Horrible, Sudden Aggression in Green Cheek Conure

SilverHybrid

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Hello, I'm Silver and I, unfortunately, have a major problem with my pineapple green cheek conure, Navi.
I got her in June 23rd, 2018 (two days before my birthday, fun fact) and she was the sweetest thing ever. Note : she was 11 weeks old when I got her.
I gave her a cage, gave her a friend, Sky the fancy parakeet, and she was just the best bird you could ask for... Until we reached around late August to early September...
It was a normal day, I was taking her out in the afternoon to spend time with my spoiled child. I was saying, "Good afternoon Navi!" as I usually do. I carefully stuck my hand in the cage, trying not to spook her, but she suddenly bit me; really, really hard.
In shock, I pulled my hand back since she's never bitten me before. Sure, she would give me nips but that's when she got annoyed by something I was doing and I would stop immediately.
I tried again and got the same result : a painful bite. I simply just called it a day and tried again tomorrow, but got the exact same thing. I called the breeder I got her from and asked what I should do. She said to ignore the biting and gently push her beak back when she tried biting. If it got worse, roll your hand in to have her try and bite the top of your hand, but there was nothing to latch onto to bite, so it should work, right?
I've tried both for the past 2 months and no progress has been made whatsoever. If anything, her biting has gotten worse to where I would bleed. She'll even run up to you and bite anything that's closest to her.
Recently, however, I've gotten her a new, bigger cage, thinking that maybe why she was aggressive because her old cage was just slightly smaller than what a green cheek would need.
After putting her in the new cage, she's gotten better... at least for 3-4 days...
Her biting is horrible and I can't stand it. I've tried what the breeder has told me and nothing's worked. Not only that, she's aggressive to my mother and my brother, who've been loving her ever since I got her. Any ideas?
For extra info, by now she is a little bit below 9 months.
 
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chris-md

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Welcome to the forums!

Also, year and a half? Welcome to puberty! Your bird has entered adolescence. This is a phase and will pass, rest assured. Puberty typically lasts a few months. Protracted cases may last up to a year.

Aggression and general bipolar behavior (aggressive one second, super sweetheart the next, wake up next morning to an evil heathen) are typical of puberty. THIS WILL PASS. You must have patience, and do your best to ignore the naughty behavior.

It is SO key to continue engaging the bird out of cage and keep up the socialization. Do not keep your bird locked up as a result of the aggression. This will be key to positive resolution of this phase and have a positive outcome:

YOU WILL GET YOUR SWEET BIRD BACK, I promise. If you do as above, keep engaging, you’ll get the well behaved bird back in a few months time.

PATIENCE IS A MUST. Not optional here. You’ll get through it together and your bond with the bird will be stronger than ever as a result.
 
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SilverHybrid

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Thank you for your reply but, however, she is not a year in a half. That was a typo on my part, I'm sorry. At the moment, she is 9 months old. Though, now I will know about her puberty in the future!
 

chris-md

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I still wouldn’t rule out an early bloomer, as it were. This could likely be a bit of prepubertal hormones kicking in, since 1 year is generally the accepted baseline for when puberty kicks in.

Could also be a bit of boundary testing. They definitely do this as well. Just keep enforcing rules, and this too shalll eventually end.

Moody behavior...testing boundaries...sounds a bit like a human child, right? It’s cause it is. They have the intelligence of 2-3 year old and often behave like it. Let that be a guide for you.
 
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SilverHybrid

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I still wouldn’t rule out an early bloomer, as it were. This could likely be a bit of prepubertal hormones kicking in, since 1 year is generally the accepted baseline for when puberty kicks in.

Could also be a bit of boundary testing. They definitely do this as well. Just keep enforcing rules, and this too shalll eventually end.

Moody behavior...testing boundaries...sounds a bit like a human child, right? It’s cause it is. They have the intelligence of 2-3 year old and often behave like it. Let that be a guide for you.

I've kept note of that. I've done a lot of research on green cheek conures before I got her. Unfortunately, nothing told me about her bratty behavior. Though, I've been patient, I've just gotten tired of it. It's been happening for 4 months and it's started when she was about 5 months old, I believe.
 

chris-md

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Ok definitetly not puberty then.

Tell us about how you are caring for him. Daily routine, how often is the bird out of cage, what’s the diet like. Give us all the details you can.

Also, have you ever taken the bird in to a certified avian vet for a full check up, including full bloodwork?
 
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SilverHybrid

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Ok definitetly not puberty then.

Tell us about how you are caring for him. Daily routine, how often is the bird out of cage, what’s the diet like. Give us all the details you can.

Also, have you ever taken the bird in to a certified avian vet for a full check up, including full bloodwork?

