Bought home a 5 month old pineapple conure, need advice please :)

[mimi88]

I have been looking into getting a second (and final lol) bird for a few weeks now and was originally going to buy a newly weaned baby. I saw an advertisement for a 5 month old pineapple green cheek a few days ago and contacted the lady selling him, she was honest with me and explained that she was looking to rehome him due to her daughter getting bitten and being fearful of the bird, as he was originally a christmas present for her. She mentioned that her husband was the only one that would interact with the bird as she was scared of him herself.

So today I welcomed Fruitloop (their daughters choice of a name LOL) into our home. He wasn't as bad as I expected him to be in all honesty. He does clamp down his beak pretty HARD, but has not made me bleed..yet. I'm trying to show him that I am not fearful of him when he bites as I believe his previous owners have made this mistake and shown him that he has a higher rank/authority over them by pulling their hand back and showing fear. I hold in the pain as much as I can and try to move his beak away. I don't like the rule of "if they bite put them back in the cage". I believe that they will pick up on this quickly and learn that if he did bite it instantly means he gets to go back into his cage with his yummy food/toys etc. I might be wrong but that is just my personal opinion.

He has been awesome so far. I didn't want to overwhelm him too much so I handled him only a bit, when he was on my arm while I was washing my hands he jumped straight into the sink and had a bath. On another cute note.. while he is in his cage and I ask "Wanna scratch?" he walks over, fluffs up and bends his neck for me to scratch. He was also constantly head bopping to me today. Sounds like he is trying to mumble a few words too, but can't figure out what.

Does anyone have any tips on stopping the biting? I know they are bitey birds by nature but i'd like to at least try to stop it as much as possible.

Should I keep the name Fruitloop? I am tempted to rename him (or her!) Chichi.... but not sure. Opinions please?

 

[nicolee003]

Congrats on the new edition! I don't have any advice on how to get them to stop biting as I am going through the same thing. I like the name Chichi but I wonder if it already knows the name Fruitloop...I would think he is still young enough where you could change the name if you wanted.

 

[aliray]

Congrats on your new baby. I love the name fruitloops however I agree they will learn a new name in short order. Last July I bought a 5 mo old african red bellied parrot who came with the name Chompers. that name I did not like for my little princess so I changed it to Tiki. Much better fit for her and it didn't take her long to understand that it was her name. My other two parrots were 6 mo old each when I bought them and they didn't have a name.

 

[MonicaMc]

Does anyone have any tips on stopping the biting? I know they are bitey birds by nature but i'd like to at least try to stop it as much as possible.
Uh.... don't get bitten?

I'm trying to show him that I am not fearful of him when he bites as I believe his previous owners have made this mistake and shown him that he has a higher rank/authority over them by pulling their hand back and showing fear.
He's not trying to dominate you. In fact, he's probably biting because either *HE'S* afraid, or he feels uncomfortable with what you are doing, so he's TELLING you to back off!


A lot of bites come from birds trying to tell us that they are afraid, they are uncomfortable, they are startled, or for some other reason. When we put them into situations that will result in a bite, then you need to expect to get bitten.

If you don't want to be bitten, then you need to try and stop putting your bird into a situation that you know will result in a bite. Learn to read your birds body language and try to learn to communicate with them in a positive manner.

Here's a couple of blogs on teaching parrots to step up
Good Bird Inc Parrot Training Talk: Help! My Parrot Wont Step Up!
Living With Parrots Cage Free: Bucky and Strider - Millet Eating Fiends!


And here are some on biting.
Good Bird Inc Parrot Training Talk: Respecting the Bite
RP - Biting


And why ignoring a bite really isn't the best idea in all circumstances.
Living With Parrots Cage Free: Does Ignoring Really Work?


You need to learn how to teach her acceptable behaviors that do not include biting. Positive reinforcement, often under the guise of clicker training, can help you achieve these results. The only bite that can't be rewarded is the one that never happens.



Name? It's really up to you!

 

[legal_eagle]

A lot of bites come from birds trying to tell us that they are afraid, they are uncomfortable, they are startled, or for some other reason. When we put them into situations that will result in a bite, then you need to expect to get bitten.

If you don't want to be bitten, then you need to try and stop putting your bird into a situation that you know will result in a bite. Learn to read your birds body language and try to learn to communicate with them in a positive manner.

I think that's the key as well. I have a 14 year old GCC who is not at all a biter, and I have never really had problems with other birds biting me. Although anecdotal, I think one reason I don't get bitten much is that I do not push my birds beyond what they're comfortable with. I don't force them out of their cages, and I leave them alone when they're wound up and more prone to biting. I think letting the bird come out when it wants to, reading its body language, and not getting caught up in supposed "dominance" struggles are keys to a non-biting bird. I doubt there's a way to force a bird to stop biting who has become a biter through habit, other than to avoid as much as possible the situations where it is going to bite.

