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green cheek bites

niamhk

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Niamh Kempton
i’m wondering does the GGC biting get any better? Emi is my GGC is about 6/ 7 months old. She’s amazing and very sweet most the time!
She often fluffs up in that aggressive way and she’ll charge at me making her angry noises as i call them! then she’ll bite me. she won’t let go most the time and i’ve tired a few things with her. i brought more foot toys to keep her busy on me but she still gets mad at me at times for no reason. i’m just really struggling with it since there isn’t a body language cue other than making her noises then fluffs and comes for me. she’s obsessed when she’s in that mood and will keep flying back if a move her away. does it get any better?
 

BirdLady13

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By nature, Green Cheeks are nippy. It starts when they're babies and they use their beaks to explore; they don't know the appropriate amount of force to apply yet. When they've grown out of this, they'll still bite, but instead it will be because they are afraid, feel threatened, or are just in a bad mood and don't want to be touched. We can all relate to that!
For whatever reason, some birds exhibit bluffing behavior from about 4 months - 1 year. It's important you don't give up on a bird going through this phase.
I know you said she's 6-7 months old, but how long have you had her for? It can take some time for birds to warm up to people, so it's possible this is just her getting used to you. She's likely to ease up on the biting when you've formed a stronger bond.
It's also possible she likes the reaction she gets from you when she bites. If this is the case, don't give her the satisfaction of pulling away or raising your voice - instead put her back in her cage.
 

Mizzely

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You learn to avoid them lol. Don't give her a reason to bite and you won't get bitten :lol:

Sounds like I'm having a laugh but that's pretty much the basics on birds not biting! It takes time to learn the triggers and body language sometimes.

What I always do if they are in that mood is walk away. "If you can't play nice I don't want to play with you"
 

clarousel

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By nature, Green Cheeks are nippy. It starts when they're babies and they use their beaks to explore; they don't know the appropriate amount of force to apply yet. When they've grown out of this, they'll still bite, but instead it will be because they are afraid, feel threatened, or are just in a bad mood and don't want to be touched. We can all relate to that!
For whatever reason, some birds exhibit bluffing behavior from about 4 months - 1 year. It's important you don't give up on a bird going through this phase.
I know you said she's 6-7 months old, but how long have you had her for? It can take some time for birds to warm up to people, so it's possible this is just her getting used to you. She's likely to ease up on the biting when you've formed a stronger bond.
It's also possible she likes the reaction she gets from you when she bites. If this is the case, don't give her the satisfaction of pulling away or raising your voice - instead put her back in her cage.
Do you mind explaining the bluffing behaviour? I can't remember if it was you or someone else who posted an article about it. I didn't really understand, is it bluffing the aggression? :confused:
 

niamhk

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Niamh Kempton
By nature, Green Cheeks are nippy. It starts when they're babies and they use their beaks to explore; they don't know the appropriate amount of force to apply yet. When they've grown out of this, they'll still bite, but instead it will be because they are afraid, feel threatened, or are just in a bad mood and don't want to be touched. We can all relate to that!
For whatever reason, some birds exhibit bluffing behavior from about 4 months - 1 year. It's important you don't give up on a bird going through this phase.
I know you said she's 6-7 months old, but how long have you had her for? It can take some time for birds to warm up to people, so it's possible this is just her getting used to you. She's likely to ease up on the biting when you've formed a stronger bond.
It's also possible she likes the reaction she gets from you when she bites. If this is the case, don't give her the satisfaction of pulling away or raising your voice - instead put her back in her cage.
i’ve had her about 3 months now. not long but she is quite attached to me. she’s always been a nippy bird but today was just a bit worse. How long does the bluffing stage last?
 

niamhk

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Niamh Kempton
You learn to avoid them lol. Don't give her a reason to bite and you won't get bitten :lol:

Sounds like I'm having a laugh but that's pretty much the basics on birds not biting! It takes time to learn the triggers and body language sometimes.

What I always do if they are in that mood is walk away. "If you can't play nice I don't want to play with you"
haha i hope so! she’s the only bird i have who i just read as well i suppose it will come with time! this afternoon i stopped letting her on my shoulder when i’m sitting down because she likes to go and pull out hairs in my neck which hurts and causes a reaction and then she’ll run to my hand and bite. so i’ve not let her up their and that’s actually worked pretty well! i got less bites which was good. thank you!
 

