Cockatiel nipping?

[Ed_r]

I've been doing some reading on them. The books talk about them biting when upset and being quite painfull. This is not the case. Mine does a few rapid beak nips just catching the skin, but not hard. He mainly seems to do this when he doesn't feel like going Up on command, if you stop petting him, or just because.lol This is not all the time, but he does it fairly regularly.

What sort of behavior display is that, and is there anything i can do to stop it if its a bad thing?

[Squeezer]

Mine always did the same thing. I just put up with it.

[Gecko-Guy]

It's common behavior. It could be for many reasons. Sometimes they actually do it to show affection or to acknowlege you being there. In the wild, mating cockatiels playfully nip each other like this. It's nothing to worry about if it doesn't really hurt you.

[SpookyScales]

My cockatiel does the same thing. Sometimes, he'll advance to harder nipping, and then I tell him "NO!" But otherwise, it doesn't really bother me. I think he's molting right now, as there's feathers all over the place!

Sincerely,
SpookyScales