# Biting and the Silent Treatment



## Tibbers (Jul 9, 2010)

Hello!

Recently my bird, Tibbers, has been a little moody. He snaps at us and bites consistently (especially when we don't scritch him, which is due to him biting in the first place haha). We've been assuming that it is just because he is molting right now. Everytime he bites us, we put him back in his cage and cover his cage to isolate him. We don't show him any attention if he screams and such. We only let him back out of his cage when he is quiet. However the process repeats again when we let him out, we will play and scritch with him for about 3-5 minutes, then he would go crazy on our fingers again.
My question is, is this the correct steps we should be taking to help stop his biting?
Thank you for your time and concern!


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## tielmom (Aug 4, 2010)

I do not know too much about this...but I do know that when my tiels are molting they are moody. They do not want to be handled too much and tend to be a little bit nippier than usual. As far as covering and not giving attention, I have read that is what you do on a training site I joined, but I do not have the heart to follow through with that...I guess to each his own, if you feel it is working stick with it, but I would make sure to give lots of love when he is behaving and possibly reward too, just to make it stick in his head that this is the preferred behavior...I am not sure how much is truly your tiels fault though...I mean we get hormonal too. :yes:


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

No, this isn't really effective. A much better approach is to try to avoid being bitten in the first place. If he bites after 3-5 minutes, play with him for 2 minutes, give him a break, and then play with him for 2 minutes more. Pay attention to his body language and don't mess with him when he's not in the mood. 

If you do get bitten, ignore him instead of putting him back in the cage. Putting him in the cage takes too long, by the time you get him in there he won't be able to connect the jail time with the bite. Ignoring means that you turn your back on him immediately after the bite. If he's on you, put him down first in the most boring place within reach while paying as little attention to him as possible, and step away far enough that he can't jump back on you. You don't have to ignore him for very long, 30 seconds will do the job. Birds are very social, and even though he might want you to stop touching him he doesn't want to lose your company completely so he won't enjoy being ignored.

Also, reward him when he's being nice. Have some treats on hand (like millet spray) and give him little bites when he's being sweet. Give him nothing at all the moment he starts acting nasty and resume the treats when he starts being nice again.


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## Tibbers (Jul 9, 2010)

Thank you both for your replies. 

I am trying your method right now tielfan, and it's not really a case where I can avoid being bitten, it's more like, he likes being scritched for only a few seconds, then he'll bite you if you go any longer haha 

Anyways, I'll play with him, and if he does any biting, I'll put him on the ground in the hall, and walk around the house 1 lap and pick him back up and repeat. I like this method more because I completely agree with tielmom, isolating your bird is really one of the hardest things to do. I only do it because if I don't otherwise, I would be promoting biting and that would end up harmful for the both of us.

I'll let you guys know how it goes. Thanks!


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## Siobhan (Mar 21, 2010)

Tiels are very nervous birds, and always on the watch for danger. If you're scritching and he bites, he means, "stop, I need to check out that sound/sight/danger." He's not being mean to you. Or maybe you've bumped a sore feather -- if he's molting, the feathers coming in are very sensitive and if you touch one, it hurts. So the bite then also means, "stop." He can't SAY "stop," so he nips. And yes, they're grumpy when they're molting. My Quaker Clyde has been what we jokingly call "a bad bitey bird" the last week or so for that reason. He's not doing it to be "bad," he's sore and itchy and grumpy. 

Isolating a bird doesn't teach him to not bite. He doesn't know what you're doing it for. When he nips, just stop doing whatever you were doing and wait for him to calm down. Only show a reaction to behavior you want to encourage. Ignore behavior you don't want to encourage.


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## Sashatiel (Jun 23, 2010)

Like Siobhan, I have found that if I just take this behaviour as my tiels' signals to leave them alone for a second (ignoring them in the meantime) before long they're calm again and begging for scratches.

When I got my first tiel and followed all the advice about punishment with isolation and covering the cage, I got nowhere real fast. It's stressful and too much hassle anyway!


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

When my lucky tries to bite me i wave my finger at him saying dont bite mommy
mommy loves lucky bird, then he doesnt try to bite me anymore untill later lol


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## Dave & Tito (Aug 1, 2010)

Tielfan offers great advice here!

Tito started biting hard (can draw blood) about 2 months ago, I think because he's reached sexual maturity. He most frequently bites when he is tired and we're trying to get him off the floor and he doesn't want to leave.

Avoiding the bite is best. If he lunges, we make a fist and say step up, he can't bite the fist like he bites a finger, so he learns that threatening us or biting us will not make us stop. If we do cop a bite we ignore it and wait till he releases, extremely hard to do and often a little upsetting! But he must learn biting gets no reaction whatsoever.


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## MyDestiny (Sep 11, 2010)

I'm glad I read this. I'm starting to have an issue with biting with my cockatiel - but its when he's on my shoulder (or someone else') and we're trying to get him to step-up (its like he KNOWS its back in the cage time) and he'll hiss and nip away. Everytime he does I say in a "non-nice-firm-mommy" voice "No bite!" and then put my finger back (he nips again as I say step up followed by NO BITE) and then when he finally comes up I say Good Zuess and off to the cage (or couch) we go.

He's only 4 months, the bites don't hurt right now, but they will. Not sure why he does this - he seems to nip at other people more than me (mind you I spend the most time with him so far)

As for scritches he's not that fun. He just wants out of cage and to preen, if I try and "pet" him he just waddles away from me.


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## cwolfenberger1 (Sep 21, 2010)

I am having the same problem, I brought home a 3 month old cockatiel and he hisses a little and will nip me occasionally. I don't know if this is because he is not used to me or is scared of me or what, but after he gets to know me better i will have to break him of this naughty routine before he gets big!


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## Dave & Tito (Aug 1, 2010)

A tip for MyDestiny:

We were getting bites from Tito when he was on our shoulder and we tried to get him to step up. 

We realised why and when he was doing this, changed what we were doing and it hasn't happened since!

We were getting bit when we'd move our finger towards him WITHOUT saying step up. Now we show him the finger and say 'step up' and he'll do it every time.

I think without the invitation to step up it was merely a big hand coming at him with an unkown intention, so he'd bite! Now that we always say it you can almost see him think, "Oh, is that what you want? Well that's ok then!" before jumping on.

I'm constantly surprised by how clever cockatiels are and I never underestimate their inteligence now!

Good luck!


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## MyDestiny (Sep 11, 2010)

I always say "Up" when I want him to come on my finger. Its very hard when he's on my shoulder though and I'm trying to get him DOWN from there - thats when I get the most nips!  Maybe he's molting ..? He's been VERY nippy lately, especially towards my daughter *scowl* and I hope its just a bad mood or he's gonna be in big trouble.

Oh c'mon, who am I kidding? How do you punish a bird?! lmao


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