Newly persistent aggressive behavior after 20 years

Hi all,
My red spectacled Amazon parrot Elliott recently bit the hell out of me after having no problems for years. I've had him for around 20 years and guesstimate he's around 28 years old. He's usually very friendly - he steps up, he sits on my finger while I scratch his head at night, he sits on the bathroom counter while I shave and even plays fetch - he throws the shaving cream lid off the counter and I pick it up and roll it back to him and then he repeats. Even when he was displaying mating behavior (eyes flashing, tail flaring) I could usually approach him slowly, and stroke his head slowly and most times coax him into a normal mood.

Last month I made the mistake of going to his cage with a baseball hat on. I seem to remember now that he didn't like those in the past, but wasn't thinking. We're also so comfortable together I didn't pay attention to his warning signs. He grabbed hold of my thumb and bit for all he was worth and would not let go. This was not a warning bite. I finally had to flip my hand to get him off and couldn't approach him for at least an hour afterward.

It was really bad - I had two actual trenches in my thumb from upper and lower beak and treated it regularly with alcohol, peroxide and antibiotic gel but still ended up going to Urgent Care after a week or so when it was infected. Now I have what a probably permanent scars from the bite.

Since then it's been dicey. Some days are better than others. He has a day cage in the main room and an evening cage in the bedroom and I often have to remove the cover on his cage and wait an hour or more before he calms down enough to come onto my finger to go to his daytime cage (where his food is). Today I've not been able to get him to come out of his night cage at all - he's head bobbing and tail flaring and ready to bite. The night before last he came onto the bathroom counter and played shaving can lid fetch with me. The last time it got really bad I put on a glove and he stepped onto that, but this time he's freaking out over the glove, too.

I understand it's mating season, but this has been going on almost 2 months now. I'm frankly scared of him - he's done this a couple times before, although it's been 5-7 years between bites. I have not acted angry at him and have tried to be patient, but my patience is running out. Sometimes I walk past his cage with the cover on, he hears me (a noise) and lunges/tries to bite.

I've read the advice about not reacting when they bite, but it's simply not possible for me to get bitten that hard and not react. I know the trick about making your hand into a fist so they don't have anything to bite, but when he's on my finger I can only shield my thumb and other fingers so much.

Any advice? I've always promised him I wouldn't make him go live with someone else, but I honestly don't think I'm willing to put up with a pet that bites me, either. It sucks because you know, he's a member of the family.

Oh my goodness, that's quite the battle wound you have! I'm sorry that there's turbulence in your relationship with Elliot and that it's become a little sour. I know that we had a member who also experienced the same thing - random, almost extreme aggressive behaviour from their zon. Hopefully those who have experience with the big guys pop in and can give you some advice!

Thanks, Dinosrawr! I appreciate your words of support.

I called Arizona Exotic Bird Rescue yesterday and, absent any changes in our home, they tentatively identified his food as the problem. I had no idea, but apparently the seed mix fed to parrots is a known cause of aggression and mating behavior. They are recommending I switch him to a pellet diet, and feel pretty strongly that will calm him down.

Here's a couple articles I found which support this:

http://pamelaclarkonline.com/uploads/Diet-Linked_Behavior_in_Parrots.pdf

Hormonal Parrots: How Parrot Food Affects Hormones - Blog.birdsupplies.com

I'm going down today to get some of the pellet varieties and hope this calms my little guy down.

So sorry to hear/see your pain. I read those articles, I too am going to make some changes. Thanks for the information.

You're welcome, Wendy. We had a nice trip down to the Bird Rescue today. The lady, Mandy, is very knowledgeable and recommended a few different products. We got:

* Pellet food
* Featheriffic - to help grow feathers.
* Coco-Loro Virgin Coconut Oil - AntiMicrobial, AntiChloridant, Anti-Cholesterol, Skin & Feather Conditioner
* AviCalm - Nutritional Supplement for Anti-Stress, Anti-Feather Picking and Anti-Aggression

When I received my bird, he had plucked out a lot of his feathers and the rest were dull green and brown from not being fed. I was told his feathers would probably never grow back. But the lady at the Rescue today said they can absolutely grow their feathers back. (His head and wings came back nicely but never the chest, back or legs.) So we're going to try the new diet and supplements and see how it goes. I am excited to see if we can get him healthy and calm again on the new food and supplements.

Kudo to you... You will have to update us on here. Would love to see pictures.

Well, just to pass along some information - I did end up adopting my bird to the Rescue. They were super nice and made the painful transition much easier. Elliott was completely at ease at the Rescue, and a lady took a liking to him and started coming in every day and bringing him fresh fruit.

She ended up adopting him, and I ended up getting a very nice couple of emails from her. I guess she hasn't experienced the aggressive behavior that he showed towards me at the end, and she's continued the new diet we started him on, and he has grown back most of the feathers on his chest!

For years I was told by pet store owners and vets that he would probably never grow those feathers back, so I am pleased as punch to find out they're coming back in.

If you happen to live in Arizona, the Arizona Bird Rescue down in Tempe was a wonderful resource and I recommend them highly.

Here's Elliott in his new home - I can tell he's happy, the feathers around his head are all fluffy: