# Cockatiel Picks At My Moles and Beauty Marks



## Zwiekira (Jul 16, 2008)

Cheeko loves to preen me and scrupulously picks on my hair, neck, chest, arms, hands, lips, chin, etc! Sometimes he gets overzealous with the moles and beauty marks and it can start to be annoying and slightly painful. I normally adjust my position until he gets the idea and stops or I make a low noise in the back of my throat that he doesn't like. It makes him back off a little. What do you guys think of these two approaches? What do you do when your cockatiel does this? (Or am I the only one with MOLES!? Moley, moley, moley! Hahaha! )


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

If you were a nun we could call you holy moley! They will pick at anything that doesn't look like the rest of you. It just stands out so they feel the need to check it out.


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## kimmikefids (Aug 2, 2008)

mine do it all the time...its drive me nuts!!! i have several small moles little m seems to think are not needed....in particular one behind my ear he ALWAYS goes to......i normally tell him no and remove him from the area...he gets annoyed but i try to catch his attention elsewhere with a scritch or the like


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Shodu has a burning desire to be a plastic surgeon, and she's using me to practice on. Her daughter Teela isn't much better.


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## xxxSpikexxx (Jul 30, 2007)

If Spike decides a freckle does not belong I just move him somewhere else


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## PickleBird (Dec 10, 2008)

*They call me barnacle bill!*

Seriously, my Theo went for something I had on my face and tore it right off!
Saved me a trip to the dermo. I try not to let him chew on me, but he has a mind of his own and seems to think if I grow something new, it must be a toy, or food or something!

Good luck!! my Theo has stopped for now...hopefully yours will too.


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## Cannuck2007 (Feb 29, 2008)

Snuckums is awful for that! He will preen everywhere and then all of a sudden "ouch" that was attached. I try not to react and just move him off of me. He gets a bit slighted and then comes back better behaved. It is very slowly correcting the issue!


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## skthurley (Jan 7, 2009)

Jack loves chewing at my freckles. I just say No bite, and give him once chance to remain where he was. If he does it again, I remove him from that position.


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## Birdie21 (May 24, 2008)

Piper seems to think my ears do not belong where they are. He nips at them, sometimes he is saying, "Hey, where's my millet". Other times I make a loud sound like "eh" and second tell him 'NO' firmly. Third time off the shoulder. The 'eh' works pretty good for the dog and cats also.


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## Bea (Jul 26, 2007)

I get that from some of my guys too, i remove them from me if they start hurting me.


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

tielfan said:


> Shodu has a burning desire to be a plastic surgeon, and she's using me to practice on. Her daughter Teela isn't much better.


LOLOLOLOL! :lol:


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## scrubsfan592 (Oct 25, 2021)

Grayson, my 10-week old cockatiel has partway snipped off a mole on the right-hand side of my neck... I try to distract him by wearing a shiny necklace, but it doesn't always work. My only other option is to put sticky plasters/Band-Aids over the offending areas, which isn't exactly comfortable!


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