Rate your companion Bird bite!

[roxynoodle]

In the conure group I would recommend a Blue Crown. I can't remember mine ever biting anyone, although she would threaten my ex.

I'm hoping I am never actually bitten by Pete or Merlin, lol! Those little warning nips I've gotten from Pete did not hurt in the least so he definitely didn't try to hurt me. I see what Pete does to his toys so I know what he is capable of.

 

[Mozzie]

It kinda makes sense that the smaller birds bite more often. Same thing with Dogs I guess. You are probably much more likely to be bitten by a chihuahua (especially mine) than say a Lab.

 

[pamcor57]

I Love all the stories and replies on my post...thanks everyone! We Love our companion feathered friends very much...and we do get caught in between beaks of all sizes. I never have any bad feelings after I get a warning nip or even a harder bite from my Macaw "Sheldon" or 9 year old parakeet "Ty-Dye". Your posts gave me a smile....even tho it hurts...the pain will always go away.

 

[stephend]

I've been bitten by three birds. One was Bob, and that hurts. Delilah's bites were far more common, but barely noticable. Then at a bird store I went to they had a large hybrid maccaw standing on a playstand who seemed friendly. When he said hello I went over and started scratching his neck. He grabbed my fingers when I stopped and I had to coax him into letting me have them back. It did not hurt, but it was far more unnerving than Bob or Delilaha's attentions.

 

[lene1949]

I have only ever been bitten by one bird - a GCC - I knew he was aggressive, and I wanted to see HOW aggressive... and yeah.. he was very aggressive...

Max loves to play with my fingers, and I love feeling his beak on my fingers... Often he on top of my chair, and I'll have my arms up over my head... He'll take as much of my finger in his mouth that'll fit, and just play with it... I can't see what's he's doing, but I also play by feel, and stroke his beak, scratch under his beak and the side of his head...

I've seen him bite a chicken bone in half - his beak is very strong... but I think we have a mutual trust in each other.

My cockatooes have never bitten me..

 

[roxynoodle]

Merlin has a thing where she wants to cuddle close to me. Lately she has been wanting to sit with her face against my face now, instead of against my chest. I probably shouldn't let her do this because if she ever did bite for some reason, at least part of my lip or nose might be missing. I might be trusting her too much. But, she has been such a good girl through all these medical procedures that frighten her so much, I think I've let my guard down. And Pete sees her doing it, so he, too, wants to do it. They can both turn wood into a pile of sawdust very quickly.

 

[mtdoramike]

My Senegal Tiki bites more often and hurts a lot more than a bigger birds bite and will draw blood quicker.

But My Eclectus has only bitten me once and that was the other day. It was so quick that I didn't have time to react. My wife was placing a new toy in his cage and I was standing by his cage and rested my hand on the top of his cage. I wasn't paying any attention to Mac. He scurried across the top of his cage and lunged at my finger before I knew what was going on. The tip pf his beak hit bone.

I think he didn't like us messing with his cage and decided since I was the most obvious target, he chose my hand to take his frustration out on.

Here's a pic of the damage a few days after it happened.

 

[roxynoodle]

mtdoramike, that looks painful!

I guess actually I was bitten by my BCC. But, not on purpose so I don't consider them bites. But, at least 2 or 3 times, when kissing her goodnight, she got overly exuberant as I approached her for it and got my lip. And BCCs have that little needle point on the end that other birds don't have so it pierced right in. Each time I got a painful swollen lump, but no real damage. But, they weren't meant to be bites so of course I didn't hold it against her, and each time she seemed genuinely upset that something happened to me. So, 2 or 3 lip bites in over a decade of kissing her goodnight every night. Rowdy got one of my friends much worse on the lip. I went to use the bathroom, friend decided to go kiss Rowdy because "I've seen you do it." I come out of the bathroom to find friend crying and very nasty swollen lump on her lip. So I had to take that moment to tell friend sometimes parrots can act very differently with their owners than with strangers.

 

[lexx510]

Amigo has done some real damage, not to me but family members. He launched from the top of his cage once, straight to where my oldest son was sitting in a rocking chair. My son threw his hand up to protect his face and Amigo grabbed him by the ring finger, of that hand, and latched on!

All hell broke loose after that, my son jumps up screaming, flinging his arm and hand around in all directions trying to dislodge Amigo. I didn't know what to do! I stood back just horrified, watching and screaming myself, till my son took his hand and slammed Amigo on to the floor! It took three hits to dislodge him. Amigo goes limping away, I thought he had something broken, I swooped him up put him into his backroom cage and came out to my son with his hand in under the running sink water, blood everywhere. I run into the bathroom to get bandages, come back to the kitchen and my son is passed out on the kitchen floor!!

I freaked out, didn't know what to do, so first I dealt with his gushing finger and he slowly came around. He sits up and says, "What's going on?". It was very traumatic for all of us. Amigo recovered, just a little bruised, my son needed only 3 stitches and I was ready for a drink!!

Wow! What a story!!

 

[lexx510]

There is a pattern that within any parrot group, the largest species bite much less than the smaller species. So, if you are interested in macaws and don't want to be bitten, go for the Greenwinged, Hyacinth or Buffon's macaws over the Hahn's and the the Noble's macaws. If you are interested in conures and don't want to be bitten, go for the Golden conure rather than the Green-cheek conure. If you are interested in cockatoos and don't want to be bitten, go for the Palm cockatoo rather than the corella. I've never seen anyone on the internet asking for advice about a bitey Palm cockatoo.

