New Male Eclectus (Behavior help!)

I just adopted an almost 2 year old male red-sided eclectus named Jeeter. He was good with his previous owners besides the occasional bite and when I went to meet him he only nipped me twice. But now that he is home he is being very aggressive. He will bite very hard if you put your hand near him. I have been using a leather glove to have him step up onto so I can avoid being bitten and maybe show him that I won't back down from a bite. He takes treats from my hand without issue thus far but I'll be honest...I'm afraid of him already. He sings and talks beautifully. I want him to be a companion for me not another bird I can't handle. I'm not expecting him to let me pet him or cuddle with me...I just want him to act similar to how he did at the previous owners house. He would sit on the previous owners hand and even sit on their lap and watch tv. He is good at amusing himself but the lady was handing him toys and treats and interacting with him positively. I just want him to be able to trust me so he won't feel the need to bite me all the time. Can I have some advice of how I can win his trust and teach him to be more gentle?

How long has he been home?

In my experience with Eclectus (which is not much ) they can be very deliberate and slow to decide about things. He might need more time to settle in before being ready to hang out with you.

He's only been here for few days. I have been fostering parrots since 2009 for my local rescue so I usually do things a certain way when they come home and up until now it has worked well for me. But he is a lot different than any bird I fostered. All the other ones were timid and a little scared so once I got them to see I wasn't a threat they usually started to have positive interactions with me. But Jeeter doesn't appear to be afraid and he doesn't try to avoid me. He tries to scare me and bites really hard if I don't do what he wants. Unlike the other birds he is highly motivated by food. I don't have to stick it in his face. He will come right to me and take it. So far when he's out of his cage he doesn't try to attack me but might bite if I put my hands to close to him. He doesn't avoid me or come to me...he does his own thing and if he decides that thing is on my lap or shirt he'll climb right up. I'm still not sure if he will bite me if he decides on his own to come near me. When he is in his cage most of the time he will come up to the bars where I'm standing and growl and lung at the bars and try to grab me. He will step up to a dowel to come out but has stepped up to my hand without and with biting. He sings, whistles, and talks constantly along with beeping and cooing sounds. He looks right at me when I look at him. I'm really hoping he will calm down for me and be my buddy. If anyone has any advice for this situation let me know.

Eclectus can be very cage aggressive. My SI female Jillie started that at a very young age. Sometimes she will step up on my hand from inside the cage when she really wants out but most times I have her step onto a stick then once she clears the door I step her from the stick to my hand which she does gladly. It is pretty easy for me to read that look in her eyes of cooperation or "not today mom".
It maybe something that just makes it easier on you and less stressful for him to take him out of the cage from a dowel. Jillie adores me and really hasn't shown a great deal of affection to anyone else she has ever met but warm fuzzies for me aside she would rather I didn't use my hand getting her out of the cage so I respect her and give her that BUT she also has to respect that if I need or want her out of the cage she is coming out. She will now jump up happily on the stick whenever I need her to come out.

The boys are great with me but let my husband go to change water or pull food bowls and they will lunge at him from inside their cages because it isn't often that he does the chores in there so they are more territorial with him.

I would start working with him on stepping up to a dowel or stick from both inside the cage and out. Since he has already shown he knows how to do this you are ahead of the game. My RS Gomez and Lola had no clue what step up was when I first got them.

I would do short frequent sessions, while I think those are best when acclimating any parrot it is especially important with eclectus. They react very different than other parrots to stress. When Gomez first got here he would shake and lean toward the cage to get away from me and back to what he saw as safety. Or the eclectus "freeze" where it looks like they are calm but they are really terrified so short frequent positive sessions is the way I would start.

I know the bites hurt, believe me Lola got me more times than I can count but I would ditch the glove and work with the stick since he has shown that he will step up on one. Food motivation works for all of mine so I take full advantage of that.

Congrats on your new baby Jeeter! It seems a few days may not be enough time to determine his temperament. I would imagine he's pretty scared going from one home to a new home. Also, it sounds like the previous owner was female...and he may be more comfortable with women. Oliver, my guy, is most comfortable with me as I'm the primary caretaker and if he could get away with something with the males in my house he would. Hang in there...the Eclectus is an amazing parrot!

I look forward to hearing more about you and your new feather child...

When I first visited my ekkie at her breeders she was perfect, each time I went she was so friendly, then I brought her home, and it took Months. Don't stress, start off slowly, feeding treats through the cage, talking to him, spending alot of time in the same room as his cage doing whatever your doing.
Ive seen this with alot of ekkies, male and female. It took scarlet months to trust me, now we have the closest bond I could have ever hoped for!