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My Senegal thinks my fingers are food :-/

Discuss the methods and techniques of clicker training, target training and bonding. These are usually the first steps in training a young parrot.

My Senegal thinks my fingers are food :-/

Postby waggygee » Mon Mar 17, 2014 6:10 pm

Hi, I have a 1 year old senegal parrot called Coco :senegal:
Im still in the process of taming him, the first 2 or 3 months with him were slow, but I finally for him to step up a few times.
Today, I decided to feed Coco seeds from my hand, its the first time I have hand fed seeds to him, usually I was giving fruit and things. This time while I had my hand open with seeds on my palm, Coco came in to eat as usual but after one or 2 seeds, he decided to try to eat my finger (My guess, as there were no cues of aggression or nervousness that I noticed). He gave me one bite which was rather hard, it just cut my skin a bit but no blood.
My reaction was to wiggle my hand a bit and I moved it in towards him about 1cm, trying to move slowly and steadily the entire time.

I would like to ask for advice on how to prevent this kind of thing from happening and also, what is the best way to react to it if it does happen.
I've had him for a few months and this is the first time I have ever received the painful end of his beak, and I am convinced it was not any sort of aggression. He has nipped me softly a few times just to let me know to leave him alone, this was unlike it. So it leaves me convinced for now that he was probably testing to see if my finger was edible
waggygee
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
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Re: My Senegal thinks my fingers are food :-/

Postby liz » Mon Mar 17, 2014 8:19 pm

It sounds like you are on the right track. Who knows what he meant when he bit you? It could be tasting or testing. You seem to have passed the test when you didn't react to the bite.
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liz
Macaw
 
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Re: My Senegal thinks my fingers are food :-/

Postby waggygee » Tue Mar 18, 2014 2:37 am

liz wrote:It sounds like you are on the right track. Who knows what he meant when he bit you? It could be tasting or testing. You seem to have passed the test when you didn't react to the bite.

Thank you, I hope he doesn't give me another hard bite today when I feed him again :D
waggygee
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 6
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal parrot
Flight: Yes

Re: My Senegal thinks my fingers are food :-/

Postby Pajarita » Tue Mar 18, 2014 4:37 pm

I don't believe in not reacting, I think it's based on the wrong premises... And, if your finger was cut, he was biting and not nipping. But I would still give him the benefit of the doubt and continue things as usual.
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