What is the definition of "Nippy"?

[WiseOwlette]

I've decided that Sun Conures are probably not for me due to their sheer loudness. I don't mind loud but after hearing some Suns... Good Gravy, they're loud. lol

I've decided to go back to my original decision of Green Cheeks but the one thing that has me a little weary is that they're known for nipping.

What does nipping mean? Is it actually BITING and causing pain and bleeding or just general beaking that has the chance to get out of control or what? Do keepers of Green Cheeks have to deal with being bitten a lot?

What am I in for? lol

 

[Karigan]

Not biting, not unless the bird has been conditioned to do so. Nipping is a warning, usually not hard enough to break the skin but that depends on the bird. Teo touches his beak around my finger while his sister will draw blood.

 

[kiwiS]

Kiwi is pretty nippy, meaning she will pinch. From what I've experienced she has several different types of pinches.

The Not Right NOw pinch: A little pressure from her beak, usually accompanied with a sqwuak to let me know not to bother her at the moment.

The Over-Preening pinch: She starts off gentle, but her excitement builds and it turns into a medium to painful pinch. At this point, I give her a sqwuak, and I stop petting her and, as well as say "Gentle" she will usually stop

The Wrestle pinch: Kiwi loves to wrestle, and yes she will pinch playfully, sometimes a little too hard. I don't stop her unless it's something I simply can't stand because I know it's not a bad thing, she's having fun, I'm having fun so it's all good.

The I'm REALLY mad at you pinch: This is when she's super mad, usually when I don't recognize her signs of irritation (we are still getting to know each other). At this point, she will lock on, at first with not much pressure, but she will start grinding her beak and it will get more and more painful. It doesn't break the skin, but boy its a painful pinch! Usually I stop her pretty quickly, say "Gentle" have her do some step ups, and then put her back in her cage to cool off. After a few minutes she's ready to come out and be all sweet and nice again.

I guess I could say that Kiwi is not "Nippy" for no apparent reason..there is always a reason with her. She is also still learning her boundaries so I try to put us both in situations where she WOULD want to pinch or nip, so that I can correct the behavior. A little pain at first, but nothing too bad, I'm sure you and many of us have had far worse ^.^

I wouldn't worry too much about it, it's a minor thing in comparison to all the other wonderful experiences you get to share with your green cheek. I know I'd take a million of kiwi's pinches over never getting to know her!!

 

[WiseOwlette]

That makes me feel better. I just didn't want a bird that's just going to bite all the time just because it feels like it.

 

[kiwiS]

I just wanted to clarify that this is my experience with Kiwi..another green cheek may be different?

As for biting all the time because they feel like it, I would say there is some truth in that..Kiwi does nip because she feels like it, but she has a reason for feeling like it, you know? I highly doubt there is such thing as a malicious bite - unless it is learned. There is instinct behavior, then there is learned behavior. If you are patient and consistent with training and understand the meaning behind the nippiness, I'm sure that eventually it will be much less of a problem.

 

[sofiaee]

Oliver is pretty mouthy, usually just feeling things with his tongue or something. But when he does bite it can be pretty hard and sometimes breaks skin. Usually this happens when I try to get him to step up when he doesn't want to, like if he's landed on a plant and has a mind to shred it up and I run over and try to get him off before he does any damage. That being said the occasional bite that breaks skin doesn't bother me, their beaks are so small they can't get much surface area. Not to mention more training would probably help this issue for me.

Oh also Oliver's background is very unknown to me, I bought him from what I think was a bird broker 4 years ago and he was less tame then. A hand raised bird who hasn't gone through what I think Oliver has will probably have a softer bite with proper training.

 

[Karigan]

Birds are different as people in their personalities, but the biggest thing is learning to read parroteese. Birds will nip when they're irritated, when they're mad, when they're hungry... and for random other things that are unique to each bird. Some are cage aggressive, some moody during mating or molting season and it's kind of like trying to get a baby to stop crying; something's wrong, you just have to find out what. My sennie will bite when I try to put the latch on her cage (not close the door) and when I fill her pellet bowl, but not her veggie or water bowl. You learn over time.

 

[forbey]

Skittles is a "mouther". Like a little child he sticks everything in his mouth to investigate. This includes my fingers, ears, glasses, rings, buttons.

I would interpret nippy to be one that just like to reach out and bite, but not with enough force to cause maot pain. It also wouldn't mean your clothes or something inert. When nipping, they want you to know "something". They're scared, mad, irritated or simply that they want you to know they can! LOL

I've been bitten two or three times, once he drew blood (barely), but I guarantee I earned it! So I would say that just because a bird has bitten, he wouldn't necessarily be a "biter". I think a biter would be fairly persistent.

Just my interpretation.

 

[JasmineGCC]

Jasmine my GCC was very gentle and any nippiness was easily discouraged by distraction. But then she hit puberty at 11 months and turned very aggressive for a few weeks - drawing blood on purpose. I tried to limit her exposure to my fingers and interacted by touch training her to touch a chopstick for a treat. Then gradually she improved and now at 16 months she is tons better and is back to her cuddly self again.

I think GCC are the best and I would definitely recommend one if you can work with their little ways.

 

[Pajarita]

Nip is when they pinch with their beak but not break the skin. Bite is when they break the skin.

I took in 4 GCCs, all of them given up because of what the owners called 'aggression' but none of them were aggressive at all. They were frustrated by lack of handling and bad schedules. Once they were put on a good schedule, given large flight cages and handled for hours every day, they all became very affectionate except for one male which had been severely neglected and possibly abused (the owner's sister brought the bird to me and said her sister should not have children or pets) which never actually kissed me but decided that scooting down my top and taking a nap there was the best thing in the world.

With GCCs (as with all hand-fed parrots), it's a matter of care.

 

[legal_eagle]

My 14-year-old female rarely nips ... one every two months. She's fully flighted, loves to come out of the cage, follows me around, goes back into her cage willingly. If she nips I rarely react to it because I expect that once in a while.

 

[ruffledfeathers]

Green cheeks are adorable and you're right, suns are loud and shrill and not for everyone. I agree with what all the others have said and I think the personality definitely varies from bird to bird. (I was told before i bought Gilbert that green cheeks were generally better than blue crowns because blue crowns are bratty and gccs are sweet, but my Gilbert is extremely sweet and pleasant. Every bird is his own person.)

 

[legal_eagle]

P.S. I just thought of this ... when it comes to biting, I think an ounce of prevention is definitely worth a pound of cure. I always pay close attention to the situations in which a parrot bites, so I can avoid that situation in the future, if at all possible. And reading their body language can avoid nipping ... usually you can tell if your bird is becoming agitated. Whenever possible I let my bird make choices about where she's going to hang out, when she's going to come out of the cage and so forth. I think she feels that she has a certain amount of independence and that I respect her, which I theorize translates into less biting.

 

[WiseOwlette]

Thank you for the replies everyone. I feel better about the "nipping" situation.

I've been full on bitten by some nasty budgies and am just not interested in that happening again. Now that I know nipping does not equal budgie bites, I feel better. lmao

 

[kiwiS]

humm..i wouldn't make that assumption right off the bat 0.0 i've had a biting budgie before and the pain level is the same as Kiwi's bite heh. I remember having very painful bandaged fingers for a while with my budgie. Then all of a sudden she did a 180 and was the sweetest, cuddliest thing and we were best friends till her last day.