Anyone any advice re: biting

[cmwild31]

Hi guys, i am aware that certain parrots take to one person more than the other, but my dilemma is this
I have a cinnamon bellied conure, Diego, 16 months old (approx) unsure as to if male or female as never came with foot ring or papers. he is very lovable and has been since we got him, but over the last couple of months he has all of a sudden out of the blue started to attack my partner stephen. Diego spends a lot of time with stephen and plays with him, crawling under his shirt and popping his head out of the button holes etc etc but then a couple of times a day just decides to attack, and take a chunk of skin from either stephens neck, ear, lip or hands (and quite badly at times). Regardless of what i do, he does not bite me (as in running around to catch him to put him in the cage for time out, or throwing him around the place (nicely) in play)
I don't like birds being in cages for long periods at a time but as stephen is becoming more nervous, we are having to leave him in the cage more and more. each time diego bites i tell him naughty and he goes on timeout, sometimes for long periods, the problem is is that stephen can't usually get near him to put him on timeout himself as he carries on attacking. We live in Ireland and the nearest expert is in the UK. Any advice would be very valuable.

thank you

[k-angel]

first off never put the bird back in the cage right after he bites someone it teaches the bird that biting get it taken back to its cage . have who ever the bird bit towle him and hold him on the couch and just talk to him . after 5 or 10 mins you can put the bird back in the cage

[Jenny]

have you checked out the sticky "How to Overcome One Person Parrot Aggression" in the Taming & Basic Training area?

[cmwild31]

thank you for the replies, i looked at the overcoming one person aggression but that seems to be more for someone who the bird is aggressive with all the time.. diego can spend hrs with steve and he is lovable and playful with him, but then just out of the blue bites him. As it is a spontaneous thing it is hard to determine, as to not putting him in the cage straight away it can be difficult due to him clamping down when biting and then repeatedly lunging, talking is not always a viable option lol

[liz]

Do the bites really hurt or are they clamp downs? Can he block an attach with an open hand?
Rambo clamps instead of telling me no. Myrtle clamps and wiggles her little tongue like a form of communication.

I did have a beautiful little cockatiel named Rosie that I nick named pit bull. She would try to make her beak meet and then shake her head to tare a chunk.