new conure questions

[Sulphiria]

My boyfriend and i purchased a sun conure 3 days ago. From the research I have done it seems he didn't get much attention in his old home and bonded strongly with the female in the home. Once he (i assume) bonded, he began biting the male in the home. They have a Senegal as well who is bonded to both, so they decided to keep the senegal and sold us the conure. We are told he is about 2 years old. The first day he was home he bit both of us, and our kids, drawing blood. Yesterday he wanted nothing to do with my boyfriend but fluttered his wings at me whenever I'm near and flew to me quite a few times, landing on my back. I have to admit i am a bit afraid of him biting again, it hurts, he is a little pit bull who grabs on and wont let go! I did give in and pick him up, while talking to him and he's lunged a few times but no bites.

1. When i pick him up, he immediately turns around on my finger and pushes his back out towards me. Should i pet him or is this a way he's trying to claim me as a mate?
2. Ive learned about pin feathers and he has quite a few, but when i try and help him, he enjoys it for a few seconds then turns and bites.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[lexx510]

Give him time to a adjust. Being in a new home is very stressful and he needs time to adjust to his surroundings as well as to build trust with his new owners. Biting is their only way of letting you know that they don't want to be touched, if all other body language went unnoticed.

Give him time to adjust. Work at his pace and do not ever force him to come out of his cage, be petted or touched, etc. Work on his terms. When trust is built, he will not want to leave your side, trust me. Reinforce him (verbally or with a treat) whenever he does something desirable (such as steps up, or lets you pet him). Be aware of his body ques (if he dodges your hand or turns away or puffs up, do not proceed to try and pet him, this will only break trust and result in a bite).

 

[Sulphiria]

Thats where i seem to be missing something. I opened up his cage today and he happily came out, perched on top. I went in the kitchen to get the birds some fruit and veggies and within seconds he was hovering over my head in flight. I let him perch in the kitchen then brought him back to the living room and put him back on his cage. As soon as i sat down he was hovering over me again. I sat him on the perch by the couch with me thinking he just wanted to be close. He leaned as far over on the perch as he could to get close to me so i pet him and he started moving his head up and down, i stopped petting and he leaned again and i started petting and he turned and grabbed onto my finger. Now hes back on top of his cage just screaming. If i get up and walk by him he flutters his wings trying to get my attention. Am i missing something? Could it be that his pin feathers are sore since it looks like there are quite a few and his previous owners didnt know they had to help?

 

[roxynoodle]

I don't help my conure with her pin feathers as she doesn't want me to. She uses a keyring on a chain to groom her head and face herself. It is very hard to help the little birds without irritating them with our clumsy fingers, lol!

Yes, just give him time to get to know all of you. It sounds like he wants to make friends, but he isn't sure how much to trust you yet.

As for bites, what I did with mine was not let her be on me if she was going to act like that. I would set her back on her play gym and ignore her for a couple of minutes. I did have to clip her wings though so she couldn't just fly back to me. After a few days she got the picture that she could only be on me if she was nice and gentle.

However your new bird may be biting out of fear as well. You will need to study his body language to figure out if he is frightened or being bossy.

Keep a piece of junk mail handy that you can put between your finger and his beak if he goes to bite. Push your hand toward him rather than pull away to get him to let go. Pulling away just ends up tearing your skin. Give him the evil eyeball once you get him focused on your face instead of what he is trying to bite. I would not do that though if he is biting out of fear as it will just frighten him more to have a big predator giving him the eye.

 

[lexx510]

Great advise as always, Roxy!