“Why Does My Bird Nibble Me?”(Lovebirds,Budgies,etc)
Birds show nibbling or beaking attributes when they are feeling hungry, bored, playful, or to show their love. They will only give true bites as a means of self-defense when they feel stressed, cornered, and frightened.
Let’s take a deeper look at this topic…
Why does my bird bite me when I pet him?
1. The Bird is feeling scared
2. The bird is considering you as a part of the flock
3. The bird is craving attention
Why does my bird nibble my face and lips?
Why does my bird nibble my finger?
Birds love interacting and biting on the fingers of their human parents to show their affection or to show their craving for attention. Birds use their beaks as their hands and as you primarily touch them with your fingers, the birds find it favourable to interact with them.
Finger nibbling is something demonstrated by all kinds of pet birds starting from parrots, budgies, finches to cockateils, macaws, etc.
If you are not comfortable with them nibbling your fingers, strongly say NO followed with their name and put them back into the cage. You can also consider using gloves to sort out this problem. With training this can be easily sorted out.
Why does my bird bite my nails?
Why is my bird biting my ears?
Birds loves to nibble on ears to show their affection and to seek attention. They do this more while going through a hormonal phase(particularly in the breeding season). They are attracted to shiny or extended ear rings and you may need to keep them off while interacting with the bird.
Birds of all types(green cheek conures, finches, canaries, cockateils, budgies, etc) love nibbling on various portions of the face. They love biting ears as they stand out from the rest of the head.
Avoid putting the birds on your shoulders if you wanna avoid them biting your ears. Moving around while having them sit on your shoulders is never a good idea as they can get imbalanced and try holding on the ears as an anchor.
How to make your bird not nibble on you?
1. Accept it firstly that it will take time for the bird to change its habit.
He or she wont be able to overcome this habit of nibbling on you within a few days. It can takes weeks or even multiple months to see any progress.
2. Find out the reason why the bird is nibbling or biting
Parrots and other lovebirds can demonstrate biting tendencies when they feel stressed. So maybe this is something this will pass.
Young birds can showcase such activities particularly at the developing stage of their life. A change in environment or introduction of a new bird in the same cage, improper sleep at night owing to light or sound disturbances can lead to extreme stress.
3.The bird maybe trying hard to get your attention
Birds love getting the attention of the humans, especially of the people they are close with.
By natural virtue they will find out that nibbling will fetch a reaction out of you which makes them do it more. So shouting at them wont do the job as they will fail to understand the meaning behind it.
So instead either completely ignore it, or if it really gets annoying say something bodly in a light tone beside their head, something like “bad boy or bad girl” or No No” and put them back into the cage for a certain time. During that time leave that room and let them get an idea that doing that activity will mean that play time is over. Slowly they will get the hang of it.
Also important thing is to be specific with what you say to your bird when they do something they shouldn’t do. So limit yourself to two to three words max. Saying NO No or bad birdie is enough, the more words you use, the chances of you confusing the birf increases.
4. Use protection for the time being while letting him or her sit on yourself
It can take sometime to see the change in habits, so if the bird is biting really hard, consider using gloves or tapes as that will work really well to shield the biting. Protect the neck or shoulder with towels.
5. Let them chew toys while siting on your hand and shoulder
It will be hard for them to instantly get rid of the chewing habit, so you should provide them with a substitute. There are plenty chewable toys out there which are made specifically for this. So let them play with them whenever they are with you.
If the bird has trouble with playing with new toys there are simple ways by which you can easily help them to overcome this fear of new toys.
FAQ
Why does my lovebird nibble me?
Lovebirds can be temperamental and are known to nibble on human fingers, ears, and lips.
Conclusion
Birds like finches, budgies, lovebirds and all other parrots are affectionate birds and love showing their love to their human parents. Birds nibble each other in their flock to groom them. So biting nails, lips, ears, shoulders or fingers are just their ways of doing that.
So if you want them to stop doing that, just be sure to let them know that. This is important if the birds are young. You must lay down a strong foundation about the things they should do and things they shouldn’t. They will stick to those throughout their life.
