Biting Skin?

[LoveMyConlan]

My GCC, who I've had about a month and a half and was not hand tame(he's around 6 months) has a habit of biting any skin on my arm or hand. I can give him a good scratch through the bars with bare fingers, and recently he's learned the Step Up command (WOOT!!) but I HAVE to have long thick sleeves and a glove on to handle him.

He will mouth the glove a bit as well but not a full on bite. If he can grab skin it's a bite hard enough to draw blood. He will even search for skin if I have on a thin long sleeve, and once he feels it is a chomp. He's not hesitant to Step Up so I don't think it's fear.

How do I stop this skin biting obsession?

 

[Rockford]

Earthquake.
When the bird is about to put his beak on you, move/rotate your hand or arm a little to throw him off balance forcing him to stop what he was about to do and regain his balance.

He'll test bite the glove and stop because he get's no reaction from you and w/o a reaction, it's not any fun. It would be a good idea to use the earthquake method with the glove too.

 

[LoveMyConlan]

Earthquake.
When the bird is about to put his beak on you, move/rotate your hand or arm a little to throw him off balance forcing him to stop what he was about to do and regain his balance.

He'll test bite the glove and stop because he get's no reaction from you and w/o a reaction, it's not any fun. It would be a good idea to use the earthquake method with the glove too.

Would doing that cause him to be weary of my hand? It took me this long to get him to step up or let me approach him, I just don't want to do anything to go backwards. But I love the idea . I'll give it a try

 

[Rockford]

I don't believe that I've ever experienced that type of negative reaction to earthquaking a bird to avert biting.

 

[ForteBebe]

Yeah, I would try it with protection on first just in case it doesn't work. You may want to look in getting the Parrot Wizard book. There is one for less that $20 used on Amazon [ame="http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1626208042/ref=tmm_hrd_used_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=used&sr=8-1&qid=1430697369"]500 Service Unavailable Error[/ame]

Good luck!

 

[Kyoto]

Hey there!

This seems to be a common GCC problem. Seems like they really enjoy chewing skin in a well-meaning way. My Kyo unfortunately does it too, even though she loves cuddles and being with me. She was hand raised and came to me perfectly tame. It's something that just developed over a few weeks.

What I've done is stick trained her. Get a bird safe wood dowel and teach her the step up command using it instead of your finger. Also, treat sitting on your body as a privilege instead of a right. So when she's really good give her the opportunity to sit on your hand, and praise praise praise and treats when she minds her beak. I do tolerate Kyo grabbing my hand to step up, but I definitely give her more praise when she avoids the beak part altogether.

Towelling in situations where she is getting really carried away can be a useful tool, but I find stick training has worked best in my own situation.

Also, think of little games to play that don't involve her sitting on you. I use my computer desk and take my school stuff off of it. I've recently taught her to play "Peeaboo" with her snuggle tent (I hold it up and look through it, and she runs through it towards me and squeals with delight), and target training as well.

I hope this helps! It's a slow going process but with patience it is working for me

 

[Delfin]

I was told many years ago not to use the earthquake method. (Shake your hand when the bird goes to bite). When your bird is on your hand don't shake your hands to unbalance the bird has this will cause trust issues between your hand and the bird. This person told me the idea is to make your hands a safe and trusted place for your birds and if you shake your hand to unbalance the bird then the bird will come to see your hand as unsafe and will learn to distrust your hands. If your bird views your hand has unsafe and distrusts your hand it will more likely bite the hand then fly away. The use of gloves can also cause problems further down the line. It would probably be better to find out what is triggering the bite.

I tolerate the bite, which can be really hard at times. Under NO circumstances should you yell. Instead say "No biting or naughty bird" in a firm and displeased voice and give the bird a very dirty look. Show the bird your displeasure by giving it a REALLY DIRTY LOOK ("The Evil Eye"). Serious -- you have to look at it as if it were the lowest of the low, or pond scum, or something you might find stuck to the bottom of your shoe. Parrots are extremely empathetic creatures who watch our facial expressions closely. He will understand your displeasure if you give him a tremendously dirty look. The bird will understand that you are unhappy and will try very hard not to do it again.

But if you make a show out of being bitten then the bird can find it quite entertaining and can be encourage to bite. This is called learnt bad behaviour. Contrary to human beliefs, parrots think yelling is a fantastic and fun response and it will actually reinforce a behaviour. Parrots really enjoy it when humans yell at them. Parrots often scream simply for the fun of it so it is a fallacy to think they perceive that yelling is a reprimand. On the contrary, they generally interpret yelling as positive feed-back. This is what called The Drama Reward.

So the parrot will nip again, because the human inadvertently rewarded it for nipping by yelling and jumping around. Sooner or later, the experimental nips will actually hurt the human (emotionally as well as physically), and the human's response becomes, Yelling something to the effect of "YOU BAD BIRD, YOUR MOMMY (or DADDY) LOVES YOU, HOW COULD YOU BITE YOUR MOMMY (or DADDY)??!??!! The bird doesn't understand what's happening here, of course..... It thinks this is a wonderful new game. You know, Bite a finger and your person makes lots of LOUD and WONDERFUL noises.... Bite hard enough and your person will also jump around... Bonus points…… This becomes learnt bad behaviour and they will actively hunt out skin to play this wonderful game of entertainment.

