Help! GCC has a new habit of hard biting

[Stellas Mom]

HI!... Its me again!

Well as some of you know, we've now had Stella for 12 weeks) He's 2 1/2years old. He's been great! Being that we are first time GCC owners, we have learned SO much about him (thanks to BB) and most of it really good! All of the sudden last week, he decided that biting our faces (lip, cheeks, etc) is a new fun thing for him. We HATE it and I don't know what is causing this to happen. We have tried to single out why he does this but so far, we have nothing! He even bite my lip hard this morning which was about 3 minutes after he came out of his cage.(Now I look like I have a lip herpy..POUT) It can't be bordom because he all of the sudden will bite one of us while we are paying attention to him or simply walking down the hallway with him on our shoulder.... and BOOM, big bite.. For a little GCC, he packs a big bite...

Is it the change in weather? Is this normal behavior because of the time of year? or do we have a larger problem now?... We try to keep him busy but so far, busy or not, he bites our faces pretty hard and its a daily habit now.... HELP! What can we do to stop this new habit?

We're taking him out today for a full day of visiting (its going to be 80* here in Toronto today!)... and I hope he forgets about this new habit while we are out!

Any feedback, help or comments would be really appreciated!
Have a great day!

Hugz
Marilyn... Stella's Mom

[chapala]

First, you should make sure that the bird is nowhere near your face since he's biting. Do NOT give him the opportunity to bite your face. Until he settles down and earns the privilege, no shoulder time or being held near the face. When he does bite (another body part since you will not have him near your face), try an immediate time out in the cage, saying "no bite!". A few minutes is enough, then you can try him again held on your hand.

Perhaps you are holding him longer than he is comfortable and that is his way of letting you know. Do you have a playstand where he can be near people but not on people? Carrying him to a playstand and setting him down might be more workable now. Whatever the cause of the biting, you want to be handling him less right now - keep him a part of the family by being around you, but please, no more shoulder time with a bird who is biting the face!

[NotEnoughTime]

Originally Posted by Stellas Mom

For a little GCC, he packs a big bite...

Does he draw blood? If not then the bite is not a "serious" bite - that is the bite is an "attention" bite not an "I'm scared or angry" bite...

I agree with the previous poster - the secret of not being bitten is not to get bit... So do not put your face/lips/ears in danger if you do not want to be bitten. If you don't mind being bitten - then go ahead and put them in danger :-)

My opinion is that a green cheeks bite is kind of a "where were you" or "pay attention to me" type of thing... When I arrive home from work I have a bird fly downstairs to the entrance, land on my shoulder, and promptly clamp-down on my ear. This happens once or twice (I ask her not to do it too hard) after I arrive and then doesn't happen again for the rest of the time she is with me in the evening. I don't mind being bitten as long as it is not a serious bite (blood drawing bite) - so I don't attempt to correct the issue.

For the rest of the evening she will "play" and not bite too hard (she still nips fingers and so on) but she doesn't do the ear-clamp-on thing... She did for a while - but (as the previous poster said) a little bit of "don't bite" and "timeout" seemed to correct that quite quickly.

Serious (blood drawing or darn close to it) bites are usually preceeded by substantial warning signs (ruffled feathers, warning squacks and so on). I simply stop what I'm doing and leave the situation if that type of behaviour occurs - usually this happens when I am trying to get my girl to do something she really does not want to do...

As for lips...

Lips are where the food goes in and I believe that is a slightly different issue. In my girl's opinion it seems food that's already in the mouth is perfectly good and so the mouth *must* be opened and the food obtained...

So...

If I had a bird on the shoulder while eating I would end up with a green face peering at me as a forkfull of food arrived at my mouth... then... quicker than you could say "stay" (with a mouthful of food) a claw would grab my lower lip and a beak the upper and my mouth would be being pryed open... This behaviour started to extend into other times (beyond mealtime) of the day...

Needless to say this was not acceptable. Not only was the prying painful - but human mouth bacteria is not particularly good for birds...

So she now has her own food dish (on the table) as we are eating dinner and shoulders and hands are not allowed while we are eating (she is welcome to finish first and go to her perch to poop - but she cannot sit on our shoulders). For a while she was not allowed near the mouth - but now she has decided that it is better to not "pry" lips so that she can get shoulder rides and kisses...

Sigh... children... children... children...

[Razzle]

Our conure has learned that when he bites faces he loses his fun perch on our shoulders and has to settle for our hands. To get kissies he has to be nice!

