Random biting when pet

[formybudgie]

Hello, 

I've had my budgie for almost 2 months now and making good progress as per my other thread I posted. She comes on finger for millet, comes out of the cage. I can put her on the shoulder and walk around and give her a kiss. We are also able to pet her chest and she seems to like it as she is closing her eyes and relaxing.

She recently started to bite. When we pet her she is ok and likes to be pet on her chest and she does not like it when we touch her head. In the past when we tried to pet her head she would move her head away from finger and very gently let us know that she does not appreciate it. She would grab with her beak the finger but not bite hard at all so we would stop touching her. Now when we pet her chest sometimes after 30 seconds she start to bite. But it seems strange because she seems to enjoy it. While perched on the finger and I pet her, she relaxes and closes her eyes and then in an instance she is totally a different bird. She start to chase the finger to bite it and this is not a gentle bite. I leave her alone for a little (she is still perched on my finger) and I can pet her again but this time she does not bite at all. 

My daughter the other day picked her up and started to pet her and a few min later she started crying saying that our sweet bird did bite her. 

Can anyone explain what's happening? And how to stop the biting? 

Thanks. 

[blueelephant]

I can only comment based on the budgies I've known. I've had one that loved a head scratch all around their neck and one that doesn't particularly enjoy it. Sometimes he forgets himself and will let me give him a little affection and the next minute he remembers himself and pecks at me to tell me to go away.

Also watching two budgies preen each other, sometimes one will be getting a lovely preen from the other, clearly enjoying it, and then a moment later there is a pecky go away motion and that's it. They have had enough.

I would guess that is what your budgie is telling you. Enough, I don't want that anymore.

I'd not take offence at this at all. I am sure they are still very bonded to you, they are just trying to communicate their wishes. My daughter also does not like the occasional peck she gets. We are just trying to teach her this is the budgie just telling her they want her to leave them for a bit.

[formybudgie]

Apr 20, 2021 20:10:21 GMT blueelephant said:

I can only comment based on the budgies I've known. I've had one that loved a head scratch all around their neck and one that doesn't particularly enjoy it. Sometimes he forgets himself and will let me give him a little affection and the next minute he remembers himself and pecks at me to tell me to go away.

Also watching two budgies preen each other, sometimes one will be getting a lovely preen from the other, clearly enjoying it, and then a moment later there is a pecky go away motion and that's it. They have had enough.

I would guess that is what your budgie is telling you. Enough, I don't want that anymore.

I'd not take offence at this at all. I am sure they are still very bonded to you, they are just trying to communicate their wishes. My daughter also does not like the occasional peck she gets. We are just trying to teach her this is the budgie just telling her they want her to leave them for a bit.

Thanks. I'll take it as "I've had enough" sign. What seems strange to me is that before if she did not want to be pet she would move away from where perched but never bite. 

[Hezz]

A well as the explanation that blueelephant has given you, budgies will often take a while to relax enough and feel secure enough to feel comfortable enough telling you off and asserting their own wishes. It seems to me that your little bird is now at that place. Having said that, budgies also go through a toddler/teenager period where they are understanding boundaries and learning what is acceptable and what isn’t. A nip to say “leave me alone” is to be listened to; aggressively chasing your hand or finger to bite is not, especially if you have been accepting her “back off” nips and not bothering her.

With aggressive biting you are going to start being the parent and letting her know it is not acceptable behaviour, whether with the “no” finger, telling her “NO!” Or cacking at her the way another bird would do. Sharp “ak, ak” noises get the message through loud and clear. If she flies over and bites immediately, flip her off and tell her no! If she flies over and is polite, tell her how good she is, but immediately she gets aggressive, “ak” at her and flip her off. Another budgie won’t accept her behaviour, and she knows how to deal with that, the more your behaviour to her misbehaviour resembles another budgie, the easier it is for her to understand, less likelihood for mixed messages.

