WHY is it BAD to express GCC bite HURTS ???

[SabrinaVirgo]

How come it's bad to show or express it hurts when your Green Cheek Conure bites you? I don't understand that part. Of COARSE you NEVER hit them in any case!!! Someone that hits an animal is an absolute idiot and is being cruel. If you yell/scream depending how hard they bite you and you say NO then why is that wrong??? I try my very best to grab my Female Green Cheek Conure's beek and gently hold it down and say "NO BITING" but let's face it they are extremely quick and stubborn. I don't very much get the chance to bring her beek down gently.

Also when they try to bite you or during the time they are biting you it's nearly impossible to put them on the floor. I don't know why someone would give that advise?! Also when they bite you and some people say to bring your finger away, well your flesh is in it's mouth you can't just "move it away easily".

If someone could please help me out with some positive realistic "no biting" bird training???
Also please keep in mind this is the first bird I ever had in my life. My Female Green Cheek Conure is 5 months old and I have had her for over a month.


Thank you!

[marie83]

On my phone and can't write a proper reply to help you but green cheeks thrive on drama and attention . If you react though you may end up with a bird that bites because its fun to see your reaction.I've responded to several other posts regarding gcc biting behaviours as have other people. Why don't you use the search button instead of repeating the same question over and over?

[Michael]

How come it's bad to show or express it hurts when your Green Cheek Conure bites you? I don't understand that part.

Let me put it simply. The bird wants to bite you. If you tell it that it hurts, then it knows that it got what it wanted and will bite more next time.

[SabrinaVirgo]

@ michael

Thank you for the advice!

[Pajarita]

I don't agree with the two previous posters or with this very common and often repeated bunk theory. Why? Because it implies either one or both of these two premises:

1. Parrot is stupid and confuses 'drama' with pain (not a chance!)

2. Parrot wants to cause pain (not a chance!)

Parrots are not naturally aggressive (they are not predators or live in a hierarchical society) so the 'I wanna make you suffer' with the corresponding satisfaction when they see they do doesn't exist for them. The only time they bite is when they feel threatened in any way or when they have no other way of making you understand that what you are doing is not good for them (I am not taking about a warning nip but a real bite). But even when this happens, they never actually cause as much damage as they could.

They are also highly intelligent as well as masters of the body language (not only parrots' but also humans') so there is no confusion in their mind about what constitutes fun drama versus what is an expression of pain. What does happen sometimes is that people laugh off the baby's nips and teach the bird to do it for the laughter that might ensue right after (they do it themselves, they would bite you and laugh right after and that's a learned reaction not an instinctual one).

Parrots are incredibly empathetic and you will find millions of examples over the net of people who would swear by this. They don't want their loved ones to be hurt or feel pain in any way.

I have wild-caught male zons that were used as breeders most of their lives which is the meanest thing you can find in parrots and even them don't bite me unless I bother them in any way.

There is nothing wrong with showing your bird that he has caused you pain. I always show that I am hurt when I get bit and the birds that are bonded to me don't like it one bit... to the point that I have three of them that would go after the bird that did it to show him their displeasure and their love for me.

[cml]

There is nothing wrong with showing your bird that he has caused you pain. I always show that I am hurt when I get bit and the birds that are bonded to me don't like it one bit... to the point that I have three of them that would go after the bird that did it to show him their displeasure and their love for me.

Sounds like you have reinforced non-biting by letting the birds fear the other birds attacking them .
It may also increase aggressive issues related to jealousy, and its not something I would encourage.

Showing a bird pain is a reaction, and what you want to do is avoid any kind of reaction at all, as to not reinforce the bite in any way. Michael has many articles on this, did you do as I suggested and started reading them?

Also, please put questions in the appropriate forum, this is the introductions area. I suggest basic taming!

[truste]

I understand the reasons for not responding to an aggressive or fear-driven bite, as Michael has said. In those cases the bird WANTS to hurt and a reaction is just giving the bird what it wants.

BUT what about exploratory biting? One of my GCCs loves to snuggle up to us and then inevitably he'll start nibbling our skin with his beak. This is okay, but often he'll take it too far and give a harder nip. Now, I'm pretty sure that the reason he does this is NOT because he wants to hurt us. He's just chewing, as birds like to do. In these cases I'll make a short yelp. When I do this, he backs down and then starts nibbling gently again.

I learned to do this from watching my GCCs preen each other. They love to do so but once in a while will hurt each other. When this happens the other makes a squeak like sound and flinches. The preener then backs away for a second and resumes gentle preening.

[pennyandrocky]

I completely agree with marie83. when my penny went through his nippy stage I just gently shoved him off my shoulder. he quickly learned that biting lost him his favorite perch now he never bites me but my 5 year old neighbor and my neice who both have very high pitched screams penny will search them out just to bite them I think he likes the noise they make. he's not allowed to sit on their shoulders that doesn't stop him from landing on them I've had to train the kids to quietly walk over to me or my 8 year old to get him off.

[marie83]

Well I can only speak from my own experience, though I have seen many others say the same, but my ex reacts to bites and I don't. He gets bitten loads (more than once per day) but I rarely ever get bitten. Whilst I don't think birds are predominantly agressive they will quickly learn to bite if it gets them what they want.

[Pajarita]

I don't agree. Parrots never bite to get what they want or because they want to cause pain. This would imply a hard-wire mechanism for dominance which parrots don't have. The two examples given (children and husband getting bit while owner is not) are not really proving either of these tenets. Pet parrots without bird mates usually bond with one person and would bite anybody they would perceive as threatening or competition for their chosen one's attention and these two example are exactly that.