[Duky]

Oh my goodness the same thing is happening with me and Ducky!!! Ducky is a little over 2 years old. I am almost 100% sure she is not biting from fear or not wanting to be held or any of that. I have had her since she was 3 months and she's my little baby she loves cuddling, petting, kisses, being held anything. She always wants attention. She has also recently started biting really hard with NO WARNING! Seriously no warning! I thought she was angry with me because I got a new foster dog and for Ducky's safety I was only letting her out for a few hours when I put the dog away so I stopped fostering the dog and had to bring him back to the humane society (I only had him for 1 week). After that I figured Ducky would go back to her usual sweet self and she seems like she has. She wants my attention, she comes willingly, she flies after me, she puts herself in my hand for pets....and then out of nowhere she bites my face. Yes, hard enough to draw blood. I also look like I have a herpes lip, and I also have a few other scars on my face and arm. One night she bit my lip and drew blood so I said no biting, put her in her cage, and left the room for 5 minutes. I came back, let her out and a few minutes later she bit my chin and would not let go (that's my worst scar right now), so again I put her in the cage and left for 5 minutes, came back let her out, few minutes later she bit the side of my face and then I put her in the cage for the rest of that night. So, stupid me I'm not letting her on my shoulder anymore. This is really sad though cause she's always trying to get there, and I'm kind of scared of her now. She also does the ear clamping thing which makes my ear hurt for days.

Ok, so I've heard that birds especially GCCs usually go through this mean phase at this age and that you have to be careful with them or they will stay mean forever. Does any one have advice on how long this mean streak could last and what is the best way to handle it successfully?

Thanks!

[NotEnoughTime]

If your bird is seriously biting then don't let the bird near anything that can be bit. That's it...

Birds can sense if you are scared - and can manipulate you in a way that rivals the manipulation that children do of their parents.

I have never (personally) seen a case of a bird biting "out of the blue." I've always found that the bite either has behaviour that occurs just prior to the bite or a result that encourages the bird to bite after the bite takes place.

Keep a journal of what happens just prior and just after a biting incident.

The issue is one of "intermittent reinforcement" where a behaviour occurs and is reinforced a couple of times. For example: take to the cage... bite... remove from the cage and talked to... back to the cage... bite... remove from the cage and talked to... back to the cage... bite... in the cage and ignored... This scenario has just taught the bird that a bite will result in removal from the cage as well as some attention. I've never found an exception to this.

Good luck - and try to keep the bird from biting positions...

[Stellas Mom]

Thanks for all the posts! Yesterday we took Stella out for the day. It was over 80* here in Toronto!. He was out from Noon until 7:00pm and not one bite!. This makes me think he's bored but like Ducky, it seems that his bites are out of the blue. I am going to pay close attention to whats going on when he bites. We have been putting him in the cage the instant he bites and maybe, just maybe, yesterday morning was the last face bite! (one can only hope!).

He was SO tired from his outing yesterday that he was sleeping most of the ride home! It was too cute really. So far this morning, not a single bite (it happened yesterday morning bright and early). I have also heard that GCC's go through "terrible two's" like children do and even more so this time of year but wow, it makes me want to cry! (and has) I don't want to have bite marks on my face, hands or anywhere else! Its enough that he loves crawling down my sweatshirt and leaves all sorts of scratches on my back and arms but thats not biting, that I am allowing... OH which brings me to another question!... We're thinking of taking him in to an Avian groomer to get his nails clipped. My GCC specialist (u know who u are!) said use an emery board but so far, Stella isn't too keen on that action... Do u guys ever take them in for grooming?.. I'll keep you posted on the biting and please let me know how the biting is going with you!... Thanks! Have a bird'tastic day!

[NotEnoughTime]

Originally Posted by Stellas Mom

He was SO tired from his outing yesterday that he was sleeping most of the ride home!

Ahh yes - that's a good point... A tired bird is a good bird!!

Originally Posted by Stellas Mom

OH which brings me to another question!... We're thinking of taking him in to an Avian groomer to get his nails clipped. My GCC specialist (u know who u are!) said use an emery board but so far, Stella isn't too keen on that action... Do u guys ever take them in for grooming?

I have never taken any bird in for "beak trimming" or "nail trimming." I use a variety of perches and sizes and two of the food bowls I use are unglazed ceramic pottery... So there is never any need to do any trimming - she does it herself...

[Stellas Mom]

Ceramic feed bowl, what a great idea! Thanks! We just got him a couple of perches that should help him along... When we got him, his previous Mom (if u can call her that!) only had rope perches and 1 wood in this big stunning beautiful cage. As we learn more, we buy more and now the cage is so full! and btw, thanks for always replying to my posts! your incredible! where do you find the time! LOL... You're always there for me! THANKS!

I didn't think going to a Vet would be the answer and my bird mentor suggested an emery board. I think eventually it will work! he's not so fancy on it now but in time..... it should work!

I'll go get a ceramic bowl on Wednesday! the store I shop at isn't open on Mondays or Tuesdays. I go to paradiseperch! I love that store!

[NotEnoughTime]

u just have to be a bit careful with unglazed ceramic - if unglazed on the inside then they absorb water and can keep food moist for long periods... Just keep an eye on it...

These posts do not take-up a lot of time... Giving my girl "scritches" takes up a lot more time :-)