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GCC sudden change in behaviour, started nipping on my face, mouth and ears really hard

Twity_mum

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Ranjita Neogi
Hello fellow parents,

I am absolutely new to handle this GCC little monster and it is my fifth day with Twitty. He is a lovely boy of 16 weeks. Very friendly and seems to have grown attached to me in a short span. He hates being in his cage and always with me and copy whatever I am doing. I live alone in a studio and yesterday I had two visitors for the first time since he has arrived. Twitty was startled a bit but was quite accepting towards one of my friends, while did not like the other one much. Since they have left, there’s a sudden change in behaviour. He has turned extremely chirpy, clingy and NIPPY! He used to nip before as well but now it’s harder and specially on my ears, if no access to ears, on my face. It hurts now. A lot. I tried to removed his beaks by slowly pulling them apart, withstanding a lot of pain. Put him down on the floor. Avoided any interaction, paid no attention. But he would keep flying back to me and nip again. I am not sure if it’s aggressive as he would cuddle at the same time. I am very confused. Another thing, when my friends left he was suddenly very vocal, which he is not usually. Please help me understand his behaviour if you have any idea. Thanks a ton!
 

Sylvi_

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Yuka does this on occasion when she gets over excited/over stimulated.

Your boy is still very young and new to your home, so that may be contributing to it.
Young birds love to discover things with their beaks and can be very head-strong, that was definitely my experience with Yuka. No cuddly baby phase, just pure “I’m here and check out my beak!” little conure. :laughin:

What I do with mine is whenever I take notice of the signs leading up to being nipped, I’ll give her space from my hands and change the “subject” per say. Practice a bit of recall with some yummy treats, toss a couple foot toys around. Something to get her mind distracted and break out of that headspace instead of taking her excitement out on me.
When the nip happens, and they eventually will, I tell her “Ouch!” and will back off. If she continues on to another bite despite me giving her space and walking away, like your baby flying to you and biting, I’ll give a calm “No” and leave the room for about 20-30 seconds.

I avoid giving her that much access above my shoulders, to make it as stress free as possible when I need to set her someplace else. But I would say just me communicating with the “Ouch” gets the message across, because she knows if she continues to bite hard she’ll lose my interaction for a short time.
My best advice would be to practice him stepping up a perch for you, trying to get that baby energy out more in interactive ways (Foraging options, swapping toys around often, perhaps recall training) and stay patient. It’s only been a week.
I know in my experience Yuka drew blood often in the first few months. It’s good to keep in mind these are still undomesticated animals, who can become used to humans but are still very much wild.

Every bird is going to have their beaky days but we can manage it with time and learning to read their body language. Good luck!
I’m definitely not a Conure expert but this is what’s helped with my Yuka girl.
 

BrianB

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Did you change anything about your appearance? Hair cut, hair color, nail color, jewelry, ear piercings.... It may not seem significant to us, but these things can really throw a bird off. One day my green cheek would not step up for me. She got really nippy and avoided stepping up if she could. This included flying away from me and going back to her cage. When I asked a friend about it he asked to see my hands. He picked up that I wasn't wearing my wedding ring. I had lost some weight and it was loose so I stopped wearing it. When I put it back on, my sweet bird was back. It wasn't something I put much thought into, I just didn't want to lose it. To her it was a change and she wasn't happy about it.

Things like changing your hair color, or getting a new style can be a big issue for birds and they can get really unpleasant over it. Some birds just don't like change at all.

The good part is that younger birds will grow out. If you keep the changes subtle over time than you can help your bird deal with change. If your appearance isn't the cause, then Sylvi had some really good suggestions to help redirect some of this behavior.

Good Luck!
 

Sylvi_

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Things like changing your hair color, or getting a new style can be a big issue for birds
That’s a great point! A friend of mine once had on a colored nail polish & Yuka absolutely nipped the heck out of them.

They can be very particular. ;)
 
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