how do u guys pluck enough corage to let your cag

[jjcool]

hi there,

 

just a question how do u guys pluck enough corage to let your cag bite you without reacting?

 

ive been trying it but god my cag bites real hard its the point mostly that does the damage and i never pulled away i just let him bite my finger but them it went through the skin.

 

just curious as im trying to train my cag i have had him for 5 months now, i have let him out of cage but he dont like anyone going near as he growls.

 

seems some people just put there finger in the cage put i have first hand experience how they bite.

 

how do you guys do it lol

[judygram]

I am not really the one to be giving advice on handling a bite from your grey as mine has yet to really bite me, but I know you just have to do it. I will just grin and bear it when it does occur and it will, as she is only 17 months old, not into puberty yet.

 

You don't want to show any reaction to a bite for they will continue with the biting to get that reaction. When they learn that biting you gets no reaction usually they will stop it.

 

I think you are showing some fear and your grey is picking up on that, the others you are talking about have the confidence to put their hand in and let the bird step up. I'm sorry your grey is biting you but you must let him know you are not afraid of him and you may have to endure several bad bites before he stops it. Hope this helps, others may have better suggestions.

[Guest briansmum]

i've had a couple of nasty bites and it was REALLY hard not to pull away. but you do just have to "breathe through the pain"

you have to show him your not scared of his beak and if this means letting him land a couple then take it as best you can. try not to flinch or react, which is easier said than done.

on the plus side once you've had a couple at least

you know whats comeing next time (not much of a plus i know)

 

does he only bite when you try handling him? how old is he? it could be that you need to try other techniques before just going straight in with your hands

[kiwibarb12]

Shoot - I never have been able to not react - I have had to shake Beckette loose before, but then I put her in her cage and go tend to the blood letting. and she has bitten me hard enoug that I still have scars.

if your baby is growling then she is probably afraid.

 

I think the fact that I would leave Beck alone was part of the reason that she has for the most part quit biting. She hates to be ignored.

 

If she bites you when you are trying to get her to step up, maybe you could try using a stick instead. When Beckette has been most fiesty, using a stick pretty much ensures that I won't get bitten. I haven't had to do that for a while, but for a period of about six months, that is how I got her into her cage.

 

You use a stick with a diameter to suit her grip size, and familiarize her with it, so she isn't scared of it.I left mine right next to her cage, then on top of her cage for a week or two before I tried to use it. Then use it instead of your hand to step up. Just put it to the base of her belly and gently push her off balance so she has to step up on it instead of falling over. Piles of praise, and even treats are good too.

 

Have you tried sitting next to the cage and reading to her? Its a great way of socializing with your bird with out freaking them out. I read one of the Harry Potter books to one of my birds. My kids thought I was dotty, but I enjoyed the story, and the quaker eventually learned that I wasn't there to hurt him. I also ate things that I knew she liked, so if she wanted some, she had to come over to me to get them. there are lots of sneaky ways to make your bird associate with you, but those are my two favourites.

[loviechick]

Yeah Greys can bite hard....I have the hugest bruise on my hand from Red, it's not about guts, its about understanding why they're biting you, once you figure that out, it makes the bite easier to take in my opinion!

 

How old is the bird? Did it come from an abusive home? Did it have a male or efmale owner? Are you a male or female? all this can make a difference I know my girls will bite any man that holds or attempts to touch them, just something to consider!

[lovemyGreys]

If you pull your hand away and yell, then your parrot gets a reaction out of you and will try again to get the same reaction. They think it's a game, try & show no reaction to him,try to distract him when you can see that he's going to bite,you can gently wobble your hand if he is on you this works well for me.I also have a clicker ( like some people use for dog training! ) if mine go to nip i click on the clicker & say a firm No in a strong voice, the clicker distracts them.

Some people use time out, if your parrot bites you simply return him to his cage for 5 minutes & walk away from him & say nothing.Then let him out as normal,back to the cage if he bites & again dont respond to him.

