Cuddles than nipping??

[Hopefulworld]

Hi! I have an adorable green-cheek conure named Charlie. He's a little bundle of excitement, love, and mischief, and we've had him for close to 3 years now.

Charlie loves cuddles, and if your hand isn't busy he will actively seek it out. Often, he will snuggle in your hand and then relax, clean his feathers...and nip.

Does anyone happen to know why he would do this? He'll be happy, rub his head against your finger and snuggle deeply into your hand, then whip around and nip your finger, before snuggling closer all over again.

Thanks!

 

[Laurasea]

Charlie sounds just like my Ta-dah. She will nip if my hand moves and spooks her, or if I bump a feather wrong, or stop petting...then back to cuddling. I have to pay attention to her shifts to avoid bites . If she gets to touchy I let her cool off back st her plsy stand and cage

 

[Hopefulworld]

Do you know if it means anything in particular? Or it's only him being a conure?

 

[Jen5200]

My 5 all do it - so I suspect it’s a conure thing . Mine don’t nip hard, but it feels like a “pay attention to what you’re doing human”. I always chalked it up to something moving, or catching their attention or not sitting quite right on the feathers or .......

 

[Laurasea]

A conure keeping us inline with that beak. Tadah is so loving, but so sensitive to any slight. Glad Jenn has the same negotiations with her flock.
I pay attention, avoid, negotiate, and she knows how much bite pressure she can get away with. Hard bites and it's back to the cage, she wants to be with me so that works. If their goal is to go back to tye cage it doesn't work so well. Also I know how much time she can cuddle with out getting fussy ..sometimes their drive to be with us is so strong, when actually they need a snack break or drink of water, or they get over stimulated.
Would love to see a picture of Charlie

 

[Hopefulworld]

A conure keeping us inline with that beak. Tadah is so loving, but so sensitive to any slight. Glad Jenn has the same negotiations with her flock.
I pay attention, avoid, negotiate, and she knows how much bite pressure she can get away with. Hard bites and it's back to the cage, she wants to be with me so that works. If their goal is to go back to tye cage it doesn't work so well. Also I know how much time she can cuddle with out getting fussy ..sometimes their drive to be with us is so strong, when actually they need a snack break or drink of water, or they get over stimulated.
Would love to see a picture of Charlie

Here you are! Charlie's enjoying himself with his favorite (and very simple) toy... right after taking the photo's he demanded to see them and gave his stamp of approval!

 

[Hopefulworld]

Here are the pictures! Sorry about that!

 

[Jen5200]

He’s a cutie!

 

[Jen5200]

If Charlie is nipping too hard, there is a good thread on bite pressure training that might be good to read through. Since it’s kind of a “conure thing” to be a bit nippy, it’s nice if you can teach them to control it so that it’s not a painful experience. Just wanted to throw that into the mix before I forget to mention it

 

[Laurasea]

Charlie's color is so rich and deep! Thanks for sharing! I can see his personality from here!"

 

[Apollo4]

He looks just like my Apollo who also does the same thing never hard enough to break skin but hard enough to make you take notice. It's usually when he wants to rough house but sometimes just when he doesn't like what we are doing.