Bitting and Attacking :(

So, I have a male Red-lored Amazon, He is 10 years old, iv had him since he was 6. Im his second owner, both female. Since iv had him hes had an evil streak for men, the previous owner said she had the same trouble, any male friends or family would get attacked if Toby was out of his cage. Its the same for me, at first no males could go near him he would fly at them and attack them so violently! But the past year its anyone he attacks! In the 4 years iv had him he has only bitten me twice, he is currently going through his mating period and keeps trying to mate with me and sings his mating call all day long, But i just dont know what to do, iv tried so many things, he just dont like other people at all! He gets very violent. I have my Nan living with me and he has never actually flew at her and attacked her before, he just gives her a warning look and squeal if she goes near him so she doesnt and hes ok with that, until Sunday, she was in the kitchen and he let out a high pitch scream and just flew at her open beaked attacking her head, he bite all her neck she was sooooo upset and sad. I just am at my wits end with him, he is SO loving and affectionate towards me, WHY is he not like that with anyone else! Its got to a point where family with young children dont want to visit me, and when they do Toby has to be kept in his cage well away from everyone, which is such a shame because i want everyone to be able to see the funny and loving bird that i see! It makes me so sad. Because he is so clever and funny, he has a huge vocabulary, hes so affectionate and such a sweet heart!

Sami said:

So, I have a male Red-lored Amazon, He is 10 years old, iv had him since he was 6. Im his second owner, both female. Since iv had him hes had an evil streak for men, the previous owner said she had the same trouble, any male friends or family would get attacked if Toby was out of his cage. Its the same for me, at first no males could go near him he would fly at them and attack them so violently! But the past year its anyone he attacks! In the 4 years iv had him he has only bitten me twice, he is currently going through his mating period and keeps trying to mate with me and sings his mating call all day long, But i just dont know what to do, iv tried so many things, he just dont like other people at all! He gets very violent. I have my Nan living with me and he has never actually flew at her and attacked her before, he just gives her a warning look and squeal if she goes near him so she doesnt and hes ok with that, until Sunday, she was in the kitchen and he let out a high pitch scream and just flew at her open beaked attacking her head, he bite all her neck she was sooooo upset and sad. I just am at my wits end with him, he is SO loving and affectionate towards me, WHY is he not like that with anyone else! Its got to a point where family with young children dont want to visit me, and when they do Toby has to be kept in his cage well away from everyone, which is such a shame because i want everyone to be able to see the funny and loving bird that i see! It makes me so sad. Because he is so clever and funny, he has a huge vocabulary, hes so affectionate and such a sweet heart!

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He's seeing you as his mate and anyone else is a threat to his mate. You've gotta stop this behaviour so he can realise that you're not his mate and that people arn't there to steal you or harm you/him.

Things like, do you stroke his back? That's seen as 'sexual' behaviour. I'm sure someone else can probably elaborate more on this but that's what I think the problem is.

Would you rent him out? I have a few family members and a neighbor that I would like to have run off hahahahaha.

I agree with what was said, it sounds like he has mated with YOU and see's everyone else as a threat. Some times this behavior will pass, but it may take a long time and then again, it may never pass. How much socializing have you done with him while he was growing up?

he sounds stuck to you! and as mentioned watch where you stroke him!

where is his cage in the house?? is it where he can view most areas?

how much sleep does he get??

what are you feeding him??

how many ppl live in your home?

i have an attacking problem with my nut, i have recently drastically reduced her our of cage time to 2/3 hours a day, even if we are in the house, it seems to be working, but she is so******ed with ppl, she just chose to attack/bite for what ever reason, but this increased cage time seems to have worked for us, my main worry was it would make her more aggressive! which it hasn't (so far)

he may only be that sweet way with you! but i really would get him so******ed, as mike says above it sounds like your birds mainly been in your company.

but take little steps, starting with your nan! she should do the treat giving and feeding, if your cage is one, where the food bowls can be removed without having to open the door

she needs to show treat, speak to him an see what his reaction is, i think this is best done when you are not in the room/house
if he wont take treats from her, just push them through cage bars etc or try later! this might seem like alot for you to ask of your nan, as i know after nuts attacks, it made me very wary of her, but she needs to show she is not threat, and has goodies for him so to speak

your poor bird is soo fraustrated, like my nut is, but as we have soo many more yrs with them, its really important we let them get over this stage, but at the same time not let them harm any1, and also keep them social, a very tricky balance to get right.

