Baby Biter?

[freckledgecko]

Hello All! New to the board and looking for some help. . .

I am the proud new owner of a six-month old TAG, Gabby Tapanga. She has been with my partner and I for three months now.

Overall, she is as sweet as can be. She has never bitten either of us aggressively or out of frustration/displaced anger. She is stubborn, however, and once she gets hold of something she wants, we are hard-pressed to get her to let go.

The real problem is fingers. She starts out with light beaking, but suddenly realizes that our fingers are tantalizingly chewy, I suppose. She bites down harder and harder each time, and it is VERY painful. I insist that we take these "chew-bites" without so much as a wince, so she doesn't learn that this behavior gets such a reaction. We haven't been so successful, though, given how painful the bites get. Sometimes, I've noticed that these bites precede really excited behaviors like what I call "lovey wings," where Gabby raises her wings a bit and lowers her head and makes little cooing noises. I'm thinking that she may just be overly excited and isn't quite aware of what she is doing.

Is this simply baby behavior? I read somewhere that TAGs and CAGs really start "testing the limits" so to speak, right around this age. Is there anything we can do to put a stop to this? Should we remove her from our presence when she starts (i.e., banish her to the cage for a period of time)?

Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

[GreetingCardReligion]

I used to own a sun conure who would get a little over zealous with her beaking. I'd place my fingers on the outside of her beaks and gently remove it from the finger (but since the other hand is on the outside they can't really bite those) and distract her with a toy or talking. She seemed to get the hint eventually, and I never had to "punish" her. The problem with putting them away is that if they ever want to get away from you theyll learn that biting is how to accomplish that.

[freckledgecko]

Thanks for the advice! I never thought about the removal being associated with further behavioral problems. . . Good to know!