# Its NOT working



## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

Well, tsuka is killing my fingers. they now have holes in them from his biting. he bites out of the blue. id have him on my hand perfectly behaved for several minutes then **** randomly rip apart my finger. hes been getting worse and worse. hes almost 7 months old (will be tomorrow) and hes put on time out each time he bites. he goes in the cage, i dont look at him or talk to him for 10 minutes, 15 minutes when hes really bad. its not working and ive been doing this with him for 3 weeks now. hes just getting worse, not better.

any other solutions? i am guessing this is that bratty stage.... can anyone comfirm this?


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

oh, and he bites hard enough each time that i bleed. if time outs and silent treatment arent working, how can i stop this?


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## Kai (Jan 28, 2008)

I don't know what others will say about this but Jasper used to do that same thing to me. He would step up, sit there for a while and then latch on to my finger for all he was worth. I would simply drop my hand. He would flutter safely down to the ground. It shocked him a bit but did not hurt him. I would then get him to step up again and we would go through the process again. He quickly learned that biting removed his perch, which he didn't want, and the biting soon stopped. Jasper will never be a cuddle bug of a bird but he does trust me now and will step up and stay with me with no problems or anxiety.

Like I said though, not everyone may agree with this technique. But it did work very well for me.


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## RentalWhisper (Sep 10, 2010)

i read online that when they do it if you blow gently onto their head theyre given a shick and desist. i dunno if its any good but its what ive heard


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

What i do with my budgies when they peck me i pretent to peck them they move back a little and they just look at me, When they bicker iv started to join in trying to copy there sound, when lucky hiss at me i hiss back they all just look at me and think im :wacko: when i do it. You know when budgies get excited and sound like aaaggg aagggg agggg i join in and i can start it then they join in lol


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

so far id be willing to try the first suggestion as i already tried the latter suggestions. they dont work. ive even just put him on the floor and ignored him and as soon as his time out was done, he took a chunk out of my pinky finger. i may just have to accept **** always be a biter. he is more my boyfriends bird anyways. i got dally  shes ALL my bird. she shows it. tsuka was supposed to be both of ours but i cant take this biting and he seems to learn better and quicker with my boyfriend. so i may just have to accept that if all else fails


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

It does sound like that phase they go through as they get older though, Fuzzy went through it and was very grumpy all the time. We did the time out thing, which worked ok for us, but maybe tsuka needs something different. Have you tried the positive rewarding? Give him a treat when he's sitting there being good?


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Please try to avoid getting bitten, because that just reinforces the bad habit. If you want him to step up, use a hand-held perch or stick instead of your finger.

Use millet spray to try to change his attitude. Hold a long piece for him to nibble, with your fingers out of biting range. You can eventually start moving your fingers closer to him, but stop at any sign of aggression.


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## Siobhan (Mar 21, 2010)

Freddie only bites when he can't make me understand what he wants any other way, but our Quaker Jade bites a lot -- not as much as she used to, however. I don't know if what works on a Quaker will work on a tiel, but here's what we did with Jade:

First, don't give him a reaction when he bites. Don't say "ow" and don't jerk away. Say, in a normal, conversational tone, "no bites" or something like that and maybe just touch his beak with your other hand. Touch, don't tap. Just so he makes the connection between the words and his beak. Birds love drama -- notice how your birds will squawk louder when there's noise in the house. So don't reinforce the unwanted behavior with drama. 

Second, see if you can find a connection between what you're doing and the bites. Is it when you move suddenly? When you're scritching and miss his cue that he's had enough? When you touch him some place he doesn't want to be touched? When there's a noise or movement behind him that startles him? 

Third, desensitize him. Work up to things slowly, at his speed. Jade used to be very, very cage aggressive. I'd get the stuffin' bitten out of me when I cleaned or filled dishes. I kept doing those things, anyway, but I started telling her what I was doing, moving slowly and gently, and talking to her the whole time. Little by little, she quit attacking when I stuck my hands in her cage and tonight, for example, she let me clean her toys, scrub the inside of the bars, even scrape poop off her favorite swing, and all she did about it was make remarks and preen my hair. It's taken a long time, but she's hardly cage aggressive at all now. 

Watch his body language. He probably gives you warning when he's about to bite, and you're missing the cues. If you see it coming, you can figure out what's prompting it and change the conditions to cut down on the bites.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

problems- have tried the perch step up. terrified of it will only step up on hands. millet, he doesnt seem to keen on treats from hands. he bites those too, without eating them. he gives no warning.

he bites WORST when hes on the top of their cage. he bites hard when in the cage. and simply bites on the bird tree. when hes on the ground--no problem. on shoulder--no problem. randomly on hand he bites. hes so confusing. im just bout ready to give up on it and let him be. if hes gonna be a biter, thats fine. hes half my boyfriends bird and my boyfriend likes biting birds  so essentially im now just giving full ownership to my boyfriend. tsuka lives with me still of course but my boyfriend can deal with his attitude because he likes the attitude and tsuka takes to him more than me anyways. so not a huge deal. i got dally. she never bites


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Most birds consider the inside of the cage and the top of the cage to be their territory, and they do get defensive. Other places frequently aren't considered to be territory, so you might be better off handling him when he's away from the cage.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

im pretty much calling it quits. my boyfriend can deal with it. hes more his bird anyways since he bonded more to my boyfriend. hes biting no matter where hes at and hes just getting worse no matter what i do. so i wont handle him when hes out or what not. **** be friendly enough when on hand for a walk but thats it. so hes now in a separate cage too as he attacked dally pretty bad this morning too and took another chunk out of my finger again


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