Zazu update

[cupoftea]

Zazu is doing very well, he's as lively as ever. He's started eating a lot more fruits and veggies. He now likes brocoli, oranges, tomatoes, spinach and carrots! He's also eating eggs and chicken. I am very happy that he's finally eating a bunch of fresh foods because for the most part he still is refusing his pellets.. but at least he's getting some vitamins from fresh stuff.

One weird problem though is that lately Zazu has been pinching people's skin with his beak... because he likes to nibble off our skin to chew on .. is this a normal phase that will hopefully pass? I keep saying no and distracting him with toys when he does this. I successfully got Zazu to stop biting me when he's angry, so now I'm hoping I can stop this issue with patience too.

 

[Naiera]

Zazu is looking so grown up!! And absolutely adorable.

As for the biting, it does seem a bit concerning that he is doing it hard enough to rip skin off and chew it! Not reinforcing the behavior by ignoring it its good, but from you description I might think that the act of biting and getting skin to chew on is in itself rewarding enough to himthat he wants to keep doing it. If I were in your shoes I would try to find a trigger ...what is he doing before he bites?? Does something specific happen?? Is he in a specific place such as on your hand or on your shoulder? Is it any time he is near your skin? Whatever it is i would try to avoid putting him in those situations. So if he's doing it anytime he's on your bare skin then avoid putting him on you bare skin for a while, giving him a chance to unlearn the behavior since it won't be happening and so he won't be receiving the reinforcement of munching on your skin! This is the method I had to use with Peaches when she first got here. After some time we slowly started allowing Peaches back onto or skin. We did short periods of time and built up to ensure there were no opportunities for biting. She can now sit on bare skin for unlimited durations without biting. Not sure if all that is necessary with Zazu but its a sure way to stop the behavior before it goes further.

Edit: I should clarify that I think in one of your previous posts I said Tiki (who I got as a baby) seemed to go through a period where he would pinch the skin often. He would also like to pull at finger nails. And I think I said there that we taught Tiki not to chew on us by encouraging him to chew on balsa and other toys. But Tiki's bites were hardly bites - they were hard enough for me to want him to stop, but in the grand scheme of lovebird bites they were pretty harmless. Lovies can bite pretty darn hard and if Zazu is pulling off your skin I'm assuming he's biting with pretty good force (ouch!). And so that is why in this post, I say that in your shoes I would maybe take escillated action, assuming you tried the "Tiki method" while Zazu's bites were seemingly less severe. WHEW - Hope that makes more sense and wasn't just more confusing!

 

[Lovebird Lady]

When you're playing with, him, I would try approaching him with a chew toy or a wooden popsicle stick between your fingers and encourage him to chew on that, while you scritch him with your fintertips at the same time. This is how some fids associate fingers with scritches and toys with chewing fun.

He does look adorable, BTW

 

[Anne & Gang]

he sure is precious!! have no advice on the biting other than to ignore it

 

[cupoftea]

To be honest, by using my remain calm + ignore or remove from situation + distraction method, the situation has largely improved. This is wonderful that he seems to get things after a couple of days with the same technique.

And it is a really weird kind of bite... it's not really a big bite, like he doesn't open his beak much at all, only a teeny bit, then literally pinches a teeny piece of skin. It's really weird... maybe he was actually trying to bite off the little hairs on my hands? Either way, by remaining calm and re-directing with a toy for him to chew on instead, I have had great success.