Biting: Who's Fault?

[Michael]

Who's fault is it when a parrot bites? Is it the parrot's fault? The owner's fault? Or would you blame the breeder for upbringing? If the parrot is a rehome, is it the previous owner's fault? What factors determine who is the cause of biting?

[MandyG]

My first thought is 'Other'. Many times (if not the majority of the time) it is the owner's fault. Not reading signs, pushing the bird too far when they're obviously not enjoying something, etc. Yes, I would definitely say it's almost always the owner's fault, whether they realize it or not. Possibly your bird 'suddenly and unprovoked' will bite you, but you might think that simply because you don't realize that you've taught the bird that every single time you pick it up when it's out of its cage you're putting it back in there for a long period of time. Then the bird bites 'for no reason' because they don't want to go back. There's so many ways we can unintentionally teach our birds to bite.

Then in some occasions the parrot bites for other reasons. Like you're holding it and everything is going great and then something goes by the window and it bites you as a warning that there's something dangerous. That type of bite isn't your fault, or really your bird's fault either. I'm sure there's many other reasons parrots bite but those are my immediate thoughts on the subject.

[Cage Cleaner]

I submitted my vote based on personal experience, and not as a general, hypothetic, blanket statement of biting at large.

I voted 'previous owner', although I would say it is a mixture between previous owner and myself. Previous owner because the bird has already been conditioned to bite, as evidenced by the fact that he would bite and say "don't bite" from day one of adoption. However, the instigator is most definitely myself.

Of course, instigation depends on what the bird has learned is a "bitable offense"; a very tame parrot may not bite a hand coming to give him a head scratch vs. my GCC when he first came to my house, where he would turn around and bite as a trained reaction.

So, I believe that the fault is largely the previous owner.

[Bobioden]

I think it is the Parrots fault UNTIL he is trained to know better.

[Cage Cleaner]

I think it is the Parrots fault UNTIL he is trained to know better.

That's a good point, too.

[liz]

A parrot like any other creature, including man, will fight to defend itself when it cannot escape. That is the instinct of self preservation. All other agression is taught in one way or the other. It could be by the breeder, perviouse owner or even us. It is a captive and can only perseve the world with the info it is fed.