Unexpected biting

[JasmineGCC]

Hi everyone. Jasmine my GCC is 10 months old. Just the last few days she has started biting me - hard. Not like the over enthusiastic nibbling when she was little. One moment she's snuggling in my hand or sitting on my lap then she deliberately moves over lunges and bites me. I say 'no biting' and immediately either move away or put her a distance away and ignore her. If she tries again I put her back in her cage - but I don't want to start a bad habit of bite = cage. She has a playstand with food and water.

Is this hormones? I thought she was too young yet?
My husband thinks she's trying to establish a new pecking order with her top bird?

I'm still getting her out but trying to minimise hand contact to reduce opportunity.

Any other pointers from you experienced owners?

We have to come through this!

Thanks

 

[weco]

She's testing her limits...hubby's right & you're working in the right direction.....

 

[Graham]

hi my grey parrot ollie does the same thing loving one time bites hard next time i think he just gets grumpy from no attention all the time hope he snaps out of it as he is a character and good talker

 

[JasmineGCC]

Thanks. I've been keeping my hands under a blanket with Jasmine happily playing on top. I'm hand feeding her treats which she's taking gently. But if I let her see my arms or hands eg skin she is trying to bite me. This morning I stroked her and she started flicking her wings - is this hormonal do you think?

 

[Akraya]

They usually flick their wings when they're content. And definitely sounds like they're pushing boundaries like other people have said.
She could also be biting out of boredom, if I'm not actively playing my with conures and giving them attention they sometimes get bitey for attention, they're not always content just to cuddle up. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[JasmineGCC]

Sadly Jasmine is still biting whenever she can
I am being firm 'no biting' and putting her away from me and walking away. Last evening we did her tricks for a treat (somersault / spinning in circle etc) on her perch not my finger and she played next to me with her foot toys. Will avoiding handling her be detrimental to our long term relationship? Up until a few days ago she loved strokes and snuggles and quite happily stepped up.

If this is a phase then how long may it last? I'm missing my birdie friend!

 

[Parro]

Each time she bites you ignore her, this will teach her that biting won't grab your attention or whatever is the problem.

 

[JasmineGCC]

Do you think target training her to eg touch end of a chopstick would help us communicate better? Jasmine is happy doing some basic tricks for a treat.
On the positive she isn't biting hard enough to draw blood or break skin - and she could if she wanted to - which makes me think she isn't setting out to hurt, rather she's trying to be assertive?

 

[baron1282]

My bird likes to go for my Lips. It's weird she won't bite anything else, but as soon as she sees an opening WHAM!! Right to the bottom lip. She does not do it often, but at least it's not too hard. I think he knows it's a sensitive area and just wants to grape my attention.

I don't let him get attention for it, but it does get my attention. Mine is also 10 months old. I think it's just an attention thing, we play with him a lot, but as soon as we stop it's biting time. I am sure he will snap out of it.

 

[JasmineGCC]

I tried target training last night - gosh Jasmine is a quick learner! I had her moving all over to touch the end for a treat! She went onto my shoulder and started to lunge down towards my arm with beak open and I redirected her with the chopstick and she got a treat
It was the first play session when she didn't bite me

 

[Mudkips]

Congratulations!
I would like to know, are your play sessions always in the same room? Does she often get to explore the house with you?
When GCCs get nippy it's always in a place they feel comfortable and often they're just plain bored. Try taking Jasmine to a place she's never been before and try to get her to do some tricks, just to change it up a bit.

 

[JasmineGCC]

You may have a point - most biting happens in the lounge/settee or in the kitchen. I'll try her upstairs tonight!

 

[JasmineGCC]

I'm still struggling to interact with Jasmine without her lunging at me to bite my hands or arms. She will step onto a covered arm (ie my jumper) but if even a cm of skin is exposed she is drawing blood. I'm still getting her out with plenty of foot toys to distract her but not touching her at all. Jasmine up until 2 weeks ago loved head scritches and cuddles. Now even if I lift my hand towards her the beak opens and she looks like she'll attack.

Am I doing the right thing by keeping my hands away? If she plays on my lap I'm keeping my arms under a blanket. I use my voice to interact with her. She sometimes lets me hand feed her treats.

