Yeah yeah, another biting thread

[DogTrainer]

I'm working with the two conures at the pet store where I work.

is doing GREAT! He's really excited to see me and is climbing all over my hands and arms. I can get him to step up repeatedly and pass him off to other people. We don't want him getting too attached to me, because I have no intention of buying him (it's really hard! He's such a cool bird!). So he needs to be comfortable being handled by other people.

He's been nibbling my hands and putting his beak around my thumb and holding on or pulling it towards him. It's been very gentle, but today he started biting a little harder than before. How can I keep this behavior from escalating?

is doing less great. Mostly she just wants to bite me. I've offered her millet, sunflower seeds, and dried fruit and she'll dodge past the food to grab some flesh. I've been doing my best to not react, to try to extinguish the behavior, but it HURTS! Recently she started biting and twisting. Today she broke skin. Maybe I'm just getting an extinction burst, but I can't keep going with this training plan, it's not safe.

She bites everyone. There is one girl who can scratch her neck without being bitten, sometimes. She says she rapped on her beak and said "no bite." I am not willing to do this, and don't think it will help anyway. Although admittedly she doesn't bite her nearly as much as I get bitten.

I don't really know what to do. I don't know how to train her if I don't have anything to reward her with.


Here's the Sun Conure on my hand with the GCC in the background!

[Weka]

What do you (and especially other employees) typically do after they are bit by the green cheek conure? Is she put back into her cage? Also, are her wings clipped so that she has no other option but to bite to communicate that she's not comfortable being handled?

Best,

Weka

[DogTrainer]

Yes, she is clipped.

Typically she doesn't get handled a lot, because she bites. My reaction has been mostly no reaction until I can't take it anymore, then gently removing my hand. Sometimes I can't help but jerk my hand away before she gets me.

We also have to continue doing whatever we're there to do when she bites. It's mostly daily feeding, that's not bad because it's just removing and replacing food and water dishes, and it's not hard to avoid her. The real problem is weekly cage cleaning, then you just have to grab her and stuff her in a cat carrier. It would be wonderful if I could find a way to get her into the carrier (or something) voluntarily, but I can't train that until I have a reinforcer that isn't my flesh.

Most of my training isn't done out of her cage, the enclosure is a big plexiglass quarter circle with a tall door. She stands on the floor about waist height right at the door. She comes up to the door and hangs out on the edge, even tries to keep the door from closing when I'm done. So it kind of seems like on some level she likes people?

[Weka]

It sounds like an (understandably) fearful bird, poor thing. Getting grabbed and stuffed unwillingly into a carrier on a weekly basis is only serving to make things worse. Might there be an alternative to this?

As for trying to keep the door from closing...she might just be hoping for a way to get out of her situation. Do you know how long she's been there? What's the store's policy if she's ultimately deemed "too aggressive"?


Best,

W

[Polarn]

There is training you can through cage bars such as targeting. But first off try get her to accept a great through the bars. It may actually prove less stressful to the bird and it eliminates any kind of threat of being bit. Something that would probably calm you down when around her. And when she accepts treats through bars you can target train her through the bars. Once she handles that okay you do have a way of moving her from point a to b without grabbing.

Best of luck.

[Pajarita]

GCCs tend to get bitey when they don't have a human of their own who pays a lot of attention to them and that's inevitable in a store.

[Iggy's here]

You may find this blog by Michael useful. It explains how to do basic training with an aggressive bird (including some in cage training).

http://www.trainedparrot.com/taming/