Strange Behavior

[bpenniman]

My bcc Pippa loves attention. She will do anything for it so I'm wondering if this behavior is play or something else. She likes to rub her beak against my fingers repeatedly and then bite my fingers, but not hard. I don't tolerate it but should I? It doesn't hurt.

 

[Skittys_Daddy]

Skittles does the exact same thing with his beak. He will rapidly rub the side of his beak against my finger nails.

Aggressive attention getting is hard to miss. It's certainly not something you want to encourage, but if it's play-nibbling - that's different. Skittles likes to play nibble, he likes to 'do battle' with my fingers. It doesn't hurt when he does that. When he gets nasty because I try to take something from him or remove him from a certain area, I don't tolerate that. I say 'no biting'. He knows the difference as do I.

The key is not letting it get out of hand. To not let play biting become aggressive biting.

 

[Anansi]

The beak rubbing part isn't so much play as an instinctive cleaning of her beak. Your nails happen to provide a nice hard convenient surface for this process.

As for the beaking, I agree completely with the above. It's only a problem if the bite pressure gets to the point of discomfort.

 

[Skittys_Daddy]

@Anansi Yeah, that's what I figured it was as well. Skittles doesn't do it as much as he used to since I got him that sanded cement perch. He doesn't have chaffes and chips like he used to. It's all smooth.

@bpenniman You may want to invest in something like that. Skittles used to have a mineral block but he never used it. But he loves that sanded perch. It may take a little trial and error. Not all birds (or species for that matter) take to or like the same things. It's more an 'individual' bird thing.