Nipping baby.

[Amber]

My new yellow sided green cheeked conure is lovely most of the time, but sometimes he'll nibble my fingers, then it will turn into nipping and it hurts! I want to stop him doing this as soon as I can! Any ideas please?!

[Kaedyn]

One thing you might try is distractions. Always use positive measures to counter undesired behaviors. So, if you know of some toy which your bird really loves, keep it nearby and use it to divert attention away from your fingers. You could also try a walk around the house, etc.

[Amber]

Thank you. I really don't want to tell him off as he's only a baby and I haven't even had him a week yet! I don't want to scare him. I've heard of putting them in their cage as a punishment, but I don't agree with that either as I want him to like his cage, and not think of it as a bad place to be! He's sweet most of the time, but he's got a finger thing! He never nips anywhere else.

[tarnold]

Hey Amber my grey was doing that. Like you I did not want the cage to be a punishment so what I started doing was putting her on her perch outside the cage, told her not to bite then turned my back on her for a few minutes. She hates that and has learned fairly quickly not to bite. There has been no biting for about a week now.

[Amber]

Ooo, well done for stopping your greys biting! I'm hoping my new little baby will learn fast too! Thanks.