What do you do when your bird bites you?

[Mona]

It's a rare parrot that never bites. Most species of parrots will bite for one reason or another. It is especially common for them "to bite the ones they love".

This is such an important topic and a very big topic because all species of parrots are different, all parrots are different and all living arrangements and people are different. Parrots can also bite for a variety of reasons. They are not like dogs and cats because they are not predators but are instead, prey. Punishment is usually not a good tactic for dealing with parrot bites because it can increase the animal's fearfulness and decrease their trust in their caretakers. There are many possible side effects of punishment that can ruin the parrot's relationship with their "families". Punishment can also increase rather than decrease the behavior of biting - so it can be counterproductive.

There is no simple answer to the question "Why do birds bite?". It is like trying to answer the question: "Why do children play?" The answer depends on so many variables.

Causes of biting can include: The bird is fearful or insecure. The bird's space has been encroached on. The bird is being forced to do something they do not want to do. The bird may be protecting a perceived nesting area.....and many other reasons that we have no way of knowing or understanding because we simply cannot get into the bird's head. We can only guess.

I watch my two bonded Senegals interact and between feeding each other and gentle preening, they also squabble and bite at each other. The difference between birds and people is that they have down and feathers for protection, they read each other's body language very well and they both can fly away. For this reason, the bites at each other are harmless. I suspect that most parrots do not completely understand that a bite on human flesh can really hurt. If the birds were interacting in a same species flock, nipping - squabbling - and biting would just be part of all of the activies that would make up their normal day.

A parrot/human flock situation is different from a parrot/parrot flock situation. For this reason, when a person gets a bite, it is very useful to study the behavior and analyze the situation to come up with possible scenarios that might modify the behavior in an attempt to prevent it in the future. What happened immediately before the bite that might have contributed to its likelihood? What happened immediately after the bite that might reinforce the behavior "Bite person" in the future?

I believe there is a big difference between a bite and a nip. (A bite generally draws blood while a nip can be a harmless communication) I am a huge believer in "Avoid bites at all costs". The reason is that a behavior that is reinforced is more likely to occur in the future and in many, many ways....it is difficult to not reinforce a bite.

So, my question is: What do you do when your bird bites you?

[Michael]

First off, Kili nips fairly regularly as communication but bites me very rarely. I would say that of the bites I've gotten from her, 90% were my fault or I could see them coming. Like holding her to file her nails and things like that. A few nasty bites I had from her were at the bird store. She has learned to fear the clipping lady so when I was holding Kili and the lady reached for her, Kili bit me because she wanted me to look go of her to get away. Once again, I could see that coming and know why it happened. To avoid it I could let the lady take her out of carrier or towel her.

Here's two I just can't understand. Sometimes when she sits on my finger she will reach down and chew my finger and it's something between a nip and bite. Yesterday Kili bit my neck really hard! She was sitting on my shoulder and reached down to my beck and bit in and just held on. I try to ignore her and let her do it so she would get bored of doing it but it really really hurt. I waited for her to finish then I threw her off of me. Well what do you know it, she flew right back to me and was going to do it again so I had to put her back in the cage. She was probably doing it to get attention but it's really hard to deny them attention if they keep biting. Even negative attention is attention to them!

[greatgriffin]

Very good topic - and it is important to get this one right.

What I have noticed is I am likely to get a pinch if I approach her territory (cage or perch) with my hand (recognized as "other bird" - because she is hand reared) especially when she has not yet had her breakfast yet.
Hunger makes her very territorial and it seems to be natural - it is about food. She will lurch out at my hand with a beak wide open and utter her territorial warning sound. If she succeeds in grabbing my finger she usually makes an assertive bite, not a bloody injury but certainly unpleasant.

What I try NOT to do is to suddenly pull my finger away. I move my hand a bit back and slowly fold it into a fist (less surface to attack), but I stay close until she calms down. I have read about this on other sites too. If you suddenly pull your hand away the bird will interpret it as fleeing behavior = surrender, loss of dominance.

Australian kings are said to be quite territorial and often aggressive - incidents happen every day. I am really trying to control the situation and handle it the best way I can but I do not perceive any improvement.
I don't know if it is realistic to expect that the bird can be drawn 100% under control.

[Michael]

That's a good point. If she nips/bites my hands I just push them more into her which is unexpected and it forces her off balance and she cannot continue biting.

Now that she is flighted, I wonder if it is ok to negatively reinforce biting by making her fall off of me. Of course she can fly off and she can come back if she wants to. But if she nips or bites on my neck or hand, is it ok to shake or push her off so she can no longer stay on? Maybe she could learn that biting/nipping makes me unstable?

[greatgriffin]

I don't think retaliation is effective. Aggression only brings more aggression. I once got really upset after a powerful bite and I overpowered the bird with pushing and chasing but it was an absolute mistake. The bird got depressed and confused for the rest of the day and it took several days of treating and comforting to regain her confidence.
So I ended up in beaten a second time - I had to seek her apology

[Natacha]

I have learned to avoid bites. I'm pretty good at reading my birds body language.

Shade is pretty good about going away rather than confront and eventually bite. The only bites I've really gotten from her were rather nips when she was testing me (normal for any birds to test their boundaries at one point) and there were just a few of them.

Piper doesn't really nip either.

I did get a couple of bites from Joey in the beginning and they still occasionally happen.
What I do? One, no reaction. Get him off, say a stern "no" and put him down somewhere. I'll then come back to him and offer him to step up and if he does so without biting, I'll give him praise. If I see he's still in a funny mood, I don't offer him to step up and wait a bit longer. He has really gotten better at not biting.

