Hey everyone,

Some of you may know me as a Pionus owner (Kiwi). Unfortunatly, after a year and a half, Kiwi was no tamer and pretty much as timid as he was when I got him, even after all the training so I decided to get another. Broke my heart to replace him, but I was getting no enjoyment from him at all. . It probably broke the petshop oweners heart too when he went through his nail

Now, I have mango! A half-Cinnamon (half god knows) conure. I'll put some pictures of him up another time so you can help me determine what the other half is. Mango is 10 weeks old but there is a problem. He doesn't just nip, he BITES. Even though he's little and a baby, it still hurts enough that I don't want to experience it 100 times a day. I don't think he is biting in an agressive manner, (though he will come over to me to bite me) I think it is more like he doesn't know how to act, because he hasn't grown up with any siblings.

I've been putting my hand in the cage and touching some of his toys and waited for him to come over. When he's bitten me, i've removed his beak gently and said 'no' in a sturn voice. I've only dont it for about 10 minutes so far, but he pauses, assesses the situation and then bites again (rinse and repeat). Am I doing this right? I'm not frightening him when I say no, but it's enough for him to stop doing it for a time.

Some things to consider, and others will jump in:

1. He's VERY young, and obviously was not socialized well, so you are probably the first person who is giving him grief! In a sense you are paying for what the breeder/pet shop/whoever did not do to make this bird social around humans.

2. He should learn NOW what you want, with positive reinforcement, calm attitude. Scolding generally doesnt work, but I gotta say that my Guapo KNOWS when I am mad at him, but you have to remember we have been buddies for a long time and I know when HE is mad at me too!

3. Maybe let him become accustomed to his surroundings before putting your hands in the cage. Let him come out to YOU. Let him see there is no danger (remember these birds are very wary of predators and that is what we seem like to them at first).

4. Coax him with treats so he sees that coming to you and eventually sitting with or near you is a GOOD thing.

5. Take everything VERY slowly. Never get mad at him. This is the time when he is young that you two will bond forever.

6. Reinforcement: do everything on HIS own time for now. Let him explore his surroundings, his food, his cage, etc. Let him explore YOU. Conures generally (IMO) turn out to be VERY bonded to their owners at this age and there is no reason this wont happen with you and Mango.

ANyway, that's my two cents. Others jump in!

Hey, ok first off. Mango didn't stick for very long (and I wasn't calling him by name because I wasn't 100% on it). It's now Charlie. Suits him much better :)

Charlie 'is' friendly. He flies to you and enjoys a stroke when he settles down. When he is in his cage, he's bobbing up and down and loves a tickle through the bars and makes a little crokey noise. More so today, he flies to me if I move to the other side of the room. Like I said earlier, it's not so much a nasty bite, more a curious one. So far I've been moving my arm (or whatever he's standing on) and knocking him off-balance and saying 'No'. He stops but then soon goes back to the biting.

Another one of his issues so far is that he gets nasty when I'm putting him back in his cage. Can take a while sometimes. Have the marks all over my hands and arms to prove it :o/. When he gets into his cage I give him a tastey treat. Trying to get him to associate going in his cage with something nice so he wants to go back when it's time. Is this right? Any other ideas or tips would be great.