Confusing Aggression/Pacing Behavior

A week ago I brought home 2 GCCs, a male and female. They are still learning my routine so I've been giving them Time to settle in. They belonged to a friend who no longer wanted them, they are super chatty and messy and she 'didn't have time', but they were sweet as can be.

The male has me confused however. If I'm sitting on my bed, across from the cage, he will pace the cage floor and whine looking at me until I open the cage door, to which he will quickly climb into the doorway and sit. But if I ask him to step up or try touching him he bites, hard and with intent everytime. So he goes from pay attention to me, to go away. He's even flown from the cage, he's clipped but he glides over, and when I try to pick him back up he bites. He'll call for me when he hears my voice in the other room too.

The female is shy but warming up. She'll take food from my hand and when she does come out, she's followed the male a few times, she won't bite at all she's just skitty.

What is the males problem? I know they are still settling in but how to I handle this?
****Note a bit of background on these 2... My friend got then together and they are pretty bonded and don't like to be apart. They don't so much as scream as if one take a hop out the other follows.

Sounds like the male learned to bite, so that's all he knows how to do.


Can you teach him to target and use treats to teach him to step up instead of just asking for it?

He's targeting great. Super smart. And he knows how to step up he's just being a butt lol. I'm just wondering if it's cage Aggression or the fact the female is there. He's still new so we are getting used to one another.

He knows how to step up. Does he know how to step up from all locations or just certain locations? Just because a bird learns a behavior in Scenario A doesn't mean they know the same behavior in Scenario B. Animals may not generalize like humans do, so they may need to be taught a behavior in several locations before they learn to generalize the behavior to any location.


It could be the female....


Another thing you could try is every time you walk by the cage to drop a special treat inside a treat cup or dish that they don't get any other time. Try and get him to become accustomed to you bringing goodies and this may help with his aggression... as he'll learn to look forward to the times you *do* come by!

Hi LoveMyConlan,

I don't have magic answers for you as I myself am still trying to figure out a lot of the bonded pair behavior. I took in 2 breeders that never had been handled/socialized (apart from the previous owner taking the babies away that is) The birdies are being very outgoing (mine do alarm scream a lot but it got wayyyy better) If I enter the room they do their aggression stance, the typical hunched over wings flapping at the bottom of the cage or a middle perch. I greet them/talk a little and they mostly quickly snap out of it. Kiwi (the female- I think) sometimes paces back and forth too and I'm not sure if it's a greeting or territorial. I always hand feed them treats + talk to them a bit before I open the cage.

Mango (I think the male) loves to sit on me, hand, arm, shoulder, lap but now chomps down on my arm

I don't think my pair will ever be cuddle bugs but I do hope we can come to where I can leave the cage open and they can fly around (without dive bombing) also important that I could get them back in the cage, on a perch for cleaning or a travel cage for vet visits.