My Conure Is Suddenly Unpredictable....

Hi guys-
So my little Green Cheek, Peep, is just about 9 months old now.
He lives with me, my wife and our 7 year old daughter, we have no other pets. From day one he has been a very sweet bird and never bit us hard enough to draw blood. There were a few occasions where he was a bit too rough, especially with my daughter, but not too bad.

He isn't great with guests, some in particular, but he never would really try to hurt anyone in our family.

He is out of his cage most of the day, was hand raised and we have always handled him. In fact, he often is quite cuddly and will roll around on his back, crawl in your shirt, let you handle his wings, etc.

Now, within the last week, he is having a lot of aggressive behavior, especially towards me. This is especially unusual, because in the past I have been his favored companion.

He will be fine, and then almost as if a switch flips, he'll decide he is out for blood. He will actively attack my hands, even if I move them away, and a few days ago he ran up and bit my lip.
Each time he did this, I firmly held him and said "No" (but didn't yell) and brought him to his cage.
Last time he did this, yesterday evening, I brought him to his cage and immediately put the light out. In the morning when I went to take him out, he obviously hadn't forgotten the grudge and immediately came out to attack me. I put him back and my wife took him out an hour or so later and he was friendly with her.

I avoided him until this evening, and I could see he was still looking at me with the "evil eye". I eventually got him to calm down with a lot of gentle talking and a couple treats, and he cautiously climbed up to my shoulder and was very sweet as he usually is. He let me scratch him, and was being normal.
He was good for about an hour, we were laying in bad watching TV, and suddenly he attacked my hands again.
I got him to calm down and he's been on my shoulder, desk or with my daughter since, but every time I bring my hands near him he's ready to pounce again.

Any idea what could be causing this behavior? I don't think it's related to molting - he has been molting for quite some time now and if anything is past the worst of it, and he never was particularly grumpy even when his head was covered in pins.

Could it be early signs of hormonal changes due to reaching sexual maturity? He hasn't demonstrated other signs I've read about, like regurgitating or rubbing his vent on anything. I also thought 9 months is a bit young to be entering puberty.

I'm just at a loss as to how to approach this. I'm trying not to be too tough on him because I don't want to damage our relationship, but I obviously can't be constantly worried he is going to snap at any time and decide my hands are the enemy.

My guess, leaving the toddler stage and a bit confused! This too will pass! Does sound like hormones, but as you said, he is still very young! As for house guests, it is his job to protect the flock!

I don't know what could have flipped the switch but the best way to flip it back is put him on the floor when he does this, not the cage. Make him walk back to you. He might be trying to impress another family member with his virility? That's just a guess but put him on the floor an make him come back, he will figure out that that behavior is something that will get him "shunned" and will not get him attention or special treatment.

No good result this morning, either.
Last night my wife put him to bed a little earlier, because we thought the extra sleep may help with crankiness.

I uncovered his cage and opened the doors this morning, but let him come out of his own accord (usually I put my hand up and he happily comes over).

He came out and sat on top of his cage and was making the usual motions he does when he wants to be picked up. I came to him and he jumped on my shoulder, but I could see straight away that he was in "the mood" again. He bit my ear a couple times and then leaned to get my lip, which thankfully I avoided. I had to grab him and put him back in his cage, where he is now.

I'd rather not have my wife take him out, because I feel that will only reinforce the bad behavior. I want him to accept that he has to play nice with me if he is going to leave his cage.

Frustrating, but I hope this situation improves. I speculate that he is really holding a grudge - I think he is trying to "get even" for all these events that I take him back to his cage for. Birds have quite incredible powers of memory...

Actually, on that note, the one family member that he has disliked for a very long time is my sister - he was friendly with her until once when my wife and I went on vacation for a couple days and left him with her. We speculate he interpreted us leaving as somehow being her fault... he never warmed up to her again after that event.

Another update... he finally came to me without biting (after another failed attempt) and had breakfast with the family. He's now been with me for an hour or so in my office and is behaving normally and again engaging in friendly behavior - he nibbled my fingers to get scratches and did some rolling around play wrestling. I'm not pushing it though, I'll wait for him to ask to be engaged before I do anything.

