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Re: Bites?
Posted by Rick on 2/06/09

On 2/06/09, Pete wrote:
> My male CAG, Luigi, likes to playfully `Bite` me on the
> cheek, neck or ear when he is on my shoulder, but it`s more
> of a nuzzle with his hard beak. He chews rather than bites
> and although it hurts, I think he is just asking for
> constant attention. I have heard many times that birds get
> a feeling of dominance from being at equal height with your
> head and should always be lower than your head to avoid
> problems. There is certainly something to this, but we are
> all softies and let the birds do as they please. Injury is
> a real possibility so I always wear glasses to avoid eye
> injury. I had an Aunt who had a pet Parakeet that would
> land on her eyeglasses as she would read the paper. This
> was fun for years, until the bird apparently lunged at his
> reflection in her eye and took a chunk of the white of the
> eye. After many weeks of treatment ,all was well; but she
> learned the hard way.


Hey Pete,

Not sure if you are looking for responses, but here goes. Yes,
there is a lot of validity to your statements. We, most I
should say, are softies when it comes to our feathered
friends, and yes, you are so true when saying we are only
human and have to learn the hard way. I believe it's our "it's
not going to happen to me" Nature.
It's like when a parent would tell their child something out
of Wisdom with their experiences, only to have the child not
believe them, or better yet roll their eyes, and then it comes
back later as a proven point, only to say "they were right",
how did they know that?

Anyways, with that said, I would be very careful of letting
your bird "nibble" as you say on your cheek, ears, neck, etc.
Personally I would be wanting to stop this behavior,
especially since you have seen the damage a smaller bird has
done. Wearing eye wear is great itself, but I would be
concerned with the ears as well, should your bird spook or
even lose it's balance and grab for the first thing it catches
glimps of. Not intentionally wanting to hurt you, but as you
say accidents do happen, your Aunt is living testament of
that. Another point to make is that a CAGs beak is hardly
comparable to a Parakeet, but I guess even smaller can be
mighty. Take care.

Posts on this thread, including this one

• Bites?, 2/06/09, by Pete.
• Re: Bites?, 2/06/09, by GreyLady.
• Re: Bites?, 2/06/09, by Rick.
• Re: Bites?, 2/06/09, by Rick / to Grey Lady.
• Re: Bites?, 2/06/09, by GreyLady.
• Re: Bites?, 2/06/09, by Rick.