# All of a sudden - biting, telling me No, no



## elainelucille (Jun 4, 2018)

My Sammie is a little over 6 mos. old, has been talking up a storm for a month now - repeats everything I say. We've always had a good bond, or so I thought. He always wants to come out of his cage and be with me. Will not go play with anything out of his cage, just sits on window ledge watching outside birds and being with me. (I let him out 2x daily.) Recently, he has started beak-pecking me and biting me when I put my hand near any toy or put food in his cage - and now at the same time & really pecking me, tells me "no, no" which is of course what I said to him when he first started this beak-pecking. This action on his part is semi-cute of course but unacceptable to me - - how do I stop him from doing this??


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Due to his age I'd suspect he is going through "puberty". They can get nippy during this stage. It usually passes. You can't really stop him nipping. Just back off when he starts doing it so he knows he isn't going to receive attention for the negative behaviour.


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## elainelucille (Jun 4, 2018)

*Thanks!*

Thanks, Vickitiel! He's even doing this now out of a clear blue sky when he's just sitting on my hand, doing nothing! (I kind of thought maybe he was telling me that he wanted me to pet him, but who knows.) Then tonight when he was done with his beak-pecking my hand, he leaned over and kissed it (his kissing is the noise of kissing, then words kiss, kiss). I really appreciate your advice and will follow it as much as I can - and hope it passes as he grows up more!! He's such a sweetie! :grey tiel:


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Hormone control. Hormones cause the bratty puberty stage, so if you put him on hormone control the hormones will calm down. http://www.talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=32330

I wouldn't pull away immediately. Doing that will make him think that if he does this it will make you stop. If you hold your hand still and ignore the pecks, he will get bored because there is no reaction. No reaction is better than a negative reaction.


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## Eezy (Feb 20, 2017)

I find in this forum, Vickitiel is spot on. Just put him back in his cage for a bit when he’s aggressive. When my baby was a baby, she was very possessive of her toys too. I have a question. Do you have any mirrors? I was told to cover all mirrors or take them out because they fall in love with themselves instead of you. My bird friend scolded me for the mirrors. But she was right. I’m her girlfriend now, not the reflection.


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## elainelucille (Jun 4, 2018)

No mirrors, I took them out a while ago. Now I'm his love - he's totally obsessed with me. He's still beak-pecking me when I put my hand in the cage for something but I just ignore him and he quits. Outside the cage, he also does it for no reason sometimes and if he keeps it up after me telling him "no" or telling him "kiss kiss" (which sometimes stops the pecking and starts him kissing my hand!), I just put him back in his cage. He'll learn eventually.....he's a smart little guy. If this is going through puberty, I sure wish he'd get over it!!!!


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## Khulood (Feb 23, 2018)

My male cockatiel was also a sweetheart until he turned about 10 months old, and then his hormones flared and he became a nightmare where he would bite us any chance he got. We did long nights on him consistently and still do, and now he's 12 months old and considerably sweeter. He's not back to his before self, he has no problem biting us if he doesn't like what we're doing, but he's no where near the terror he was before. It is a puberty/breeding thing because my tiel, despite the treatments, loves to find darker corners and nest (despite having no other female). He's also occasionally cage aggressive so we've learned to understand his body language and back off when he's feeling nippy. It will pass- just have some patience.


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