Having said all that, most budgies would prefer to be the ones doing the touching, rather than be touched or petted, understandable given that they are so little and we are huge in comparison. Trying to push chest or head rubs when they are not interested can reverse any trust that may have been building.

[formybudgie]

Yes, I usually tell her not to bite, "No" "Not nice", in a raised voice. She seems to stop sometimes.

[formybudgie]

Today she had another episode where she went crazy on my finger. Prior to the biting episode she was doing amazing. A lot of playing in the cage. She came out of the cage on her own and on my laptop while I was working. She sat on the laptop for ~10 minutes and was trying playing with the laptop screen and with the keys. Then she flew back to the cage sitting at the cage door. Seeing what a good day she has I decided to pet her and this is what happened: 

imgur.com/X90uC5D

I told her a few times in a calm voice "not nice", "stop" ... but she did not stop. I raised my voice at her and told her again "not nice", "stop" and left.

5-10 minutes later she was back to a normal friendly bird.

imgur.com/cJMQiVm

Is this telling me to leave her alone or trying to play? I am asking because she was very active before the biting episode.

[Deleted]

To me when you touched her it looked like a 'stop that' type nip, but when you presented your fingertip and she leaned forwards it looked more playful.
I have one that bites (and will bite far harder than your little one) if he's annoyed and one that loves to play fight.
She doesn't appear to be enjoying being touched like that even when she's tolerating it, but then a lot of them tend to mainly like being touched on the head if they actually enjoy being touched at all.

[mona]

She doesn't seem to enjoy that touch..in the second video too.. her body language shows that she's uncomfortable as @sillycat84 said

In the first one, she seems playful with your finger initially but not happy with the petting. The reason about not petting birdie anywhere other than the head, is that it elicits sexual response to the bird.

This was shared on this forum itself somewhere else and you can also read about parrot erogenous zones on google. Petting birdies in the No No zone will develop an unhealthy relationship with you, if they even start enjoying it. There are many people who do that unknowingly & share videos on social media, without knowing what it does to the birdie.





Apart from that, some birds might not like being touched. You could work on step up as an interaction instead if petting doesn't work.. 😊🧡

[formybudgie]

When moving the finger close to head or any other part except chest she immediately moves and she gives me a gentle nip. That's why I thought she is only comfortable to pet her chest.

What signs do you see when you say she is not comfortable? I am asking to get an idea of what to look for and stop doing it if I see the signs.

Any good reading you recommend to get familiar with the signs?

[mona]

Not sure how to put it to words.. Others might help there..

To me, her body seems tensed and she seems frozen.. Also, when they enjoy something, their body will be relaxed and they'll respond back too in some or other way.. I'm not sure if this helps..


For mine, I normally show them what I intend to do from a one hand distance. If they are interested, they lean towards me very slightly or might just eye it and with some talking along with it, they lean a bit.. that shows me they are interested. If they are not, they'll do that snake head thing - moving back and forward to check it out.. they'll not perch relaxed and might also turn into flight mode - ready to fly away from me or ready to bite! I have observed that with my trials with them for new food, playing with ball, shredding something that's in my hand, spray baths.. If they look at something in a specific way or repeat same set of action with same thing every time, it sends a signal too. Like breezie would look at the cage bars multiple times before jumping on it for a spray bath under his wings.. that would signal me to keep spraying..

I don't know about any reading material for the same.. you just come to know, once you spend some time with them.. Someone else might be able to pitch in..

[Deleted]

It is hard to describe. They tend to be fluffed up and content when they enjoy something. She looks more stiff and upright. Not scared and sleek, but not relaxed.

[Hezz]

Stiff, rigid, feathers all slicked down, and when you continued to push her, that’s when she started to tell you off.

As I have said already, most budgies prefer to be the ones to approach you and instigate contact. Leave out the petting; that’s just being irritating. I think she is being very good in not biting hard. Offer her small bobbles of millet when you wish to engage with her.