13 week old Bodie

[Drpepperkel]

Hi all,

I am new to the forum and would greatly appreciate any advice. We have had Bodie for 1 week so shes 14 weeks now. The breeder guessed Bodie was female due to her love of men. She has settled in really well certainly not shy at all and flies over to me, and absolutely loves my partner Luke and my dad. With me i think shes not too fussed unless i have food but did do an excited head bob today when i got back from work which was lovely. Anyway my primary concern is the biting, she will nip and nip me till my fingers bleed, i have tried to be calm, and not react which i have succeeded in but it was very difficult. She will fly over to me and sit happily for a few mins, even give me a kiss, then her eyes will pin and she will just start trying to bite as hard as she can on my skin. Ill try to distract her but if it gets too much i gently blow or whistle, of if she gets like it near my face i pop her back on the perch.As a newbie i just wonder what the reason for the behaviour is, shes certainly not scared, as soon as we have food she is straight over always chirping and whistling, its just this biting is getting me down. Thanks

[AJPeter]

I think they enjoy biting to get a reaction from us, when my bird bites me yes I react, l show her the blood and she looks contrite, as if she did not mean to bite so hard, in the wild they continually bite each other. The best way to not get bitten is to keep your fingers out of her beak! It is a natural response to fear or worry l think they will bite first and then ask questions later. However l am known on this site to having unorthodox views but when my birds bites my shoes l squirt her with water, l think bad habits should be discouraged. The other day my bird was sitting on the door of the cage at bed time and she likes goodnight kisses but she bit my nose. Why? Who knows? I remember a Macaw in a pet shop was fed custard cream biscuits which he adored by a little old lady she would scratch his poll and talk to him but one day he bit her. he thought it was very funny and bouncing up and down on his perch, but she was in tears.

[Drpepperkel]

Hey thanks for the reply, unfortunately no change in the biting she seems happy enough shes out a lot of the time and were always talking to her, but the bites are relentless to me and my partner. Shes not scared at all shes constantly wanting to be on us will be really lovely when we have food haha but she literally.will not stop biting any bit of skin/clothing she can get to and its really painful!. I am putting her back in the cage or at least trying to when she bites but she'll normally fly off or refuse to get off me (still biting) . I really hope this eases up its pretty hard to deal with. Any suggestion would be great.

[AJPeter]

Check out what you are doing that causes the biting, does she bite both of you? They are one person birds. Make sure she is getting 12 to 14 hours if totally dark uninterrupted sleep, put her back in the cage fro a time out when she bites. Use a perch to pick her up as they do not like hands. Try and keep your hands out of her cage, do the seed bowls swing out? Is the cage bid enough they need to have enough room to flap their wings inside or on top of the cage, It takes time for a new bird to settle down, go back to basics and keep her in the cage while you move around outside eat your meals by the cage and offer treats through the bars. Only when she responds can you let her out, but lack of sleep is a major reason for biting, boredom is another reason.

[Drpepperkel]

Thank you very much for replying the cage is big with a perch on top she has a lot of room, she prefers to be out than in. Yes she bites both of us there is no difference otherwise i would understand it. I do ot put hands near her literally goes.up my arm to.find my hands to bite them but then shes been on my shoulder for an hour having a snooze she let me.stroke her to.sleep shes so lovely sometimes so i dont think she is scared of hands???...then she will.fly off wake up a bit then come.back and nip.me constantly. I think i will start putting her to bed earlier to see it helps at all, she is in the front room with us all the time. Fingers crossed the biting reduces over time

[sanjays mummi]

Once you find out the trigger, it will help find a solution. I rarely get bitten, and there is never any blood, something is annoying her. The most you should ever get is a "back off" nip, or if she is impatient, they don't "do" patience.
The breeder thinks she is female because she likes men?, that's just silly, my bird adored daddi, but never showed any preference, they generally bond with the major caregiver. Animals bite for either angst (fear) or because they don't like what's going on,