New here.

[Java]

I have been owned by a Senegal parrot for about 2 weeks now. I have been watching videos of these birds doing tricks and talking. Mine is super sweet and very eager to talk, you can just hear it. I believe he is already talking but I cannot make out what he is saying yet.

My only problem with him is that when I hold him, he nibbles my ears, my shirts he bites holes in them, but I do not see this as being atttacked. It seems like he is preening me. He steps up only to me right now, and loves to sit on my shoulders and bite my ears or my glasses, or my shirt. He is pretty quiet except when I am not holding him, then he tries to talk and imitate me. He loves giving kisses.

He definitely says the kiss sound. He does some tricks, like laying on his back. He does not fly or he has not attempted to fly but I would guess the pet shop I bought him from has clipped his wings.

He is definitely a 1 person bird so far.

So any ideas on how to stop the preening biting he does, like the ear nibbling, shirt hole biting, and he keeps trying to bite my fingernails off.

If I could have 1 word to describe my new addition is that he is a brat and he knows it, but I love him to death.

Is it worth sexing them with DNA? I call him a him, but no idea why.

I'll be reading around.

[Java]

He is desperately trying to get into my mouth at the moment because I am sucking on candy. He is a persistent little bugger.

He also loves to pinch bite the skin on my neck but not sure why he does that, it's tiny little bites. I try taking him off me, but he just crawls right back up on me. next step is back to his cage for a bit.

[pchela]

Hi and welcome.

How old is your Sennie? They can be quite beaky when they are babies. Mine was always biting my ears and nipping at my fingers etc but he grew out of it. Of course, make sure not to teach him that he will get a reaction by biting (by yelling or shouting) because then he will think it is fun and keep doing it.

[Java]

Hi and welcome.

How old is your Sennie? They can be quite beaky when they are babies. Mine was always biting my ears and nipping at my fingers etc but he grew out of it. Of course, make sure not to teach him that he will get a reaction by biting (by yelling or shouting) because then he will think it is fun and keep doing it.

You know, I do not have the foggiest idea how old he is. I keep reminding myself to call the pet shop where I bought him to ask, but I keep forgetting. I know they had only had him for a few days when I bought him, but not sure what that means. He has no ankle thing like most of the birds I see in pics here have on their ankle.

I thought telling him no was a good thing against biting, but I guess I should just ignore it. It does hurt sometimes, and I respond by saying owe alot, so will have to work on trying to not respond at all. I have noticed when I say no biting, he immediately does it again as if he thinks I want more of that behavior. So, not acknowledging it makes sense, it just hurts so it is very hard not to react.

The biting does not seem agressive at all at any time, just him getting to know me I guess.

[pchela]

Another good tool for biting is misdirection. Keep a toy handy and whenever he bites on you, offer the toy and see if you can get him to chew on it instead.

I know it is so hard not to react when they bite, especially some of the harder bites. I still have trouble with it. You may just end up with a parrot who bites you and then says "ow!" which, while cute and somewhat humorous, is probably not what you want your end result to be.

[Java]

Another good tool for biting is misdirection. Keep a toy handy and whenever he bites on you, offer the toy and see if you can get him to chew on it instead.

I know it is so hard not to react when they bite, especially some of the harder bites. I still have trouble with it. You may just end up with a parrot who bites you and then says "ow!" which, while cute and somewhat humorous, is probably not what you want your end result to be.

You're right, a bite followed immediately by the bird saying owe would be funny probably the first few times, then would not be so funny any more.

He seems fearful of toys so far, backs away from them, at least that is my interpretation. He just, in last few days, started playing with his toys in cage.

I swear he is saying "oh baby" which I say to him all the time. Cannot wait to hear him say "I love you" which I say all the time to him or some of the other things I say all the time. He is so interactive and I love it.

I get such a kick out of him. He amazes me.

[Michael]

Senegal Parrot Article and FAQ
Senegal Parrot Comparison by owners
Intro to training
One person bird solutions
Managing Senegal Parrot aggression

[Java]

Senegal Parrot Article and FAQ
Senegal Parrot Comparison by owners
Intro to training
One person bird solutions
Managing Senegal Parrot aggression

Thanks Michael. New here and reading things as I go along. I don't call it agression though. Thanks for the links. I will check them out.

[Java]

Update.

I called the pet shop and asked his age, and was told he is 8-1/2 months old, but they do not have his date of birth.