SkyeSweetheart
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My black capped conure is a total sweetheart, but will occasionally do a chomp to tell you "pet me" or "stop" and they can hurt sometimes. How can I get her to stop that?
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Biting
- Thread starter SkyeSweetheart
- Start date
I’m having the same issues with my male cockateil charlie . I have come to realize if I can ignore it all together he usaly won’t bite again. He still has his monuments though. I definitely wouldn’t give him what he wants when he bites . That would probably just reinforce the bitting.
orphansparrow
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I think the general consensus is to ignore the behavior - try not to react at all. Apparently parrots love the "drama reward", when we tell them "No bite!" and put them back in their cage or whatever. Try to not give her any attention or eye contact when she does that, in the least dramatic way possible. Also, conures are known to be biters. My Duckie is a major biter, and I just have to watch her body language and try to avoid it.
< no... 
< no... 
< no... 
< maybe... 
< yep.. but with a smile? 
SkyeSweetheart
Moving in
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I have been ignoring it, but my husband makes such a scene 
When they draw blood it's hard not to yell owe!
Monica
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The only bite that can't be rewarded is the bite that doesn't occur. (I know! Easier said than done!)
Ignoring the bites makes absolutely no sense, disrespects the bird, and causes a lot of frustration to everyone involved. If you do get bit, it makes more sense to get the bird off of you, beak included, then try to figure out how you could avoid that situation in the future through avoidance techniques or redirecting the behavior into something positive.
Ignoring the bites makes absolutely no sense, disrespects the bird, and causes a lot of frustration to everyone involved. If you do get bit, it makes more sense to get the bird off of you, beak included, then try to figure out how you could avoid that situation in the future through avoidance techniques or redirecting the behavior into something positive.
BITING IS NOT A NATURAL CONFLICTS RESOLUTIONS OR COMMUNICATIONS IN BIRDS. Instead they are handled with body language and vocalizations. They convey their feelings beforehand or will fly off to avoid physical contact. If needed, the beak is protection against predators such as snakes and raptors or if it feels cornered and frighten then the need to bite will be from the natural instinct of self -preservation. But not against others in their own flock. In their natural environments, competition and/ or conflict between parrots rarely escalates to physical violence. Instead, they vocalize (scream) and/or use body language by strutting, posturing, and fluffing feathers to make themselves look bigger. Beaks are used for climbing, eating, playing (wrestling) and preening... not for biting another flock member.
I was told many years ago not to use the earthquake method. (Shake your hand when the bird goes to bite). When your bird is on your hand don't shake your hands to unbalance the bird has this will cause trust issues between your hand and the bird. This person told me the idea is to make your hands a safe and trusted place for your birds and if you shake your hand to unbalance the bird then the bird will come to see your hand as unsafe and will learn to distrust your hands. If your bird views your hand has unsafe and distrusts your hand, it will more likely bite the hand, then fly away. The use of gloves can also cause problems further down the line. It would probably be better to find out what is triggering the bite and there are many different types of triggers. Watch the eyes. If they pin, pull your hand away.
Just keep in mind that patience is key. Never mistreatment a bird who bites. Birds remember mistreatment, and they hold grudges. Any interaction you have with your bird should be positive, bonding and trust-building. Parrots and other animals learn best when wanted behaviour is rewarded right as it occurs and BAD behaviour is not. (It’s that simple).
I tolerate the bite, which can be really hard at times. Under NO circumstances should you yell while been bitten. Instead I put the bird back on its stand and scold it. Say no biting or naughty bird in a firm, displeased voice and give the bird a very dirty look. Show the bird your displeasure by giving it a REALLY DIRTY LOOK ("The Evil Eye"). Serious -- you have to look at it as if it were the lowest of the low, or pond scum, or something you might find stuck to the bottom of your shoe. Parrots are extremely empathetic creatures who watch our facial expressions closely. He will understand your displeasure if you give him a tremendously dirty look. The bird will understand that you are unhappy and will try very hard not to do it again. I don’t put my birds back in the cage has I feel this makes for resentment.
For the record, in the two and half years that we had Marlin, our Alexandrine Parakeet I was bitten hard once. I put him on the stand and scolded him and after that he never bit anyone else. This happened when he was around 7 months old. Henry our male Eclectus did the same and I also put him on the bird stand and scolded him and he hasn’t bitten my wife or me since. But he still gives strangers a nip if they FORCE themselves onto him. I tell people to give him a sunflower seed and let him come to you.
But if you make a show out of being bitten, then the bird can find it quite entertaining and can be encouraged to bite. This is called learnt bad behaviour.
