Maverick lunging and biting

[Jferrand526]

Maverick, my pattagonian conure bit me for the first time today. Oh gosh it hurt so bad but he didn’t make me bleed at all and apologized afterwards. I had him on my hand around my mom and we were also in sight of his cage and he delivered a bite. I had to ice it and even after I did it still swelled up my hand a good bit.

Because his last owner cut his tail feathers, which was a very unsmart thing to do, Maverick loses his balance easily and does not like my hand anyways. He much prefers my sleeve over my hand.

I also had to take Maverick to get his beak and nails done because he has never been groomed in the first two years of his life. He’s mad at me because I got him groomed but he’ll probably come around again. Although to make things worse, I was bit by him and Vivian, my eclectus, in the same day and about 5 minutes apart.

 

[clark_conure]

just make sure to use the time out method and beak pressure training.... and try not to freak out to a bite....that make high entertainment for a conure. Remember to make the least amount of fun or excitement for a bite.

 

[Jferrand526]

just make sure to use the time out method and beak pressure training.... and try not to freak out to a bite....that make high entertainment for a conure. Remember to make the least amount of fun or excitement for a bite.

Well he bit me and then I set him down away from his cage but it hurt. I had to bite my own tongue to keep quiet. The reason why it hurt so much was because his beak was so uneven. I had to take him in to be groomed. The groomers said he had never been groomed in his 2 years of being alive. His beak was too long and his nails were overgrown as well. Maverick was basically a mess util I took him in. Not to mention he has very little trust in everything around him because he has such terrible balance.

 

[AkridChaos]

If the bite was shortly after the grooming, it’s a bit understandable as he’s never had a grooming before. He’s probably in shock and taking it out on you like “why didn’t you save me?!” or “how could you do that to me?!” Personally I’m not looking forward to Warbeak’s grooming and nail trimming process this coming vet visit. I actually expect similar results to what your bird is doing this will be his first grooming and clip since whatever they did at the pet store. Yours will calm down soon enough. Give him a little time, maybe a little space if he’s that angry. Or maybe try coaxing him into doing a few tricks for treats if he’s willing to help distract him from his anger. Just don’t give the treat if he bites during training. He might think you’re rewarding him for it.

I don’t even want to know what kind of logic goes into cutting a bird’s tail feathers... pretty common sense any animal with a tail needs it for some form of balance. Given that it’s a bird, they need it for flight too. Aw man, that has to be difficult for the little guy. Hope those icky clipped ones fall out soon and nice fresh ones grow in.

 

[eagle18]

just make sure to use the time out method and beak pressure training.... and try not to freak out to a bite....that make high entertainment for a conure. Remember to make the least amount of fun or excitement for a bite.

That is really hard to do. When Fred bit me last summer I doubled over in pain. I was reaching for his toy at the same time he was, and if you saw the condition of his toys, then you know what he did to my thumb.

 

[Kiwibird]

In addition to being brand new, remember the time of year! If I'm not mistaken, this is around the age for hormonal behaviors to begin in conures is it not? That initial onset of hormones can be wicked when paired with a general distrust of humans and entirely new surroundings. Just keep it in mind when gauging behaviors/body language.

P.S. WHY would someone clip tail feathers enough to severely affect balance???? Even a butcher job on the wings makes a tiny bit of sense, but I can't fathom any reason at all anyone would have to cut tail feathers that causes a bird to be unbalanced beyond a desire to be cruel? That is another area where I think understanding of the aggression applies! How horrible and frustrating that must be. Poor baby

 

[Jferrand526]

If the bite was shortly after the grooming, it’s a bit understandable as he’s never had a grooming before. He’s probably in shock and taking it out on you like “why didn’t you save me?!” or “how could you do that to me?!” Personally I’m not looking forward to Warbeak’s grooming and nail trimming process this coming vet visit. I actually expect similar results to what your bird is doing this will be his first grooming and clip since whatever they did at the pet store. Yours will calm down soon enough. Give him a little time, maybe a little space if he’s that angry. Or maybe try coaxing him into doing a few tricks for treats if he’s willing to help distract him from his anger. Just don’t give the treat if he bites during training. He might think you’re rewarding him for it.

