Hopeful New Conure Owner Looking For Advice re: Biting

[Latourfamily]

Hi there

New to the forum, looking for some advice.

We are previous budgie owners, looking to make the move to adopting a green cheeked conure. We have gone to visit 2 looking for new homes and the second one we visited has left us a little apprehensive.

This GGC was 2 years old and lived in a family with 2 teenage children. According to the family, he never bites the husband and occasionally nips at the other family members, never drawing blood.

After standing back and observing the bird for 20ish minutes, the bird hoped over to my wife and jumped onto her arm, making his way to her shoulder. He was playing with her hair, his beak nipping her slightly at times. It progressed to full on biting, drawing blood. The owner removed him. He bird then hoped over to me. I offered my arm, which he hoped up on. he made his way down my arm to my bare hand where he bit me 3 times, drawing blood as well.

Our question to the group is: Is this behavior to be be expected with all conures? Is it an age thing? Is it the bird needing to get use to us? If we were to get a baby from a breeder, being the first owners, might we have a different experience?

We don't want to abandon the thought of being conure owners, but not sure we can handle the aggressive behavior, especially with guests or bird sitters.

Thanks

Paul

 

[GaleriaGila]

Hey, welcome!
You'll get great advice here... not so much from me... I have a stinker, and I've pretty much accepted it. He's a fun mimic and an entertaining character, but...
I have reduced biting to almost zero over the decades... not because I've changed the bird, but I have changed me. And a lot of that has involved giving up on a lot of my desires/expectations. After years of battle, I surrendered. I don't do stuff that gets me bitten. I don't scratch his head much, ever... tail is okay. I NEVER do stuff that makes him mad... I don't touch others when he's out; I rarely try to get him to step up onto my hand first. Hand-held perch first, then hand. In some ways, I swallow my disappointment at having such a little monster for a pet, but he is what he is. I ALWAYS wear my hair down when he's on my shoulder, so all he can bite is hair. Really, I don't involve hands much... he doesn't like them. He seems to think the real ME is my head, perched on a weird moveable tree with questionable appendages.
Since he's fully flighted, the ONLY way I get him into the cage is to toss a chile pepper in and he flaps in after it. So food reward is a necessity for me. Time-out doesn't exist in the Rb's kingdom.
But please... listen to and try all the good advice you'll get here. Don't surrender until you know you've done your best. Then just accept and love whatever/whoever your bird turns out to be.
My darling is kind of a worse-case scenario, but we have it all worked out between the two of us.
Very, very best of luck to you.
Good for you for reaching out!
But he's a beautiful, wonderful half-wild, amazing parrot, alive and living in my home. Sometimes that just has to be miracle enough. He'll be with me as long as I am alive. I hope you can find a way to offer your little wild-thing the same.

I'm kind of a worst-case scenario, truly, but I tell my story to share that even a very imperfect situation can still be a joy.

And now, for the good advice... stay tuned!

 

[Scott]

Welcome to the forums, Paul! I am sorry your first GCC experience was disappointing. While I am not familiar with the species, they are extremely popular. No doubt members with GCCs as companions can give better advice.

There may be many factors that explain the biting. Folks seeking to sell birds may or may not give an honest account. The bird may be in a hormonal state and generally ornery, or entering adolescence at age 2. Some parrots have a preference for one human sex; that may not be the issue as you and your wife were bitten.

Many techniques exist to moderate biting. One is bite-pressure training: http://www.parrotforums.com/training/63988-bite-pressure-training.html

While written about macaws, this worthy thread gives insight into the function of beaks, applicable to most any species: http://www.parrotforums.com/macaws/56384-big-beak-o-phobes-guide-understanding-macaw-beaks.html

Please don't be dissuaded from seeking a GCC!

 

[LordTriggs]

dang that sucks that you had a bad experience.

What I will say with GCC is whilst they are funny happy and playful they are nippy birds. By which I mean in general they will voice their concerns with you more readily, though not to say they will attack for nothing, if trained right they will just give little pinches when displeased. Do remember though at some point you will get a bite from them because of something out of their control.

Now being that bird is 2 years old and it's december I can tell you why they're getting rid of them. Biting. They never trained them proper biting so now whilst going through hormone time that bird is angry frustrated and the only outlet is biting because the family don't know how to deal with hormones. They tell you that the bird has never bitten and is sweet and everyone loves them, bull***t I say, why get rid of the bird if they love it so much?

I couldn't say one way or another if you would have a "better" time getting from a breeder, just remember a baby bird will change personality when hitting puberty and they will need the same training an adult would have. have you thought of going to a rescue to see if they have any little conures? You'd be surprised at how many they do have who are well behaved and gone through the first hormonal stage so their personalities have evened out by then meaning their wont be sudden drastic changes. Plus the small birds in rescues don't get adopted as easily as most people want the big flashy birds

 

[Jen5200]

Aw, I hate that you had a bad experience with a GCC. They really are adorable, sweet little birds. They can be bitey, but they can also be taught to minimize biting and keep the pressure to an acceptable level. I got my GCC at 2 and my Sun was 5. They were both so affectionate, and love people - but my GCC was also a biter. I think hormones were partly to blame and I don’t think his previous home ever worked with him on the biting. I wore a hooded sweatshirt for the first month and we worked really hard on the biting. He’s pretty good now, and bites are infrequent. I suspect that many conures go through this when they get hormonal or hit puberty. I can’t say whether it would be better to get a baby, but I do believe that if you are willing to put the time and patience in to an adult bird you can form just as good a bond. Good luck in your search

 

[IndySE]

That sounds normal. A conure will always want to test their limits, especially with new people. Their current home established what was okay and what wasn't, so the bird abided. But you are new, and thus might have new rules, so he's testing his limits to see what's okay. My bird does something similar when I introduce her to new people.

If you adopted from a breeder, you'll have the same issue if not worse. At least that bird knows limits exist and you would just need to remind him. You're starting from scratch when teaching a baby. It has it's advantages too, since you can teach them more, but maybe as a first-time owner it wouldn't be a bad idea to take a bird that already has some human-knowledge.

Take it all slowly. Birds usually aren't 100% social with new people. Generally mine has accepted their presence with bribery. I insist all visitors greet the bird with a nice treat so she always has positive experiences with strangers.