# Biting during skritches



## Anthony (Jun 10, 2012)

Helix loves his skritches. For the past month or so he has been biting my fingers while I'm giving him skritches. At first I didn't mind, they were just little nibbles, and I though it was cute. But now he is starting to bite harder. I know he is not frightened so it's got me confused. I've tried to stop petting him when he bites but it dosen't do any good. When I start petting him again he starts biting again. Has anyone experienced this or know what I can do to discourage it?


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## moonchild (Jul 29, 2012)

Juju does this...I've not found a way to discourage it yet. He does it when he suddenly decides that I'm scritching him wrong, or he doesn't want that spot touched anymore (sensitive new feathers, perhaps?). He also does it when something startles or annoys him, like a sudden movement or sound from one of the other birds. He's not drawing blood or really hurting me, so I don't worry too much about it. Birds can be moody.


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## Anthony (Jun 10, 2012)

echolalia said:


> Juju does this...I've not found a way to discourage it yet. He does it when he suddenly decides that I'm scritching him wrong, or he doesn't want that spot touched anymore (sensitive new feathers, perhaps?). He also does it when something startles or annoys him, like a sudden movement or sound from one of the other birds. He's not drawing blood or really hurting me, so I don't worry too much about it. Birds can be moody.


Helix does the exact same thing. If he hears a noise he will pop his head up for a second then puts his head back down and bites waiting for me to start again. I thought it could be due to sensitive feathers but he does it no matter where on his head or neck I pet him. At first I didn't mind either but now it's starting to hurt a little but not drawing blood though.


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## OldCity (Nov 27, 2012)

How old is he? My little boy Jensen does this too and he's about 9 or 10 months old now. The best way I've found so far to discourage him getting too nippy is to tap him on the nose with the pad of my finger and tell him, in a nice but steady voice, not to do that again. He gets the idea after the second or third time and goes back to being all sweet and cute again. Most of mine did this when they were young and so far all of them have grown out of it. No worries.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> If he hears a noise he will pop his head up for a second then puts his head back down and bites waiting for me to start again.


If he bites when the noise occurs, he is startled and wants you to stop scritching until he's decided that there isn't any imminent danger. If you can identify the source of the noise well enough to predict when it's going to occur, and stop scritching BEFORE the noise happens, you can save your fingers from being nipped.

A "stop scritching" nip is instinctive behavior, and cockatiels do it to each other as well as to their humans.

If he bites as a "resume scritching" signal, then he has learned that this will get the result he wants. The solution to that problem is to NEVER resume scritching in response to a bite. Instead, turn your back on him and ignore him completely for a few seconds. Resume scritching only when he's being nice.


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## Anthony (Jun 10, 2012)

tielfan said:


> If he bites as a "resume scritching" signal, then he has learned that this will get the result he wants. The solution to that problem is to NEVER resume scritching in response to a bite. Instead, turn your back on him and ignore him completely for a few seconds. Resume scritching only when he's being nice.


I think this is it. He only bites after the noise.(It can be any noise really nothing in particular) That makes sense that it's a resume scritching signal. I've tried putting him down when he does it but he just does it again when whenever I pick him back up. Maybe it will just take some more time. I guess he has me pretty well trained. haha

Thanks to everyone for the advice.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

You can always untrain yourself. The key is to reward desirable behavior and not reward undesirable behavior. You get to decide what's desirable and what isn't; if light nibbles are OK and hard bites aren't that's fine, just be consistent about it. Snowy whacks me with her beak when she wants scritches, but it isn't a bite and it doesn't hurt and I think it's funny, so I give her what she wants. If she started biting to get my attention she would NOT get any scritches.


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