GCC and nipping. Am I doing the right thing?

[paper_lantern]

I knew GCC's could be nippy before I got one, so I was expecting it. He does "beak" meaning he explores with his beak, which I do not discourage. But sometimes he nips, and I mean hard enough to draw blood. Of course I try not to react and I DO NOT punish him, instead I put him down and ignore him for a few seconds to a minute. It has seemed to resolve the problem a bit, but am I doing the right thing?

Personally, even if he never grows out of it I'm fine, I'll still love him as much as I do now. I just want to make sure that I'm not doing any harm by putting him down and ignoring him when he bites too hard.

[Michael]

Ignore it completely and most parrots grow out of it 80% by one year old I'd say. However, by reacting or reinforcing the nipping it's possible to make it all stay for life. Now GCCs are known to be especially nippy (can't stand the little buggers) but I still think much of it can be reduced with proper taming/training. You'll never eliminate 100% of it. The main thing is never to let it get encouraged so that more happens. Prevention is an important part of elimination.

[Cage Cleaner]

GCC's are little bitches. They go after bigger birds, and are super stubborn, fearless, and cheeky. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. Mine came to me trained to bite, and has learned that he can intimidate people by biting or faking biting. If you can help it, don't let yours learn that the biting hurts, ever.

The best way is prevention, which is a handy tool, but won't be there for you 100% of the time. The bird will usually move away or do something to show that he isn't happy with something. Then, he will nip, not too hard, to warn, and then finally comes the bite. If you can read the body language and expect the bite, then you can back off before it happens.

This isn't going to work for you 100% of the time, though. There are those times when you're training the bird to do something it doesn't want to do, and it'll just turn around and land one on you. I've noticed that my GCC tends to get impatient with things like teaching it to hold up its wings or picking it up by the body, among other things.

At these times, you need to distinguish between fear and just plain old (green) cheekiness. If it's fear, then don't press the issue and just go with the usual training techniques of pushing the bird to its limit only briefly, and then relenting. But if it's cheekiness, then you need to work through that.

Mine unfortunately already knows that biting will get him his way, so I do at times force him to do things that he doesn't want to do. For example, he will respond with a very hard bite (as he watches you for a reaction) when you reach out to ask him to step up. I have to just take it and keep moving my finger toward him until he has no choice but to step up.

Also, in my experience they only draw blood when they get a hold of a small part of your skin and bite down. Or, if you let them just hold onto your finger and keep biting. If they're biting your whole finger for only a moment, they usually don't manage to draw blood. With mine, I know him well enough to be able to kind of plan for the bite, so that he will get either the thicker skin on my palms (as opposed to the backs of my hands) or have to bite a whole finger instead of getting a small bit of skin and drawing blood. Also make sure they don't bite the base of your nails. That hurts.

[Leanne Fox]

Hi, I'm a real novice but learnt from observation with our Maroonies.

Our first one was 4 mths old when we got him, got alot of handling and never drew blood. He got injured, then sick and we lost him. Our breeder offered us a replacement, last chick from the nest, then twisted our arm, NOT,to also take his cage mate, sibling from previous nest. Both handreared, close to 1yr old. Once they setlled in and got braver, nippiness started. My Mum unexpectedly died shortly after and my time was limited with the "kids", so nipping me got worse. As things settled and I spent more time with them, it really lessened, used to always drew blood and my hands were a mess. Now, it is my fault most! of the time, not reading the "back off" signs.

[Naurthon]

Nikko can be pretty nippy, too, although he's a black cap, not a green cheek. The first year I had him, the fingers on my right hand were constantly covered in bite marks. As we've gotten to know each other better, he doesn't bite hard enough to break the skin any longer, but after almost three years, he still nips.