Hi all,
I am very new here (i have been reading forums for ages but only now needed a reason to make my own account). I have recently homed a 3 month old hand reared baby moustache parakeet. This is my first baby bird (although not my first bird) and s/he settled very quickly and thrived on our attention. S/He has been extremely sweet, eager to share our food, playing and sleeping on me, flying to me when i walk out the room and very cuddly and generally extremely gentle and sweet. Only curiously nibbling our fingers.
Over the last few days s/he has started lunging for my fingers and biting hard, at the moment he is still just a baby so he doesnt have enough power to actually hurt me but I am concered as he ages that it will become a habit and will be real bites. He has had no previous experience to he fearful of hands and he always happily comes straight to my hand when i open his cage and steps up absolutely fine. It is when i go to take him off my shoulder or moving him to a different hand that it can happen or if we interupt him playing or sometimes for no reason at all. He never shows any signs of being moody or agitated and just all of a sudden lunges at me and bites as many fingers as he can. It is not EVERY time but enough to start worrying me that its going to develop into something more serious. I understand we are still getting to know each other and building trust so my questions are -
1. Is this normal for babies to be territorial/behaving this way and will they grow out of it?
2. Is there something I can do to show him that lunging and biting is not ok?
3. I dont react when he bites as i dont want him to learn that biting makes me go away, so what should I do when he bites?
I am very new here (i have been reading forums for ages but only now needed a reason to make my own account). I have recently homed a 3 month old hand reared baby moustache parakeet. This is my first baby bird (although not my first bird) and s/he settled very quickly and thrived on our attention. S/He has been extremely sweet, eager to share our food, playing and sleeping on me, flying to me when i walk out the room and very cuddly and generally extremely gentle and sweet. Only curiously nibbling our fingers.
Over the last few days s/he has started lunging for my fingers and biting hard, at the moment he is still just a baby so he doesnt have enough power to actually hurt me but I am concered as he ages that it will become a habit and will be real bites. He has had no previous experience to he fearful of hands and he always happily comes straight to my hand when i open his cage and steps up absolutely fine. It is when i go to take him off my shoulder or moving him to a different hand that it can happen or if we interupt him playing or sometimes for no reason at all. He never shows any signs of being moody or agitated and just all of a sudden lunges at me and bites as many fingers as he can. It is not EVERY time but enough to start worrying me that its going to develop into something more serious. I understand we are still getting to know each other and building trust so my questions are -
1. Is this normal for babies to be territorial/behaving this way and will they grow out of it?
2. Is there something I can do to show him that lunging and biting is not ok?
3. I dont react when he bites as i dont want him to learn that biting makes me go away, so what should I do when he bites?