biting came out of no where

[tiamat333]

Had my conure for about 1 year and a half and she was very tame and good but than she grew attached to my mom now she bites me how did this happen i was the one who took her out of the cage everyday and its getting to the point where i might just not take her out. She is two years old if anybody needs to know

 

[Birdman666]

It's called overbonding.

Conures are pair bond birds. In the wild they pair up, and mate for life, as do macaws and amazons. In captivity they tend to form that same pair bond relationship with a person.

This bird needs to be handled more, and by more people, away from the favored person. If the favored person is in the room, the disfavored person is likely to be bitten. "You're not my person."

Socialization, socialization, and more socialization.

And it's a conure. I realize those pinholes hurt, but come on, its not like this bird will cause significant injury (amazons, macaws, cags, eckies, etc. can and will) So, everyone who does handle this bird needs to control the beak, and reinforce the "no biting."

Beak play and treats will help with that. If the bird bites, the game is over.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Because your conure is over bonding with your mom try doing a 10-90 rule. You interact with the conure 90% of the time, and you mom gets 10%. You be the provider of food, new toys and perches, clean the cage, and also make sure to do trick training with a clicker.

 

[psittac]

The age might have something to do with it too. About that age, maybe younger my gcc went through a rebelious phase but in my case she just screamed alot, maybe a little biting. If you work on behavior modification it should be ok. Just dont give up its a phase you can work through

 

[MikeyTN]

Your answers been covered by above postings....IF your mom would back off a bit and you do all the interaction, it will work itself out over time. I had that issue as well with some of our birds but over time they're fine with me but they still have their favorite person which is my partner. They would fly off to my partner if we're both around. But they tolerate me just fine.

 

[Birdman666]

And if she doesn't the bird will, most likely, bite everyone but her...

 

[tiamat333]

Because your conure is over bonding with your mom try doing a 10-90 rule. You interact with the conure 90% of the time, and you mom gets 10%. You be the provider of food, new toys and perches, clean the cage, and also make sure to do trick training with a clicker.

how can i do clicker training with her there doesn't seem to be any helpful tutorials on this

 

[MikeyTN]

There's a ton of videos on YouTube to show clicker training as all of them serve the same purpose. Watch any one of them to show you the basics and go from there.

 

[Peanutsmum]

And it's a conure. I realize those pinholes hurt, but come on, its not like this bird will cause significant injury (amazons, macaws, cags, eckies, etc. can and will)

Um not to be funny but have you had a full on bite from a conure? Pinholes? I have had chunks of fingers taken out when Peanut is in a foul mood. I do realize that the bigger parrots do significant damage, but do not assume that conures are not capable of inflicting injury, they can and do!

 

[thekarens]

I'm pretty sure Birdman has been bitten by conures and everything else and he's right, I've been bitten by macaws, toos, zons and conures and though it hurts, by comparison it's nothing to the other birds.

 

[Echo]

And it's a conure. I realize those pinholes hurt, but come on, its not like this bird will cause significant injury (amazons, macaws, cags, eckies, etc. can and will)

Um not to be funny but have you had a full on bite from a conure? Pinholes? I have had chunks of fingers taken out when Peanut is in a foul mood. I do realize that the bigger parrots do significant damage, but do not assume that conures are not capable of inflicting injury, they can and do!

The GCC does less damage, however they grab a smaller chunk of fresh and grind their bite which is very painful. I think the most painful bite I received was from my Pionus. However the beak that's scares me the most is from the Cockatoo.

 

[Birdman666]

And it's a conure. I realize those pinholes hurt, but come on, its not like this bird will cause significant injury (amazons, macaws, cags, eckies, etc. can and will)

Um not to be funny but have you had a full on bite from a conure? Pinholes? I have had chunks of fingers taken out when Peanut is in a foul mood. I do realize that the bigger parrots do significant damage, but do not assume that conures are not capable of inflicting injury, they can and do!

As a matter of fact, my (evil when I got him) dusky conure once put his beak clean through my finger as in point of the beak sticking out the other side...

Hurt like hell, but it didn't need a hospital visit, nor was I ever in danger of losing the finger. Which is not true with the aforementioned macaw bites... and if they hadn't held back I'd be missing two fingers... which was my point!

If it bothers you wrap a towel around your hand...

 

[matthias7490]

First of all - every bird is different.

There's no "one right way" to deal with overbonding - it depends on how the behavior got that way in the first place.

