my bird likes the taste of human flesh.

[je0409]

I'm just kidding. Maybe. I got my second GCC, Goose, a few months ago and since the second or third day of having him he's had a terrible habit of chewing on me. It's not really biting because it's not a quick or aggressive, he just likes trying to chew my skin off. Sometimes it'll be just a nibble that progresses into something harder, but somtimes he goes straight in to trying to shred my skin off. He does this on any exposed piece of skin he can get to, but mostly my hands because he's realized that he can actually get some skin off of them. If he's able to get a hangnail or piece of cuticle off he chews on it liek gum. I always handle him with clean hands so I know it's not because I smell or taste like food (unless he really does like the taste of human flesh). Sometimes it hurts really bad and he's made me bleed more than a few times. He isn't hesitant or afraid of my hands in any way. He really likes being handled and his body language has never seemed aggressive. I try not to react too much to it because I don't want to reinforce the behavior, but I've never "punished" him for it either because I wouldn't even know how to and I don't want him to distrust me for any reason. The only thing I've done is tried putting him down and not giving him attention when it happens (doesn't seem to care) and sometimes I do blow on him just to distract him when it hurts too bad for me to handle. I know people always say that you should reward the positive behavior instead of focusing on the negative, but I don't know how to go about that in this case. He does it about half of the time, so am I supposed to just feed him treats the whole time he's not chewing on me? He'll get fat, wont he? Any advise on how to get him to stop is very appreciated!!!!

 

[Sodapop&Co.]

Sorry, I can't help; but clickbait! I was like "come on", until I read your first line. Welcome to the forum!

 

[April]

I have the same problem with my CBC Tobias,he's only 6 months old so still a baby and wanting to chew on everything. I always do my best to discourage this he does listen when I say gentle and he's finally after a month getting that it hurts me and I don't like it and he will stop and be less forceful so its going great on that front. But the newest issue I have is him going after my toe nails(yuck!) I don't want him to do this at all just in general but especially because I never know if he's gonna chomp a sensitive toe but also I couldn't believe it yesterday but he ripped a piece of my nail off like it was nothing! That was absolutely not cool and I told him no in a firm voice and put him back on his playstand and ignored him for a few mins and then when I picked him up again he tried to go back to my foot again,I said once again said no and he finally wandered off and left them alone. So only time will tell but that seems to be working at the moment, I'd just be consistent with telling Goose to be gentle or whatever else phrase you would like and keep removing him from you until he learns that biting you hard means that he gets put up.
But don't put him away in the cage if you can avoid it,you dont want him to see the cage as a punishment its supposed to be a happy and fun place for them to go into not having to fear being locked up whenever he does something wrong. I was guilty of that myself in far in the past before I knew any better thankfully nothing negative was ever associated with the cage but I know I got lucky. Now I just put Tobias on his playstand or rope perch on the outside of his cage and just go about my day and the "punishment" of being away from me is enough to help teach him whats ok and whats not ok.
Good luck!

 

[Wardy]

I think you need to set a threshold this is a curious bird vs this is a bird overstepping the line or on its way to overstepping the line.
Removing skin,breaking through the skin,biting of nails definately crossing the line if he does this then place him down on a safe surface say no firmly and turn your back on him.
I remember Mojo going through a bitey phase sometimes i would put her down for her to imediately fly back so i would imediately put her back down sometimes it seemed a battle of wills.
I also found keeping a lolly stick handy if i thought she was going to bite the stick would come out of my pocket and offered to her to bite on i found this quite effective.

 

[dutchlings]

My caique is just under 6 months old and he LOVES chewing on our hands. He’s just being a curious beaky baby, completely harmless for the most part. He hasn’t actually bitten us yet, but I’m sure he will at some point lol.

When he starts chewing my hand too hard (it’s not actually painful or breaking skin, it’s just the level of pressure I think the average person would start getting nervous at), I don’t say anything or make any sudden movements, I just slowly withdraw my hand and watch the gears turn in his little head. I’ll give my hand back to him after 10-15 seconds and he’s much gentler.

When he starts chewing my boyfriend’s hand too hard, all he does is say “hey.” in a slightly stern tone (no raised voice) and our caique will usually tone down the chewing too. He actually even seems to understand that I allow him to play rougher than my boyfriend does, which he takes full advantage of.

We also have a few chunks of loofah, vine balls (they’ll keep him busy for quite a while if I stick a piece of walnut in them), or small foot toys with leather lacing laying all around the house to distract him with if we don’t want him chewing on our hands for any reason. He especially enjoys chewing on the leather.

 

[je0409]

Thank you everyone for your comments and advice!! I'll definitely be trying these techniques out in the future. I'll update if I ever see any progress

 

[Bunchobird]

my bluberry does this also lol