Aggressive insomniac Caique

Hi all,

I'd be grateful for your views on this:

Charlie is a 6 year old black headed caique, we presume he's male but he's not been sexed. He's our only pet.

We bought him at 6 months old. My wife is his favourite person but he's tame and plays and cuddles with both of us.

My brother in law Andre has been living with us for over a year and Charlie loved him. About 3 months ago though, he suddenly changed his behaviour and started lunging for Andre at every opportunity.

This has happened once before with someone who lived with us for several months, where Charlie gets very close to them and then decides he hates them after a few months.

Andre went on holiday for a month and came back on Wednesday. Now, Charlie is more aggressive towards him than ever AND the parrot will not sleep. At all. Anywhere.

It's made worse by the fact that Andre sleeps in the same room as Charlie which is likely part of the problem now that they don't get on (it was fine for many months before). However there's nowhere else warm enough for Charlie to sleep. If we put him in the lounge, it's freezing and he'll interfere with me working from home, it also prevents him getting an early night.

Sorry for the long message but do you have any ideas if it's possible to reconcile Charlie with Andre again?

It's especially frustrating because our close relationship with Charlie is largely based on having him out of the cage a lot, but since Charlie will fly at Andre and attack on sight, it's now almost impossible to enjoy quality time together without feeling like we have to exile my wife's brother.

Target training, stationing and redirecting unwanted behavior into desired behavior.

May be a good idea to start with target training with Charlie in his cage so fingers are kept safe unless put too close to the cage.

ChrisDines said:

..... AND the parrot will not sleep. At all. Anywhere.

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That right there doesn't sound quite right. Parrots need to have numerous hours of (preferably) uninterrupted sleep.

Is he unwell, perhaps?

Just think about it: You'd be cranky, too, if you were always tired.

I think you may need to get him checked out by the vet. Him not sleeping is extremely odd. How do you know he doesn't sleep? I'd get him checked out with the sleep thing, do you cover his cage? And as Monica mc said target traing and more training. I guess back to the basics with training.

ChrisDines said:

Hi all,

I'd be grateful for your views on this:

Charlie is a 6 year old black headed caique, we presume he's male but he's not been sexed. He's our only pet.

We bought him at 6 months old. My wife is his favourite person but he's tame and plays and cuddles with both of us.

My brother in law Andre has been living with us for over a year and Charlie loved him. About 3 months ago though, he suddenly changed his behaviour and started lunging for Andre at every opportunity.

(1)This has happened once before with someone who lived with us for several months, where Charlie gets very close to them and then decides he hates them after a few months.

Andre went on holiday for a month and came back on Wednesday. Now, Charlie is more aggressive towards him than ever (2)AND the parrot will not sleep. At all. Anywhere.

It's made worse by the fact that Andre sleeps in the same room as Charlie which is likely part of the problem now that they don't get on (it was fine for many months before). However there's nowhere else warm enough for Charlie to sleep. If we put him in the lounge, it's freezing and he'll interfere with me working from home, it also prevents him getting an early night.

Sorry for the long message but do you have any ideas if it's possible to reconcile Charlie with Andre again?

It's especially frustrating because our close relationship with Charlie is largely based on having him out of the cage a lot, but since Charlie will fly at Andre and attack on sight, it's now almost impossible to enjoy quality time together without feeling like we have to exile my wife's brother.

Click to expand...

Hi

(1) As this has happened before I have two trains of thought
i) he has gotten too close to these people, too amorous, nippy kisses and been swatted away, yelled at "hey stop!" and then taken exception to this. If these are not bird people but think he's cute there's a difference.
ii) he eventually gets jealous of them being there thinks they are between you and him?

(2) He most definitely will not sleep in the same room as his current arch enemy will he? Would you? Have you tried a sleep cage in you room or nearby. This will lead to illness in time IMHO.

Hope you manage to sort this satisfactorily?

I apologize if this is an obvious question but have you tried to cover the cage so that it's completely dark and he can't see out?