Lesley Yeung

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Bird bites when least expected. And Bird bites hard. Bird has, for no reason, with no warning, bitten all the way though my husband's ear cartilage.
 

expressmailtome

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Bird bites when least expected. And Bird bites hard. Bird has, for no reason, with no warning, bitten all the way though my husband's ear cartilage.
If you have a bird that is a bitter, it is not a good idea to allow them on your shoulder, or anywhere near a face.
 

Destiny

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Do you mind explaining the bluffing behaviour? I can't remember if it was you or someone else who posted an article about it. I didn't really understand, is it bluffing the aggression? :confused:
Bluffing usually refers to when your bird looks like it is about to bite - this can include a variety of behaviors, like lunging, aggressive posturing, biting in your direction without making skin contact, flaring up, screaming, etc. Some species of parrots are well known for going through a "bluffing phase", usually during adolescence when they are around 6 months to a year old. This phase can last for a few weeks or months and it typically seems to resolve spontaneously as the bird matures (unless it doesn't, of course). Sometimes bluffing evolves into nipping and nipping evolves into biting and biting can become a habitual behavior.

The general idea with bluffing is that the bird is threatening to bite, but if you "call the bluff" by ignoring the threat, then the bird will eventually figure out that it isn't working and stop this behavior. Sometimes people compare it to a rebellious teenage that is acting out and testing boundaries.

Personally, I think this is a misrepresentation of the situation and BAD advice for new parrot owners. Most birds do not bluff. They look like they are about to bite as a warning ... that they are about to bite you! They might hold back out of fear or reluctance, but they are not trying to trick or mislead you with their behavior. They are (desperately) attempting to communicate with you that something is not okay from the bird's perspective. Ignore this at your peril.

If the bird does bite you, rather than ignoring the bite, you should aim to prevent the bite from even happening, by giving the bluffing bird some space and analyzing the situation for aggression triggers. If you can't stop the bite from happening, then you should aim to ignore the BIRD, rather than trying to not react to the bite - A verbal correction followed by a short period of social distancing. This tends to be an effective way to get your point across, assuming your parrot enjoys interacting with you under normal circumstances.

It is worth mentioning that "bluffing" can also become a game for some parrots. These birds really WILL fake you out and intentionally lunge at people to see if they jump. Their body language reveals that they are playing around instead of acting out of angry or fear. Parrots are quite smart and some parrots have a surprisingly twisted sense of humor!

But I don't think that this is true for the majority of "bluffing" parrots and I think it is unwise to playing chicken with a biting parrot. You will probably lose.
 
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Chandler101

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Imo apart from animals that have been abused, are in rehabilitation, getting used to a new environment. Or if your not respecting there individual space/boundaries. I think that any animal that thinks it can hurt you randomly with no serious repercussions is a recipe for disaster.

An example is the Conure i just got a few months ago. Almost every time the lady or her daughter would go to pick him up/put him away or whatever towards the end. He was drawing blood and even taking chunks of skin and they were both very nice to him...to nice imo. She kept texting me after to see if he’d bitten me yet worried i would get rid of him. And about 2 weeks after i got him i went to put him in his cage for bed time and he latched onto a big chunk of skin. Twisted it to just about where it would start bleeding and looked up at me like “what are you going to do about it” so i took it to his level and gave him a flick he would never forget right in his side. Now he just lightly pinches me when he’s pissed and i don‘t have to worry about getting hurt.

If you knew you could hurt someone and your only penalty for doing so was a 15min timeout in your room...Would that be a big incentive to not do it again?

To be 100% clear i have never “hurt” any of my pets. But i have let each and every one know that its not ok to hurt me and in a birds case a controlled flick is momentary pain. And i‘ve never had biting issues with any of them. You are there parent teaching them the ways of life to a large degree it can’t all be fun and cuddles..imo.
 

emdh

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Imo apart from animals that have been abused, are in rehabilitation, getting used to a new environment. Or if your not respecting there individual space/boundaries. I think that any animal that thinks it can hurt you randomly with no serious repercussions is a recipe for disaster.

