perching and biting

[sanzoni]

So I had my CAG for about 2 weeks now. He is slowly starting to perch, but the thing that is questioning me is when he is on my finger, why is he always trying to bite and chew on it? Most of the time it doesn't hurt but it does sometimes. How do I teach him to stop with the chewing on my finger? Or is this something I just have to wait for him to grow out of? Thank You

[sanzoni]

forgot to add this... I already been trying the drop your hand a bit to make him lose balance for a second. But then he starts flapping his wings and once he stops he continues to nip, chew, bite, whatever you want to call it lol.

[Xtreme575]

Mine does that if I'm not as fun as he'd like me to be, or if he wants something, like food!

 

Have you tried just putting him back on his cage and walking away? Then try going back (all forgotten by you) and try again. Are you offering ajust a finger, or your whole hand? Try holding your hand like a karate chop.

 

Two weeks is still pretty new, you just might need to be patient to allow your bird to get more used to you.

[Luvparrots]

Your grey is still very young. Don't offer your fingers. I offer the back of my hand or arm.

[Veenyx]

With a bird that young, especially a Grey, I would avoid the hand drop method. Greys can become hand phobic so you want to reinforce the hand as a safe place. My baby developed the same biting issue when he began to perch. A strong NO followed by walking away worked very well with him. I suggest you give that a try.

[Jane08]

What I do in this situation as soon as I see Rangi lowering his head to grab the finger I bring my other hand up so as to almost block his beak from reaching the finger and immediately ask him to step up on to the other hand.

[danmcq]

Your Grey is very young and not sure of "Safe and Stable" perching areas and that includes your finger. It is also very uncoordinated at that age.

 

Every bird will "Test" a perch for stability. The more it moves, the more it will beak and test.

 

Also, they beak and tongue everything they come in contact with at the age. It is how they learn textures, tastes and rigidity of an item.

 

Your grey is not "Biting" and should never be punished or reacted to as if it did something wrong.

 

Your finger is not a good perch for such a young grey. As others have stated, use your whole hand or arm for it to perch as it is a more stable and larger platform for it to stand on.