how to get my friendly and healthy gc conure to stop playfully biting me
Hi there! I've never used reddit but no where else seemed to have the answer to my question so I figured I'd give it a shot. Long story short: my conure is BITING (not beaking) me as a way to play/elicit a reaction and I am wondering how to stop this or if I should just get leather gloves.
Long story long: I've wanted a pet bird since I was a child and I finally managed to get to a secure place in order to make it happen. I've had her about a week now and she's INCREDIBLY friendly and happy and she seems to be doing very well. Obviously not entirely adjusted yet but I can tell she's doing well. However I leave her cage open for her to go in and out while I'm home (her cage is in my bedroom) and while I lounge about she will often approach me and hang out on my hand. The problem is is that she LOVES to bite me. I know the best course of action is to ignore it as best as possible, but it HURTS and I obviously flinch. While I don't respond to the bites verbally I do flinch and I think she thinks its kind of a game. Everywhere online is saying that birds should not be biting this hard unless they are fearful or aggressive, but she seems perfectly happy and I take very good care of her yet she still does it.
Here is some more information if anyone can sus out the source of the problem:
Diet: she's (unfortunately) on a seed diet due to her previous owner and she's very picky but I'm slowly transitioning her to pellets. She also gets lots of fresh food every day. She has a cuttlebone and a mineral perch as well.
Enclosure: it's a hair smaller than I would like bit still big enough by far (I just wish it was bigger) and has plenty of toys and chewing availability. I also have the door open for AT LEAST 4-5 hours every day while I'm home so she's free to do as she pleases. And as I said; she also has plenty of enrichment and toys within the actual cage, and I see her bite pieces off the wooden ones in there.
Other: she gets 10-12 hours of sleep a night (tho my roommate could be waking her up on accident while I'm asleep because they go to bed late and they are kind of loud). She seems very friendly and happy! Though her previous owner did clip her wings and didn't tell me until I showed up to get her, so maybe it's related to that? But I have rope tied up all over my room so she can get around. I'm a little mad about the wing clipping because I don't like it but I did not clip her wings so I don't know why she would be biting ME.
Anyways: she seems to like me a lot and she will often approach me to visit and such. We have a good relationship and I give her space when needed but she loves to bite my hand HARD. I have a fairly high pain tolerance but she's BITING biting like enough to bruise or draw a little blood. I'm obviously not mad at her and I never yell but I do flinch so I think that encourages her. I'm wondering if I should just move her back to the cage every time she does it, but I worry that may discourage her from coming to see me. Should I just get some gloves? Reddit has answered so many of my questions indirectly over the years: so don't fail me now.
Posted Sep 16, 2022, 7:25 PM UTC
When my GCC bites, I immediately stop playing etc and place him on the ground (only for maybe a minute at most). He HATES the ground. So it has helped with the biting. Still get bit pretty regularly. But a lot less so than I used to.
Thanks so much! I will definitely try this as she also hates the ground a lot.