New Senegal parrot (baby) pinches hard out of curiosity

[Mdeshmukh]

Hi everyone,

After waiting for over a month, the breeder finally delivered my 11 week old Senegal parrot. He is so cool and cute. I used to have a cockatiel and so I'm quite surprised in terms of how a Senegal is a whole different breed (no pun intended). Anyway, here's my problem and I'm looking for some expert advice.

He already knows how to step up and is comfortable around me. Within the first hour, he wants to come out of his cage and to me. The issue is that once he's on my hand, he consistently tries to check me out by pinching the skin on my hand or the fleshy part of the finger. I have to keep dropping my hand (on purpose) so that he feels off-balance and snaps out of it. I absolutely know that he is NOT biting. He's just curious but he just doesn't cut it out. I can only imagine how hard an actual bite will be because just the pinch is painful.

What do I do? Am I doing right by dropping my hand? Should I try something else? Is this normal? Did most of you experience this with your senegals? He's only been with me for about 6 hours and I know I need to be patient but I don't want to teach something wrong. I want him to stay on my hand and observe things and listen to me talk, not be pinching or biting my fingers/hand.

All advice is welcome

[Michael]

I have to keep dropping my hand (on purpose) so that he feels off-balance and snaps out of it.

STOP!!! Don't do this! You shouldn't ever make a baby parrot feel insecure on your hands or you will screw it up.

I absolutely know that he is NOT biting.

Yeah, that comes later

A) Ignore it when it happens and deal with it
B) Try to avoid it by the way you hold the bird. Keep the bird busy when on your hand. Don't leave so much time that the bird is getting bored. Preemptively provide toys and things to do.

I can only imagine how hard an actual bite will be because just the pinch is painful.

You just wait till he gets hormonal

What do I do? Am I doing right by dropping my hand? Should I try something else? Is this normal? Did most of you experience this with your senegals? He's only been with me for about 6 hours and I know I need to be patient but I don't want to teach something wrong. I want him to stay on my hand and observe things and listen to me talk, not be pinching or biting my fingers/hand.

All birds go through these nippy exploring stages. They just gotta get it out of their systems till it is no longer interesting. Read this article about why you shouldn't use punishment on your parrot, and even moreso on a baby. You don't want your parrot to learn that your hand is anything but safe. Instead like I said above, do stuff that keeps it from getting the nip going in the first place. This article talks about ways to hold the bird to prevent some of the nipping:

http://trainedparrot.com/index.php?bid= ... ab+Methods

[Mdeshmukh]

Thanks Michael. Appreciate the quick and informative response. Not looking forward to the getting bitten part

Should I start clicker training right away or give him two days to get used to me and the house? Is there a sequential to-do list that you can give that would ensure that I raise a well-behaved, well-socialized, cue-trained parrot? You can give me the first absolutely-must step for now and I could get started in that.

Thanks in advance.