The gentle finger grab game - does anyone else have a grey who does this?

[Darci]

My girl likes to gently grab my finger. She never bites but if she applies too much pressure she gets a mild reprimand and a reminder to be gentle. At the end of this video she starts trying to feed me which is why I pulled away and stopped. But the two behaviours are unrelated for her. She always does the finger grab thing. Does anyone else have a grey who does this?

[ame="http://youtu.be/aVYrIY2HkR8"]Shadow - the grab game. - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Bandespresso]

My CAG loves that game too! But then she tries to peel off my fingernails....which DEFINITELY hurts. She also likes to grab my finger while we are playing and say "no bite!"

 

[OOwl]

Yep, mine does it, too. He's 11 and has pretty much always done it. He always does it really quick and then rolls one big, intelligent-looking eye up at me, as if to judge my reaction. I think it's funny so many other Greys do this.

 

[Darci]

I could be mistaken but I think they do it to gauge if *we* trust *them*. I think she does it just to say "I could bite but I'm not going to".

 

[Hawk]

My girl likes to gently grab my finger. She never bites but if she applies too much pressure she gets a mild reprimand and a reminder to be gentle. At the end of this video she starts trying to feed me which is why I pulled away and stopped. But the two behaviours are unrelated for her. She always does the finger grab thing. Does anyone else have a grey who does this?

Shadow - the grab game. - YouTube

Ohhhhh yeah.....My Grey dose that....we call it the Beep Beep Game.

One grab.... two grab...Beep beep....Then My Grey will grab my finger twice...then do two beeps and bob head up and down...Almost as if learning to count here...I wonder. He holds his foot (toe) up to my mouth and wanting me to do it to him as well. So his toe is in my mouth, and I softly one bite ...two bite...beep beep...then he puts foot down and dose same with my finger. Clever lil guy he is.

We also have the " rub my beak...and I'll rub your beak" game...
At night I kick back on the couch watching the tube, he'll climb up, I rub my nose on his beak....then he rubs his beak on my nose....
I'll ask him if he likes that...he bobs his head up and down real fast as he lifts his wings straight above him....that means yes.

We play hid and seek under the blanket.....loves that game.

 

[Hawk]

My CAG loves that game too! But then she tries to peel off my fingernails....which DEFINITELY hurts. She also likes to grab my finger while we are playing and say "no bite!"

ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaaa........Greys love to give you a manicure...and mine is so ever gentle at doing it.

 

[Hawk]

Yep, mine does it, too. He's 11 and has pretty much always done it. He always does it really quick and then rolls one big, intelligent-looking eye up at me, as if to judge my reaction. I think it's funny so many other Greys do this.

Oh my....the intelligent eye thingy......where it's half closed and they are looking right at you in close range....that look is worth a thousand words.

 

[Sheeji]

Oh yes mine does that too. Also when he doesn't want to be pet. He would grab our finger and move it away.

 

[Birdman666]

Well I play this game as a part of bite pressure training my birds. All of mine do it... My macaws do it the most, but my CAG does too.

When my CAG doesn't feel like being messed with he'll just push my finger away.

I also do the two fingers on his beak routine, where I grab his beak with my thumb and index finger and gently shake it back and forth. He likes that one as well.

The beak is just a third foot, or a very powerful hand... and it is a way of demonstrating and developing trust.

 

[mh434]

My 'Zon LOVES that game. He wants me to chase him around the top of his cage, tweaking his tail, and then he does the "finger grab" - no pressure, just a 'hold', then he lets go & runs away laughing...and waits for me to tweak his tail again, and repeat as long as possible.

He, too, does the fingernail-pry. He's not trying to hurt - he seems to feel that fingernails don't "belong", so he's trying to be nice & remove them for me (kind of a preening thing). Likewise for sores, cuts, moles, etc.

 

[BuckBeak]

Yeah mine male TAG does that to me. But it took us a lot of testing (bites) before he and I can agreed the PSI on his nibble mom's finger game.

 

[miki]

My 5 year old Congo African Grey, Aziza, has done (and still does) something relatively similar to that since she was a baby: She likes to take my finger in her beak and shake it! It is so funny!!

 

[nightfly]

I believe that our birds are preening us. Similar to the way that they straighten out their feathers or pull stuff off of their feathers. I initially thought they were nibbling on my hands too, until I was watching one day and saw him doing the same thing to his own feathers; gently passing them through his beak, and not exactly biting them.
Alternatively, if you've ever affectionately kissed your bird, he may be trying to do the same thing to you....only, he doesn't have lips!

 

[Notdumasilook]

I was gonna say...that game it not limited to the AGs.. Cookie.. my BFA loves to grab my finger and yell... OWW!!!!! He is very gentle and its a game,, mock fighting, enjoyed by both of us nearly daily. He and I have been together for over 30 years now and we are far beyond any behavior issues. All of those we worked out in the distant past.

 

[texsize]

My grey grabs my finger with her foot and then brings my finger up to her beak or neck. I never could figure out what she was doing.
Telling me she wants scratches on her neck?
She did not bite me or shake my finger. Maybe it's her version of "pull my finger" LOL.

texsize

 

[Tami2]

I believe that our birds are preening us. Similar to the way that they straighten out their feathers or pull stuff off of their feathers. I initially thought they were nibbling on my hands too, until I was watching one day and saw him doing the same thing to his own feathers; gently passing them through his beak, and not exactly biting them.
Alternatively, if you've ever affectionately kissed your bird, he may be trying to do the same thing to you....only, he doesn't have lips!

Oh my goodness Levi does both. However, the nibbling only started when he started molting. At first he nibbled on my freckles and I thought he thought it was a seed, a couple of weeks ago. Now he does it whether there's a freckle there or not. I think you're right about them preening us.

He also loves to bite my fingernails.
He'll gentle bite a finger, but thinks once he gets to a nail, "OOO it's hard I can add more pressure." He hasn't learned yet that the fingernail is still me. haha
It's a work in progress.

 

[LordTriggs]

hmm I wonder how this could be adapted for a little conure. Sounds like a super fun game to play