It is seeming more and more like nonsensical hormones than anything else...

yes it does sound like hormones driving him a little nuts and making him confused/frustrated as to what's happening, but just wondering when he bites you are other people around? If so then maybe he decided that they are better suited as mates than you and is politely telling you he don't want no babies with you.

Stop letting him sit on your shoulder or close to your face. If he's biting your ears and going for your lip then you need to keep him on your arm. Misbehaving birds shouldn't be allowed on shoulders, it should be a privilege earned. Does he have a playstand to play on? Perhaps he would do well on a play stand with lots of toys and things to do, redirecting that aggression to toys and chewing instead of going for your ears, face, lips, etc.

itzjbean said:

Stop letting him sit on your shoulder or close to your face. If he's biting your ears and going for your lip then you need to keep him on your arm. Misbehaving birds shouldn't be allowed on shoulders, it should be a privilege earned. Does he have a playstand to play on? Perhaps he would do well on a play stand with lots of toys and things to do, redirecting that aggression to toys and chewing instead of going for your ears, face, lips, etc.

Click to expand...

Excellent point there that my brain think of at all!

Another thing is plenty of exercise, get him flying and running and playing! Burning off that excess energy should make him a little more docile

I believe hormonal behavior in conures tends to hit anywhere from 1-3 years of age. It's possible he's having a bit of an early onset, I reckon. Is he engaging in any other behaviors that seem sexual in nature? Regurgitation? Masturbation?

There are other possibilities as well. Have you changed anything about your appearance? My fellow mod Terry could tell a hilarious story about the time she made the "mistake" of dyeing her hair red. One of her birds reacted in a way that could fairly be described as explosive. Then there's my male eclectus, Jolly, who once held a grudge against my niece for around 8 months when she dared to apply purple nail polish to her finger nails. Flew like a bat out of hell any time she came within 5 feet of him... even after removing the offending color. So try to recall if you'd changed anything about your appearance. Scent could do it, too. new cologne? Or even shirt color.

You should also look at the circumstances surrounding his bouts of aggression. If he does it whenever either someone he doesn't like comes into the room, or someone he views as a potential rival for your affections, it could be a warning nip ("We've got to get out of here! That one's bad news!) or displacement biting (I can't reach him for a bite... guess you'll have to do!)

Or conversely, if someone he prefers comes into the room, you could go from being his hang out buddy to a barrier from the person with whom he'd rather be hanging.

Be consistent with your timeout methods. Hard nips earn a timeout every time. Though an hour seems a bit long. You don't want the lesson to be lost. I'm not sure if they necessarily make the correlation as quickly between cause and effect after having been locked away for an hour. At that point, he might not remember why he was in the cage in the first place. I'd say 10 minutes. And for that 10 minutes, best case scenario is if no one is in the room. But if that can't be maintained, it's very important that no one makes eye contact or responds to him in any way. Complete isolation from the flock for 10 minutes. If he's bonded, the lesson will hit home.

Oh, and something else to keep in mind. Shoulder privileges should be earned. A bird, even one as small as a conure, can do serious damage to a person's face. If distracted, you might not react swiftly enough to protect your eye if the mood hits.

And one last tip in the meantime. Carry a "distractor" around with you. A small, bird-safe piece of plastic or wood that can fit into the palm of your hand. That way, if he's on your hand and decides it's time for lunch, you can interpose the distractor between his beak and your flesh. Ofttimes, birds will get distracted by the sudden appearance of this chew toy and forget about the taste he's acquired for your flesh. Every drop of blood saved, right?

Thanks for the advice guys.
He doesn't seem to be particularly more prone to attacking me whether there are people around or not, though ever since he's decided I am an enemy, he definitely prefers to be with my wife if we are both in the same room.

I also don't think it's an energy problem, or at least not one I can do much about. He's almost always out and climbing around on us or his perch, or figuring out something else naughty to do around the house. He's very active. Then again, so is my 7 year old, and she seems to always have excess energy to burn...

