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Budgie biting me for amusement, not fear

TielTA

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A few months ago as my budgie reached sexual maturity he started biting me for it's own amusement.

It will climb up my clothes and sit next to my mouth then just bite my lips really hard, if I shoo him away he comes back and tries to do it again. He'll fly to the top of my phone and when I'm using my finger on the screen he will bite it. He will sit on my shoulder and when I go to get him off he will make angry noises and bite my hand.

I'm not sure what his problem is, because he's a tame budgie and likes me. All the guides I can find for budgies biting online seem to be about the bird being scared.. so they bite. But nothing about the budgie being a little bum and doing it for fun.

What can I do? When it was younger the bites didn't hurt, but now they are starting to hurt and he's almost breaking the skin.
 

Shezbug

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I am guessing he is finding some reward in the way you react to the biting if he is continuing to do it and especially if he is seeking you out to do as opposed to him doing it because he is trapped or cornered.

@Monica might be able to offer you some advice on what you can do differently to stop this happening.
 

Icey

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What can I do? When it was younger the bites didn't hurt, but now they are starting to hurt and he's almost breaking the skin.
It sounds like this is the problem. You have let him do it for so long, it is normal for him to do it now.
Personally I would not let him sit on my shoulder and redirect his attention elsewhere when you know he is about to do it.
Tempt him with some millet spray or favorite treat and definitely start saying the "NO" word.
Good luck and I see @Shezbug has already tagged someone with a lot more experience with budgies. :)
#
 

Miss_sj

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My little male budgie did this. He is the same- it is 100% for his amusement and he clearly found it funny. Cheeky little monkey. To be honest, it was really hard to break and I think partially we just got lucky and he outgrew it. I tried really hard to ignore it, not react, and I would set him down when he did it and paid him very little attention when he was in that mood. I also tried to distract him with his favourite chew toys when he was in that mood to give him something else to do.

Also- I've noticed my budgie gets very bitey and really wants my phone if he sees me typing on it. I try not to use it in front of him- he gets very annoying very quickly with the phone!

On another note- that cranky little sound they make is so sweet! Those little stinkers certainly think they are the boss of us.
 

Gribouille

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My budgies are not tame so that's never been an issue but my parrotlets have both been there and they have big beaks compared to budgies... Also they are not afraid of anything so they attack if I try to remove them from me. I really had to do something with that.
First thing to know is that even if you don't react, your skin is nice to chew. Great feeling, self-rewarding even if you don't do or say anything. If you jump, yell or even give them the slightest attention, it is even better. Especially if you are busy with your phone or anything keeping your attention away from them, that's the same as kids, they want your attention and negative attention is better than none :confused:.

With my first parrotlet, Twitter, I learned to avoid situations where he would bite, or to keep my hands out of reach (he would attack anything on the kitchen bench for instance, not cool when I was preparing dinner..).
With Pichu, my second parrotlet, I used the gentle beak method, which consists in associating nice behavior with the words "gentle beak" and a soft touch of his beak. When we were cuddling, I would gently put my finger on his beak and say "gentle beak" :xflove:. Then when he was attacking I did the same, gently put my finger on his beak and say "gentle beak". He would stop attacking and wait for cuddles. Helped a lot!!

And like with kids, I had to learn to change my priorities and give him attention instead of focusing on the internet. Sometimes our kids and fids are the voice of reason, and we have to listen to them. Forget those #¤&# devices for an hour and spend some quality time with them. Pichu would sometimes go and show me his training pack to say he wanted to train (mostly, he wanted treats :D, but still...) and that's great, it means training is quality time for him and do those things with me are a reward, keeping him happy.
 

Monica

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1.) He's bored/curious

2.) This is fun and entertaining!


In short... you haven't given him anything else to do instead of the undesired behavior... so with lack of direction, he figures out something to do. If you want to stop the behavior, then you need to work on avoiding situations that will result in the undesired behavior, distracting him with things you do want him to do (forage? play with toys? take a bath?) or work on training new behaviors that he can do instead!

In other words - stop thinking in terms of "how do I stop this behavior?" and instead think "What do I want him to do instead?" and work towards that goal!
 
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