Hormonal at 11 months?

Is it possible that Dexter, my Solomon Island Eclectus, could be displaying hormonal behavior at 11 months old? I thought this was early for sexual maturity, but he's been acting like a regular brat lately. I had a very good rapport with him, he would step up nicely when asked, I trusted him enough to give him shoulder privileges, he would climb down to the front of my shirt and snuggle his head up under my neck, we would even give me nice kisses on my lip. He was so calm and predictable that I was researching harness training so I could start to take him out and socialize. Both of my children were also able to handle him any time (always supervised, even though they are 12 years old) and he would climb around while they were doing homework every day. Not any more. It's like he flipped over night.

For more than the last month he's been a beast. He's biting constantly. I literally cannot give him my hand or arm without him biting me HARD. He honks at me when I give him fresh food or water, he hisses at me when I try to talk to him, he charges me any time I put my hands inside his cage to tidy up, he lunges and tries to grab and bite me. When he's out of the cage and it's time to put him back inside, I have to get him to step on a stick and put him inside fast before he runs up the stick and bites me.

I can't for the life of me figure out what happened to bring on such a huge change in his behavior. The routine in our house has not changed, his diet has not changed, the amount of time he spends in/out of his cage has not changed (if anything, he's getting a bit more out time since I'm between jobs at the moment, but not a significant amount), the amount of time he's being handled has changed, but that's due to him turning mean and bitey on us. At first I thought he was grumpy because he was molting, but that seems to have finished and he's still acting like a butthead. Could he be hormonal?

I'm so sad. I love him so much and want my friendly bird back. I'm trying to win him over with treats, only given if he takes it nicely, but he's so aggressive I can barely reward him. I hate that our interactions have to basically be at arm's length. My kids are getting sad too, especially my son who is our resident Dr Doolittle. The fact that he can't seem to connect with Dexter is breaking his heart.

What can I do?

Probably not hormonal.

Probably just a phase of some sort. Testing phase? Independent streak? Hard molt? "I just don't wanna behave...and you can't make me!" tantrum thing?

Parrot training is a life long thing. Awhile back, my CAG, whose been a good bird for more than a dozen years, became a butt head, and started biting the crap out of me.

We had to be firm, and go back to basics. And it was about a three week battle. But I won, and he went back to his usual self, and quit biting me.

But it happens from time to time. Be firm, go back and reinforce the no bite training, and step up training. And this too, shall pass... probably.

So sorry to hear you're going through this! I agree with Mark in that I doubt it's hormones... assuming, of course, that you're certain of his age.

Question, though. How many of your interactions with him are in the vicinity of his cage? Because a behavior change that can seem to happen overnight is territorial aggression.

Anansi said:

Question, though. How many of your interactions with him are in the vicinity of his cage? Because a behavior change that can seem to happen overnight is territorial aggression.

Click to expand...

"I'VE DECIDED - THAT'S MINE! I'M LAYING CLAIM TO THIS... PERSON, SPOT, CAGE, TOY, ETC."

The best way to tone that one down once it starts getting out of hand is AGGRESSION causes you to LOSE that thing. ESPECIALLY IF IT'S A TOY.

I went through a 6-8 month period that can only be described as pure hell, with Sweepea, my red front, being pissey about all the toys...

Same thing you do with a toddler that won't learn to share...

FINE! IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO SHARE, I'M GOING TO TAKE IT AWAY FROM YOU. YOU GET THIS BACK IF YOU BEHAVE, AND IT'S ONLY YOURS IF YOU BEHAVE...

OTHERWISE IT'S MINE NOW!!!

Yeah, there will be drama with this one, but they do "get it." Especially when they end up on the floor, watching you put the toys in a box and walk off with them to another room.

The birds who play nice, get to come with you into that other room. If you aren't going to play nice, you come right back out here, and you don't get to play... YOU CAN PITCH YOUR LITTLE HISSY FIT, BUT WE'LL BE PLAYING IN THE OTHER ROOM, IGNORING YOU.

Yeah. THAT gets their attention, REAL FAST!

That's how I did it with the little kids. That's how I did it with the birds.

Bullying isn't allowed either! I WILL intervene, and the offending party WON'T LIKE IT!

If it's cage territorialism, that's EASY.

They're spending too much time in and around the cage.

Take them to a playstand in another room where they can't see the thing they're defending.

Once the thing they're defending is out of sight, there's nothing to defend, and the bad behavior usually just stops.

This is a trick I learned working with "hormonally challenged" amazons.

The territory is the trigger.

So, the strangest thing happened last night. Dexter was out of his cage, up on the cage-top play center, I was crouched over tidying up inside his cage and he climbed down onto my back. When I stood up, he climbed onto my shoulder and started cozying up to my ear and neck and acting all affectionate. I haven't seen this behavior in over a month and I was shocked. I was nervous about having him close to my face since he's been so aggressive and reached up to take him from my shoulder.

He climbed onto my hand and started talking to me. Then he did this strange head bob and puked on me! He's never done that before. I had no idea what to do. So, I let him stay on my hand and sat down. He climbed down into my lap and puked a couple more times, then just sat contentedly in my lap for a while letting me pet his head and scritch the back of his neck like he used to. Eventually he climbed up to my chest, stood on my boob and cuddled in under my neck (used to be his favorite spot before he went beastly). When it was time to go back inside his cage, he was very cooperative and climbed right off my hand onto the perch and started beak grinding.

Now I have another question altogether! How do I handle him regurgitating? Do I let him do it? Discourage it? If I should try to stop it, how do I do that?

You definitely don't encourage it. But you don't "punish" it, either. It's a natural show of affection, after all.

How I handle it is to give them a few moments to cool off. I don't say "no", as I don't want it being classified in their minds as a bad behavior or anything. I just put them down onto the nearest training stand or play stand.

I also make a point of not putting them in a cage, because I don't want it to be interpreted as a time out.

Another approach is to distract. Offer a foot toy or a small, bird-safe piece of wood for him to chew on.

Basically, he's just getting REALLY excited about you. Whether as a potential mate or not, it's an expression of affection. A few moments to cool off, or a good distraction, can head things off before it turns into a real regurge-fest.

I get puked on multiple times a day. Mostly by the macaws.

It's an I love you thing. And it's a natural behavior, which means it's just something they do. You don't want to reject them. You just have to make it clear that this does not mean "we're engaged." Don't get any funny ideas. It's just dinner.

I taught mine that if they puked for me, they had to eat it. Now it's a bonding thing, and one I don't have to clean up after it's over. Wash your hands and we're done.