My lovebird is so sweet, but biting is becoming a problem!

[rosalvarez.gt]

Hi!
I have been with Luna for about 3 months now, she/he is now about 6-7 months old. Ive been working hard on getting her trust and I believe it has been working! She now voluntarily flies to me constantly, and with treats she stands on my finger and stays a while, sometimes moving to my forearm. She loves sitting on my head as most lovebirds do. Luna is very sweet and not aggressive at all. That being said, Luna has quite the biting habit. It used to tend to be anything around her; bamboo, metal, toys, anything. But now it is progressing to biting me. It's not too hard, Luna doesn't draw blood, but Luna constantly needs to be biting stuff it seems. She is well fed so I do not think it's because she is hungry. I notice that it is usually when i bring my finger to her that she can't help but try to get me with her beak. Therefor, I can't try and teach her to step up as she bites.
Any advice is very appreciated!!!
Thank you!
Luna

[Wolf]

Do you know how children and puppies are always putting everything in their mouths and chewing on them? Well birds do something very similar and it is called beaking. They explore everything with their beaks they check out the taste, the texture, how firm it is, how strong it is, pretty much everything that they can learn about it through their beaks. They also experiment with the pressure that it takes to pull themselves up on it and in the case of it being you how much pressure is acceptable or not acceptable to you. So you need to tell them to be gentle or tell them no bite, you may have to push their beak aside while telling them no bite or even put them down on the closest suitable surface or perch when they start biting. This works but it does take time as how effective it is depends on how consistent you are with using the exact same way to change the behavior.

[rosalvarez.gt]

Thank you for your reply Wolf!
That is very interesting and makes a lot of sense. I have been firmly saying no and kind of wiggle my hand so she loses balance. I will definitely try to be consistent and be patient. Thank you!
Luna

[liz]

Doors, doorways, cabinets and baseboards are all fair game. Myrtle does the high distruction and Rambo takes care of the base boards.
Parrot's beaks will grow too long if they don't wear it down. You can see this on a sick bird who does not take care of it and it has to be trimmed.
My plan if I ever get my stuff together and do it is to get bird safe non treated lumber and put it on window ledges. If I make a 5 sided box and put it some where like it is really important, they will seek it out to destroy.
Pajarita is using some kind of metal (which I have not found yet) to trim doorways and cabinets.
True, your home will not be as attractive as someone's who does not have a parrot but you have a flying toddler. If your friends don't like it they are not your friends and even worse do not have a feel for parrots.
I used to have anxiety when a service person or repair man came in. Now I meet them at the door and ask him how brave he is. If he admits to not being brave and I really need him then I will push the dogs out the back door and try to catch Myrtle before she lands on him.
I bought a house built in 1979 that has had many owners and been through a few wars. It is big with plenty of room for my babies. Since I don't have that many years left I just don't care what happens to my house. I live to love and care for my babies.
My daughter lives in the Mother in Law apartment attached to the back of my house. My son has his own home so when I die she gets the house. My time is also taken up caring for her 2 cats, 3 house dogs, boxer in the back yard and that knot head horse she brought home. Inheriting this house is going to be kind of like pay back.
My son is a nester with everything in it's proper place. Heck, he appologises for having a messy house if I visit without warning and he has a newspaper on the table. He is here almost every day trying to help.
The bites if they do not break skin could be what I call chewing. Myrtle chews on me a lot. If it was a dog it would be called mouthing. If it was a baby it would be like teething. I let her do it and just say owe when she needs to let up.