You can use a Toy/treat as a distraction, But it's just that 'a distraction'. It's not really teaching the bird acceptable behaviours. What you're really teaching the bird, is that by biting, it gets a toy/treat. Again learnt bad behaviour.

Biting Isn't "Natural". Conflicts resolutions in birds. Instead they are handled with body language and vocalizations, not biting.
It is important to understand that parrots in the wild rarely appear to use their beaks as a weapon against other parrots. If needed, the beak is a protection against predators such as snakes and raptors (birds of prey), but not against others in their own flock. In their natural environments, competition and/ or conflict between parrots rarely escalates to physical violence. Instead, they vocalize (scream) and/or use body language by strutting, posturing, and fluffing feathers to make themselves look bigger. Beaks are used for climbing, eating, playing (wrestling) and preening... not for biting each other.

Another scenario that happens, is when an owner is not clear in their signals to the parrot. For example, when offering a hand for the bird to
step up, a inexperienced owner often isn't quite sure of him/herself... so their hand motion is uncertain. The bird may wish very much to climb on, but is unsure of the stability of the hand will reaches with its beak (The beak functions as a hand) to steady the human hand. The human, afraid of that beak, pulls their hand away.

Now the bird is confused! Now each time the human's hand is offered and the bird attempts to grab the hand with its beak to hold it steady so it can climb on. The human jerks their hand away. The bird has no idea what has happened but if the scene is repeated (as it usually is), the bird will learn that its beak will make the hand go away. The bird doesn't really want the hand to go away, but it is fun to control one's human's hand so the behaviour will happen again and a-gain. Once again, the parrot has no idea it has done anything wrong.

I suggest that you remove the food bowl when you put the bird to bed. But leave the water bowl. In the morning before giving the bird their normal breakfast I would conduct a training session then give breakfast. Remove breakfast after a couple of hours. Then put out foraging toys with pieces of food hidden inside. Then prior to dinner I would conduct a training session then give the bird dinner.

Just keep in mind that patience is key. Never punish a bird who bites. Birds remember mistreatment, and they hold grudges. There is no need to try to “control” your bird. Birds operate out of mutual respect, and if you attempt to overpower your bird, she/he will lose trust in you. You shouldn't attempt to force your bird to do anything. Any interaction you have with your bird should be bonding and trust-building. The idea that one must "dominate" an animal to train it is simply not a good way to achieve results. How can one dominate a parrot without frightening or provoking them? Parrots and other animals learn best when wanted behaviour is rewarded right as it occurs and unwanted behaviour is not. ( It's that simple).

 

[Anansi]

Peter (Delfin) makes some very good points here (as is often the case) and has provided some solid training tips.

My take on the earthquake method, shaped by my own experience is that it can work... depending on how you do it AND on the individual personality of the bird. If the earthquake method is used, what you must realized is that it's the suddenness of the motion... not the violence of it. The bird should NEVER be in actual danger of falling. If your bird actually falls from your hand, trust will likely be damaged. What you want to achieve is an unsettling and momentary loss of balance while saying "no" in a stern yet even voice. Association of the word "no" to that sensation is key. I used this technique to great effect with Bixby, who was a male ekkie, and the closeness of our bond was beyond question. Thing is, he was never in danger of falling, so trust was never an issue. The earthquake method just became a method of communication between us.

BUT... as I said, it does depend on the individual bird. While that method worked extremely well with Bixby, it proved less than effective with Maya. Thing is, while Bixby was an accomplished flier, Maya has always been less confident with it. But she is, by way of compensation, perhaps, an enormously gifted climber and acrobat. As such, her balance is ridiculously good. And the earthquake movement that would be required to make her even notice would have to border on frenzied! (Only a slight exaggeration. Haha!)

Now, I've been lucky in that Maya almost instantly bonded to me, but she has a biting issue with my wife. So since I had such rousing success with Bixby using the earthquake method, I suggested she utilize the same for Maya. Big mistake. She most times either barely noticed or calmly decided to clamp on and enjoy the ride. Sigh.

So when one method winds up being less effective, just switch it up. The time out method worked much better for her particular personality. Typically after one or two warnings. So if she was told "no" twice and continued the behavior, she would be calmly returned to the cage or a training stand for 10-15 minutes.

There is a flip side to all of this, though. Your bird needs to be able to communicate with you when you're doing something that he/she doesn't like. So the bargain that needs to be struck between you is that you acknowledge their likes and dislikes as well. It's a two-way street. For instance, if you're petting your bird and he/she beaks your finger and moves it away from their body... take the hint! If you listen to their equivalent of a whisper, they'll be less inclined to escalate to a metaphorical shout, you know?

Please keep us updated on your progress.