I have had little Chloe, my Crimson Bellied Conure, for about 3 and half months. She is 6 months old and is normally very sweet. However she has recently started biting frequently and Im not sure how to handle it...
Up until this point I have been mostly ignoring her biting, and if it gets really bad, I just set her down and walk away. I also praise her and give her treats when she uses her beak gently with me.
She frequently bites my neck because I have a few dark freckles there. It has escalated to the point where she will bite them off and START DRINKING MY BLOOD. In fact one time I didnt realize she had punctured my skin, and when I felt her gently tounging my neck I started praising her profusely for being gently with me. I was ofcourse horrified to realize that she was in fact lapping up the blood pouring out of my neck.
This I have tried to counter with wearing scarves/hats (she also loves biting my ears) as the biting initially seems affectionate/playful rather than aggressive, and Im guessing she just still doesnt understand that it hurts me...
I am hoping for clarification though, because there is a lot of conflicting advice about how to handle biting, especially when it comes to the idea of “punishment”, such as timeouts.
I understand the concept of ignoring unwanted behaviors and trying to replace them with wanted ones, but it seems like the biting is still being reinforced (probably because she likes the taste of my blood) I dont know how to communicate to her that biting isnt okay.
There are also scenarios where she gets randomly really aggressive, and Im not sure why. It seems territorial, but its also inconsistent. There are places around the house she really likes to perch, such as on top of the toilet paper dispenser in the bathroom. Sometimes if I go to get toilet paper while shes perched there, shes cute and fluffy and will fly onto my shoulder and gently nuzzle my face. Other times she will bite relentlessly, even flying onto my shoulder and biting my face when I withdraw my hand.
She sometimes will also bite aggressively when I try to get her off my shoulder or get her to step up. Its seems strange that she does because I have never let her biting get her what she wants, such as staying on my shoulder.
I either gently pull her off me (while she continues to consume my flesh) or I camly wrap her in a towel and pull her off.
My question is: how should I handle these different scenarios? What am I doing right and what am I doing wrong? Is giving her occasional timeouts a when she’s being aggressive necessary, or counter productive?
Thank you so much to anyone willing to take the time to read and respond! I love her dearly and just want to respond appropriately!
Douglas