Wants to come out of cage, but bites anyway?

[SassiBird]

Sassi is a one year old black capped conure (similar to a GCC). In the mornings, she is excited to come out of the cage. She comes to the door and waits, jumps on my hand, then chomps on my thumb - HARD - sometimes drawing blood. She does not bite me otherwise, only plays a little rough sometimes.

I don't get it. She obviously WANTS to come out, but why the bite?! I give her my disapproval noise (sorry don't know how to spell it), and set her back in the cage. Wait a few seconds, and pick her up a second time. Usually after that all is well and off we go. I've tried opening the door and waiting a few seconds until she is calm, but still I get a nip.

I should note, she has 2 cages - a large cage in a spare room where she sleeps and spends time when we are not home, and a smaller cage in the main living area. The issue is with her sleeping cage. She doesn't do it from the other cage, and she only does it in the morning.

Ideas?

 

[Pinkbirdy]

My Greencheek I have to open his door. Let him climb to the top of his cage then ask him to step up . Once he is on top of the cage.

 

[lplummer52]

Is she all by herself in the spare room? If so, she's already pissed about that. Try using a,perch to take her out. The less she bites you, the more she won't bite you just because it's not a habit. Just my opinion. I don't really know what I'm talking about....just what works for me and Screech.

 

[Flboy]

A learned action! Same for my JoJo! My solution? Use a stick in the morning for stepping up! Break the habit!
This is so true!,
http://www.parrotforums.com/training/57935-brainstorming-biting-parrots.html

 

[SassiBird]

Yes, she is all alone. the perch is a good idea!

Is she all by herself in the spare room? If so, she's already pissed about that. Try using a,perch to take her out. The less she bites you, the more she won't bite you just because it's not a habit. Just my opinion. I don't really know what I'm talking about....just what works for me and Screech.

 

[SassiBird]

Very possible. I hadn't thought of it that way.

A learned action! Same for my JoJo! My solution? Use a stick in the morning for stepping up! Break the habit!
This is so true!,
http://www.parrotforums.com/training/57935-brainstorming-biting-parrots.html

 

[SassiBird]

**UPDATE - Progress**

No bite this morning! I opened the cage door then ignored her 15-20 seconds while I looked for a book. By the time I found the book she was on top of the cage and came to me nice and gentle!

Thou art wise!

 

[SassiBird]

A quick follow (because I like when other people post outcomes too)
The biting has been extinguished. By a combination of giving Sassi a few extra seconds, and using a perch if she tried biting, the biting stopped after about a month. I do believe it was a learned behavior.

 

[Flboy]

Excellent! My JoJo had learned the same morning bite routine. After I retrained us both, I realized he had learned this in response to me wanting to give him a morning hug/cuddle the moment I picked him up!
Poor guy was trying to tell me he needed to take his morning dump first!

 

[EllenD]

I'm glad you figured it out, I was going to say that my green cheek will do that occasionally first thing in the morning, especially if I've managed to sleep past dawn, lol. I always attributed it to him being overly excited first thing, but if I let him out of the cage and get out of his way, he'll fly downstairs and by the time he hits his stand he's calmed down.

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

 

[SassiBird]

I should note a slight change in the morning routine also. After Sassi comes out of the cage in the morning I take her to a T-stand in the bathroom, and we do some training as I get ready for work. (shake, wave, spin, recall, nothing fancy) It's possible that has given her something to look forward to, because she very much wants to work for snacks!