Really nippy baby GCC

bonitabird59

Well-known member
Apr 12, 2022
189
455
Hi everyone! I recently adopted a baby GCC conure male named Jello. (previously I introduced him on here as Ziggy, but his name has since changed). He's a super sweet guy just trying to figure out how the world works, and he's so cuddly. But he bites... hard. He starts out by slowly pinching me, and gets harder and harder. Its almost like he's tesrting the waters to see how hard he can bite before he gets a reaction. When he gets his satisfactory 'OW! JELLO STOP!', he starts dancing and singing all happy with his eyes pinning. Is this normal?? This is completely random and he is not showing any signs of discomfort/being upset. I think he just doesn't know that his bites hurt. I can tolerate it, but my boyfriend is now scared to handle him because of this. Is this something he'll grow out of? He's only 2 months old so he's really young. He's very friendly to everyone but prefers me as his person. All I'm asking for is tips to counteract this biting if there's any way, or if this is a baby-phase he'll grow out of. Thank you all for your time!
 

HeatherG

Well-known member
Apr 25, 2020
3,893
6,966
Hi everyone! I recently adopted a baby GCC conure male named Jello. (previously I introduced him on here as Ziggy, but his name has since changed). He's a super sweet guy just trying to figure out how the world works, and he's so cuddly. But he bites... hard. He starts out by slowly pinching me, and gets harder and harder. Its almost like he's tesrting the waters to see how hard he can bite before he gets a reaction. When he gets his satisfactory 'OW! JELLO STOP!', he starts dancing and singing all happy with his eyes pinning. Is this normal?? This is completely random and he is not showing any signs of discomfort/being upset. I think he just doesn't know that his bites hurt. I can tolerate it, but my boyfriend is now scared to handle him because of this. Is this something he'll grow out of? He's only 2 months old so he's really young. He's very friendly to everyone but prefers me as his person. All I'm asking for is tips to counteract this biting if there's any way, or if this is a baby-phase he'll grow out of. Thank you all for your time!
I keep reading about “bite pressure training” and I believe there are some threads about this.

Basically, a puppy or parrot has to learn that mouthing or soft nibbles may be ok but hard cutting bites aren’t.

So you need to start disengaging without making a fun noise before Jello gets to the “ouch” point.

For example, I’m ok with Willow preening me gently, but when the preens start to be too hard, I tell him “no” and if he keeps it up, I set him down and don’t look at him.

I had a greencheek conure for many years, and he was high strung. He could be gentle only for 15 min or so. Then he got too wound up and bit hard. I had no success telling him “no, be nice, be gentle” after 15 minutes out. So I decided to limit my interactions to that amount of time.

Anyhow you need to not be fun and exciting when you get bit. Denying eye contact is upsetting for your bonded little bird and I bet that will be enough to teach him that you don’t like hard bites.
 
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bonitabird59

bonitabird59

Well-known member
Apr 12, 2022
189
455
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I keep reading about “bite pressure training” and I believe there are some threads about this.

Basically, a puppy or parrot has to learn that mouthing or soft nibbles may be ok but hard cutting bites aren’t.

So you need to start disengaging without making a fun noise before Jello gets to the “ouch” point.

For example, I’m ok with Willow preening me gently, but when the preens start to be too hard, I tell him “no” and if he keeps it up, I set him down and don’t look at him.

I had a greencheek conure for many years, and he was high strung. He could be gentle only for 15 min or so. Then he got too wound up and bit hard. I had no success telling him “no, be nice, be gentle” after 15 minutes out. So I decided to limit my interactions to that amount of time.

Anyhow you need to not be fun and exciting when you get bit. Denying eye contact is upsetting for your bonded little bird and I bet that will be enough to teach him that you don’t like hard bites.
Denying eyecontact worked. He literally stopped the first time I did it and he hasn't bit me in over 3 days. I think he just doesn't understand his bites hurt, just a dumb little baby. Thank you so much!
 

HeatherG

Well-known member
Apr 25, 2020
3,893
6,966
Gcc are so excitable, I was never sure that my guy meant to hurt. They make me think of yappy little dogs who nip but don’t really hurt you. So excited they can’t control the beak.
 

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