Help Please!!!!

[Tango's_Mom]

Hi everyone,

Ok so things were coming along great with Tango, but lately he's taken to biting every thing, the couch cushions, the keyboard on my laptop, my clothes and any exposed skin he can get his beak on, I have all these welts all over me where he's bitten or pinched the skin and he had broken the skin on my fingers, and it hurts. He's about 6-7.5 months old, and I undestand it may be a phase but I want it to stop as soon as possible, any tips on how to get rid of this behaviour?

Thanks,

[linda040899]

Hi Jenna,
Tango is at that age where he's exploring his world and he does that with his beak (mouth/tongue), for lack of any other way to do it. He actually does not realize that he's pinching you as hard as he is, so you are going to have to choose a word to let him know. Use the word calmly or the excitement in the tone of your voice could cause him to also get excited and he will turn it into a fun game! Yes, you can actually teach a bird to bite!!! I use something like "easy" or "no bite." As I'm saying the word/phrase, I gently grab the upper beak and rub it. All birds like their beaks rubbed so it should divert his attention from what he was doing. You can also have some kind of toy or treat food for him to work on so that he isn't going what you don't want him to do.

Barb suggested wearing long sleeves and turtle neck tops to deter pinching on the neck/arm area. You can also have him sit on a dowel/perch so that your fingers are protected.

"Best defense no be there......" (Karate Kid, original movie)

Read through more of this forum. There are some wonderful ideas/solutions in other threads.

[Tango's_Mom]

Thanks for the tips, I have been trying to tell him no biting as calmly as I can, but it doesn't seem to have much effect, I would try rubbing his beak but he is still very hand shy and he either runs away or attacks when my hand approaches so I try to avoid doing those things to try and keep him from being afraid of hands, any other strategies?

Also I'm a little confused about the idea of giving him a treat or toy to stop biting, to me this kind of seems like rewarding the behaviour, but maybe I'm misunderstanding the idea.

[linda040899]

Jenna,
The idea of the toy or treat that he likes is to distract him from what he was intending to do. You want him to go for the toy rather than you. It's not a reward for biting but an offering that he will use instead of pinching you.

When Harley, my TAG, first came to live with me, he was a bit nippy. The vendor had some special "necklaces" that she sold that would give him something to play with if I opted to allow him on my shoulder. That way, the necklace would attract him before he noticed body parts......... It's a diversion rather than a reward.

[Janie]

Distractions are a very good thing! :D Also keep in mind that birds go through phases and stages, especially young birds. I had one biter that has not bitten me in over a month! I just realized the other day that Big Boi, my sweet little bitter, has stopped biting me! :D I am happy about that but if he starts again, I'll deal with it. Of my three he probably is the sweetest and I am including Oliver in that! :)

[sdgilley]

Jenna,
I use "no bite" on my hen (that is most hand friendly but bites sometimes) and I gently grab her beak between my index finger and thumb. It's not a negative correction, I do not hurt her or cause her discomfort - I just stop her and say "no bite". Then I do something else than I was doing before with her. If she keeps biting, she goes back to her cage. Since she likes to be out, she's decided to compromise and bite me if she really wants to go back in her cage. It's always a small bite followed by a harder bite if I don't "get it".
With biting, the best advice I've gotten was from Barbie - saying to 1. look at what you're doing when they bite and 2. avoid getting bitten. Avoid getting bitten? Sounds silly, doesn't it? Well, avoid letting them get into positions of biting you. Distract them or put them in their cage or do something other than allowing the biting. Dowel training is good, gives them something to do with that energy.

I've read stories that say tough it out and act like it doesn't hurt... well, I've also bled quite a bit. What has really worked for me is just avoiding it. I've avoided being bitten by my worst biter for about 2 years. My other birds surprise me now and then with a nip. But my worst biter drew blood and it wasn't something you wanted to happen. Now I can trust him on my shoulder close to my neck! See, he's gone a while without feeling the need to do that!

Good luck, think outside the box, so to speak.

[Lindades264]

Hello,

Do you have bamboo shredding toys for him to play with? I keep these available for my birds so that when the desire arises they can tear away. One of my babies was biting and I gave her these to play with and she went crazy over them. Bye for now.

[Tango's_Mom]

Ok so I have been trying these suggestions (except holding or rubbing the beak as he is a little afraid of hands still) and for a while keeping him distracted with nutriberries seemed to work well, but the last couple of days he has been much worse, he can't seem to keep him beak off me, and it hurts, I know he's trying to explore and i want him to get used to being on me and not be afraid of being on my bare arms and hands but it HURTS, and the nutriberries seem to be losing their effect, also a couple of times he has actually run at my finger and bit it, should I stop feeding him from my fingers? or is there another reason for this behaviour? What do you guys think, is there anyway to stop the biting without discouraging bonding?