My daily routine would be that I would wake up at around 10 or 11am, pull the covers up from her cage, say good morning and everything. I would change her water everyday and blah, blah, blah. At around 12, I would take her out and cuddle with her and spend a little bit over 2 hours with her. I'll put her back, let her eat, drink, bathe, whatever she needed. After that, I would take her out again and let her spend time with my family as she is a very social bird.

Her diet is a bit... weird? I'll give her fruit. Mainly seedless watermelon and apple but, half of the time, she's scared of it, so I'll need to chop it up and give it to her in a separate bowl. I'll even give her some healthy nuts and greens occasionally.
Her normal food is seed with some pellets and hidden fruit inside.

Lastly, I have not recently but I have been planning to do so for my other bird, Sky. I could make an appointment for her, too.
 

Laurasea

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Hi welcome to the forum. I agree probably puberty, though I never noticed a puberty phase with either of my two GCC girls... Many Parrots can be cage agressive but wonderful once you get them away from the cage, can you allow her to come out on her own and have a perch attached outside the cage near the door? Then ask her to step up from there. All baby birds are sweet as adults they have independent thought and like to train us. Is she flighted? Anyway if she will come out of the cage on her own then you take her to a separate play ate you have set up with perches and you can do some training or play there lots of safflower seeds as treats most GCC can't resist! Try including her when you eat breakfast set up a small stand for her and her own plate of veggies, you can share a bite of toast or a bite or two of egg, or piece of dry cerel once in a while. Parrots thrive on group activity. So try and include her in everything. Try to spend four hours a day or more interactive with her. The cure is more time together, and bribes, a treat Everytime anyone passes the cage. If you are on your phone a lot she could be jealous, mine is very jealous of the attention I pay my phone and that's attention she's not getting, plus talking on the phone, forget it she thinks I'm sweet talking someone else!!! I gave her lots of treats when I held the phone so now she is ok with me holding it, but talking on the phone equals bites in my house. You can try treats and reading the text out loud to her like you are having a conversation with her ;) .... There are a lot of reasons for bites, territorial, fear, jealousy, boredom... I'm in the camp all (most) bites are the owners fault and you need to look at the cause and read their body language and make changes to reduce bites,..
 

Laurasea

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Cut down the fruit right now! Fruit twice a week Max. Veggies every day .
 
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SilverHybrid

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Hi welcome to the forum. I agree probably puberty, though I never noticed a puberty phase with either of my two GCC girls... Many Parrots can be cage agressive but wonderful once you get them away from the cage, can you allow her to come out on her own and have a perch attached outside the cage near the door? Then ask her to step up from there. All baby birds are sweet as adults they have independent thought and like to train us. Is she flighted? Anyway if she will come out of the cage on her own then you take her to a separate play ate you have set up with perches and you can do some training or play there lots of safflower seeds as treats most GCC can't resist! Try including her when you eat breakfast set up a small stand for her and her own plate of veggies, you can share a bite of toast or a bite or two of egg, or piece of dry cerel once in a while. Parrots thrive on group activity. So try and include her in everything. Try to spend four hours a day or more interactive with her. The cure is more time together, and bribes, a treat Everytime anyone passes the cage. If you are on your phone a lot she could be jealous, mine is very jealous of the attention I pay my phone and that's attention she's not getting, plus talking on the phone, forget it she thinks I'm sweet talking someone else!!! I gave her lots of treats when I held the phone so now she is ok with me holding it, but talking on the phone equals bites in my house. You can try treats and reading the text out loud to her like you are having a conversation with her ;) .... There are a lot of reasons for bites, territorial, fear, jealousy, boredom... I'm in the camp all (most) bites are the owners fault and you need to look at the cause and read their body language and make changes to reduce bites,..

Thank you so much for you response! The cage I have for her right now has a opening on top of the cage with a perch that she could climb up to and spend time out of her cage whenever she wants. Once she's up there, I try to get her to step up but she does her usual thing : biting and lunging towards my finger.

Weirdly enough, her flight feathers have no come in ever since I got her. Not to mention, she doesn't try to fly at all, only when she is truly terrified of something.

I try to include her in everything that I do, as I did before she turned aggressive, but she won't even let me near the cage without lunging towards me.

Though, despite everything, I am thinking about the jealousy part. As I do play video games, I take her out and let her spend time with me as I play. I'm also on my phone a lot but, even then, I spend time with her. So, I don't believe it is that.
 
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SilverHybrid

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Cut down the fruit right now! Fruit twice a week Max. Veggies every day .

I do not give her fruit often. Like you said, I do it twice a week and rarely ever three times a week.
She also gets her veggies in her everyday food.
 

Laurasea

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The new bird Sky can have her upset too, takes a lot of reassurance to the first bird that they aren't being replaced. They need ten to twelve hours of sleep every night, I have mine on a natural daylight , but with you getting up so late you'll have to work it different, do you work or go to school at night?
 
