Bird is acting terrified of us now

We have a Rose Breasted Cockatoo, which we have owned for only a few months. He's pretty young, less than a year old.

Things were going pretty well, he would step up, hang out with us, and accept slivered almonds as treats.

Now, starting recently, he acts like he's terrified of us. He huddles in the far side or corner of the cage, and runs away from our hand. He will jump down and land on the bottom of the cage to avoid us, and we're afraid he's hurting himself. This has been going on now for a couple of weeks.

From repeated falls, I believe he has broken new growing feathers, we found flecks of blood on the wall behind his cage. I think what's happening is that the fall causes the broken feather, which causes a drop of blood, and then flapping sprays it into tiny droplets of which some get on the wall.

We're not sure what to do, our previous parrot never had any issue like this. We'd like to try to rebuild trust with him but we have no idea what's freaking him out. We're not aware of having done anything to him, and we can't rebuilt trust if he won't let us get near him or give him treats. When we try it feels like we're just antagonizing him further but if we don't then how can we repair the situation?

There are no signs of plucking feathers or self-mutilation other than jumping/falling to the bottom of his cage.

Any ideas?

I'm wondering if a rat could have gotten into his cage? My quaker was killed by a rat (couldn't have been anything else)... The flecks of blood on the wall made me think of this...

Regardless, since his behaviour has recently changed, I'd suggest a visit to the vet...

After you get the all clear, I would start from scratch.. Pretend he's a bird you've got acquired.

My C2 gets like that every once in awhile but not as severe as yours. I usually just leave her be till she works out of it. Do you keep his cage door open so he can go in and out? Maybe just keep it open for an hour or so at a time,under your supervision of course,and let him decide to come out on his own. Speak softly to him but don't overwhelm him.
Maybe once he feels secure in doing that he will start to turn around.
Sometimes just sitting by the cage for awhile and talking or singing or even reading to him will help to calm them down.

The fact that he's afraid of all of you, and not just one of you makes me think it could be a health problem rather than a loss of trust. So I would first take him into the vet to see if that is the cause. And it's possible he got hurt during one of the falls. And if it is a mouse or rat bite, he could have an infection. When behavior suddenly changes and you don't know why, health problems should probably be ruled out first.

And yes, you will probably have to start from the beginning to win him over again.

We've never seen any signs of mice, rats, or similar creatures in the house, but I'll keep my eyes open. Well, other than the frozen pinky mice we feed to our lizards, but I doubt they're involved in this

There are superworms around (also feeders for the lizards) but they're pretty awful climbers so it seems unlikely they could get into his cage or that they could hurt him if they did (mouths are too small to bite through feathers). Further, I've never found any in his cage when cleaning it. If they were getting in there they'd probably be hiding under the paper.

We keep the cage door closed, but I'm OK to try opening it. I'll give that a shot. Previously we didn't want to do that because my wife had a cat, but he recently died (age and kidney disease) so there is no longer any danger. Is there a possibility this is related to his behavior? I didn't think so because they only knew each other a short time and never directly interacted but maybe... I work from home so I can monitor him during the day.

Also, yesterday we tried moving his cage to another room to see if that helps. Too early to tell yet.

I'll set up a vet visit and see what they say, although I don't look forward to having to collect him for it. With him being like this I imagine I'll be having to towel a screaming biting bird.

I'm afraid to know what a superworm is

If you need to towel him let me warn you in advance that the head and neck are much stronger than you probably have anticipated. Hold strongly!

roxynoodle said:

I'm afraid to know what a superworm is

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It's like a mealworm, just bigger. To a bearded dragon, they're delicious!

Edit: Got a vet appointment for friday 4:30pm.

Try not to towel him, this is going to set you way back in the trust department. Have the vet check down first. Then I would treat him like a new bird. Allow his cage to be his safe haven, his own space owned only by him. Don't, ever, reach into his cage to get him. Leave the door open and ONLY pick him up if he comes out onto the door. If hes out on the door and you go to pick him up and he runs back in his cage, then leave him be. This will teach him that if he doesnt want to interact with you that he wont be FORCED to, that he can instead hang out in his cage on his own terms. This will show him that you have respect for his wishes and you will build a much better bond this way. Don't forget that you have a Too, it wont take long before HE wants to come out and spend time with you guys. Be patient and take things slowly, he will live to be around 80 yrs old - you have nothing but time.

Molcan2 said:

Try not to towel him, this is going to set you way back in the trust department. Have the vet check down first.

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I agree with all you said, except I don't know what you mean by "have the vet check down first". How can the vet check him if I cannot bring him to the vet? Obviously if I can get him to come out on his own I will do so, toweling is only a last resort. I'm just anticipating that he may not be willing to come out on his own so SOME solution is required and if he really is sick then it's for his own good. Is there a better way?

I think she meant get the vet check first and then start working on building trust again?

You can try to bribe him into the carrier by putting treats in there, but I don't know how bribable he is. Yes, if you have no other way to get him in there, then toweling him is for his own good physically. The vet is going to do it, too, to examine him and get cultures. He will get over it. My Grey hates the towel, but she's been to the vet like 12 times now since I got her and she deals with it each time.