Sun Conure Question

[FieryPhoenix]

I have a dumb question. So my Sun Conure is a month away from turning away 18 years old and she does one thing that kind of annoys me. She is very good at stepping up on my hand but sometimes she will clamp on my finger AFTER she steps up. Why? She will stay on my hand and not fly away but I just find it hurtful (literally) when she does that.

Thankfully she doesn't draw blood like she did when she was 1 to 2 years old, but I find this annoying and it hurts.

 

[zERo]

I have a dumb question. So my Sun Conure is a month away from turning away 18 years old and she does one thing that kind of annoys me. She is very good at stepping up on my hand but sometimes she will clamp on my finger AFTER she steps up. Why? She will stay on my hand and not fly away but I just find it hurtful (literally) when she does that.

Thankfully she doesn't draw blood like she did when she was 1 to 2 years old, but I find this annoying and it hurts.

Do you target train her? When she's stepping up you could hold the target stick in front of her about level with her chest and about 3-4 inches away from her, then click and give her a treat.

 

[foxgloveparrot]

Don't worry, this isn't a dumb question!
It's probably a bad habit if she's been doing it this long. NEVER punish her, don't flinch at all after she bites, and give her a short time-out if the bite is hard and hurts a lot.
Positively reinforce stepping up without biting.
As stated above, try target training.
It's really hard to break a habit that's been going on this long, but with enough time and patience you can do it

 

[FieryPhoenix]

Let me clarify. I don't know how long the biting of my hand after stepping has been going on. It seems kind of new to me, maybe a couple of months

In general, shd has bitten me for a number of reasons since I have had her. Thankfully it's not daily. Sometimes she will "bite" to stabilize herself or prevent herself from losing balance.

I am really new to target training. I have a market stick. I am not really sure what I am doing. Is the stick supposed to distract her from going for my hand?

I don't punish her. I just take it like a champ. When she bit me as a youngster, I would get much worse bites (I forgot why she would bite, mostly hormonal). She could have worked for a blood bank.

I just wonder if I am the only one on here who has a sun conure that bites on ocassiona. I was watching a guy on Youtube called Parrot Wizzard and he said that a parrot should never bite you because if he does, you are doing something wrong and not understanding the parrot's langue. This is probably true but dude, I am not fluent in bird LOL! Please tell me that your birds bite you on occasion and I am not the only one.

 

[Laurasea]

oh yes mine can bite on occasion. Most of the time i can see it coming and avoid.

You can show her a seed when she starts to step up, to hopefully redirect her attention before the bite. And as a reward for stepping up.

This is a target training vid. Its great because at first they teach how to touch target. Befire you use the target to move them around or do other things

 

[FieryPhoenix]

Yea I do reward her with a treat but obviously not all the time.

I am wondering if she does it to make sure she is stable or my hand is steady. When it does happen. She will give me a good step up and while standing on my hand she will clamp down on my hand but she won’t charge at my fingers. Maybe she is telling me she really didn’t want to step up lol.

Like I said when she did it today she didn’t do much damage, a slight break in tbd skin but nothing deep and definitely no blood.
I also notice she might do that if she gets excited or something.

 

[FieryPhoenix]

Great video!