Trained, But Always Nippy!

[Ryees]

This is Maebel, our green-cheek/pineapple mutation.

https://i.imgur.com/Crvzk1W.jpg

She was hatched in January, so she's definitely still a bab birb. I will preface this by saying I understand that GCCs are beaky birds.

She is awesome! I'm a first-time bird owner, but well-studied, and my girlfriend has lived with Amazons and cockatiels through her life. Maebel is fully target trained, knows step up, wave, and is beginning to learn perch-to-hand flight. She was clipped at birth, but we going to get her fully flighted once she is re-fledged.

She steps up great. She sits calmly. She hangs out.

And she bites!

It's such a strange thing. She isn't aggressive, she isn't territorial. She doesn't seem agitated or stressed. It seems like curiosity, but what starts out as playful nibbling quickly turns into clamping, painful bites that have, but don't always, draw blood.

What do? How fix? I have combed the internet and found some advice, but I wanted to get it straight from the community's mouth, so to speak.

 

[LaManuka]

Hello and a warm welcome to the forum to you and Maebel!

I have had a GCC before and they can be just the sweetest most loveable creatures ever to walk the earth but at about Maebel's age they do start to exhibit that toddlerish behaviour of pushing boundaries to see what they can get away with - as you are experiencing. At around the age of 18 months to 2 years Maebel will also enter a joyous phase of puberty where the hormones can go rampant and the biting can get really very serious indeed, so NOW is the time to nip that behaviour in the bud.

At this stage if she bites you your best bet is to pop her gently down somewhere neutral, say on the floor or on the back of a chair, somewhere away from her cage or a playstand or anywhere else she perceives to be her personal territory. You then turn your back on her and walk away for a good 5 minutes and do not even give any eye contact. She has to learn that when the biting starts, play time or fun times with you stop. Green cheeks adore your attention so if she figures out that biting you will only earn some time out in boring place, she should catch on pretty quick and stop. A little time-out with no attention from you is in order and that will give both of you time to cool off from the encounter.

You need to be consistent with this routine for it to be successful, as does anyone else in your home who may interact with Maebel. I hope you are able to build a loving and long lasting relationship with her going forward, and I'm sure other members will soon share some of their experience with you too.

 

[MonicaMc]

First and foremost is to avoid the bites, redirect before the bite occurs and try replacing with a different behavior.

If you do get bit, simply set the bird down. It honestly doesn't need to be more than 3-15 seconds (sometimes more, sometimes not). A longer amount of time could be counter-productive to training since birds have such short attention spans.

 

[silverpugj]

Yes.... After she bites you give him/her a firm loud. "No Bite!!" Then put her/him.on the floor & ignore them.for.a.few mins. They will.rwaloze it's not good to bite & will climbing back up on you for some forgiveness. After a week.or so all you will have to say is No.. Play Nice, no bite!!
It does work.beloeve.me... just be consistent with it.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[Ira7]

I blow quickly and strongly on Archie when he nips too aggressively. He just turned one, a Yellow Naped Amazon.

He doesn’t know where it’s even coming from...I don’t think...but it immediately distracts him from doing so.

I had my first “bad” biting night like this 2 weeks ago, and so far...no bites, so far, so good.