biting, but not aggressive

[kathis]

Hi,

Our new GCC is doing wonderfully. He is adapting to his new home very well. The only real issue I am having right now is that sometimes when he is giving those little loving nibbles, he will bite too hard. When OG was young and did this we would softly blow on her face and she would stop. The GCC seems to bite harder when we blow. Both Jack and I believe he just does not know that he is hurting us because he is so young. Any suggestions on how to nip this in the bud?

Kathi

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Scooter was just like this. What worked was a combination of rewarding gentle interaction, trying to ignore overly enthusiastic interaction and applying gentle deterrants to overenthusiastic interaction (blowing briefly, wobbling the finger or hand perched on, or putting him down/away). He still sometimes gets carried away, especially when cuticles are involved, but saying "be gentle!" generally does the trick.

GCCs have a reputation of being "nippy". I've been pondering this, and I don't know if that's quite it, I think they are just very beak-y and because they tend to be quick and enthusiastic, it comes across as nippy when you haven't been careful to shape the behaviors. That said, Scooter will try to use his beak to say "no" to things, and when he is grumpy or angry he will utilize it with some degree of abandon. But the general use of his beak to get attention, explore, preen has been pretty easy to keep within appropriate limits by being careful to reward more desirable behaviors -- for example, if he's loose on the desk while I'm at the computer, he may try to get my attention in several ways. If he gets it when he rubs his head gently on my arm and doesn't when he tries a little beak action, he becomes less likely to use the beak and more likely rub his head. He probably would have ceased using the beak altogether, but sometimes I actually get distracted and don't notice until he's made a bold statement -- which rewards and perpetuates it. My bad.Their motto may be "Try the beak first!" but there is nothing aggressive or mean about it, it is just a tool they use.

I think you'll love your little guy! Scooter is kind of handful sometimes -- he doesn't have any idea he is small, I don't think -- but he is also super affectionate, fun-loving, playful and generally a very cheerful being.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Hey kathis, wondering how you and your new feathered friend are doing?

[kathis]

We're doing great, thanks for asking! We did find out today that he is a she! We are still trying to come up with a fitting name. We've been trying several out, but haven't decided on one yet.

She was getting a bit territorial in her cage, nipping at us when we tried to take her out. We had one of those cuddle things in there for her and when we took it out the nipping in the cage stopped. She hasn't really shown any interest in her toys yet, but maybe that is just because she is still getting used to her surroundings.

We've kept her cage downstairs, in the center of our condo. The upstairs is ready for her, but I don't want to move her up there, so I told Jack we had to get a second cage, one for our office and one for downstairs, so she can be with us almost all the time. Normally we spend most of the time in the office, but so much has been going on here lately that we haven't been up there much at all.

Jack took some pictures of her the other day and I will be posting them as soon as he sends them to me.

Kathi

[entrancedbymyGCC]

One thing to be aware of with these guys is that they do normally sleep in their nest cavities all the time, not just when breeding, and they often like to sleep lying on their backs. Scooter sleeps in his tent on his back, feet up... so soundly he has scared us a couple of times! This regular use of a cavity for year round sleeping isn't the case with many species, which might see it as a trigger for breeding behavior and increased aggression. So when you feel more comfortable with her, you might want to give her a tent or at least a platform for sleeping and plan on positive reinforcement work to solidify the stepping up and coming out bit. Scooter will hide in his tent from my husband, but he steps up and comes out for me reliably so I don't think he has an unhealthy territorial attitude about it.