ruby conure - stop climbing and biting

Aug 31, 2010

ruby conure - stop climbing and biting
by: Linda

This is a common problem for new, not quite tame birds, and basically, any shoulder riding needs to be nipped in the bud immediately. Shoulder sitting gives the bird way too much access to your face and eyes. Keep picking her up with the perch for a while longer. When she runs down and bites you, say "Oh, that hurts", or "Stop That" and put bird back inside cage and shut the door. After a short period, open cage back up, take bird out with perch and use finger to again load bird onto your finger/hand. If she bites you again, do the same steps over again. Only work with her for short periods like 10 to 15 minutes and then give both of you a rest. You can have these short lessons several times a day until she has gotten her learning down. As for the shoulder, when she attempts to run up your arm to shoulder, gently drop your arm to your side, which will naturally force her downward instead of up. Keep using the perch as said before as well as putting bird up when she continues to be naughty.

Another important thing to remember here is birds don't understand "don't" or not or no, so what they are hearing is Do climb up to my shoulder, or Do bite me. Say things they can understand like stop climbing to my shoulder or stop biting me because it hurts a lot! Be firm, but gentle in the handling of your bird as they are easily hurt physically, and yelling at them destroys their confidence and trust in their new human companions. Firm yet gentle with everything. This does not mean to say "Stop doing that" in a tiny ineffectual voice, because then the bird has you where they want you which is afraid to make them do anything they "don't" want to do. Birds are great manipulators due to their high intelligence, so always be firm yet gentle and persuasive in your dealings with bird. Birds will run all over their people and make a home into a battle ground if not handled and trained properly, so keep that in mind when trying to change an unwanted behavior.

This "battle ground" scenario is why so many people want to "get rid of" their birds almost as fast as they get them. They do not understand the methods of training or their birds, and are lost until they do their homework, find training materials and get to work. Last resort is to "get rid of" a bird just because it is being a bird. In this case, the bird appears to be smarter than the humans it is living with (LOL!).

Thanks for writng, and there are some training materials on this site you may wish to look at, and the internet is full of information about successfully and peacefully living with our birds.

Linda

ruby conure - stop climbing and biting

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ruby conure - stop climbing and biting

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