My new African Grey - Pluto!

[lilyandpluto]

Hiya! I am a new member!
I got my first ever parrot 3 days ago - very new and exciting! Still trying to find out what his favourite treats are so I can start training (also bought a clicker!)
Only problem is, is that I know he is not biting me, he uses his beak for balance etc, but sometime he is nipping for too long (half way to a bite maybe?) and I understand you must just ignore it, However it is getting considerably painful! Is there any advice on what I could do to reduce the behaviour because I don't want it to become a habit! and it does really hurt after a while!
Another thing, is that he loves climbing my shoulders and then getting on to my back where I can't reach him, I understand this is a big no with parrots, its just I don't understand how to physically stop him climbing up on to my back without hurting him, but when he is on my back i am stuck! because I can't reach him and if I do, he starts the 'long' nipping thing all over again!
If anyone has any advice or help that would be great? I really want to be a confident parrot owner, though I don't have the biggest experience, so some advice would be handy
Pluto (the parrot) is very tame already, I would love to keep him that way!
Sorry if I sound stupid or inaccurate, I am just worried as I don't want to make any mistakes that would affect the relationship between me and Pluto.
Many thanks!
Lily

[Michael]

Prevention, prevention, prevention. That's the name of the game when it comes to this kinda stuff. I'm going to assume that the bird is a baby from what you describe but even if it's an older rescue it shouldn't change too much. Stop thinking in terms of punishing the behavior so that the bird would be afraid to do it. That will backfire on you big time. Right now the bird is just nipping for certain reasons. If you start being forceful, it will start actually biting instead. You can't win like that.

The most successful approach is to prevent unwanted behavior in the first place while rewarding good behavior. If the bird doesn't get opportunities to do what it's not supposed to, it can't learn to do it more and become a habit. So for example to prevent the bird from sneaking around your shoulder, don't put the bird on your shoulder in the first place. When it comes to the nipping, prevent nipping by keeping interactions brief and engaging and put the bird down before it gets the change to have some exploratory nipping out of boredom. Also, if this is a baby, sometimes they just need some time to grow out of it. They gotta get it out of their system. So given that they have to do it so many times until they no longer care, the most important thing is NOT to react or do anything in response so that it doesn't become learned behavior. The last thing you need is for them to decide it is fun.

Don't say "no." Don't react in any way at all. Because the parrot can learn that it's fun to nip and hear you talk like pulling the string on the back of a doll. Any reaction is liable to reinforce the bird and encourage it to do more of this. Preventing it in the first place is the best way to avoid getting hurt and avoid the bird learning to do more of it. Try to divert attention (toy, food, interaction) BEFORE it happens. If it happens, just pretend like it never did and move on. Whatever you do, do not start offering toys and doing the things you should have done before but after.

Here was another similar discussion recently:

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=9515&p=64612#p64612

[lilyandpluto]

Thanks for the quick response! Really helpful!