green cheek conure question

[ore83]

we haven't had him for very long, a couple months maybe. we've made a lot of progress from him being not social to him flying to us and wanting to spend the majority of his 'out of cage' time on one of our schoulders.

the question is: when he steps up usually he's gentle, places his beak on our finger and steps on your finger. today he grabbed my finger with his beak and basically bit.. pretty hard. I didn't react to it.. he held it in his beak, bit a little harder.. then stepped up. i'm bleeding... but he seemed happy after he was on my finger. thoughts? help would be appreciated! he's about 6mo old

[nailsrglue]

I would give the bird an earthquake if it was already on my finger, otherwise id put it on a playgym or someplace where you can use as "punishment" and ignor him for a few minutes, maybe ten. That will keep from reinforcing the behavior by teaching him that he gets no attention if he bites.

[PowerBBS]

I'm sure many people will disagree with me here on this point. But Green Cheeks are a bit notorious for being nippers.

Our green cheek used to step up onto my finger with no problems. Now I can't get him to step up at all without expecting to get blood drawn. However, my wife can still get him to step up more often than not without becoming a blood donor.

We've tried everything (it's been a problem for about 1 and 1/2 years now), but it just seems he always wants to bite. Putting him back into his cage or denying him the step up seems to just "piss him off" even more. I've since had to resolve to getting him to just step up onto a wooden perch when I want him to come with me.

You've got my prayers that your fid doesn't adopt this behavior like ours has.

[Valo's Moirana]

yes, i agree - greencheeks are known for being nippy.... nippy, but not bity - there's a difference there.

i won't be referring to valo much here as he is territorial, but otherwise not bity. the key, in my opinion, is to understand and read the bird's body language... gcc's are not very subtle in displaying dislike or disapproval... they fluff up around the neck and keep the head feathers flat.... it's best not to approach the bird in an aggressive mood, as it's a guarantee to get bitten

a good book to read about problems with birdies it the "parrot problem solver" by b. heidenreich... you can also find a lot of suggestions for using positive reinforcement for behavior modification

[SunConure1]

I own 2 female green cheek conures 1 female MoJo is very friendly she has niped me but now doesn't nip or even go to nip me. Everytime MoJo went to nip me i would say in a firm tune NO and place her in her cage, I would leave her in her cage for 5 minutes then return and say step up if she didn't nip she got to stay on my shoulder and got cuddles and kisses. But if she nipped she gets put back in her cage and covered up for 10minutes, I've only had to cover her once. MoJo is a quick learner so after 2 days of saying No and 5 minute time outs she stopped nipping at me. JoJo on the other hand is a very stuborn gcc when she nips she ignores the firm NO, I have to put her back in her cage and leave her for 10 minutes most time this doesn't work for her. JoJo does well to the push into the nip and make her lose balance. All birds are different most of my birds listen once they hear the firm NO they stop what there doing. Some require a little more punishment then that.

[ore83]

thanks so much for the advice. yeah i heard not to cover the cage when they're in 'time out' cuz it could confuse them with sleep time or something along those lines. usually i ignore the bite but today was the first time where he sorta held on and bit down harder, drew a bit of blood then stepped up.