biting problem...doesn't seem like aggression though

[petsrus]

Hi. I bought a baby senegal parrot about 2 mths ago. He had just weaned right before I bought him. He was handfed also. He is very friendly with me and will step-up and sit on my shoulder and everything. I don't have any trouble getting him out of his cage or handling him while he is still in the cage. The problem I am having is that when he is standing on my hand he will start nibbling and then it turns to biting. He isn't drawing blood, but has scratched the skin and left indents. He has bitten skin and fingernails. He has actually grabbed the end of my nail and pulled up like he was trying to rip it off, lol. He also has bitten crossways on the nail and all over my hand and fingers. He will start out like he is just checking me out and then will bit harder. Of course if I move my finger or something and try to get him to leave it alone he gets more excited and tries grabbing it...you know like a dog playing with a toy, lol. I don't understand why he is doing this. He plays with my ears sometimes and he has never bitten them. He is only a couple months old, so he is not hitting puberty or anything either. Any ideas on why he is doing this and how to stop it????????????????

[Dave]

Our goffin did the same thing when it was a baby. My thot was it was young and was still learning its own strength so to speak. It grew out of the beaky, exploring stage and is very gentle now.
It needed to learn what hurt us and what did not, and I agree with you, there was no aggression, just exploring.
Dave

[Dave]

I forgot to add, we dealt with it by telling it no, and consistantly stopping it from doing anything that was painful or unwanted.

[patdbunny]

He's doing it because he's a baby and you're a tree. That's just what baby parrots do. They explore and learn with their tongue and beak.

Exactly as Dave said - You teach him how hard is too hard. Gently remove his beak whenever it's too hard and gently, but firmly, tell him no. That's how he learns what amount of pressure is ok and what's too hard. They're smart enough to learn individual people's pain acceptance levels so everyone who's going to be handling him works with him to teach him what's ok and what's too hard.

Do NOT say "ow!", "quit it!", or any other big reactions. He may get entertainment from your responses and keep biting or actually bite harder. While you're teaching him you must remain as calm as possible. If he's really in a persistent chomping mood, give him something to chomp on - toy, branch, food, etc.

Sometimes they do get weird little quirks that you can't break them of. Our prior goffin used to attack and bite socked feet so we had to either wear shoes or be barefoot around her. (Like that bit of funniness, Dave?) But your baby doesn't sound like it's doing anything out of the ordinary for a learning baby.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Scooter would do this when we first got him. It was basically over-enthusiastic preening. We took a multi-pronged approach. If he groomed us nicely, we'd make a lot of positive noise and scritch him back and tell him what a good gentle bird he was. If he got too rough, I'd say "be gentle" in a slightly warning tone and try to divert his attention. If he actually bit too hard, he'd get wobbled, blown on, or put down, as needed to stop the biting. I think it is important to encourage the behavior you want and only think in terms of curbing behavior when it's necessary. I think it actually totally shaped that behavior within a couple of weeks for us, and he's never reverted. If he's going to bite, he does it with clear intent!

[petsrus]

thanks for all the info. i will give your techniques a try and see how it goes.