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SilverHybrid

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I had Sky way before Navi. When I got Navi, I let her spend time with Sky to see what would happen but immediately separated them when she began to turn aggressive.

I go to school but I don't open the covers up when I leave. I tell my mom to do so at around 11am or 12pm. Their bedtime is also 9pm.
 

ChristaNL

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Just my thoughts....


You showed her for a long time that biting gets her what she wants, anytime she wants it:
(so she is well trained biter by now)


A beginning: " Sure, she would give me nips but that's when she got annoyed by something I was doing and I would stop immediately. "
(she dictates your actions, every single time, a potantial dicator is born)


B then: "I carefully stuck my hand in the cage, trying not to spook her, but she suddenly bit me; really, really hard."
(you are unsure, hesitant, acting scared, so she is invited to be the dominant)


C I tried again and got the same result : a painful bite. -----> I simply just called it a day and tried again tomorrow, but got the exact same thing.
(Oh, yes, same result everytime, you give in, you give up, she wins, she rules !)


D progressing to " She'll even run up to you and bite anything that's closest to her. "
(even outside my cage, I am all powerfiull, oh yea!)


mixed with (ABCD etc) the rest of 'the flock' is even worse: "Not only that, she's aggressive to my mother and my brother, who've been loving her ever since I got her. Any ideas? "
(no-one can stop me now! Queen of the world, I am the big cheese, all bow down to me and my wishes)



--

as always (it happens with puppies, kittens etc.etc.) plenty of love, but no discipline will give you a terrible housemate in the end.

Your parrot has not been taught to respect people and now rules the house...
it happens when you tread too carefully.
You were loving, gently, apologetic when you did something that scared/ annoyed her.... you are behaving like the underdog, the follower, the slave.
There is nothing wrong with being kind, it is a great thing!

But...parrots will try to get their own way (just like any todler) and it nobody tells them "NO, this is NOT acceptable" they will not invent good behaviour all on their own...
You are parent and teacher as well as the parront, lover, giver, caretaker.

Read up on "shunning" method (and make sure everybody in the house follows exactly the same approach! That is vital for success)
... if every bite will get her a "time out" instead of what she wants (interaction/ munchies/playtime etc.) she will get the message pretty fast.

Being bitten (except in special / emergency situations) is not acceptable - you do not give in (aka run away from it), if she bites you to tell you "get out of my cage", your answer is "tough luck!" instead of "oh, yes, of course, soooo sorry I disturbed you, will not do it again". You (and the other humans) are the boss here, she does not get to decide what you do, you only give in if she does what you want her to do.
That does not mean you must be agressive or nasty, this is just "no biting, period.".

Teaching a bird good manners is tricky, but she is a clever birdy.
She figured out biting got her everything she wanted ( space, freedom not to do chores or cooperate) , now it is up to you to teach her she was mistaken.

Reward her like crazy if she does something right - that is also very important: "YES this is what I want! \o/ " is far more effective than "nononononononononono, not nice, autch, no bitey, bad birdy".

Do not be afraid (read the big beak-o-phobes guide in the macaw section for tips and the right mindset)- you (all) can turn this around.
You have a spoiled toddler who thinks she can rule the roost, now it is up to you guys to show her the right way to function as a familymember.


=


Oh and *do* get her fully tested by a real CAV, not getting any flightfeathers is really not a good sign.
It is very hard to be a nice birdy when you are feeling miserable.
 
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Laurasea

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Good catch on the feathers CristaNL! They should be coming in , took Neptune about 3 months to replace his cut feathers but not all flight feathers are replaced yet, I think still has two cut ones, but he did a big molt.
 
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SilverHybrid

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Alright, I get what you mean. Thank you so much, I'll try to do what you said and see if any progress has been made.
 
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SilverHybrid

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However, I do have a question. What exactly is the shunning method?
 
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SilverHybrid

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I've also noticed something.

I just took her out and now she's all cuddly and lovely. When she's in her cage though, she always bites.
You would call that a territorial thing, right?
Wrong.
I'll put her down somewhere temporarily and she'll most likely bite. Especially when she's on someone's shoulder, she'll bite so hard she'll draw blood.
 

Laurasea

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She could be afraid when you put her down. You can have multiple issues going on at the same time...we have a thread here biting a serch for answers.... Shuning works with birds that want to be with you, when they bite you say no calmly and set them down, then pick them back up, a second bite they go back to the cage abd you turn your back, then after 30 seconds you take them back out again, if a bite right away again they go back in the cage turn your back and wait longer , abd start over. Only works if bird desires to be with you. I find it best to prevent bites, but I do use this method on Ta-dah from time to time ..
 
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SilverHybrid

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That doesn't make sense... If she wants to be with me so bad then why bite and make me think she doesn't want anything to do with me?
 

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