My new feathered companion

[AkridChaos]

Hello everyone. I'm sure you remember me from the past posts about my rescue budgie Snowball. Great news! He's doing really well! I actually got him to step up for me on Friday (he was a little nervous, I don't blame him, but he knows I won't hurt him so progress has officially been made). He's been doing so well that finally I felt it was time to do what I wanted to do in the first place: get a conure. Snowball was comfortable enough in his environment where I can introduce a new bird to my flock without fear of him feeling he's constantly being threatened. So now, I introduce to everyone: Warbeak!! Lol those who are curious of his namesake, I used to read and watch a lot of the Redwall series by Brian Jacques. Warbeak was the name of the Sparra queen, and I always thought to myself that if I got a larger beaked bird than a parakeet, I'd name it Warbeak. I took a video of him this AM and I'll post it, along with his picture from last night (I got him out of the carrier and tried to put him in his cage, and instead, Warbeak said no and scurried up my arm and eventually to my shoulder to play with my hair).

I don't want to have him on me quite yet honestly. He has a biting problem that I'll eventually have to figure out how to stop. Heard laddering with arms/fingers helps. I don't want to do a "drop dowm" technique when we don't even have a bond yet. Heard that's not very recommended anyway, but I understand people do it when nothing else works and that usually will, so I won't hold it against them as long as it wasn't a hard surface or high drop they fall from. It's so weird. He wants to be by me so bad but then he bites me. It would be ok if it were playful bites. But these actually hurt because he adds more and more pressure. Doesn't draw blood though thankfully. But alright. Here's the picture and video. ^^

[ame="https://youtu.be/fDVy_1XzPGQ"]https://youtu.be/fDVy_1XzPGQ[/ame]

 

[AkridChaos]

Sigh...why do my pictures always end up sideways? Is there any way to change that?

 

[Avathealien]

My conure does it some times when he wants attention. Maybe you could try to have a toy he likes you can bring whenever he comes to you ?

For Nova, I bring his little monkey puppet whenever he bites and he stops immediately to look at the monkey haha

 

[morrjr]

My Green Cheek Petey was a real biter for the first two months I had him. But he was only about 10 weeks old when I got him, so I took that into consideration. It took a lot of patience and bruised fingers, but he has calmed down nicely and rarely bites any more. The only time he bites now is if I have him on my finger and try to put him back into the cage. I found getting him on a loose perch and then putting him back into the cage solved the problem. He's still not comfortable with me holding him, but I'm sure that will come with more time and patience.

 

[AkridChaos]

Hm using a toy as a fun distraction sounds interesting. I'll have to wait and see which is his favorite to try it later. For now I want to try the ladder, and wait to see what toy(s) he likes in the process. I did actually try one ladder about 5 minutes ago (because everyone wanted to see him and he wanted so bad to be on me). I had a sweater on so when he was biting, it was only my sweater. It did seem to distract him enough from the biting to actually work, so I'll continue on with that. Right now he is 5 months (4/29/2017 hatch date) so maybe it is because he's so young that he just wants to bite? Either way, he is very social, and I'm more than willing to work with him to have him around me and others when he wants to, but the biting needs to cool it at least to a playful nibble or something. I don't want him out enjoying himself then BAM he latches onto my ear and takes a chunk out. So until then, he's look-only if you're not me, because I will not be held responsible for a severe bite when I warned he's a biter.

 

[LordTriggs]

putting him on the floor when the pinch becomes painful is the way me and a couple others here go to. They do need to learn that biting is bad and there are consequences. I'd also not let him on your shoulder until you can trust him not to bite,

As for his species I think there's a bit of confusion. He won't be a "black capped green cheek conure" he'll either be a Black cap or a Green Cheek. They're very similar but they are a different species of bird. Think of the difference between a Labrador and a Retriever, both very similar but they are different.

 

[clark_conure]

like lordtriggs said putting a bird, especially one that has bonded, on the floor or away from you in an area, not his cage that makes him walk back to you will solve the problem. He will come back and be sweeter, might take a few times but he will figure out a bite means no attention, and being shunned. He will learn good behavior is rewarded and bad behavior just means separation.

 

[AkridChaos]

Oh ok. I might try that then. I was trying the ladder again today but I was having problems, because he'd step up with one foot, then proceed to bite the tip of my finger and at that point I had two hands occupied and it was difficult to get him to let go. So I had to put my winter gloves on and try again. He's not biting out of fear or anything. He WANTS to be on me. When he's not on me, he walks to a point on his cage that is nearest to me and makes actions like he's about to jump or fly to me. It's just that he's biting just to bite. So I will try setting him down on the ground now and see how long that takes for any results. I'm sure it could be weeks before he gets it. But it's better than getting my finger chomped because I can't get him to let go and I don't want him to fall at the same time.

And thanks for the info about black capped vs green cheek. I didn't realize it's not the same type of bird. I thought that's what he was, a black capped green cheek. Lol. He's just a black capped then. That was my bad.

On the plus side, he's not a picky eater like Snowball. He actually eats his pellets, as long as they're a little wet. Otherwise it's too hard for him to bite and he just throws it away. So that's one less thing to worry about with him. Now if I could just get Snowball to follow suit...lol.

