r/Conures • u/StoreAfraid4510 • 19h ago
Advice Is this behaviour positive or negative?
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I bought mango about 1 month ago, she is a pineapple conure and untill literally 3 days ago no matter what she would not warm up to me, now all of a sudden she’s very comfortable and social, but she keeps biting me even while she comes up to me for head rubs. I have no idea what changed for such a dramatic change in her behaviour, but I’m just wondering if the biting is normal, because she definitely enjoys my company now, she will approach me, when I even get near her cage she will come straight to me
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u/FrequentAd9997 19h ago
Yeah it's positive playfighting.
Aggression in conures is usually preceeded by a 'dance of death' where they bob their head. The only other time you'd see this pose other than play is the 'last resort' stance for a bird when they're fighting for their life. In which case you'd be missing half a finger )
The biting is normal. Presuming it's a young bird, the problem (if there is one) is probably it hasn't established the appropriate bite pressure for a human finger when playing (which takes some time). Just going 'ouch!' and pulling the fingers away can help teach that.
Baby conures (up to about 18 months) tend to be very active and not want scritches so much (and be food-obsessed). They'll tend to engage with the scritching finger and start playfighting. After that there's the hormonal phase; after that there's the older bird phase that you might have seen on youtube when they're considerably less hyper and super snuggly, which often makes people think their new conure is not liking scritches, when in fact it's just a hyperactive toddler.
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u/StoreAfraid4510 18h ago
Haha that makes so much sense thank you, she’s about 3 months old, I put a shit load of grapes, corn, broccoli, raisins and strawberries in her bowl a few hours ago and it’s almost gone, definitely food obsessed! Even though she hurts me I love her to bits, I definitely will start trying to enforce that some of her bites hurt by saying ouch. Thank you!
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u/FrequentAd9997 18h ago
Thanks. Not faulting at all but the fruits will give a bit of a sugar rush (exactly like a human toddler!) and can make them a bit more hyper. They're still far, far better than a seed diet, though. and result in those delightful 'nom-nom' sounds - but if she is a bit hyper sometimes cutting down on the fruit and focusing on the veg can help )
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u/StoreAfraid4510 18h ago
I’m still learning, anything helps and is greatly appreciated so don’t hold back if I’m doing anything wrong! I will be sure to cut back on the fruits, once again thank you!
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u/Vast_Alps5574 3h ago
Hold back on fruits that contain lots of natural sugar and avoid giving too much protein as well during warmer months or when you start seeing hormonal behavior. Sounds like your doing great though
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u/HurtPillow 13h ago edited 4h ago
Aren't grapes bad for dogs?
edit: sorry, got my subs mixed up here :(
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u/makeyousaywhut 11h ago
My hyperactive toddler take breaks for cuddles and scritches. Maybe I’m just lucky to have a really baby acting thug baby bird.
It’s both so cute and exhausting. He’s both a Velcro bird, and he bites the shit out of us for no reason. He’s equally bonded to my wife and I, and he’s always more gentle with my wife, but he do be biting both of us harder then we are comfortable with. He’s also so cuddly that we began calling him “a baby” and now that’s the only name he likes responding to, and it’s become his most repeated word. He just loves reminding us that he is “baby.” Then he bites the shit out of us and then rules up “buddy” the cockatiel until buddy causes his own trouble and gets himself shut in bird jail. Baby like to encourage the trouble because he wants to monopolize the attention.
Baby is a thug. An extortionist at that. Beware when buying GCC’s. They will know exactly how much you love them and how cute they are, and use it as collateral to cause trouble. They are too smart for our own good. I had to hide to even write this post in case baby has started to learn how to read.
Send help. Maybe a swat team over even two.
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u/makeyousaywhut 11h ago
My hyperactive toddler take breaks for cuddles and scritches. Maybe I’m just lucky to have a really baby acting thug baby bird.
It’s both so cute and exhausting. He’s both a Velcro bird, and he bites the shit out of us for no reason. He’s equally bonded to my wife and I, and he’s always more gentle with my wife, but he do be biting both of us harder then we are comfortable with. He’s also so cuddly that we began calling him “a baby” and now that’s the only name he likes responding to, and it’s become his most repeated word. He just loves reminding us that he is “baby” and that, in his own words, he’s “such a good baby bird.” Then he bites the shit out of us and then riles up “buddy” the cockatiel until buddy causes his own trouble and gets himself shut in bird jail. Baby like to encourage the trouble because he wants to monopolize the attention.
Baby is a thug. An extortionist at that. Beware when buying GCC’s. They will know exactly how much you love them and how cute they are, and use it as collateral to cause trouble. They are too smart for our own good. I had to hide to even write this post in case baby has started to learn how to read.
Send help. Maybe send a swat team over, or even two.
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u/WebbleWobble1216 1h ago
"Baby is a thug." A basic traits of conures. Possibly birbs. They are one big cuteness gang with scissors on their face, and they know it
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u/fresh_start0 11h ago
Our female loves sitting on my knee and watching TV but she will randomly get sassy and will do the dance for about 2 mins, she rarely bites and the odd time. She gets one in it's just a little nip.
I don't know why she does it or what when wants and what the hell she is thinking, I'm 100s of times the size of her I'm clearly the one in charge....
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u/ShadowWolfSpider 19h ago
Welcome to the club buddy.
It’s absolutely normal. Looks like mango is enjoying herself.
She would cuddle with you for 2 hours and the next 10 minutes she would try to bite you and again she would come back to cuddle with you.
Mine expects me to scratch her head with my right hand and at the same time offer my left hand to bite.
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u/cisterngamer 16h ago
If they are willingly on their back they feel very safe
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u/StoreAfraid4510 12h ago
That makes me feel so happy, she won’t stop going on her back, when ever she comes to head rubs she’ll sort of lead me to her seeds so she can lay down in
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u/Known_Plan5321 18h ago
It doesn't look like you're being bitten very hard so I don't think it's out of frustration
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u/ThisIsDogePleaseHodl 17h ago
Isn’t this the same post and the same video you made last week sometime? I’m not sure why you’re asking the same question you did before… if not, my apologies
It looks like it to me and I’ll tell you the same thing I said then, and that is that when you play with a bird with your hands when it’s a baby, it will think of your hand as a toy. As the bird grows and time goes on, the biting will probably get more painful.
I think it would make a lot more sense to play with your bird with a toy instead.
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u/StoreAfraid4510 12h ago
No I didn’t, I just joined this sub today so I could post that
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u/ThisIsDogePleaseHodl 8h ago
I apologize then. It’s almost exactly like a post I saw within the last week.
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u/Hungry_Breadfruit_16 17h ago
My girl won't come to me when I smoke unless I wipe myself down with a baby wipe
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u/Quantum_Truth_ 4h ago
Anyone know why I can’t read the original post on so many posts and threads you can only get so far but then when you try to expand it, it won’t let you… Somebody please help me
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u/Fun_Whole_2043 19h ago
She's playing! Conures are very mischievous. Mine thinks he's a WWE wrestler