[linda040899]

Jenna,
Barb has a hen that displays similar behavior to that of your lovie and it took her quite a while to finally get around the biting. Whenever Gracie was in biting mode, Barb used a dowel to save her fingers, if my memory serves me correctly. Hopefully, she will have some input for you in the morning.

[shylevon]

Might also be a cranky molt coming on.
A nice bath may calm him down, or at least give him something to do until his feathers are dry.

[BarbieH]

Hi Jenna;

Sorry it has taken me so long to see this post. I know for a fact how frustrating it can be to have a biter. I can only tell you how Gracie and I learned to get along; mostly it was me learning a combination of distracting her, and preventing the bite.

Territorial biting: It seemed that a lot of Gracie's biting started with her being very territorial of anything; if she was on me, that made me part of her territory. She got a little confused about my hands; she didn't realize that they were also "me." So, she lunged after them to scare them off, and frequently she made contact. She drew a lot of blood. :\

Solution: I kept my hands away from her. Even if my nose itched, I knew that I could not scratch it if she was on me. I would have to remove her with a dowel, then scratch my nose. (You might think it would be hard to remember not to scratch your nose, but after you've been bit a couple of times, it gets easier. ;)) She was always on the alert for those evil fingers.

Note: Giving Gracie food or toys didn't work for her, either. She got territorial about them, especially the food, and she tried to attack the fingers that were offering it, or even close to it. Food involved her beak, and I didn't think it was appropriate to trigger a beak response at that time -- not for her.

I noticed that she got worse when she was hormonal. It could well be the case with your bird. Molting makes them testy too, like Shy pointed out.

Biting as a game: This was Gracie biting me to annoy me, make me yell, or make me jump. That was when she went through a stage of biting me in the armpits.

Solution: I would try to distract her by doing the earthquake; rocking my body gently so she would have to hang on. I had to start it whenever I saw her moving towards the pits. I wanted her to learn that if she went there, the earth would move. She didn't like it when the earth moved.

As soon as she stopped the biting advance, I said, "Yay Gracie!!" and clapped my hands. That pleased her. I wanted her to learn that moving away from the armpits had a reward.

I also used a spray bottle with water to discourage her from biting the pits. It's as close as I'll ever come to punishing a bird, but the goal wasn't punishment; it was distraction. It worked for a little while.

Biting for food: She started doing this after Tim and I came home from a vacation. She must have started feeling a little insecure. By this time, I was able to give her birdy bread after work as we sat together. If I didn't get to the birdy bread fast enough, she nipped my neck -- not enough to break skin, but hard enough to make me crazy and get my attention.

Solution: I didn't bring her out of the cage until I knew I could feed her immediately. (This goes right along with the idea of not getting bit by not allowing yourself to get bit, or as Linda quotes, "Best defense, no be there!")

One more solution: Time out. This refers to the amount of time you have Tango out of the cage. I saw Suzanne mention this somewhere else, and it really works. It's a way to teach Tango to stop associating being out of the cage with biting.

You start with having Tango out for five minutes at a time. If Tango goes the five minutes and you get him back into the cage without a bite, say "Yay Tango!!" and clap for him. Then work up to 10 minutes, 15, etc., over a number of days. If Tango slips up and bites you, don't give him the reward when you return him to the cage; be absolutely silent. He will miss that reward!

Biting triggers can change over time, as your relationship with your bird develops. Some birds just do bite more than others. You can't punish them for it; it doesn't work with a parrot-brain. They get sullen and some may bite more. But you can reward them for not biting, and hopefully, help them forget to bite.

Good luck! :)

[Bekah]

Hello, My Petey has just gotten into his stage of bitting and it really does get on your nerves. I mean I tell him no and I run his beak. I have not tried to distrack him though. He is almost 3 months old. So I am trying but his biting really hurts. Any other sugjestions??

[LauraO]

Bekah: There is really not a lot you can do with Petey at this stage except to understand this is likely a phase and to get use to the bites. I would also say try and react as least as possible because you don't want this to become something he does to get your attention. You could also keeps things handy to give Petey to chew on instead of you. I use vegeteable tan leather, buttons, toys, etc. I also found this link from awhile back. I still have the bird, Chewey, mentioned in this post. He's 1 1/2 now and he just never bites or even nibbles no matter what I do to him. So just be patient and let yourself get used to the lovie nibbles as much as you can.

http://www.lovebirdsplus.com/community/showthread.php?t=1057