Hello All,

Petey is about 4 or 5 months old and a sweetheart. He is defiantely a cuddly bird but all at the same time wants to play with my hands. He doesn't realize how hard he bites when he is playing. I have scolded him. That worked for the moment. I have told him no bite and take his beak in my fingers. He is only a baby now and I want to get his need for knawing on my fingers gone before he gets older. I have even held toys for him to chew on but he doesn't want anything to do with the toys. He wants moms fingers. He loves to roll on his back and play with my hands. But the nibbling hurts. Advise please!

They CAN be taught to 'bite nice' ... it takes consistency ... when he chomps down too hard, tell him NO BITE or THAT HURTS or BE GENTLE BE NICE, whatever phrase you want to use and gently take his beak in your fingers and hold it for a few minutes ... they are so smart it shouldnt take long until he knows how 'hard' he can bite Mom .... but you have to do it every time ... hold his beak and tell him no bite ... when you hold his beak he can't play and the NO BITE he will associate with not being able to play ...

btw mine does that too and he now knows just how hard he can bite without hearing OW THAT HURTS BE NICE and being made to stop playing

Good luck ... they are so smart that can learn not to bite hard

Be patient. Just like with any child they just get really worked up, and get carried away. Just be patient, and keep working on it and he'll come around. It's a labor of love, and not labor that you love. So just stick with it and soon you'll be all set!

Ive got a Sun but she dosent play! Wish I could
help but the advice so far is good! How blessed you
are to have a young playful Sun!

Thank you all for your advise. I will continue to work with him. He is so funny. He loves to lay on his back when on my chest. He gets excited and just rolls over sometimes when I am not expecting it and he keeps rolling and rolling till he lands on the couch. Then he lays there looking at me like whelp why didn't you catch me......but boy that was fun! He is a fruitcake! His personality is so different than the quakers. I haven't figured out how to put that in words yet. He is definately mommas little Petie!!!

Saying "no" or "no bite" and holding his beak could work, but this is a form of negative reinforcement, and not the best method for training and trust relationship forming. The better method would be for you to ignore the bite, when he stops biting, put him down or walk away for a little bit, just a few seconds or a minute or two is all it takes (they don't need to be put on "time out" because the longer the time out, the less likely they will be to make the association). Then come back and do something positive, like play with him again, do a behavior he knows, etc. and REWARD him for that. If he bites again, ignore, and walk away or step back for a few seconds. This will be a more effective method to helping him learn the association between biting=no play/social time. You do not need to teach him "no" or "no bite". Training should be positive and rewarding, and it should allow your bird to make choices (with your guidance in the right direction of course). If you hold his beak shut you can create frustration and aggression. You will essentially be taking away his choice by forcing (dominance training) him to have his beak in your fingers.

I know just what your talking about. My sun conure is the same way. She wasn't treated very well before we brought her home and it took us a long time to get her used to us. Now she is so happy being with us that she plays and plays and will not step up to be put away. She has a harder bite than my quaker and she is not afraid to use it! But I have learned that she doesn't like to be pet anywhere but the top of her head.
But back to your question...as far as the play bite (which ours does too).. I started really praising her when she was playing nicely. You know that little nibble that they do with their tongues and beak just real gentle? Thats when I would tell her how much of a good girl she was. Before doing that I was getting frustrated and I think it was affecting her. Now she knows how to play for the most part.
Also, we took her to the vet the other day and he clipped wings, filed toe nails, and filed her beak (he said it was too long) and she is like a different bird!

My conure would get overly excited too so I decided to play with her on a more "conservative" level. That is I couldn't play as freely with her as I did with my qquaker as she would get a little two nippy or skittish. By the time she was 2, she was able to be played with with more loosely. But bare in mind, my sun was 14 months when I got her so your sun could calm down a lot sooner. They are in their baby phase and just like puppies, they have a lot of excess energy IMO.

Raja was just like that. He did learn how hard he could bite as he got older. He was a little clown he liked to lay on his back and hang upside down on the curtains. He was so much more playful that my quaker. Gosh now you've got me wanting another Sun Conure after all I think everyone should have one.