Sun conure biting habits

[Sauerkraut8304]

Hello! I have some questions about my sun conures behavior. I am a first time bird owner to a 7 month old sun conure named Mozart. I’ve had him for 5 months and he is just the sweetest thing. He loves to chew on almost everything, but unfortunately, my hands/fingers are his favorite. I am aware of the term "beaking" and I have done quite a bit of research on it, but I am not sure if he actually IS beaking. He will try and chew on my fingers, and whenever I try to pull away, he will either bite down harder and I end up moving him with my hand, or he will chase it and resume biting. If I do not let him bite/chew, he will become angry and start to scream or climb onto my shoulder and begin attempting to chew my eyelid or rip skin off my lips. I do not do anything to provoke him. And we are very much beyond preening. I get him out whenever I clean my other animals enclosures, or play a video game. We have one on one time too. I have tried to yell, or screech but I eventually found out that was the opposite of what you are supposed to do 🙄

It has gotten to the point where I don’t enjoy getting him out that much anymore. I won’t get rid of him, but I just want to have an enjoyable experience or relationship and I want him to be happy too. Thank you all so so much for your help!!!

[boomer girl]

Hi and welcome to the forum. I really cannot say why Mozart does this to you all the time. I know Boomer use to love to crawl around on us and preen us softly but those little preens use to leave tiny "v" marks from us and they hurt. We would sort of push him away and tell him to stop but he still wanted to do it. We use to distract him with a treat or a finger toy but he never stopped preening us. He considered us his mates so thought it was ok to preen us. I feel for you because a sun conjures preen is much bigger then a little lovebirds. Distraction with toys, a seed bowl by you or anything else works for a bit. Removing him and telling him no helped for awhile too. Maybe wear gloves on your hands for awhile might break t he habit. I use to wear long sleeved shirts buttoned way up to keep boomer off because he preened our bodies more then our hands.

[Sauerkraut8304]

Thank you so much! I have also tried distracting with such things, but they didn’t really stop him for the long run. I will certainly try the gloves!

[DesertDweller]

It may be just me, but when I hear of a bird biting so much, I wonder if it's female. My sun conure didn't bite. He was always sweet, but I rehomed him because he started chewing up furniture. And, he got mean to my female parrotlet. But it was the parrotlet's fault. She picked on him when he was on top of her cage minding his own business.

Also, here's one thing I learned from an amazon parrot many years ago. Whenever Joshua saw me coming near him with nail clippers, he would say 'ow, ow, ow!' every time. I didn't teach him that. He just said it. Then, later in life when Joshua wasn't with me anymore, I got other birds. I used Joshua's lesson with them. If they bite, I first say 'ow, ow, ow!' and they always back off. It's amazing, but they understand that phrase, even as babies.

I don't know if it would work with you, but I thought I'd put it out there in case it might help you. I suspect if it doesn't help, you might have a female. Females don't back down, from my experience. I hope other people have better luck with female birds.

[Farlie]

I had a Quaker that used to bite occasionally and I would shout 'OWE' sharply and loud. It would startle her and I would put her in the cage for a few minutes. She saw that as a punishment away from the 'flock' (Me) and she eventually stopped. She was a 'Velcro' bird and didn't like it being parted from me at all.

[Sauerkraut8304]

Mozart really likes to be with me as well, so I’ll give that a try! Thank you so much!

[Sauerkraut8304]

Mozart was DNA tested before we got him, so I doubt he is a female. Though, I definitely will take your advice and hopefully he understands what I’m doing! Haha. Thank you so much for your help!