Attacking my mouth

[Andy191]

I have a GCC, he's about 3 months old now. I got him at only 8 weeks and hand fed him for a bit even, so he's very used to me. He's always been a little bitey but we have worked on it, and I figured it was because he was young but lately he's been attacking me quite aggressively. It's only been me, not my boyfriend, but it doesn't seem like he's bonded to my boyfriend either.
I think it has to do with my voice. He lunges for my mouth when I start to talk. This morning he bit my lip extremely hard. He still wants to be with me and let's me hold and pet him but if I talk, he goes for my mouth very quickly. It's hard to keep him off my shoulder because he climbs well so I'm not sure what to do.

 

[parrotluv]

Hopefully others will give some recommendations, but I do know that many go throw a nippy stage around that age.

 

[MaxieTheBirdie]

Well it might just be a disciplinary issue try perching your bird on your hand/finger and get close if it bites move your finger quickly down and or blow in its face so that it knows that when it bites it's perch gets unstable (they hate to have their perch go unstable) and they hate blowing in their face.
my Tiel had a slight issue of biting but on the first day after I blew in his face every time he bit he stopped.

 

[Linearis]

Maybe he wants to know where the sound is coming from. >.< So he's investigating... My bird gets really curious the moment I open my mouth. It's like she thinks there's treasure inside.

 

[Coldbreeze]

I wouldnt suggesting making the perch unstable while yes that *could* solve the issues it will cause a whole OTHER issues to be lost.. which is trust!

I havent the slightest idea why your bird is doing this. Perhaps it wants more food? Who knows but the moment it goes for your mouth place it else where. On a perch, in its cage and leave for a few moments. I'm sure it's just a phase. My GCC, Zazu started biting my ears but quickly learned that wasnt acceptable. She still does it but not as hard and not as often! Good luck!

 

[maimaie]

Our GCC did something similar for a while until I learned to read his body language and figure out when he was getting upset. I would recommend that your shoulders be a "no-no" zone. We had to do this for a solid 6-8 months until he learned boundaries and that is was not OK to bite myself or my husband.

To do this, every time that our GCC got on to our shoulders we immediately stopped what we were doing and put him somewhere else (stand, cage, play gym, etc). Eventually we added a soft "No" to this action when he climbed on to us. It took a while but he eventually learned that being on our shoulders was not OK. Once we were comfortable with his behavior and got the biting under control he was slowly allowed to spend time on our shoulders again.

 

[Feather]

Well it might just be a disciplinary issue try perching your bird on your hand/finger and get close if it bites move your finger quickly down and or blow in its face so that it knows that when it bites it's perch gets unstable (they hate to have their perch go unstable) and they hate blowing in their face.
my Tiel had a slight issue of biting but on the first day after I blew in his face every time he bit he stopped.

Please don't do this. You'll damage the trust you have built with your bird. They don't respond well to "disciplinary action" and the only long-term solutions for misbehavior involve finding the root of the issue and addressing it in a productive manner. Shaking your bird off balance or blowing in his face only interrupts the action itself, it does not address the reason for it.

 

[Linearis]

I used to do the earthquake method when my bird would bite my fingers while perching (just little shakes to interrupt her) and she didn't lose trust at all and didn't get annoyed, just got distracted. And... it worked. She never bites my fingers now.

 

[MaxieTheBirdie]

I Disagree Feather...
I Agree With Linearis Everyone has their different opinions about disciplinary action...
it isn't hurting the bird it's just a little earthquake something called negative reinforcement if you just leave them to do that they will know that they can do that without anything happening...
when you give a little bit of an earthquake they know that every time they bite that happens.