I'm also target training her with a chopstick which she likes (cos she gets treats). Should I let her bite the stick? Would that help or make her aggression worse

I'm assuming that at nearly 11 months old she is hormonal ... Is this a phase that will pass or will I never give her a snuggle or scritch again?

I'm trying to understand how she's feeling so I don't get completely guttered!

 

[MonicaMc]

Have you tried training with her first thing in the morning before she eats? And using small rewards so she doesn't fill up on treats too quickly?

What about figuring out some way to exercise her so she can get rid of some pent up energy?

 

[JasmineGCC]

Hi - good news - in the last 3 days jasmine has only tried to bite me once!!! I am not giving her the opportunity to bite by eg covering my arm when moving her around the house. Whenever I pass her cage I'm giving her treats and last evening she sat on my hand while I hand fed her treats - the moment she'd eaten the last treat I moved her back on my lap.

This morning I tried her in the bathroom sink (birdie shower time) and she was fine - then she sat preening on my shoulder and did that cute putting foot round head asking for scritch. So I gave her a cautious head scratch and she turned her head for a better spot and closed her eyes!!!!! Only for a second but compared to the aggressive no touching bird she's been that is huge progress

 

[Mudkips]

That's terrific news!
Always remember that GCCs are so small that they treat your hands as separate entities from the rest of your body (and the same goes for the rest of you!)
If she hates your hands but loves the rest of you, it generally means that in her eyes - your hands are the least consistent and/or least understandable things on your body. It's as simple as that!
When you've gone to give her some nice scritchies, she's understood exactly what it is your hands and fingers were thinking, so she let it be.

So if ever she bites your fingers from now on, you should understand that she's proven to trust your hands (as your last post shows) and she's biting to let you know that you are not making any sense to her.
It's the GCC way!

 

[MonicaMc]

That's great news! I hope you are able to keep up with this new behavior, and hopefully she doesn't start biting again!

 

[JasmineGCC]

Hi everyone I thought you'd like an update on Jasmine and her biting. In the last 3 weeks she's only bitten me twice - both on my left hand. So now my left hand is the treat hand so she associates it with positive stuff. I completely backed from touching her with my hands and just in the last few days she has decided that's not good enough and has demanded a head scratch - hurrah!!! I watch her body language and if she even moves a fraction away then I back off - sometimes she moves away still and sometimes she presses into my hand for another scratch.

Every time I pass her cage she gets a pine nut. She loves target training to touch her chopstick too.

When she is out I'm keeping time out to only a few minutes but getting her out more often. So instead of once before work for one long session, I get her out maybe 10 times for a short time. She helps get her food - then it's back to eat it - then she helps me with her fresh fruit/veg and its back to eat it etc

So its all going much much better! When she does bite I'm walking away and ignoring for a bit. I'm also thinking about exactly what I just did to trigger - and avoid that again

 

[wtisaac]

This post has given me some hope. I just adopted a GC about two weeks ago. "Gibbs" is (we think) about 4 years old, so I'm pretty sure it's not hormonal. My little guy has been tame...at one time. He'll hang out on my (or anybody's) shoulder all day long. At times he'll present himself for head scratches, but at some point, will go after you like a shark! If not asking for head scratches, he'll definitely nail any hand/finger combination he can get to.

I've started doing some of the same things you have. Target training is going well, and he's learned to step up onto a dowel rod on command. However, sometimes he'll spy the hand holding the dowel, fluff his head and rush. the only way to keep from being bitten is with a 2nd dowel and making keep stepping up like on a ladder.

I've had an African Grey, a Blue Crown Conure and several Cockatiels since I started keeping birds. This is the first time I've stayed concerned about being bitten, because he's so prone to it and SO unpredictable! And did I mention he's fast? Like Cobra fast?

 

[Grenage]

Some birds get territorial over their cages, and others just want to fun and attention of a moving target.

My GCC often sees hands as the entity that will put him in his cage at night. I think that the best thing you can do with tantrums, is to leave them alone. If there is lunging when you want to pick him up, wait; if there is chomping on the face (I really think that's down to a strong desire to preen), don't let them up there.

After a couple of weeks, he won't be anywhere near settled!