Beaking everything

[gracebowen]

I feel a bit like I'm being a pest but...I noticed that Jet puts everything in his mouth. Purse straps, plastic water bottle (soda etc) blanket shirt, glasses. Everything. My arm etc. He crawled up my shirt today and tasted my shirt after every step. When he reached my face yep he beaked my lip and my nose. I told him no and moved him back. I gather this is normal? Is this the best way to keep him from biting/beaking my face. No bites yet and would like to keep it that way.

I was on page 24 of behavioral before I quit looking and created a thread. I also looked in q&a and tried the search function.

 

[Jayyj]

Pretty much par for the course. That beak is like a hand to them and taste is an important sense to them.

Alice loves touching my face or gently beaking my nose but that's a bird who I know very well, trust to be gentle and have worked hard on pressure training so she knows what is acceptable pressure - not all birds get to a point where they can be trusted within biting reach of the face.

 

[Flboy]

Ya ever care for an infant? Yup, everything into the mouth!

 

[Kiwibird]

It's perfectly normal for parrots to beak everything, and so long as they're being gentle about it, we shouldn't discourage it

Kiwi is a big beaker. He likes to touch everything with his beak

 

[strudel]

Kiwi is a big beaker.

oooh, Beaker is a great name, I'm going to store that one in case I get somebody new. (I love Beaker from the Muppets)

 

[FCx]

Unfortunately this is pretty normal. As long as none of the "aggressive" markers are in play (eye pinning, tail fanning (in context), etc) you should be fine. Your bird is just curious, and a lot of the way they explore is with their tongue and beak! ^^

 

[Taw5106]

It's normal. In the morning when I have coffee I always have the spoon in the cup. Just a habit, and if Venus is on my shoulder the spoon battle begins, she tries to grab the spoon, the cup, any food, headphones, straws, everything is game to her. Buddy, not so much. Sometimes Buddy will grab my finger and taste it but he will apply pressure. I say ow and he backs off.

 

[strudel]

My galah is very mouthy. I wish you could buy dummies (pacifiers) for birds. I just wish there was something I could stick in her gob that isn't me.

 

[mh434]

My 'Zon Sammy is a mouther, too. He LOVES the texture of cotton (pretty much everything I wear is cotton these days), and will happily mouth my shirt for an hour or more at a time. He doesn't do any damage, at least not to the cloth itself. The buttons, on the other hand, he views as a challenge. I dozed off one night with him on my shoulder, and woke up to a shirt with 5 half-buttons.

All parrots seem to do it, to one degree or another. They love experiencing different tastes and textures - it's one of the ways they learn about their environment.

 

[gracebowen]

I'm not discouraging it I just didn't expect it. I'm gonna have to be more careful when he's out. I also explains ed it to my family.

 

[strudel]

Also, he's only a baby, so he's exploring "his world" and learning what things are and what they feel like. When he's grown up and is more familiar with things, he shouldn't need to do it to the same extent. When he has learnt what things are and feel like, he shouldn't be so "looky, looky, looky, what's that?"

You can encourage and teach him what is "his" and he can nibble on to his heart's content and what isn't really for him to be slobbering over. If he's nibbling on your buttons, you can replace them with a chew toy, tell him that is his toy and praise, praise, praise if he gives it the slightest bit of attention. (good luck with that, my galah just sees it as a challenge to get back to whatever she wants to play with, but with a weiro he shouldn't be as single-minded, hopefully )

Just because it's normal doesn't mean you just have to put up with whatever he wants. You can try to channel what he wants into what you want. Give him a little bit of exploration time, and then divert him to chomping on his own stuff.

 

[gracebowen]

Thank you Strudel.