 

[AkridChaos]

Well I had Warbeak out last night after I got home from work, and was doing the set down method with biting. He seems like he gets it but at the same time not quite. He'd be on me, bite, I'd set him down, and he would look at me like "why?! No! Take me back!! Please?" He'd then hop to the jungle gym and proceed to make motions like he's about to jump to me, then jump, and repeat process. He eventually turned the bite to a nibble for a while, but then he managed to get his beak in my fingernail and bit down where he separated part of the nail from the finger, and I had to set him down again. Then repeat process. I managed to sneak a scritch in there for almost a minute. He started enjoying himself, then bit the nail from the skin again. He sort of understood to stop biting the skin hard, but when it came to the nail, he wasn't getting it. I also noticed he kept trying to fight to get to my hair. When he's on me, he doesn't care about being on hands/arms/hanging onto shirt etc. He just wants to be by the hair. I was very reluctant to let him by it, as my ears are right there. But I'm glad I did. I think it's going to help better with training than just having him on my hands. Because he doesn't care about being on my hands. He only goes on them to scurry up to my hair. The first time, he was good for about a minute, then went for the ear (I was using my phone camera to keep a watch on him too, so it wouldn't be unexpected). He was just starting to add pressure, so I put him down, and he looked more hurt than when it was just my hands. He came back nicer. Went by my hair again, left ears alone. He eventually climbed up my head. Then from the top of my head, he reached down towards my eyeball. Not sure if he was just interested in the lashes, but I wasn't about to find out. Set him down, again he was very upset. He came back again, went for the hair again. And there he stayed, for an hour. He just nestled himself in and fell asleep. I would've sat like that longer, but I had to be up extra early putting him back in the cage was probably the hardest thing I've done with him all night. He didn't want to go. He was like "no mommy! I'll be good. Please let me stay. NO MOMMY TAKE ME BACK!! HOW COULD YOU?!"

 

[IndySE]

What a cutie <3 It sounds like he's doing everything he can to live up to his name LOL. I always feel bad about putting my conure away when she was being so good. Sometimes I give her a seed-treat to sweeten the deal, and so she knows she's not being punished LOL. Good luck with pressure training; all babies seem to be naughty in that regard. It takes them a while to figure out what's okay and what's not.

 

[AkridChaos]

He was REALLY good for me this morning. He kept tunneling through my hair and nestling himself in and making himself comfortable. There was a close call at the end when I was about to get ready for work though, but it was accidental so I let it slide. He turned into a goofball and was rapid play-attacking my hair, and he happened to hit my ear in the process. I know he didn't mean it, so I didn't set him down for it. It didn't hurt terribly anyway so I was fine with that one. He does still bite the hands, but when he's in the hair, he just wants to relax and he turns into a good boy. And it seems like he's already partially potty trained. He doesn't poop on me. I set him on the jungle gym or by his cage and he'll go basically right away. So that's awesome. I took a picture of him last night falling asleep in my hair. I'll try posting it later. I also took a video of him when I got home of what he does when he finally sees me after a prolonged period of time (like work or sleepy time or if I had to go somewhere for a few hours and I come back). I'll post that one for anyone interested in his "quacking". [ame="https://youtu.be/i5M-bDXqRco"]https://youtu.be/i5M-bDXqRco[/ame]

 

[AkridChaos]

http://www.parrotforums.com/members...-picture18653-falling-asleep-mommy-s-hair.jpg

There he is. Falling asleep in mommy's hair. Lol

 

[LordTriggs]

sounds like he's already getting it

very good noting his intention! Accidents do happen and they need to be recognized as that

 

[AkridChaos]

Yes he's definitely getting it. I'm so happy. He still bites hard every once in a while, but I think I get what he's doing. It's like he's testing me to see what will make me put him down, sort of as his own reference. He starts off really light, then gradually adds more and more pressure. He stops here and there to look at me, then goes back at it. Then of course he'll eventually get to the point where I have to put him down, and then he's done biting for a long time. But he's made amazing progress. My cousin had a friend over last night, and I'm happy to say that Warbeak behaved himself very well when he was on my cousin's friend. Although there was a point he beak-tested the friend too. I let him know what he was doing, and to put him down should it start to hurt. That man has fingers of steel though, and eventually Warbeak just gave up. Lol. Then he proceeded to demand some scritches from him, to which the friend obliged and they relaxed that way for a good 20 minutes. Warbeak sure loves his scritches. And your full, undivided attention. Lol

 

[GaleriaGila]

Strangely, MY baby was an angel until he got his rooster hormones at about year 4, and since then has been a stinker. He's fully-flighted, so there's no such thing as time-out. e's too fast. I get him back into the cage by tossing his fave treat, a green chile, into the cage and he flaps in after it. He does as he pleases, pretty much. I have to keep my hair at least shoulder length, so that all he gets is a beak full of hair of he tries to bite my ears. I'm in constant awe of well-behaved birds! But the Rb and I are happy on our own little... planet!

 

[LordTriggs]

But Gail RB had this plan all along to get his way! He began by enticing you in then once he know you would bend to his every whim he showed the world his true nature!

 

[clark_conure]

GREAT SUCCESS! Yes for a bonded bird the absolute worst thing you can do, or rather best thing, is to "shun" him or her for bad behavior. I'm not a fan of the other methods, earthquake, beak grabbing, etc. Time out from the flock is superior.

He will test for a bit but in a VERY short while you won't even have to worry. I don't even close my eye when my conure snuggles up into my eyebrow/eye-socket. We look each other in the eye and trade I love yous....

Also for the hands, when I wrestle with clark and I have him on his back and we are going rawr rawr grrr at one another he is a little bit rougher but I don't mind it because it's still below my 'personal' pain threshold and I encouraged it. But if he's biting your hands too, you should also sit him down till the line is drawn in the sand. Clark doesn't bite my hands unless we are wrestling.