Now he's BITING!!??

[BirdyMomma]

Bacci, my sweet, affectionate, well behaved, beautiful six month old Lilac Crowned Amazon has started biting us

At first it was just my mom (who is not very experienced with handling birds) who he bit. Then it was my boyfriend, who is also a primary care giver, and now he's biting me as well.....and I'm his favorite person.

I'm not sure why he has started being aggressive, I'm hoping it's as simple as he is not getting enough sleep. Our schedules are ridiculous, but I can definitely remedy that problem.

My other concern is that it may be a reaction to the recent addition of our younger bird, Loki, who we have had for about a month. The biting started about three days ago, so I don't know if that's it.

When he bites, I put him down, and walk away from him, or turn my back. Im pretty sure birds would not respond to scolding, so I don't do that. Is this the best reaction to exhibit in response to his biting? I do not want to make the problem worse while I am trying to figure out (and ameliorate) it's cause.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Try and figure out what triggers the bites. Is Bacci constantly biting, or does he bite after you've petted him for a while?

Verbal commands DO go a long way. A stern NO and the evil eye works GREAT on Amazons.

I truly think he's testing you, to see what he can get away with. I don't think he is malicious, he is much too young.

 

[BirdyMomma]

He is biting us in the morning, when we wake him up. That is why I'm thinking that perhaps our outlandish schedules may be affecting his sleep, and he is cranky because of it. He doesn't constantly bite, and we have realized, that when he starts biting, if we just start training him with the clicker, he seems to be a bit happier.
I'm on my way home to them now, so hopefully no bites!!

 

[bluecrownmama]

Yeah a sleep schedule really helped our conure. We completely cover his cage so no light gets in. If we don't do this he is noticably grumpy and moody the next day. In the morning I uncover him, walk away for a bit, then come back and get him out. At night if we try and take him out and its his bedtime he'll definitely let us know to leave him alone.

 

[bluecrownmama]

Oh and this may be a long shot, but we've noticed that with the colder weather, our conure bites anyone with a jacket on and sometimes even long sleeves. He particularly doesn't like really dark colors. So sometimes it's the little things I guess...