Help, Bitting Conure

[Ashwin1224]

Hi All,

After a lot of help from this forum, I finally managed to get my mojo to come on my hand. Albeit just about 10" from his cage. My semester exams are going on right now, so me and mojo spend time on the alternate days. But when I am not available, my mom keeps mojo entertained. But now, it seems all the progress I made has come to zero. Whenever I try to get him on my hand, he just keeps on bitting. And its really hard, he almost ripped my thumb nail

I dont know what to do. Even knowing that he will probably bite, I still try keeping the regular training schedule. But to no avail.

What should I do?

[liz]

Myrtle went through a phase of sticking to me like glue to not wanting to be bothered with me. Just like my kids, when she is giving me attitude I just pretend I don't know it. She has grown out of that after a few months and is now flying to my shoulder - giving me lovin" and flying back to what she was doing. She is still in her "terrible twos" but will grow out of it.
Survive the best you can and she will grow out of it.

[Ashwin1224]

Umm, so you suggest I should just wait to get things back to normal again?
Mojo is just 8 months old right now.

How long could it take?

[liz]

Umm, so you suggest I should just wait to get things back to normal again?
Mojo is just 8 months old right now.

How long could it take?

I really have no idea. All I know is what I have learned along the way. The younger ones in the forum do a lot of research. No one answered you so I was just giving you encouragemnet.

Myrtle is my first baby. She was a year old when I got her but had been seriously suppressed. We are teaching each other.

My kids didn't come with instruction manuals either. I was military and not near my family for help so my kids and I taught each other.

Hang on. Someone with more knowledge will get back to you. Just keep on keepin' on.

[Mum2rory]

Ashwin, I am not an expert by any means but this is what I do with my gcc. I ask Bailey if he would like to step up. If he steps up, we go spend some one-on-one time. If he lunges forward to nip, I say "no bite" and walk away and sit down where he cans still see me. I wait a few minutes, then go back and ask him again. I do not want my birds to bite. One thing I never do, is put my hand into HIS cage. I wait till he comes to the door (so he thinks HE decided to come out) They have feelings too, good days and bad days and maybe Mojo doesnt want to play when you want to. That is fine. Dont give him reasons to bite you cos once he gets in the habit and you start reacting, it will be very hard to stop him. If he looks like he is going to bite, walk away. Having said that, you do need to keep the socialisation up with him, or you will lose your relationship with him. Let him decide when he wants you - let him think HE decided when he wants you, sometimes you do have to gently push it a little. Good luck. I hope someone here will offer better advice than me.

[liz]

Mum you always give good advice.

That is what I do. Basically just respect their feelings. They just may not be in the mood at the time. I love chocolate cake but not for breakfast.

[Ashwin1224]

Thank you!

Though Mojo still doesnt want to come to my hand, he let me touch him today!
Infact, he actually persuaded me to touch him!

I was just giving him some treats when I noticed that I should probably fill up some water for him. When I refilled the container, he started trying to dive in it. I though maybe he wants a bath, so I got a bigger container for him with water in it. After I put that in his cage, he started getting hyper so I opened the door and gave him a treat to calm him down a bit. After I gave it he came to my hand( I spoke to myself,"here we go again") but to my surprise he started to "groom" my finger!
I could feel it, he wasnt trying to bite, he was just nibling on my finger. Then after a min he started towards my palm, so his neck was rubbing against my fingers. This was the first time I touched him in 3 months. So I thought of taking benefit of this and made my move

First I thought he will probably get startled and start biting, but when I touched him with my other hand he just closed his eyes and let me fondle with him!

I feel so happy now

[cml]

How great that you are making progress! Just take it slow now, the trust is there, but let touching be on his terms, never force him. Work more with target training and try to get step up to work with targeting. After that you should work more with basic taming and handling, but I think its most important to get the step up command to work first.

2 steps forward, 1 step back. You seem to be doing alright =).

[kiwitheparakeet]

Try putting his favorite treat in your hand for a while. If he eats it keep doing it every day,ONCE. Then after two weeks stop doing it and feed him a treat if he doesn't bite.