And so it starts....

[Kumashe]

Ok, Indy hasn't truely bitten me yet. And I'm not quite sure if he's going down that path yet. I've recently been giving him Nutriberries by hand. He will start eating the Nutriberries, but after a few nibbles, he decides my finger is fair game as well and sort of pinches it. I let him but after a while I pull my hand away. I'm not sure what to do...

[Elle]

Ok, Indy hasn't truely bitten me yet. And I'm not quite sure if he's going down that path yet. I've recently been giving him Nutriberries by hand. He will start eating the Nutriberries, but after a few nibbles, he decides my finger is fair game as well and sort of pinches it. I let him but after a while I pull my hand away. I'm not sure what to do...

What you can do is when she bites or nibble too hard is to tell him no, be gentle or no, easy. And when the nibble or biting reduces or is less hard, then praise him with good bird or anything like that. When I say no, I use a low tone but not loud. My birds recognise that tone as not good. And when I praise, I use a higher pitch tone, which will make my birdies fluff :)


The other day I had Phoebe on my shoulder and I was looking at her and talking to her. She opened her beak and leaned towards me. I was unsure of what she was doing but my guess after she took a bite out of my nose is she was wondering: Do I date do it? Might as well try it :lol

Hope that helps a little,

[Janie]

I have one that bites, out of three, and there is nothing I can say or do to stop that. I adore him, he really is the sweetest bird, but he simply likes to use his beak for everything. He explores with it, hangs with it and bites with it. I do offer him food occasionally from my fingers. He takes a nibble of the food and then a nibble of my finger. Just his "way" of doing things. His brother has never bitten me but that is just his "way"......:D

[sdgilley]

Of my three birds, the one that I can feed from my hand is my biter. He will eat from my hands, I just have to watch him for the body language of hand biting.

My tamest, cuddly bird will BITE when I have food in my hands so I do NOT hand feed her. :roll:

If your bird tends to bite when you have food in your hands, then I would avoid that. If he's young and testing, you might be able to talk him out of it.

Good luck!

[Z28Taxman]

Ditto will eat from the palm of my hand and be very happy doing it. In fact he'll fly back to his cage and get a snack to bring to the couch and eat out of my hand. But I can't hold it in my fingers for him. He has to hold his own food. :rolleyes:

[BarbieH]

I agree that avoidance of the situation (like offering your finger to the bird) is the surest way to prevent getting bit. (I have offered a finger to my birds at times, but it wasn't always polite. :whistle: There have been rare occasions when my birds got the bird, if you follow my meaning. :D)

My Didjit and Gracie are biters to different degrees. If I hold a finger up to either of them, they will bite. Didjit just pinches, like your bird; Gracie's bites can be much more serious. Keeping my fingers away from their beaks is the surest way not to get bit.

Best wishes,

[Kumashe]

I was working with Indy on stepping up, yesterday, in the bathtub. He was doing wonderfully, stepping up like a pro. As I was treating him to millet, however, he decided to go for one of my fingers. He got a hold on my pinky and pinched harder than usual. He broke the skin and my finger would have started bleeding if I hadn't takin' my finger away. Its sore and red today... :( I'm assuming that's what a lovie bite does to you. Ouch.

Do any of you file your lovie's beaks? The tip at least? Indy's has gotten quite long and has the ability to break the skin without trying hard. Thank you in advance.

[Katy]

Do any of you file your lovie's beaks? The tip at least? Indy's has gotten quite long and has the ability to break the skin without trying hard. Thank you in advance.


I let my lovies file their beaks themselves. The have cement "Pedi-Care" perches as well as a large cuttlebone in their cages. They use the perches and cuttle bones quite frequently to keep their beaks a good length (or to get those sticky raisin pieces off of their beaks) :lol