 

[MarciaLove]

congrats! sounds like you know how to handle biting thats what i do just ignore it eventually it will stop and my Lorikeet is named Fruit Loops as well its a good name but if you dont like it for him you should pick one you love

 

[mimi88]

It's been a few days now, he is still settling in. The second day I left him in his cage to get more use to the hustle and bustle of our house. Yesterday and today I opened his cage door to see if he wanted to come out, he did, very enthusiastically LOL. I bought him some special treats to try and encourage him to step up without clamping his beak down. Also bought him some toys and a sleepy hut (which he absolutely loves), doesn't look like his old owners gave him many toys for stimulation..

I have tried stepping back and reading his body language more, what i've figured out is he is OK with stepping up onto clothed areas ie further up my sleeve, wont bite, but once he sees bare skin (hand) he usually does. So he might have some kind of fear or dislike of hands. I will try and work on that some more, hopefully with time he will get better at it, if not I can always let him step up onto my clothed arm.

Other than that he is an awesome bird he loves to be scratched on the neck and talked to. Today he was mumbling a few words, I asked him "what are you saying?"
call me crazy but I could have swore he was mumbling what I had said, over and over.. either that or maybe my pregnancy hormones are getting to me but overall he is a lovely bird with lots of character..

 

[Thingamagigs]

Hmmmm... there is a fairly solid percentage of young green cheeks who bite to test how far they can go. Plain and simple
Some people never put the effort in to train them out of it and some people accidentally encourage it by pulling away and becoming fearful.
People see the word dominance and always jump on the "birds don't have a hierarchy" bandwagon

Birds don't have a hierarchy, this is true. But nothing in animal life is as black and white and straight forward as we define things.
Like any social animal... a bird will use methods of "manipulation" to get its own way, some individuals are more prone to this than others and they pick up bad habits very quickly!
Within a species, there will be countless variables of temperament. Forwardness/curiosity, learning ability, anxiety, adaptability, social desire, communication strengths, parenting desires, partnering desires ETC. There is no one perfect training method for all birds. The best method, is to learn your species and understand why they do what they do, how they typically communicate with each other, their "lifestyle", what kind of pair bond they develop... etc etc. When you can figure out why, the how usually becomes obvious

Typical bird "Body language" is not as common a tool for GCC as it is for other species. They perform a LOT of begging behaviours but most other things are swift and subtle.
So it will be most helpful to acknowledge what is happening in the entire environment at the moment of a bite. What you did is as important as what he did.

From what you are saying though... I am pretty sure he has not had proper training and socialisation and is acting out the way Colada (My pineapple GCC) did. She would bite any bit of flesh she could see and watch my reaction. A very cheeky little noodle. If you discover this is the case (testing his boundries) then let me know I can help you out. If he is keen to jump onto you, no hesitation, and is a very forward bird... he is biting for this reason It can be trained out, is simple to train out and you can have a fabulous bond with your Bird... Colada is AMAZING!

 

[mimi88]

He is exactly as you described! When I open his cage door he is out like a speeding bullet trying to climb onto my (clothed ) arm! He can't be that afraid of fingers because he cocks his head back for me when he wants scratches and gladly accepts them. So it could very well be him testing his boundaries. It sounds like your GCC was the same, any advice you could give me about where to go from here would be much appreciated :heart:

 

[Thingamagigs]

Awesome! This is pretty easy to deal with and those birds usually have HUGE personalities. I was totally in love with colada but my sister was more in love and as circumstance would have it, she ended up taking her.

Does your little GCC bite very often, or only very occasionally?

With Colada, I initially had her stepping up onto a stick only. I knew the day I picked her up that she was a problem biter, I almost didn't bring her home... but I knew no one else would take her either and I feared for her future.
I taught her "come on" as a command to "step up" and also to "go back" which was to step onto any other object I wanted either from my hand or shoulder. I personally find it essential for bossy birds to have that distinction made for them. It means you can put them back faster than if you only teach "step up".

Every time she would bite or make a move to bite, I would subtly rock my arm (that she was perched on) as a distraction. I ended up combining it with a noise "UH" to use as a future command. Rocking my arm would put her slightly off balance and she very quickly associated the movement with her biting or going to bite. She stopped biting within a fortnight If she was on my shoulder, I would hold my t-shirt and pull it slightly to give the same effect (although she was less likely to bite at necks and ears, she liked the soft arm and hand skin most lol). It would occasionally cause her to fly off my shoulder, but she was an accomplished flier. She has even learnt to fly to a play stand to poop and then fly back! All on her own. Anyway... within a week her biting was limited to when she got worked up and by the end of a fortnight biting was rare She remains a VERY energetic bird who needs a lot of exercise and occasionally gets worked up but bites are very rare. When she goes to bite now, all we need to say is "UH" and don't even need to rock her.