Your conure is the right age for sexual maturity - and if it was handfed, that means it looks to humans to find a mate. It's natural for it to pick one member of its "flock" and defend that person aggressively against all intrusion for a long period of time.

However, that person, to stop it, needs to wholly 100% reject the conure. I used to read posts where the "mated person" would laugh or encourage the behavior. That seals the deal. Conures, like all parrots, can read human emotion, expression, behavior, and body language. From now on, from the moment you next see your parrot until the biting stops, your mom cannot hand the parrot at all.

I'm not sure who invented that 90%/10% rule - but it didn't come from any scientific magazine i ever read.

Bonding rejection in the wild happens in one way. Anytime a potential mate would approach, a rejection would be a simple snap. No pain, no nothing, just a snap and fly away. In other words, no touch, no sound, no contact. Your mother cannot ever be in the room when you are in the room with the bird - because what will happen is the bird will attack YOU in order to show your mother that it is strong and aggressive. It's not actually punishing you, it's trying to show your mother that it's a good mate.

By ignoring the bird and never going near it, your mother is showing the conure that she's not interested in the slightest. This may take weeks. I've heard it taking months.

100% of the time - the reason birds STAY OVERBONDED is because the overbonded person rejects this advice, is too attached to their parrot, or thinks the overbonding is funny or "cute" and cannot leave their parrot for long enough. They still talk or interact with their parrot, and every time they interact, the bond is maintained.

You must be the only one (and anyone else in the house, just not your mother) to interact with the parrot. If he bites, use a dowel. Take him in and out of the cage. Feed and change his water. Change his papers. Do everything normal, talk to him, interact with him. Act as if nothing is out of the ordinary. If he acts aggressive - just keep away from his beak and don't let him bite you - never let a bite happen. Never use gloves to pick him up, because eventually the gloves have to come off anyways and he'll just bite when he sees you're not wearing them (parrots aren't stupid, we just assume they are).

Eventually, a very painfully long time from now, he will give up. If you're will to brave it, it will go faster to try and pick him up through the biting. Show him that no matter what, your hand isn't going away despite the biting - you won't lose a finger. You're above him in the flock. If you'd like to wait longer just offer your finger, and if he looks like he'll bite, substitute for the dowel. If he bites the dowel, he's not ready. Keep doing it - eventually he'll go back to normal. Never ever ever give him what he wants - to be with your mother.

If your mother says this is silly - explain to her that overbonding is dangerous at home. In the wild, it leads to breeding, which is fine, but at home, the behaviors associated with breeding can be dangerous. Over a long period of time, a parrot might stop eating unless your mother is present, because it will save it's food to regurgitate in her presence. If she stops visiting the parrot, it will stop eating - and may get very sick or die. It can also have severe behavioral problems if it can't be with her all the time (especially if its wings are clipped and can't fly to her to be with her).

Good luck! Dealing with overbonding is never fun - and make sure it doesn't happen anymore. Be a flock family - have everyone handle your bird all the time and always treat it well. Never do things like pet it's rear hindquarters or feed it food from your mouth or let it put food in your mouth (those are what start overbonding).

 

[MikeyTN]

And it's a conure. I realize those pinholes hurt, but come on, its not like this bird will cause significant injury (amazons, macaws, cags, eckies, etc. can and will)

Um not to be funny but have you had a full on bite from a conure? Pinholes? I have had chunks of fingers taken out when Peanut is in a foul mood. I do realize that the bigger parrots do significant damage, but do not assume that conures are not capable of inflicting injury, they can and do!

The GCC does less damage, however they grab a smaller chunk of fresh and grind their bite which is very painful. I think the most painful bite I received was from my Pionus. However the beak that's scares me the most is from the Cockatoo.

I've been bitten by a conure countless times, the last bite from a conure was today at the bird fair. I had to intervene a baby cockatoo chewing on the conure's toes and the conure came at me full on and attacked my hand and of course drew blood. But it's not that bad as my worst bite came from a Cockatoo. Next to that was from a Macaw. Now those hurt!!!! The Cockatoo bit me to my bones and I had a deep gash that needed stitches.

 

[thekarens]

My worst bite came from a YNA. I've never met a zon that liked me. They are wicked fast.

 

[tiamat333]

Started clicker training with her a couple weeks ago and i dont know if she made any progress if i hold my hand in a fist and raise it to her she. Wont bite but as soon as I put my pointer finger she bites so she i think she is slowly learning but cant tell