I've only been bitten by a green cheek conure, but it sure does hurt. Those little buggers know how to latch on good! A lot of Guava's bites broke skin and drew blood. And she bites A LOT, lol. I remember counting the bruises from bites on just one of my hands, and it was something like 8 or 9 in a matter of a week. Luckily, I've since learned how to read her body language and am able to avoid most bites these days.

 

[pamcor57]

I see by all the answers on my post that we understand "nips" and "warning" bites are all part of our wonderful feathered friends. I have not read any of your posts where you were upset or even "mad" at the fact that you got nailed by a beak!! My B&G Macaw loves my finger to "knaw" on, no pain involved, but will do this for as long as I let him...I think he likes the squishyness of my skin and finger, lots of tasting going on at the same time, he'll hold on to my hand with his feet so I won't pull away. But my little Parakeet...whew! he use to be friendy, but 9 years latter he alittle attitudish to say the least! One bite from him and your curly hair will straighten out in one second! I love my birds as all of you do..all the Love they give back make those days they nip seem few and far between.

 

[lexx510]

I see by all the answers on my post that we understand "nips" and "warning" bites are all part of our wonderful feathered friends. I have not read any of your posts where you were upset or even "mad" at the fact that you got nailed by a beak!! My B&G Macaw loves my finger to "knaw" on, no pain involved, but will do this for as long as I let him...I think he likes the squishyness of my skin and finger, lots of tasting going on at the same time, he'll hold on to my hand with his feet so I won't pull away. But my little Parakeet...whew! he use to be friendy, but 9 years latter he alittle attitudish to say the least! One bite from him and your curly hair will straighten out in one second! I love my birds as all of you do..all the Love they give back make those days they nip seem few and far between.

Very well said = )

 

[roxynoodle]

My cat is a biter when she doesn't get her way. She is very possessive and demanding, and if you tell her you need to get up to do something, sometimes she gets quite angry about it. At the very least she will nip the back of my thigh after I stand up to let me know I'm not behaving myself. If I evade that, she will run after me, grab my ankle with her front legs and chomp down hard on my foot. I expect this is the reason she was abandoned. She also would bite and then close her eyes and duck her head as if she expected to be hit. That made me sad because even though she had an expectation of being hit, she would bite anyway, so obviously the person who was hitting her did it even though it didn't work. I have never hit her of course.

She would be a bad cat though to have if I had small children. My sister's cats put up with my niece picking them both up at once, with the kitties just hanging down from her arms, lol! They are perfect cats for a small child. Mine is not!

 

[Mike]

I have a Greenwing. One of my daughters has a Sun Conure. I read a statement on one of these forums which sums it up very well. "A small bird's bite is like a pair of scissor. A large bird's bite is like a pair of pliers."

I'll take the bite from a pair of pliers any day over the bite of a pair of scissors.

 

[Mare Miller]

I have only ever been bitten by one bird - a GCC - I knew he was aggressive, and I wanted to see HOW aggressive... and yeah.. he was very aggressive...

Max loves to play with my fingers, and I love feeling his beak on my fingers... Often he on top of my chair, and I'll have my arms up over my head... He'll take as much of my finger in his mouth that'll fit, and just play with it... I can't see what's he's doing, but I also play by feel, and stroke his beak, scratch under his beak and the side of his head...

I've seen him bite a chicken bone in half - his beak is very strong... but I think we have a mutual trust in each other.

My cockatooes have never bitten me..

Hey lene, I can relate with the feel of beak on fingers. Amigo would be such a love with his babies, if only...

 

[Mare Miller]

I have a Greenwing. One of my daughters has a Sun Conure. I read a statement on one of these forums which sums it up very well. "A small bird's bite is like a pair of scissor. A large bird's bite is like a pair of pliers."

I'll take the bite from a pair of pliers any day over the bite of a pair of scissors.

hey Mike, my husband and son would love to have a debate with you on that one!

 

[Remy]

Puck is a biter! He's drawn blood twice in the last 2 days (from me). He just bit me, unprovoked, while we were in public! I have 2 bandaids on my fingers. My hands had been all healed for a few weeks. He doesn't bite anybody else the same way he bites me. He just gets a bug up his butt, and attacks! I've gotten better about reading his body language, but sometimes he turns really fast, and catches me off guard.

I've been bit by cockatiels, and nipped by macaws (could have been worse, for sure), but Puck can be vicious! When he goes into hardcore Demon Mode, he will launch himself at me, latch on, and GRIND! The top part of his beak punctures, while the bottom of his beak scrapes! It HURTS!

Sometimes I wonder if a caique was a good idea. I didn't know they were this moody until after I got him. He's great so much of the time, but when he's bad, he's BAD! I would definitely NOT recommend a caique for children!

 

[roxynoodle]

Don't 'Toos, or at least some types of 'Toos, have 2 points on the lower beak? It is more like being bitten by a small shark.

 

[lene1949]

Don't 'Toos, or at least some types of 'Toos, have 2 points on the lower beak? It is more like being bitten by a small shark.

Yes, they do... I have never been bitten by any of mine, but I have seen pictures of bites, where you can easily see 3 puncture marks.

 

[SillyBoy]

I have 4 toos and have been bitten by all 4....yes they have three points and when they decide to hang on and grind....it can almost bring you to your knees.