To give an idea of the movement, its only a very slight turn of your arm that is necessary, subtle enough if you had a coin on your arm instead, it would still be sitting on your arm. If they are too close to your elbow to rotate your arm, you can move your arm away from your body a bit. You dont want to cause them to fall or become too unstable, you just want to shift their focus. When they dont follow through with the bite you can reward with their favourite thing I had dehulled sunflower bits close by.

 

[mimi88]

Awesome advice, thank you. I will do everything you mentioned. ChiChi is definitely an "often biter." I had him out last night while I had some quiet time on the couch and he was rolling all over me on his back, I even managed to grab a towel and play peekaboo with him. When he would step up on my hand I would bunch it into a fist so the skin is much harder for him to grab and pinch on to - seemed to work. That way i'm not pulling my hand back either and still letting him relearn skin contact. The only little oopsie we had was when he was a bit too overexcited and tried to nestle under my chin/neck and gave a quick nip to my neck, no blood or anything.. I try to coax him down when he goes up to my shoulder area as I do get a bit nervous that he will bite my ear or worse, any tips on how to do that? he seems very stubborn about that lol, once he is up there we doesn't want to come down. Once again thanks for all your advice.

 

[Thingamagigs]

If you dont want him to be a shoulder parrot, just say "not there" and remove him every single time. Eventually when he goes to climb up and you say "not there" he should get it. All you have to do is block him from getting there.

Colada is fond of nestling in and nibbling necks. I stopped her biting necks with the same principle. Once they learn the words associated with the actions it becomes fairly simple.

 

[mimi88]

Thought I'd post an update on ChiChi's progress
I decided to continue the ignore the biting approach which I know some members don't agree with on here. Months later it has paid off, she will now allow me to tickle her belly, rub her, cup my hands around her and even step up onto my finger... she HATED fingers before. I still get the odd bite from her here or there but I've learnt to accept her "as is". Her bites have never drawn blood. One of my husbands friends approached her cage unknowing that she has a reputation as a biter and stuck his finger in (uh oh) not too surprised that he received a very nasty bite, blood gushing out and all. She will basically attack anyone that approaches her that is not me. Not sure if that issue can ever be fixed, I'm thinking of sticking a sign on her cage warning that she bites so when I'm not here to warn people they are aware.

 

[patch]

It's kind of foolish to go up to any animal you don't know in a cage, stick your finger in and expect good results. Hope your friend was okay though...

 

[mimi88]

I agree, but he sure learnt his lesson lol.

 

[crimson]

conures are very smart and pick up on things very quickly.

....he'll figure it out that you mean no harm, sounds like you are well on your way on convincing him.

 

[Lintini]

Hi, I am the second and third home of my two conures and they had biting problems when I got them. My mom even told me to name the peach front Pincher Bug or Earwig ....lol....

I read from some members here to simply set them on the ground when they bite, and it worked wonders for me. I have had both now for over a year and the Peach is much better but the BCC still has trust issues, hates hands, wants only arms to pick him up. I think his last owner's kids were abusive to him because he is very loud and his owner rehomed him due to them hating him. I found him on craigslist last September. My now fiance still wants to kill me for going alone to pick him up. I can actually touch his body now and his wings and kiss him. When I first got him I had to use a perch for him to step up. This has been a year long process and I still want him to trust me more. 5 months old is still very young and very trainable. I always handle my birds in the familyroom/my bedroom where the dogs are not allowed so setting them down if they are being turds is fine here. They enjoy visiting my rabbits in their pen and trying to eat their pellets. I don't know what the draw is to the rabbits xpen is but even my CAG tries to go in there when I turn my back. Poor bunnies are like OMG WHAT IS THIS?? I found Chloe in their "igloo" two weeks ago all floofed up like OMG this is MY NEST BOX!!!!!! *shakes head* ugh. lol. Such a riot. Good luck, you have a little doll!!

 

[kiwiS]

Kiwi loves to communicate and show her feelings to me. The only real way she can do this is with her beak. She will pinch me if she wants to be loved, and she will also pinch me if she wants to be left alone. It just takes time between you and your conure to figure out each other's body language. There's no real way to fix this or that, it's something you discover together. Which is the beautiful part of it I think

Enjoy!!