I'm thinking of naming my new male tiel Schizo because he will be so sweet letting me rub his head and ruffle his feathers while he falls asleep to RAWR BITE BITE BITE BITE!!! lol I swear he has multiple personalities. I just got him a few days ago from my boyfriends dad as many of you know from my other posts, And I found out that he is a little older then I had expected. My friend Kendy said by looking at his feet and the fact that they aren't very pink means that he is at least 4 years old. So he has either been out in the wild for 4 years or in an aviary with little or no human contact and I was wondering if anyone knows a good strategy to stop the BITING! Because it really hurts sometimes, he hasn't drawn blood yet but still I want to discourage this behavior. I've tried blowing on him, Raising my voice and saying no, gently tapping his beak and even spraying him with a little water...Nothing works so if anyone has a suggestion I'm wide open.

OK now he is starting to bite harder lol. It only kinda helps if I give him a little millet before rubbing his head. Then he is calm but still does a little reassurance nibble to make sure I don't do anything sketchy lol. Then after a few seconds "mode switch" BITE BITE BITE! So 4 steps. Millet, nibble, rub, BITE! lol please help...

Yeah, Jack does that too, he has extreme moodswings lol. Here's what worked for me... At first, Jack had this problem where he would randomly start just biting my sleeve angrily. Usually because he was annoyed by the keets, but sometimes just for no apparent reason. Whenever he did this, I would just put him back in his cage and go back to what I was doing. Jack is bonded to me and hates being in his cage, so that's why it worked for me.
Secondly, sometimes when I go to pet him he will bite me. Now, when I slowly move my fingers to pet him, I watch his body language. If his head feather things raise and he opens his mouth towards me like he's going to bite, I stop. Really, it's his choice if he wants to be petted, I don't think it's right to force him. If he doesn't want to be, I respect that.
And one final thing that works with Jack- I don't know if it's just him though but it's worth a try- is when he's on my arm or knee and starts preening himself and his head is turned and his chest puffed out, I lightly pet his chest/tummy (or kiss it hehe). He might get annoyed by this sometimes but don't leave your finger or face there, pull it back, to avoid being bitten. After doing this a few times, Jack usually lets me pet him, unless he's in a bad mood. In fact, he'll usually cuddle against my hand after doing this. I have no idea why this works or if this will work for you, but it's like magic with Jack, so I thought I'd mention it.
I hope some of this helps you. Good luck with your tiel.

Thanks but it seems that he NEVER wants to be petted and he is doing very well for a bird with no human contact for at least 4 years. He eats out of my hand he just learned the step up command in 1 day and when he does bite its not hard enough to break the skin. But when I put him back in his cage he just sits there doing nothing... Is he scared or something? Since the keets were abused before I had them they don't come near me at all and I was going to buy a cockatiel and this one just happened to land in my yard and my boyfriends dad caught him lol. So I want this one to me my cuddle, love and play bird. Maybe I should just give him time and when he is ready he will come to me?

Oh, from your first post it sounded like it would let you sometimes. But I still say that if he doesn't want to be petted them don't pet him. If he's older and hasn't had a lot of human interaction (though I doubt he was living in the wild very long because it's usually nearly impossible for them to survive in the wild) then it may take a while before he will let you pet him. So yeah, in that case I would just give him time until he's comfortable enough to be petted, he should open up.

hellooo.. im so happy your teil is doing good..with the biting, well some well always do that lol...ive read alot about training teils, see befor i got a parakeet i had a cockateil..any ways..thye say when a teil bits do not take your hand way, no matter how hard or how much it hurts (and ohhh how it hurts lol) they say if you take your hand away when he bits , this well only show that all he was to do is bit and your hand go's way...so keep it there,,sooner or later he well get the idea that his bitting does not hurt you and well stop , so they say ..lol..it worked with my 2nd cockateil Tinkerbell,,i only had tinkerbell a week, then he opend his cage..it was a slide up cage and hit the wall in the night and well yeah after the first 2 days of me not caring that he bit me, she stoped..so i would try that..also, your supose to say "stop btting" when they do bit in a nice ferm tone. but not loud, or mean.......i hope this helps hehe

Yea...No I never yank my hand away I know this causes them to believe that they are the dominant one. And like I said in my first post I've tried blowing on him, firming my voice, spraying him with water (which he likes) so it didn't work and tapping his beak with my nail (not hard but gently). His bites don't really hurt they just pinch a little but I just want to discourage it thats all. It is cute how he screeches while biting, like that little thing could scare me lol. And Suzzie I am really sorry about your tiel I've lost 2 before, One to my Labrador retriever and one supposedly choked on a seed so I completely sympathize with you its really hard losing something you love, I've had so many animals in my life time and I still cry when I think about every single one of them. lol even this little moth I accidentally killed which everyone apparently finds so funny but seriously it was really sad!

I just saw your post and I haven't had time to research in my bird book but I will. Can you tell me if it is just when you aproach him that he bites. Is it in his cage always or just always if you approach him? I can tell you that you should never raise your voice or blow on him or tap his beak or spray him. These are all types of agression that will only reinforce his need to bite. I will wait for more info and research it in the meanwhile. I will get back to you.