[deedee]

well its took me months but yeahhhhh bite free for nearly 7 days and i found the time out method worked for me i did do the show know fear but thats not always possible cause the bite were so hard they draw blood but slowly the bite were not as hard and now its more like a nip i think it depends on the bird to what works best.

dont know if this help but good luck.

[nevval]

Getting bit isn't much fun at all. I used to be afraid, not of Heminway, but other birds biting me. I would pull away and be reluctant to try again. Now I know that if you let them have that edge on you, they use it. Heminway only bites if he feels threatened or is falling, but the bites still hurt, and I've bled a few times. The idea is to make them think their beak isn't a weapon they can use on you. Just keep trying and don't get discouraged! Good luck!!

 

Valerie

[jjcool]

well he runs a mile if i put a stick by him,

 

however i let him out last night and he wont go onto my finger to stepup however if i put my arm out he will go onto my arm and up to my shoulder or head.

 

seems he knows step up .

 

i think hes 4 but not sure he does have a ring on his foot with a seral number but dont know how i go about checking that.

 

he did not come from a abusive home now his last oweners were nice people its just they both started a new job so wanted him to go to someone that could spend time with him.

 

they did tell me he prefers men which is a good thing as im a man.

 

its really weired as if i put him on the seatee and put my arm by him he will step up, however if hes on the cage he wont stepup just makes a squeeling noise. and he dont want to go back in cage.

 

Post edited by: jjcool, at: 2007/10/19 02:58<br><br>Post edited by: jjcool, at: 2007/10/19 03:25

[TinyTimneh]

Growling is a high fear indicator. Your grey feels threatened and very afraid of you. IF he was aggressive he would just stare you down and lower his beak towards your finger etc. Toughing it out isn't going to help you right now. In fact, not only are you establishing a pattern of unsuccessful interaction and biting as the norm, by being so forward you are increasing his fear and intensifying the bite. A frightened animal always bites harder than an angry one. Right now you need to earn trust and desensitize him to you and your hands. Just hang out, play peek-a-boo, blink a lot, offer to play a whistling game by whistling or responding to his whistles and offer lots of treats. Once he doesn't growl at you or your hands, then you can work on the step-ups.

[nims]

i do, I am so fearless with it, it sometimes puts her off! Thats what they are looking for a reaction so I make sure she doesnt get it.

[casper]

No fear! My eldest grey Charlie is known to bite, when he does I hold my finger still and dont pull away as this makes it worse!

Like nims said, dont show any reaction. After tell them no bite in a firm voice!

Remember they can sense any fear and will bite more!

[BMustee]

I agree with Tiny, as long as he is afraid of you (which he is by your discription) he is going to keep biting you. What you need to start doing is building his trust in you before you and start working on steping up. All that is happening right now is damaging to the future of your relationship. As Tiny pointed out, you need to start just sitting by him and don't stare...that is hunting behavior. Look at him with your head turned a bit to the side and blink a lot. When he looks back at you and blinks back then he is relaxing and knows you are not a danger to him. When he starts displaying a fear responce you need to back off.

[shanlung]

When I was in Taiwan, a man showed me his hand with 3 and 1/2 finger. He told me that half ring finger was taken off by his grey. Until then, I never thought that could have happened.

 

Here is another writing that hopefully be of use if that bite ever done onto finger or on hand. I hope that my having written that on 11 May 2005 will not make it too obsolete for use here.

 

I also believe the fear of getting bitten might trigger the empathic sense in the parrot, making him/her fearful and inducing that bite you were frightened of.

 

Perhaps knowing how to react might take away that fear replacing that with respect for the beak, but not fear.

 

And you can get into a better relationship with your CAG.