An example is the Conure i just got a few months ago. Almost every time the lady or her daughter would go to pick him up/put him away or whatever towards the end. He was drawing blood and even taking chunks of skin and they were both very nice to him...to nice imo. She kept texting me after to see if he’d bitten me yet worried i would get rid of him. And about 2 weeks after i got him i went to put him in his cage for bed time and he latched onto a big chunk of skin. Twisted it to just about where it would start bleeding and looked up at me like “what are you going to do about it” so i took it to his level and gave him a flick he would never forget right in his side. Now he just lightly pinches me when he’s pissed and i don‘t have to worry about getting hurt.

If you knew you could hurt someone and your only penalty for doing so was a 15min timeout in your room...Would that be a big incentive to not do it again?

To be 100% clear i have never “hurt” any of my pets. But i have let each and every one know that its not ok to hurt me and in a birds case a controlled flick is momentary pain. And i‘ve never had biting issues with any of them. You are there parent teaching them the ways of life to a large degree it can’t all be fun and cuddles..imo.
I would never ever "flick" a bird to induce temporary pain.
 

Mark & Da Boyz

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Cheddar bit pretty hard (well ugly to be truthful) when he was young but not much anymore and when he acts like he's going to bite it's more of "Beaking" than anything. he's a good boy and has been here about 3 years.

BB on the other hand will chomp with best (Worse?) of them at times. He's a rehome and I have no real idea how he was treated but I believe he was treated OK, he's somewhere around 10 years old best as we know. I put it down to uncertainty and being uncomfortable with being in a new place. He has gotten better in the last 5+ months he been here and I can read him enough to know when to leave him be unless I want to get bit.

BUT they both are VERY cage territorial and putting a hand in either cage will get a headlong rush to bite the snot bit out of me. Now Cheddar is in a Kings 2620 cage and it has feeder doors so I don't need to stick a hand in to change water or food bowls but hanging a sprig of millet can get tricky. BB, OH BOY, is in a flight cage without feeder doors and I have to detract him or he'll take a chunk out of me. I plan to buy him a cage like Cheddar's when I get moved to Tampa later this year.
 

BirdLady13

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Imo apart from animals that have been abused, are in rehabilitation, getting used to a new environment. Or if your not respecting there individual space/boundaries. I think that any animal that thinks it can hurt you randomly with no serious repercussions is a recipe for disaster.

An example is the Conure i just got a few months ago. Almost every time the lady or her daughter would go to pick him up/put him away or whatever towards the end. He was drawing blood and even taking chunks of skin and they were both very nice to him...to nice imo. She kept texting me after to see if he’d bitten me yet worried i would get rid of him. And about 2 weeks after i got him i went to put him in his cage for bed time and he latched onto a big chunk of skin. Twisted it to just about where it would start bleeding and looked up at me like “what are you going to do about it” so i took it to his level and gave him a flick he would never forget right in his side. Now he just lightly pinches me when he’s pissed and i don‘t have to worry about getting hurt.

If you knew you could hurt someone and your only penalty for doing so was a 15min timeout in your room...Would that be a big incentive to not do it again?

To be 100% clear i have never “hurt” any of my pets. But i have let each and every one know that its not ok to hurt me and in a birds case a controlled flick is momentary pain. And i‘ve never had biting issues with any of them. You are there parent teaching them the ways of life to a large degree it can’t all be fun and cuddles..imo.
That’s the equivalent of hitting a toddler in the face. “Momentary pain” but truly disgusting.
 
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mrstweet

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Are you having him out for long periods of time, >20 mins.? Generally I find my guys need to have down time after about that long or they get over stimulated and therefore nippy.
 

cab124

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I had a white-capped pionus for about 20 years who could bite pretty hard. Eventually, I learned to read her body-language and never got bit. She was very predictable. Apparently, this doesn't work as well for conures!
 

Mark & Da Boyz

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Yeap, learning to "Read" a bird will save you lot of blood in the long run. Also learning a bird's likes and dislikes. BB isn't a "Early Bird" and trying to get him out first thing in the morning I learn was a quick trip to "Band Aid City" He wants his breakfast and to be left alone for a bit then he'll ask to come out BUT I also learned not to fall for that as he'll likely start telegraphing a bite as I get near. Got wait a bit longer and out he'll come all ready for a boat load of scritches.
 
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