I love my Squee, she is an outgoing and confident little character. As such, she has absolutely no fear of humans. She will perch on my hand when I offer her food or toys, and sometimes just for fun.

Her fearlessness has made it a different challenge to tame her - usually we try to get them to overcome fear. Sometimes when I walk past the cage, especially when it is getting dark outside, she will make "angry dolphin noise." At other times, when I put my hand near the cage, she will rush over excitedly and bite.

 

Here is a video of it:

http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a14/Chrys...rent=biting.flv

 

Please have a look and post your opinion. Is it play, dominance or territorial aggression?

(There is no sound in the video because my family were having a loud discussion, (Laughing out loud). She doesn't really make any noise while she is biting - sometimes an excited squawk).

 

I would also like some advice on how to get her to stop/decrease this behaviour. If it is a dominance thing, should I give her a gentle push back to show her I'm bigger and stronger? Or, if it is territory issues, should I just ignore it (like I did in that video - it's not much fun for me! Ouch! ) to show that biting has no consequences so she should just give up? A negative consequence like covering the cage? Or something else altogether?

 

Help is appreciated. Thanks in advance

Edited December 30, 200618 yr by Chrysocome

i would say that squee may just be having a bit of a mini hissy fit. birds will become cranky (often at night) and do that kind of actions they will not bite hard because they know that it is their flock member but they are trying to say leave me alone. ive found that if you dont encourage it then it wont be prolonged and turn into harder harsher biting. a good punishment would be to cover her cage or i find that you can put them in the bathroom with the lights out that seems to work better because it is a totally different sourrounding.

l voted for mix or other , l believe there are many different reasons why budgies do that , my budgie Mango would do the same thing as Squee does in that video .

It kind of seems to me that Squee just might be having fun. Baby chews on our fingers quite often and your video reminded me of her. Except she doesn't hold onto our finger. We usually box with her when she does that, move our finger around, pull it away, tap her beak with it, etc. She seems to have a lot of fun with it, and when she bites too hard, we just leave her, game over. She's usually pretty good about it. I can totally understand this might not be a behavior you would want to encourage though, and in that case, I'd not give her any sort of attention for it. She bites, just walk away without saying a word. She doesn't get your attention if she's going to bite. Or take away the treat or toy if she's engaged with that. I think covering the cage or moving her to a dark alone room wouldn't be as immediate of a consequence - timing is everything! The lesson might be lost on her, particularly if its a prolonged time out. Turning your back on her for a few minutes would probably be just as effective.

She's even done that to me to an extent :hap: So cute! Always knew she was going to be an interesting one to tame from when we picked her up :hap: Good luck heheheheh

Edited December 30, 200618 yr by Flake

Oh, she's already tame!! (Laughing out loud). Piper used to do that all the time. It's great that you know to figure out why it's happening before planning how to fix it. Why is the most important question to ask. Does this ever happen outside of the cage?

Looks an awful lot like Ozzie wrestling with my fingers which is all fun. Is it painful biting?

:hap: I was wondering, like Terri, does this ever happen outside the cage? Could it be that she has cage aggressiveness or doesn't like you poking your finger through the cage bars? If it's only within the cage, that's a good thing. The parrotlet I am birdsitting will jump on me JUST to nip and bite in or out of cage (unless I am a means to where he wants to go) and my Phoebe (lovebird) is just a doll outside the cage and doesn't bite but I have to wear leather gloves INSIDE her cage. My budgies are a combination, they either do not bite at all or only in circumstances where they are fearful or I have to grab them for some reason. :greenb:

Looks hormonal to me. Several of my birds have done that to me during hormonal stages. You don't want to encourage it. If you look at the video again, in the beginning as she starts to nip you can see her bob her head like she is going to regurgitate on you, she just doesn't. She places her feet on your fingers and wiggles around. Not aggressive behavior to me.

 

She does not look like she is being cage aggressive. That would entail screaming and bloodletting. She also wouldn't leave and fly to the other side of the cage if she truly wanted to get rid of your presence. Also, parrots really don't have dominance issues. Their agenda is to get what they want when they think they want it, LOL. You don't need to push her back to show her you are boss. She wouldn't get that out of it. She knows you are bigger and stronger. Either it would be a game to her, or would chip away at the trust you have gained and be confusing to her.

 

Biting is a learned behavior in response to living with humans. Parrots in the wild don't usually bite each other, even if they are angry. They will scream, fluff their feathers to look larger, and hack at the air with their beaks, but don't bite. In this case, I think she is using the biting as a displacement activity. She is frustrated. You cannot return her affections in 'that' way. Her hormones are starting to rise. I don't remember how old she is, but her behavior is indicitive of being around 6-9 months old. If I were you, I would not keep wiggling my fingers in her cage. I also would not be surprised if she begins to do this same behavior outside of the cage. When that occurs, thank her for her affections, tell you you love her too, set her down, and move away until she calms down. If it is hormonal, the behavior will pass soon.

Thanks for all the replies. I learnt a lot from that!

 

I don't know if it happens outside the cage, I've only taken her out once so far and she was far too busy checking out her new environment. I'll make note of it next time.

She does bite me inside the cage, too, but this behaviour seems to be decreasing. (She used to take flying leaps and go straight for exposed skin). I think it's because she has realised that I bring her good things.

It isn't painful to start with but it can be when she really gets into it.

 

Rainbow your post was very interesting and insightful, thanks. That was just what I was looking for.

 

From everything I have gathered, I think the best thing for now is to remove the stimulus - I'll stop putting my finger/hand in without a treat of some sort. I guess I was just used to it because Milly loves it when I wiggle my finger at her, (Laughing out loud). If she does bite, I'll turn away.

Thanks all, again.

Edited January 1, 200718 yr by Chrysocome