 

http://http://shanlung.livejournal.com/7051.html

 

Tinkerbell Legacy - Rant 08 How to avoid getting badly bitten by your bird

 

 

Shanlung

[matt314159]

Ponti has been getting better with her biting lately. What I've found that works with ponti is that if she's biting my finger, I slip my finger out of her mouth and grab her uper beak between my thumb and forefinger and tell her "no bite". Immediately following that I put her in her cage and ignore her for 15-20 minutes.

 

While I've found that positive reinforcement is usually best with these guys, but as long as the response is immediate, the scolding of holding her beak and telling her "no bite" seems to make her understand that it's a negative reaction.

 

But we also try to encourage alternative good behavior. Like letting me scratch her head, pet her, touch her beak, stepping up and down, etcetera, getting her in the habit of associating hands with love and fun, but good fun and not biting!

 

We had ponti for two years before we got Maggie, and I thought with ponti that biting was just par for the course. Contrast that to maggie, who has NEVER bitten me even when I had to grab her out of her travel cage on the first day we brought her home. So we've been working more on getting ponti trained lately.

[danmcq]

Hi jjcool,

 

I don't put up with or just let my Grey keep applying pressure. When I do accidentally put myself in a "Bite" position and don't read the body language or eye's pinning fast enough. When he grabs me for more than 5 seconds, I wrap my other finger around his beak and start applying pressure and then twist his head slightly and carefully if I must to get him to release.

 

If you know your going to get bit everytime you try to offer you hand in a blade fashion, don't do it in that manner. Ball up your hand in a fist and bend it down to get the back of your hand "Tight" and only offer that for him to step up on. He can not inflect a severe bite on that. He will either step up on it or perhaps onto your wrist since you stated he will step up on to your Arm.

 

Use his willingness to step up onto your Arm to your advantage in getting him to obey the step up command. Keep offering your Arm closer and closer to your hand to get him used to your hand being closer if you can not get him to step up in the back of your hand as I described above. That technique is commonly referred to as the "Fist of Iron".

 

I hope this helps you. :-)

[Tycos_mom]

It sounds to me like your grey is afraid of you try not looking straight at her/him try a sideways look or look at her with one eye. that way she will understand that you aren't a preditor thats going to eat her for dinner. never aprouch her cage straight on, always from the side or zig zag. I had to do these things with my bird so that she would understand that i was not going to hurt her. It took a while but it works well. I also use time outs for bites although she has never biten me really hard I still don't want her to bite at all. so even a little grab and she gets a time out. I only time her out for 5 minutes or so.

[kittykittykitty]

I do act, or is it react.

[dblhelix]

Everyone recently responding realized this post is about a year old now, right? Good advice in any case!

 

B)

[siobha9]

{Feel-good-0002006E}

That's why I kept my mouth shut;)

[judygram]

Whether it is a year old or just yesterday it is good advice and hence some older threads hold some good help that bears repeating. B)

[Nychsa]

Hmm, I seem to be reacting a bit differently than what is the conventional wisdom - i.e. not pulling away and reacting.

 

What's worked for me are a couple of things - first Bella my CAG and Jiggy my conure are both pretty protective of their cages. I never reach in there unless I'm pretty sure they want to snuggle up to me or be touched. I go by the body language. I usually open their cages and let them come out on their own. Then I put my finger in front of them and say "step up".

 

The other times Bella may end up bitting me is when we play. Bella is VERY playful and likes to horse around. She enjoys playing "bing" where I play poke her in the belly and say "bing", and she tries to bit my finger. Usually if she gets her nip in, it's not hard - it's a play nip, and then she'll say "pffffft ding!" like the pin ball machine scoring :laugh:

 

But sometimes she gets a little too carried away and she'll grab my finger with her claws and lay a good one on me. At that time I pull away and look her right in the face and say sternly "NO BITE!" She can read my facial experssions and she knows she hurt me.

That happened once or twice and she took it easy on my from that point on.

 

Now whe we play, and she accidentally gets me harder, she'll actually say "ou, ou ou" and run off before I yelp :laugh: