New Agression in my conure

MissLarissa

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Jul 22, 2014
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Green Cheek Pineapple Conure - Rico
Right around his first birthday my conjure has became randomly aggressive. He has bit before, but never hard enough to draw blood. He has started to bite frequently and hard enough to leave cuts and scabs. At first I figured it was from stress of being back home for the holidays but it has not gotten much better after being back at my apartment.
He has started getting really angry and being very protective of his food, sometimes even lunging at my hand when I feed him. He is always out of his cage unless I'm at school and has limited seed (only when in his cage) and is fed pellets (with natural apple juice), oatmeal, bird bread, carrots, etc. When out of his cage. I have tried my best to place him on his desk when he bites to let him calm down and keeping me out of a position to be bit over food, but its not helping. He has started getting angry randomly at my fingers. Aside from these acts of aggression he is still as cuddly as he normally is.
So after all of this information, I was wondering if he is old enough that he is getting into the "terrible two's" phase or if he is old enough for a mating season to affect him. I am just not sure how to stop it or why he is acting up.
 

Dinosrawr

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Aug 15, 2013
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Saskatoon, SK, Canada
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Avery, a GCC born on March 5th, 2013 & Shiko, a blue IRN born on February 25th, 2014
Sounds like hormones to me. The behaviour can be random and sporatic, almost nonsensical. Avery just finished a nice bout of hormones, and this describes her perfectly. I also had a nice little sprinkle of extreme jealousy over me that occurred. Try to avoid touching anywhere that isn't his head, and try to keep up the positive behaviours with him.
 
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MissLarissa

MissLarissa

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He actually doesn't really like fingers, he was a pet store baby, but I'm trying my hardest to work him up to it. He doesn't mind my face or my arms/wrists petting him anywhere, just fingers. But his belly and head are still a no-go. I'm gonna continue trying my best to get him comfortable with fingers and allow me to touch him everywhere.
This is just bad timing for his hormones because his wings need cut and he doesn't like his wings touched. I don't want his first experience out of the pet store with wing clipping to be bad.
 

veimar

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Feb 5, 2014
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gcc Parry; lovebird Coco; 3 budgies (Tesla, Franky and Cesar); cockatiel Murzik, red rump parakeet girl Onyx
OMG - I just wanted to post EXACTLY same thing!! :D It's definitely hormonal! My gcc was pressure trained and literally never bit me hard, but yesterday just out of blue he nailed my finger like a bulldog!:11: I had to shake him off! He is about 13-15 months old, and I expected him to get hormonal - he was already weird and much less cuddly, but still never bit me before.
I hoped he'll be back to his self again, but whenever he saw my hand he ran to it and tried to bite! I allowed him to bite once, but he broke the skin, and I had to be cautious. I'm really upset. The worst thing is that I cannot make him to step up because instead of stepping he would try to bite my hand, little nasty monster! Does yours do the same? Does he do a weird screech too? :)
Mine is hyper, has some angry glare in his eyes and screeches a lot - it seems that he is constantly pissed off. However today he allowed me to pick him up and was cuddling with me a bit.
Hope it passes soon! Hang in there! :)
 
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MissLarissa

MissLarissa

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Rico kinda acts like an angry chicken, he'll hold is lead low with his beak open and head feathers fluffed up and run at my hand or lunge if its close enough. He is, so far, still as cuddly as normal until these mood swings hit him. He has been extra talkative, but its been loud talking and chattering.
I never did any real training with him, we kinda just had an understanding from the moment I saw him. All I would have to say is ow, or no, sometimes grab his beak, and he understood. But that has almost turned against me.... because he know what no means and tells me no often if I want him to do something he doesn't want to. And when he is feeling playful he will beak me and say ow then proceed to laugh. I have a little monster sometimes, but he always means the best. Until these hormones. How long does this last?
 

Dinosrawr

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Aug 15, 2013
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Saskatoon, SK, Canada
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Avery, a GCC born on March 5th, 2013 & Shiko, a blue IRN born on February 25th, 2014
It can last awhile with conures, they don't have a super specific breeding season like some birds. With Avery it was about 3 or so months. And goodness, what a little sassy pants, hahaha! He sounds like such a personality :)
 

Roanoke

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Oct 30, 2014
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Greenville, SC
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Teeko, GCC [Baby Amazon ETA: August 25th]
Teeko started acting up 2 days ago, it sounds like all the GCCs have the same hormonal clock!
He bites me sporadically and has been extremely overprotective.
I'll be following this thread!
 

Minimaker

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Jul 29, 2014
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Illinois
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GW Macaw-Sailor, Goffins Cockatoo Mako, GC Conure-Tazzy, Turquoise Conure Yuki, Budgies-Percy, Annabeth, Elsa
My conure Tazzy has decided that my husband is his mortal enemy and now he bites me (and doesn't otherwise at all) when my husband is around. All day long he's good, happy, chattery, etc. Hubbs walks in and tries to talk to him and suddenly it's on like Donkey Kong. He gets aggressive and chomps anything in the general vicinity including me. I handle him all day long without a problem. He's very content. Apparently he doesn't like my husband whatsoever through no fault of his own. He's never done a thing other than offer him treats. And when he does Tazzy grabs them quite nastily and bites into them like he wishes it were my husband's fingers instead, lol. I'm telling you he actually eats the treats my husband gives him in a testy, aggravated way. It's alarming and hilarious at the same time.
 
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MissLarissa

MissLarissa

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Green Cheek Pineapple Conure - Rico
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Its been about a month since Rico started acting up. An he was good, except for yelling, all day yesterday and so far today. So I'm crossing my fingers!
 

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