Pickle biting the finger he is sat on, advice?

[helenmat]

I have a problem that I dont know how to solve, Pickle bites the finger he is sat on, it does not hurt but I want to try and stop him doing it. If he goes to bite when I go to pick him up, I just turn my hand over so the back of my hand is facing him but you cant do that when he is sat on the same finger. All I do is try and ignore it but he doesnt seem to stop. Like I say it doesnt hurt but I do want to stop it, any advice please?

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[Bird Junky]

Hi Could be he's trying to remind you he deserves a treat
for perching on your finger. After giving a little taste of
something like cake, use the rest of it as a distraction.
If you want him to stay on your finger or anywhere else,
You have to make it worth his while.....B.J.

[helenmat]

I am not so sure as he will come to my finger from across the other side of the room without me fetching him and then bites it, sometimes I wonder if it is him just trying to keep my attention. He does it sometimes when I am on the phone.

[Bird Junky]

Hi Try it first then tell me it doesn't work.....B.J.

[sweetie]

hey. sweetie does this to me too, i tell her no in a firm voice and she stops. i believe it is an attention thing also, sometimes if i swap fingers a few times it distracts her and she will forget about it a while.

[helenmat]

I will try the treat thing and let you know

[helenmat]

right heres an update, Pickle ate the millet sat on my finger and when the millet had all gone bit my finger! Advice needed please?

[sweetie]

Don't know what else to say Helen what a cheeky Pickle you have! Lol. Sweetie is nippy sometimes and other times not at all I think it probably has a lot to do with thier mood at the time also. He isn't moulting is he? That's why Sweetie is a bit nippy at present, lots of pin feathers equals a grumpy budgie lol x

[Rachael Kellett]

What age is Pickles? I've found with my budgies that when they get to a certain age they start to nibble, sometimes even bite really hard! Its a teenager thing, they are testing how far they can push it lol ;D There are several methods, I don't know which works best but you can either:

Ignore him biting you, the theory is that if he sees that you don't react then he will think "well this is boring" and stop biting

Blow on him gently, or as I am doing with my young babies tap them on the head and say NO sternly. Or even NO and a touch of the belly or feet could work. They do seem to respond to this. For about a minute haha!

A third option is when he bites to put him down and walk away. Although he might end up associating biting with getting you to leave him alone which isn't good.

[helenmat]

Thanks for those suggestions, I need to stick to one, I am trying the ignore thing at the moment

[Bird Junky]

Hi Helen My tip was give him a taste every now & again
so he gets the idea your finger is a good place to be.
If he eats all the treat in one go. What have you got left
to bribe him with....B.J.

[helenmat]

Hes a pig and just demolishes everything you put in front of him, he is 12 weeks old

[Deleted]

My male was a big biter. Even now if he's in his cage or if someone puts their finger to him outside to get him to step up he will at least lunge. So I just get him to jump up from a distance for millet. B.J. recommended the same thing to me to encourage him to stay on me for longer but it didn't work because Munchy never gave me any warning that he was about to leave, so I couldn't just treat him a little when he looked like he was getting bored.

The thing that worked best on Munchy was being sprayed by a mister, because he disliked it but some birds do like it, but now as soon as he sees the bottle he jumps away. He also went through a stage where he would happily sit on my hand and preen himself, then would wander sideways onto my wrist and just start biting my hand even though he'd happily sat on it a few moments before.

Hopefully Pickle should eventually grow out of the biting, as a lot of cocks do, but trying anti-bite training should help, otherwise he might carry on biting.

As Rachael says, he might start associating biting to get you to leave him alone. Munchy used to to get me to take my hand away, so one day when I was trying to put a basil leaf into his cage for him to try he was biting the back of my hand. Because that didn't hurt too much (he couldn't get a grip) I just moved the back of my hand toward him and and very gently pushed against him, causing him to end up hanging upside down from his perch, i.e. pointing out to him that he was the one who got moved, not me. It worked with the spraying as well until I went away for a couple of days. He's a lot older now and has settled down a bit now, and he doesn't bite at all outside his cage unless you're trying to get him on a finger when he's leaning over, so there's hope for us all.

Anyway, best of luck with Pickle

[Bird Junky]

Just to clarify the term. "LITTLE & OFTEN" The idea is to
encourage the wanting to stay, or not bite by offering
treats at regular intervals.
When the biting bird is on your finger. Count the seconds
he waits before biting or flying away. If it's say 10 seconds.
Then you offer a taste, (not the whole treat) after around
7seconds.
Gradually increasing the waiting time over several days.
These numbers are a "FOR INSTANCE". Each bird has his
own waiting time. Before he finds something more
interesting to occupy his time & attention. ....B.J.