Second thoughts?

[dorp]

parrots are scary, I agree

[brfussne]

parrots are scary, I agree

Not scary, they're bites are just painful ... I can't imagine being bitten by a Macaw!

[RedDragon1288]

yeah large parrots scare me, but the worse bite I got from Ruby was on my cheek when he was on my shoulder which got him a three month banned from the shoulder. He loves being on our shoulders so he learned not to bite the face. Now he lets us know if he is upset by pinching our ears. It's interesting the feeling because it doesn't hurt very much but just enough for him to be banned again. lol

[liz]

The only bites I ever got was from a baby cockatiel. She would get a mouth full then clamp hard and shake her head. She intended to take out a chunk. Her name was Rosie but her nickname was Pit Bull. She would not let go even when I put her down. I had to tickle her belly to distract her.

[pfinarffle]

I'd have to respectfully disagree with the idea to avoid acquiring an adopted bird for fear of getting bitten. The key to bite preventation in *any* situation, breeder bought or adopted, is to learn how to read your pet's body language. Look at things from their perspective. Even the biggest parrots out there are still a tiny fraction of your size and weight. They can and will freak out over things. It's in their nature as prey animals. You won't always be able to prevent bites because these little panic attacks can happen. But in our case, we learned very quickly that our Sennie, an 18 year-old bird at that, gave us very clear warnings before he even tries to bite. I can also usually tell the difference between an on-coming little love pinch that he does while I preen him, and a true bite that he does out of fear. The only times I'm now bitten are when something spooks him, be it seeing a blanket or large shiny object that he gets excited about and attacks playfully. With my hand in the wrong place, yeah I'll get bitten. But nothing too serious. Granted he's a small Sennie. But this idea applies to all parrots. It's all about communication and trust, first and foremost! And that can be built up no matter how old or re-homed the parrot.

Good luck!

[liz]

Before I had any birds my neighbor across the street had a Macaw. One day I heard it screaming and when I looked the man was hosing down a big cage. My eyesight isn't that great so I could not see what was going on. Being "critter woman", I ran across the street to check. The bird was not in the cage but on the porch trying to get the front door open. It was scared so I sat on the steps to confort it. Not knowing anything about birds and never seeing a Macaw up close before I was shocked when it ran to me and got on my arm. He was a good boy just scared.

I have never had a fear of the Amazons or Cockatiels but that baby Cockatiel put fear in me after a few missing chunks of skin.

[Lindsey]

My 1 y/o CAG Alex went through a brief nippy phase which I attribute 100% to my boyfriend "playing" with him with a towel wrapped around his arm. Alex would bite the towel and he would laugh at him and egg him on, and he would bite harder next time until one morning I reached my arm in the cage to let him come out and he CHOMPED me while stepping up (which I was totally not expecting) and then giggled at me while I was gasping, so I went through an entire day of targeting and stepping up, and he never did it again. It did hurt, but my amazon Lulu has bitten me WAAAAAY worse. My opinion of grays (or atleast of Alex) is that they will do what their environment encourages them to do. If you are visibly stiff and rigid with fear when reaching out to your bird, he might react with similar fearful stiffness and he may nip if he's startled while in that rigid state. However, a healthy level of fear prevents us from getting careless, and caution is never a bad thing. Caution is good, but hesitation is bad. So, proceed with caution, but be sure to proceed steadily and confidently. Fake confidence looks the same as real confidence, and since the bird won't know you yet, he's unlikely to know the difference. If he's well-socialized or atleast used to human contact, I really don't think you have to worry. Alex was a baby when I got him, and he barely got handled at all, and he has never bitten me once aside from the time he chomped me. One thing I do with all of my birds (particularily Lulu, because she is a nipper) is that I keep gobs of stuff in their enclosures for them to chew on and trim up their beaks, as well as lots of grooming perches. I really do think it makes a difference in A: satisfying their urge to nibble in a healthy way and B: keeping their beaks from turning into razor blades.