute. I was just at petco today oogling over them all and one bit the crud out of me after looking oh so cute.....little turd! Poor babies are probably harassed all day and I didn't help that situation......at all.

He just needs more time to adjust, just like Remy said and to know you won't hurt him. Welcome Welcome!!!!
 
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Thank you for the warm welcoming :D
Well, it would be really hard to do her some manicure when she doesn't want me to touch her too much. I'm hoping that she will file them a little bit on her branch. Those are her nails...
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all in due time, i say. let her get used to you and who knows.. she might come running
to you and lift her feet up by herself. :)
 
She's beautiful. Love her little blue tips on the wings. :]

As everyone else said, just give her time to get use to get surroundings and you, and take baby steps. Reward her for good behaviour and ignore the bad. I'm guessing also (and this is from my experience with dogs), she probably doesn't know the strength of her bites, so you need to let her know what's acceptable.
My conure is in his nippy stage, but he has learnt that when I give him a kiss he opens his beak a little but doesn't nip or bite. These things just take time.
Oh, and welcome to the forum!
 
Awe , she is adorable , welcome to the forum.
 
What a doll, she's stunning. My Maroon Bellied boy got nippy about a week in. It's pretty normal I think. Just getting used to you and making sure she can trust you. Just be patient and maybe practice stepping up with a perch to begin with, till she feels comfy.

My baby likes to bite my ear. When he does, I tell him 'don't bite', pop him on his play stand or cage and ignore him for a few minutes. Just try and avoid mixed messages and she'll get there. I hope you two have a great life together :)
 
welcome to the forum, very cute baby:D
 
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I've opened her cage yesterday for the first time. She was a little bit scared but went out immidiately. She was sitting on my arm with no problems but she wouldn't step up on my finger, she would bite it. Today I've let her again, she was sitting on my shoulder again, touching my face gently. She was flying around but coming on my shoulder a couple of times, "purring" a little bit. But she still attacks fingers. When I'm giving her a sunflower seed from my fingers - she would take it gently but not always. How to get rid of biting and teach her to step up on my finger? Her biting is painful sometimes and I don't know if she is just scared of fingers or mad at them.
 
He/she is likely scared of them. You should probably try out the chop stick approach to get them used to stepping up. Try searching for some tips or google it.

You also have to remember, the beak is primarily what the bird will use to feel objects, including your fingers. I would have to say it's impossible to get a bird to ever stop using it for that reason, so you have to teach it how to use it. Make sense?
 
Is she biting the finger hard, or just putting a little pressure on it? It is a normal behavior to "test" the stability of a new perch with the beak before stepping up, but this is usually gentle and doesn't break the skin.
 
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Sometimes she bites really hard. I let her "test" my hand, she does it with no problems. Now she is sitting on me and snuggling. She will be close, she will get on my hand "by the accident" like today but she won't step up on finger or let me touch her too much with my finger, she will bite it hard.
 
Something must have made her think stepping on the finger is different from stepping on the hand.... personally, I suspect I'd just avoid that altogether for a while, reinforce good behavior when on the hand, and try again in a few weeks or months. I've done way better with my GCC by avoiding problem areas and encouraging what I want, then I did when I was trying to be the boss or discourage behavior, with a few minor exceptions.

You could try (I'm sure this has already been suggested, but I don't remember) teaching her to step up on a stick with copious rewards.
 
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She learned! Yesterday she stepped up on my finger for the first time and now she has no problems. Sometimes she bites too hard but I move so she stops. No, the only thing that bothers me is her random scream during the day...
 
yes it takes time. in the beginning, i actually brought my sun to the vet for her nails because she was fussy about letting me. it seems hard to imagine because in time, she would 'play dead' and lay in my hand and offer her feet for me to clip the nails with the other hand. no problem. i worked out a 'bribe' / reward system. she heard "fruit" and wanted to so whatever she could to earn a fruit snack.
if you just keep having patience and be confident that you love your bird and the bird will love you, it will happen.
 
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Louis - new member of my family :)

A little update on my biter :) She almost stopped biting me and became so cuddly! :) She/he got a name finally - Louis.
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Your baby is beautiful. It's great that you two are having so much fun with each other. Welcome to the forum. I've only been here since July, but I think it is a great place to learn, find supportive people, and just have some fun checking out and sharing bird stories.
 

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