Playing too rough (and drawing blood)!

[Remy]

I've had my caique for about three weeks now. He's gotten pretty attached to me, but the last week or so he's started playing too rough when we play. He'll just nibble too hard (I have three fingers with broken skin right now). He was gentle for a couple weeks or so (after he got used to me), but then started biting hard. There doesn't appear to be any aggression, he just wants to be playful.

I tell him "OUCH" or "No biting" and stop playing with him when he does it, but that often seems to be just fine with him. Sometimes I'll hold something up to him to chew on, which is fine a lot of the time, but he really seems like he'd rather chew on my fingers. Putting him off balance if I'm holding him doesn't seem to help either. Neither does blowing. Often he'll initiate playing, just to nibble WAY too hard on the first nibble.

I really need to put a stop to this ASAP because I work as a massage therapist and can't have my fingers chewed up all of the time. It really interferes with my daily work. Since I touch people a lot at work (I also wash my hands a lot at work) it puts my fingers at a high risk for infection, which happens a lot when I get cuts on them, since I can't wear bandaids while I massage (the oil makes the adhesive not work). (With bad cuts I have been able to keep bandaids on, but I have to change them for each massage for sanitary reasons and adhesive reasons.)

I feel sad because I want to play with my baby! D:

Help!

 

[suebee]

nut gets over excited an bites down harder then intended, i keep them wooden coffee stick and toys such handy so she has something to gnaw on lol

 

[Remy]

He's been doing it even when he doesn't particularly seem excited... It's like he just doesn't know how much pressure to use, except that he DOES use light pressure sometimes! It's just not very often the last few days.

Also, and maybe this has something to do with it, but the last few days he's gotten the most gentle with me before he tries to mate with my hand, which I discourage. "Ooooh, he's finally playing nice now!" ..... "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!"

 

[suebee]

lol hormonal little critters aint they just! lmao yeah prob that, you just need to keep reinforcing the no mating, it might take awhile as they can be determined lol

but to protect your hands i have no idea, as reducing contact can cause its own problems, and i have used leather gloves to protect mine, that caused nut to bite harder or look for un-protected skin, so i think gloves are a no no

distraction techniques have worked best, not always 100% effective, but its a start lol

 

[Remy]

Haha, yeah, he's tried to "make it" with my hand a bunch of times... It's funny but kind of wierds me out too, since he's another species. Somehow it's different than a dog humping a leg to me... LOL

So far, distraction seems to have worked the best... I might try leather gloves and see how it works; that's a good idea! It won't hurt anymore than it does already!

 

[nofearengineer]

The thing I have had best luck with is using the word "gentle" while they're in a cuddly mood, nibbling on your fingers in an acceptable way.

When they get carried away, rather than saying "NO!"...I just say "gentle", and it works like a charm...(well usually hehe).

Every caique I've ever met was a little more rambunctious than a CAG though. I have a feeling it's a species thing.

 

[Remy]

The thing I have had best luck with is using the word "gentle" while they're in a cuddly mood, nibbling on your fingers in an acceptable way.

When they get carried away, rather than saying "NO!"...I just say "gentle", and it works like a charm...(well usually hehe).

Every caique I've ever met was a little more rambunctious than a CAG though. I have a feeling it's a species thing.

That's a good idea. I'll try that. How long did it take for you to start seeing results?

Another concern of mine is that I'm not really sure he is overly concerned about making ME happy. Like, what's is motivation? I'm still going to feed him good food and take care of him, even if he's a meanie to me. =\

 

[nofearengineer]

I couldn't really tell you how long it took. Every bird is different anyway, so I would just say stick with it.

 

[henpecked]

In the wild your bird would learn from other birds (parents,brood mates) what is exceptable behavior and what is not.If he bites too hard then the other bird would bite him back,that's how they learn to play and interact. I'm not suggesting you bite your bird but you need to let him know that that's not exceptable behavior by some means(no in a stern voice works for me) I know every one is big on positive reinforcement training but i'm not sure how that applies to bad behavior, i would put him away or turn my back on the playing too hard and see if he gets the message.

 

[BHCowner]

My caique can sometimes play a little hard aswell. Not so hard that he draws blood. What i do / did to train him not is say "NO" not too loud but loud enough, grab his beak either side and pull it away from my finger gently and hold for a couple of seconds. let him carry on and while he was playing nicely and nibbling at an acceptable pressure i would repeat "gently"... keep this up and he now knows that gently means gently... very very rare he gets too hard now.

Try it and let us know if it works.