So the parrot will nip again, because the human inadvertently rewarded it for nipping, by yelling. Sooner or later, the experimental nips will actually cause damage to the human (emotionally as well as physically), and the human's response becomes yelling, something to the effect of "YOU BAD BIRD, YOUR MOMMY (or DADDY) LOVES YOU, HOW COULD YOU BITE YOUR MOMMY (or DADDY)??!??!! The bird doesn't understand what's happening here, of course..... It thinks this is a wonderful new game. You know, bite a finger and your person makes lots of LOUD and WONDERFUL noises.... Bite hard enough and your person will also jump around... Bonus points…… This becomes learnt bad behaviour and they will actively hunt out skin to play this wonderful game of entertainment.
Do not leave the room. The bird may have bitten you to go away. So you leaving the room is what the bird wants. Therefore, you are teaching the bird that by biting, you will leave. This is learnt bad behaviour .
You can use a Toy/treat as a distraction, But it's just that 'a distraction'. It's not really teaching the bird acceptable behaviours. What you're really teaching the bird, is that by biting, it gets a toy/treat. Again, learnt bad behaviour.
Contrary to human beliefs, parrots think yelling is a fantastic and a fun response and it will actually reinforce a behaviour. Parrots really enjoy it when humans yell at them. Parrots often scream simply for the fun of it so it is a fallacy to think they perceive that yelling is a reprimand. On the contrary, they generally interpret yelling as positive feed-back. This is what called The Drama Reward.
If you can't handle the bird with bare hands at this time, use a T perch to Handle the bird and start target training.
I was told many years ago not to use the earthquake method. (Shake your hand when the bird goes to bite). When your bird is on your hand don't shake your hands to unbalance the bird has this will cause trust issues between your hand and the bird. This person told me the idea is to make your hands a safe and trusted place for your birds and if you shake your hand to unbalance the bird then the bird will come to see your hand as unsafe and will learn to distrust your hands. If your bird views your hand has unsafe and distrusts your hand, it will more likely bite the hand, then fly away. The use of gloves can also cause problems further down the line. It would probably be better to find out what is triggering the bite and there are many different types of triggers. Watch the eyes. If they pin, pull your hand away.
Just keep in mind that patience is key. Never mistreatment a bird who bites. Birds remember mistreatment, and they hold grudges. Any interaction you have with your bird should be positive, bonding and trust-building. Parrots and other animals learn best when wanted behaviour is rewarded right as it occurs and BAD behaviour is not. (It’s that simple).
I tolerate the bite, which can be really hard at times. Under NO circumstances should you yell while been bitten. Instead I put the bird back on its stand and scold it. Say no biting or naughty bird in a firm, displeased voice and give the bird a very dirty look. Show the bird your displeasure by giving it a REALLY DIRTY LOOK ("The Evil Eye"). Serious -- you have to look at it as if it were the lowest of the low, or pond scum, or something you might find stuck to the bottom of your shoe. Parrots are extremely empathetic creatures who watch our facial expressions closely. He will understand your displeasure if you give him a tremendously dirty look. The bird will understand that you are unhappy and will try very hard not to do it again. I don’t put my birds back in the cage has I feel this makes for resentment.
For the record, in the two and half years that we had Marlin, our Alexandrine Parakeet I was bitten hard once. I put him on the stand and scolded him and after that he never bit anyone else. This happened when he was around 7 months old. Henry our male Eclectus did the same and I also put him on the bird stand and scolded him and he hasn’t bitten my wife or me since. But he still gives strangers a nip if they FORCE themselves onto him. I tell people to give him a sunflower seed and let him come to you.
But if you make a show out of being bitten, then the bird can find it quite entertaining and can be encouraged to bite. This is called learnt bad behaviour.
So the parrot will nip again, because the human inadvertently rewarded it for nipping, by yelling. Sooner or later, the experimental nips will actually cause damage to the human (emotionally as well as physically), and the human's response becomes yelling, something to the effect of "YOU BAD BIRD, YOUR MOMMY (or DADDY) LOVES YOU, HOW COULD YOU BITE YOUR MOMMY (or DADDY)??!??!! The bird doesn't understand what's happening here, of course..... It thinks this is a wonderful new game. You know, bite a finger and your person makes lots of LOUD and WONDERFUL noises.... Bite hard enough and your person will also jump around... Bonus points…… This becomes learnt bad behaviour and they will actively hunt out skin to play this wonderful game of entertainment.
Do not leave the room. The bird may have bitten you to go away. So you leaving the room is what the bird wants. Therefore, you are teaching the bird that by biting, you will leave. This is learnt bad behaviour .
You can use a Toy/treat as a distraction, But it's just that 'a distraction'. It's not really teaching the bird acceptable behaviours. What you're really teaching the bird, is that by biting, it gets a toy/treat. Again, learnt bad behaviour.
Contrary to human beliefs, parrots think yelling is a fantastic and a fun response and it will actually reinforce a behaviour. Parrots really enjoy it when humans yell at them. Parrots often scream simply for the fun of it so it is a fallacy to think they perceive that yelling is a reprimand. On the contrary, they generally interpret yelling as positive feed-back. This is what called The Drama Reward.
If you can't handle the bird with bare hands at this time, use a T perch to Handle the bird and start target training.