Zuri did test me a month or so after I got her. I did the same with her I did with Joey. They both let go pretty easily so it's fairly easy to get them off.

Petey..Petey, Petey, Petey..She's only got me a couple of times and I knew it was going to happen before it did..First time, I pushed for a kiss and knew I shouldn't..and a few seconds later she had me on my lip. Totally my fault.
The worst she's ever done? I was practicing having her step up on my finger from the cage (I was using perches then and wanted to gradually come back to my fingers). Well, for a weeks she was being good. Then one day...I pushed for it and again, seeing her I knew it would end up with her biting me. And did she ever do a number on my poor finger. I've always heard to "push in" to get a bird to let go and it works with all my others. Not Petey though. She would only grab harder and go deeper with her beak. Oddly enough, I did not react at all. Just stood there while she was munching on my finger asking myself how to get her off. I found a small blanket and covered her and slowly pried her off.
My finger was twice it's size for about a week. I never blamed her, but I went back to perches. I'll try slowly going back to trying to get her on my finger when we'll trust each other a bit more.

[MissLady9902]

Noodle has never given me a hard bite. (knock on wood)
He does however, lunge at my hand but when I don't react he just mouths my finger and then does what I asked him too.
Marvin my CAG I just got a week and a half ago. He does the bluff bite thing. Again I give no reaction to a bite so most of the time I know it's because he's still uncomfortable. If I talk to him sweetly and reassure him he steps up.
However with other people it's a whole other issue. Both Marvin and Noodle will lunge at people and when they jump back the birds just walk all over them. It makes me tired.
Funny how people don't have an issue with greeting dogs but with birds they're afriad.

[Kathleen]

It's pretty easy not to react to a budgie's bite. It doesn't hurt very much. He doesn't bite me out of aggression though. He only bites if I'm holding him (like during nail clipping) and he's frightened. If it happens, I don't say anything and I try to distract him in some way, or I hold his head in place with my finger so he can't bend his head around to bite me during the clipping.

[MandyG]

Sometimes when I try to pick up Mojo from his play stand he will bite. He will usually look at me sweetly, grab ahold of my finger like he's going to step up, then chomp down on my finger while he's holding it in place. It's not a very hard nip, but he just seems to enjoy chewing on me, rarely, like last night, it's a hard bite. I usually start to turn my hand so the back of my fist is facing him (he can't easily get ahold of me that way) and then once he stops I will take my hand away. Then I do one of three things:

1) distract him and change the frame of mind he's in by asking him to go to a different area of his perch or asking him to wave then trying to pick him up.
2) turn away from him but stay within 2 feet of his perch until it seems his attitude has changed and then try again.
3) walk away for a few minutes then come back and try again.

I have problems with each of these actions.

1) I don't want him to think he can bite first then do something good and get rewarded for it.
2 and 3) I don't know which one is right. Should I be walking away from him or will this teach him that biting will make me go away? If I leave the room he will usually call after me then will be eager to step up once I return. Is it best to leave the room to teach him I go away if he's acting up and it's better to just step up? Or should I be staying there until he steps up to show that he needs to step up when asked?

I've started asking him for behaviors such as targetting or waving for a treat or verbal praise to get him into the right mood to be picked up and that usually works. But that's not something I want to have to do every time I need to pick him up so I'm trying to think of other things to help prevent him from nipping at me. Sometimes nothing is necessary and I can just pick him up.

Does anybody have any advice that has had amazons before?

What I do? One, no reaction. Get him off, say a stern "no" and put him down somewhere. I'll then come back to him and offer him to step up and if he does so without biting, I'll give him praise. If I see he's still in a funny mood, I don't offer him to step up and wait a bit longer. He has really gotten better at not biting.

What I try NOT to do is to suddenly pull my finger away. I move my hand a bit back and slowly fold it into a fist (less surface to attack), but I stay close until she calms down. I have read about this on other sites too. If you suddenly pull your hand away the bird will interpret it as fleeing behavior = surrender, loss of dominance.

Natacha, you put him down, leave, and then come back. Greatgriffin you stay close until she calms down. Is one way better than the other? Or does it just depend on what works well for your bird? My inexperience is embarassing I'd be thankful for any advice.

P.S. I know the key is to try preventing bites in the first place, I'm getting much better at reading his body language but it's a learning process. I'm just looking for advice on how to react when he does bite.

[Michael]

The answer is it depends. If your bird loves you and wants to spend time with you and gets out of line on rare occasion, getting up and leaving is the best thing to do to make them regret biting you and realize that bite = fun is over and be alone.

If the bird disrespects you in the sense that it is testing you and thinks it can get away with it. Perhaps an aggressive bird, unfamiliar person, or trying a new personality on you then walking away could be bad. If the bird is trying to intimidate you, make you go away, or test you, walking away is surrender where you have to keep trying and pushing till it steps up and realizes that biting won't make you stop persisting.

I use both methods on Kili. Sometimes she will get nippy for the hell of it but in a playful way. I put her away and ignore her a while. She calls and calls and is often better next time out. On the other hand, some days she is moody or it's a new person and she will try to bite to test/make them go away and we continue to insist till she steps up.

You have to gauge what your bird wants to achieve by nipping/biting and then do the exact opposite of what it wants so that it realizes that biting brings undesired rather than desired outcomes.