New member with a baby pearly conure

[Lucyj]

Hi guys (and girls)

We have had a baby pearly for about a Month now and he is about 4 months old. Would be open to any advice on training and stopping nipping (which seems to be getting worse rather than better)

He is getting lots of attention and we love him alot, just can't figure out why the nipping is getting worse over better?! Any help or advice would be most welcome!

(He is on my display pic so you can all see just how cute he is)

 

[JerseyWendy]

Hi there, and welcome to the forum, Lucyj.

He sure is a cutie pie!!!

I'm sure some conure lovers/owners will be able to assist you with the nipping issues in no time at all.

 

[Lucyj]

Hi jersey wendy!

Thanks for the welcome! He is very cute but I think half the time he plays up to it to get his own way ! Your birdies look very cute also!

 

[MissTaz]

Welcome we have a 4 month old gcc and she nipped for the first week we would blow on her face to redirect her attention I'm sure he is just exploring and they seem to do the with he's mouth. You could always try a time out too. If our conure gets too nippy we put her in her cage till she calms down. She has learned that she doesn't like to be in her cage when we are home so she really doesn't nip unless she's tired and needs a nap. I hope this helps. Good luck!!!

 

[MonicaMc]

The links in this thread would help
http://www.parrotforums.com/macaws/31128-step-up-training.html

Honestly, the best way to teach a parrot to not bite is to not get bitten in the first place. This means to not put your bird in a situation that will result in a bite, learn to read your birds body language so as to avoid an imminent bite and start training the bird to do acceptable behaviors! The more a bird learns good behaviors, the more likely they are to do those behaviors over bad ones.

 

[Lucyj]

Hi guys thanks for getting back to me! We've been doing step up training with him and time out when he bites really hard, I think he is just being a baby but yesterday he was being exceptionally naughty so I was just panicking abit! ... He is usually so well behaved but yesterday he just didn't want to know,! Biting us all the time flying around errantically screeching etc. we try to figure out why he was biting us ... Not enough attention hungry tired etc but honestly it wasn't any of them! He seems to be abit better today just abit nippy! We've bought some books as well on parrot training so going to be reading up shortly!

 

[antoinette]

Welcome to our wonderful forum
Enjoy

 

[MonicaMc]

Hi guys thanks for getting back to me! We've been doing step up training with him and time out when he bites really hard, I think he is just being a baby but yesterday he was being exceptionally naughty so I was just panicking abit! ... He is usually so well behaved but yesterday he just didn't want to know,! Biting us all the time flying around errantically screeching etc. we try to figure out why he was biting us ... Not enough attention hungry tired etc but honestly it wasn't any of them! He seems to be abit better today just abit nippy! We've bought some books as well on parrot training so going to be reading up shortly!

I hope those books are on positive reinforcement training aka clicker training!

Here's a few of links in particular from the previous link I shared.
Good Bird Inc Parrot Training Talk: Help! My Parrot Wont Step Up!
Good Bird Inc Parrot Training Talk: Respecting the Bite
Good Bird Inc Parrot Training Talk: Training a Scared or Aggressive Parrot To Step Up


Positive reinforcement training is about teaching a parrot to do a behavior because they *WANT* to, not because they *HAVE* to... and if a parrot finds that learning a particular behavior is a pleasant and fun experience, then they are more likely to present that behavior because they know good things will happen rather than bad things.

When you punish a parrot for doing bad behaviors then they are likely to learn aversive behaviors in response to being punished. This could mean avoiding stepping up or going as far as biting... and you don't want to push a parrot into biting if you don't have to... only in cases of emergencies.

 

[Lucyj]

Hi Monica,

What you say does make a lot of sense we do reward him when he's good and does
Step up etc but maybe we need to focus more on it over his biting. We've bought this one Parrot Tricks: Teaching Parrots with Positive Reinforcement By Tani Robar, Diane Grindol which seems to be highly recommend by lots of people on the big wide web so just waiting for it to come (that and a clicker).

Alot of the time I really don't think he means to bites and just gets over excited but we really don't want to encourage the biting to stay or it become a permanent fixture to his personality! We wonder if it might be his diet aswell he has abit of bird seed, daily vitamins (kaytee exact) and then abit of fruit and a bit of veg. We did so much research before getting him but I guess it's like anything once the real thing comes the real leaning starts!

 

[MonicaMc]

Indeed it is! I haven't seen or read much by Tani Robar, but it sounds as if Tani uses the right methods - minus clicker training (well, a clicker is not required in clicker training, but it does help to mark a precise behavior that's been done).

Perhaps you should keep a diary/journal on your conures training with us so we can see how he progresses, or not!

 

[Lucyj]

Still awaiting the book but as soon as it comes we will be cracking on with the training! He's been a nightmare today. Drew blood for the first time and literally there is no reason for it. Just decides to take a bite now and then! However he is currently fast asleep in his cage looking like butter wouldn't melt...!