I don’t even want to know what kind of logic goes into cutting a bird’s tail feathers... pretty common sense any animal with a tail needs it for some form of balance. Given that it’s a bird, they need it for flight too. Aw man, that has to be difficult for the little guy. Hope those icky clipped ones fall out soon and nice fresh ones grow in.

Maverick bit me right before we went to the groomers. I think he really is nervous to be around my mom. All of my birds are nervous of my mother, they don't trust her whatsoever. My sweetest little pineapple greencheek Comet bit my mom and has never ever bit me. Same thing with Maverick, he stepped up right away for me at the bird store and would not leave my side but once my mom comes into view he flies away or bites.

Maverick is actually about as big as my eclectus Vivian, he is a large conure. If I'm correct a pattagonian conure is the largest conure you can get and they are very rare. The store owner said she could've sold him to me for 800 but decided 600 was good because she wanted him to go to a good family because her store was broken into lately and birds were stolen from her.

I think Maverick doesn't trust me because of what his last owner did to him before he was sold to the store. He won't even perch on the perches in his cage because he is afraid he will fall. I got him some branch perches from the local bird store and put them in his cage and he seems to perch better on them now. Only one tail feather has frown in and it is really short still. All of the other feathers are still all cut and it just really irritates me when I see it.

Now to mention I figured out his wings were cut way too short and his nails and beak had never ever been worked on in two years.

 

[Jferrand526]

just make sure to use the time out method and beak pressure training.... and try not to freak out to a bite....that make high entertainment for a conure. Remember to make the least amount of fun or excitement for a bite.

That is really hard to do. When Fred bit me last summer I doubled over in pain. I was reaching for his toy at the same time he was, and if you saw the condition of his toys, then you know what he did to my thumb.

trust me Maverick's bite hurt but not as much as my eclectus's(Vivian) bite. I know how hard it can be to do the time out method but sometimes we need to try and other times we are just in too much pain. I've been bitten by a macaw before but the macaw's bite did not feel piercing to me it just felt like extreme pressure. Maverick's bite felt piercing but fortunately he did not make me bleed although he did bite me on a spot that had a big bruise already forming on it.

Another reason why it hurt so much was because I was not ready to be bit and was not expecting it. I should've expected it though. Maverick is still my good boy and obviously he's been a little mistreated in his past and I totally understand that he will just need to learn to trust me and I will need to be patient. Thankfully he has stepped up a lot today and was talking a lot. He keeps apologizing, he'll say "I'm sorry" when I rub the bite mark he left.

 

[Jferrand526]

In addition to being brand new, remember the time of year! If I'm not mistaken, this is around the age for hormonal behaviors to begin in conures is it not? That initial onset of hormones can be wicked when paired with a general distrust of humans and entirely new surroundings. Just keep it in mind when gauging behaviors/body language.

P.S. WHY would someone clip tail feathers enough to severely affect balance???? Even a butcher job on the wings makes a tiny bit of sense, but I can't fathom any reason at all anyone would have to cut tail feathers that causes a bird to be unbalanced beyond a desire to be cruel? That is another area where I think understanding of the aggression applies! How horrible and frustrating that must be. Poor baby

It really frustrated the woman who bought him from his last owner. When she brought up that cutting his tail feathers affects the bird's balance the guy just kinda shrugged it off. He didn't care. Although I went in the store to buy peach fronted conures because they were on sale but Maverick was there and I just fell in love and I did impulse buy, I'm very guilty of that, but i spent the entire day and night when I got him home to research and look up pattagonian conures.

I just couldn't leave him there, not after hearing his story and watched how he interacted with me and perked up when I came in the door. It's like maverick knew that I was going to be the one to take him home. He was so happy when we finally got home.