Baby Eclectus a bit nippy

[Swifty_ano]

Hey all,

I put a deposit down on a 13 week old boy. He's beautiful natured. Very intrigued with the world. Loves feeling things with his beak.

A few questions to put my mind at ease.

1) he's a bit sloppy with his feet. I know he's a baby and all. Just wanted to make sure it's still normal.

2) when he's had enough of being on your hand (won't sit on a shoulder yet) he will lean down and bite your hand.
It's not an aggressive bite, but they hurt. He will do it repeatedly expecting to be put back. I don't give in and just try an show him I'm not afraid of him.
He's still at the breeders at the moment and I go and visit him regularly.
Is this normal for a baby this age?

Thanks all

 

[sodakat]

I hope you will consider honoring his wishes when he wants to get off your hand. Realizing and respecting what a bird is telling you is very important, IMO. If you insist on ignoring him he has to resort to biting. Maybe you are holding him for too long a time period. Maybe he's just not comfortable being held that long.

Are you letting him sit on your hand without holding his toes, so he can fly off if he cares to? That would be my suggestion. Or instead, pick him up for a bit and when he gets squirmy place him somewhere nearby and visit with him while he's not on you.

Clumsy feet is very normal. They generally are better at flying long before they are at climbing an manuevering in cages, IMO.

 

[Swifty_ano]

I am in no way forcing him to be on my hand. He could fly off if he wanted to, but he doesn't.
He doesn't get squirmish as such, just bites. I assumed its because he wanted to be put down. As I said, it's not aggressive. Just seems like he's experimenting?
He doesn't bite very hard, sometimes he just plays with the skin but occasionally he breaks it.

The breeder said its just a phase and once he gets more trusting of me it will vanish. But he sometimes bites her?

 

[sodakat]

I am in no way forcing him to be on my hand. He could fly off if he wanted to, but he doesn't.
He doesn't get squirmish as such, just bites. I assumed its because he wanted to be put down. As I said, it's not aggressive. Just seems like he's experimenting?
He doesn't bite very hard, sometimes he just plays with the skin but occasionally he breaks it.

The breeder said its just a phase and once he gets more trusting of me it will vanish. But he sometimes bites her?

If you keep some small toy in your other hand or maybe a small piece of soft wood like a half of a clothespin, put that near his beak when he starts nibbling.

They most certainly go through phases. My feeling is they think our face is "us". Not our hands. So even if they love us, when they are babies they may strike at our hands. I move slowly and talk the entire time when I am teaching a baby to step up. It is instinctual for them to strike at something coming at them.

And they do check out how hard they can bite while watching us. Sailor will sit on my shoulder, look me in the eye, lean over towards my nose and say, "OW!" Can you guess where he learned that? I tell him, you can pick your friends and you can pick your nose but you can't pick your friend's nose.

Some people think you should take the bite. I don't agree. If they nibble to hard on my hand I either put a little toy or stick in their beak or say "ow" or "ah, ah, ah" as a warning to teach them it hurts me.

You will figure out what works best for you. Some birds are more beaky than others. They use their beak for everything so of course they are going to test out skin.