Biting :)

[wrky18]

Hi,

My lovebird seems to have gotten very well accustomed to me. He lets me touch him and he takes food off my hands. One thing is that, since he is already "too" accustomed to me, he will sometimes "attack" and try to bite one of my fingers (like when I am typing) and I almost always move my hand away just in time :)

I know it is natural for a lovebird to bite things but how can I reduce this behaviour before it becomes to bothersome.

[michael]

Seeing through the eyes of a lovebird, your hands/feet might appear as independent bodies unattached to the rest of you. As such, lovies tend to treat them as though their part of the flock, and may even feed them, bite them, or attempt to breed with them. Whether you can ever get them to understand your all connected, lets just say, of anything you have in your taming arsenal that might have an impact, that would be time. .. I have a male lovebird whom when he first arrived was bitey as all heck. Already an 8 year old seasoned bitey veteran, over the first year I had him, he managed, upon his previous owners advice, to work his way up against my arm eventually reaching my hands. Each time he did this, I would gently rub him with whatever part of my arm or hand he was leaning against, all while adding plenty of kind words in the process. Never could I introduce the other hand though, as he would only view it as another intruder. Ouch. .. I never offered food either, as a lovebirds concept of bartering food for attention is definitely not the same as mine. Ouch. . Over time, about another year, he finally found himself the proud recipient of a trusting scritchie.

As for taking over the computer keyboard. Mine are not allowed there by orders of two independent hands. Should one or the other of my fiesty fids intrude, they get gently pushed off, which i'll kindly admit, appears to be a never ending battle. But at least I no longer get bit there :).. Anybody else?

[wrky18]

I see. Although I am certain that he is not biting because he is scared of my hand. I just don't know if he just wants to bite something or if he is looking to get something from me. thanks...

[Pips mom]

I can't really explain WHY a lovebird bites. I think they're just bitey birds. With Pip, he used to bite alot more AND bites to the face. He no longer bites my face and I can trust him on my shoulder very close to my face now. He does, however, just bite for no apparent reason at times. He even does this with his best buddy Ivy, who has no hands....she's a bird just like him! but he still bites at her daily! His bites are mostly nippy things and never really too hard and he has never broken skin, but none the less they are definitely bothersome, as you put it, and I don't expect that to change much. If he's on my arm or shoulder while I'm at the computer, if I move the wrong way, like if I have an itch or something, he'll bite me! so most times I'll just shoo him off of me first to prevent that. I've pretty much accepted the way he is at this point.......he'll be six next month. The biting has definitely improved though over the years, but it seems like something that just will never go away, and that's ok with me.........even Ivy puts up with it! seems we all just love this cute little monster boy so much that we take the bad with the good! Sometimes I wonder if his bites are some form of lovie way of showing affection and maybe they just don't realize that the bites hurt or how hard they're biting, and I've always noticed with Pip that he always seems to HAVE to be doing something with that beak!!! Anyway......it does get better over the years, but for me I don't think it will ever totally go away, but that's a lovie and to really love a lovie, I guess you have to be tough.......just like them! Pip's biting has always seemed like a small price to pay for the joy, love and companionship I've gotten from him! He's my lil monster! Oh......and I've found that the biting always calms down more with a wing clip........their whole attitude changes from just clipping a few flights.......even if they can still fly great, just a small clip will usually lessen the amount of bites......as you can tell I have let Pip's flight feathers grow and he's WAY past due for a clip!!!:rotfl

[wrky18]

Thanks for the help everyone