My Yellow Naped Amazon flew at the previous owner's son & tried to attack him. She told me this before I got Lila , my YNape. I can see that Lila is very jealous of my granddaughter when she comes over by the bird's behavior so I NEVER let her out of her cage when my granddaughter is over. The last thing that I would ever want is for my granddaughter to get hurt by my bird. You might just have to keep him contained when other people are close to the bird at least when he is in his breeding season.

Awww thankyou everyone for all the replies! Its nice to see im not on my own with my crazy bird, but sorry others suffer like me too lol.

haha Mike, ofcourse you can birdsit him for a little while to terrorise your family lol!

As for him 'loving' me, i agree with all that, its true, he even regurgitates his food for me all the time!
I never thought about where i stroke him, his back is his fav part to be stroked and will lie low so i can stroke him there, i guess now that i know that i will try and avoid that area, thankyou!

I have tried to stop all this behavior, i really have, i dont encourage it at all, and if hes nasty to anyone i do return him to his cage right away, i dont really know how else to discipline him to let him know that its wrong, or to show him that he can be friendly and happy around other people not just me, its so frustrating because i KNOW he can be such a loving bird and hes so gentle with me!

Thankyou for giving me all the tips, i like about my nan giving him treats, she wont right now because she is nervous now but maybe i can convince her to over the next couple of weeks, i mean hes not always with me, i work during the day so actually while im at work he is with my nan, so hes not with me 24/7 but i guess im his owner, who feeds him and gives him attention the most.
His cage is in a morning room which is next to my living room (me and nan have seperate living areas) but it is next to the kitchen and from his cage he can see the kitchen so he sees my nan all the time in there.

Sleep - Not including his day time naps he gets on average about 10 - 12 hours a night. Is that enough for him? my house is pretty quiet as it is only me and my nan living here, i have my baby nephew every weekend but he doesnt disturb Toby.

Tobys out of cage time during the week is about 3 hours a day, sometimes it can be a couple of hours more depending on my shift times, although since the dreaded attack on sunday i havent let him out, he has got a huge cage though so i know hes ok for a few days in there. Of a weekend mostly he is out all day going in and out of his cage as he pleases.

I talk to him constantly, and my nan also talks to him alot, whenever shes in the kitchen he shouts hello at her, he will talk to her and be happy as long as she doesnt get close to his cage, which is why i was pretty suprised at the attack really, because hes never flew at her before, just backed away and gave her a warning, this attack she had her back to him and wasnt anywhere near him.

I didnt get him until he was 6yrs old (4 years ago) so unfortunatly i dont know how he was reared but the girl who i got him off did say he was very attached to her, but didnt like Males. Oh but when i first got him i was living with my parents, so for the first 2 years of having him we lived with 5 other adults, and he was the same there, he hated everyone and would attack everyone, and everyone loved him and would talk to him everyday, but 3 of them was male so he really didnt enjoy being there, weve been where we are for 2 years together, and he seems happier but thats probably because hes got me all to himself


I have tried to answer everyones questions, im so very grateful for all your hints and tips with Toby, he is a good boy and i feel bad when he gets nasty to people, because hes got such a sweet side to him.

Oh food, well i have tried everything possible to get him to eat fruit, his previous owner only gave him parrot mix, and i have tried and tried to give him all the good stuff but he backs away and acts all scared of it, i feed him dry tropical parrot mix, which he picks at lol, he will eat dried bananas but thats all the fruit he will eat really. His favourite thing is monkey nuts, but i give them as treats. .. any hints and tips about his eating habits?

Thankyou again everyone, its so nice to have somewhere to come to for great advice!

I know they call it a myth regarding birds having a preference for either women or men and that may ne true. But when it comes to amazons, I believe it ain't no myth.

A local breeder told me that one of his Blue and Gold macaws hates his son. To the point he will literaly run him out of the house when he stops by so they have to keep him caged while his son is visiting.

Oh i deffinatly dont believe it to be a myth, not with my Toby anyway, at least he will allow females to come closer to his cage, but as soon as a male does he totally freaks out and charges at them, hitting his body off the cage by where they are standing. My two brothers have received many war wounds off toby!

I added some photos of him to the photo gallery