I'd hate to take away shoulder privileges from him, as he's always been there since he was tiny, but I will if he keeps it up. I think he does have some tiny bit of compassion in that evil little brain, because the bites I have received on my lip could have been much worse I'm sure... I know he is capable of some damage.

You bring up a good point on appearance, Anansi- I think that is another reason he hates my sister. She wears nail polish. We only made the connection once my wife painted her nails, which she rarely does - he hated her until she removed the paint.

Nothing different about my appearance, BUT, the first time he did one of these random attacks on me was a couple weeks ago when I walked into the room wearing bright orange sneakers. I immediately considered that he may have been reacting to them, because I almost never wear shoes inside. Since then, I have been careful not to wear them around him, but maybe he is still holding onto that memory.

Another quick update- I came home today from briefly being away and Peep was back to his "I'm gonna get you" mentality, shadowing me on the floor and clearly waiting for a chance to bite my toes off.

I calmly talked to him and offered my arm to step up on (he knows the command), and he gave it a bit of a bite (not enough to draw blood). I sternly told him "no" and tried again, got the same result.
So, I decided another method to show him who is in charge - after his next bite attempt, I told him "no" and wrapped him in a kitchen towel and held him there for a minute or so while talking calmly to him and scratching his head and cheeks.
After I released him on his perch, he was clearly cautious, but not aggressive. He did try one more bite about 15 minutes later, and I repeated the toweling. Cross my fingers, but so far he has been behaving - I can see his little bird brain working... he clearly is still not pleased with me but he seems to have gotten the idea that he's going to get wrapped up if he bites. They can be very fast learners...

Fast learners indeed.
Might wanna also come to terms with your wife might end up "chosen" and not you. If that happens please don't take it personal. Its a bird thing. Just be patient and keep loving em.

Just one thing to add to the excellent mix so far.

You let him come out of his cage under his own steam?

Change that to him having to step up to come out. It is telling him who is flock leader from the outset.

I kind of agree with everyone, a bird can tell human genders. It's the hormones kicking in, the good news it will pass...mostly.

Well it has been a few more days and Peep is back to his normal bratty, but friendly, self. He seems to have gotten over the aggression. I am not sure if it was due to the toweling and cage time when he was bad, hormones, or simply getting over being angry with me... or maybe a combination of all.

Relationships with parrots should be built on understanding, communication and trust, not about who dominates who. Birds bite for many reasons - to be "alpha" is not one of them.


http://www.parrotforums.com/training/57935-brainstorming-biting-parrots.html


The Struggle for Dominance
The Facts about Punishment

One more update, in case anyone is reading this...

Peep has been behaving perfectly fine for over a week now, as if none of this ever happened.
I can't know for certain what it was, but I believe it was due to the one bad episode (him hating my bright shoes) and then a continued escalation from there.
In retrospect, I think I should have focused more on earning back his friendship than trying to discipline him - he responded best once I started carefully easing back into our relationship.

I think it is really easy to look at these little birds and underestimate how great their powers of memory are. He remembered something that upset him (no matter how silly it may seem to us) and consequently was observing and remembering all my behavior towards him.

Needless to say, I'm quite happy everything worked out. I was pretty sad that I was losing my buddy.

Muzzy said:

One more update, in case anyone is reading this...

Peep has been behaving perfectly fine for over a week now, as if none of this ever happened.
I can't know for certain what it was, but I believe it was due to the one bad episode (him hating my bright shoes) and then a continued escalation from there.
In retrospect, I think I should have focused more on earning back his friendship than trying to discipline him - he responded best once I started carefully easing back into our relationship.

I think it is really easy to look at these little birds and underestimate how great their powers of memory are. He remembered something that upset him (no matter how silly it may seem to us) and consequently was observing and remembering all my behavior towards him.

Needless to say, I'm quite happy everything worked out. I was pretty sad that I was losing my buddy.

Click to expand...

haha I think most of us here have been on the end of a birdy tantrum in some form. They can be terrible with them

Good to here he's back to his usual self