conure has become unmanageable.

[mrs. brisby]

ok so I'm new here. Sorry to jump in immediately with a problem but I'm at wits end. This is my second gcc conure. We've had him about a year. He was bonded to me and would cuddle and want to be petted, and would occasionally bite, and I would put him in his cage or walk away. Suddenly, in the last month or so, he has become extremely aggressive. He bites if I try to get him to step up. He doesn't seem to care about getting attention much anymore. he just wants to run around on the floor and hide under the fridge or other dark places. So I 'm thinking he's hormonal, but he's become terrifying. If I try to get him out from under the fridge, he bites me really hard and draws blood. He bites me repeatedly until i can get him in his cage or get ahold of his beak. Getting him back in the cage is very difficult. I just had to have the fridge repaired because he chewed some wires under there. He's obsessed with it. I have no idea what to do anymore. Can anyone help? I really don't want to rehome him.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

ok so I'm new here. Sorry to jump in immediately with a problem but I'm at wits end. This is my second gcc conure. We've had him about a year. He was bonded to me and would cuddle and want to be petted, and would occasionally bite, and I would put him in his cage or walk away. Suddenly, in the last month or so, he has become extremely aggressive. He bites if I try to get him to step up. He doesn't seem to care about getting attention much anymore. he just wants to run around on the floor and hide under the fridge or other dark places. So I 'm thinking he's hormonal, but he's become terrifying. If I try to get him out from under the fridge, he bites me really hard and draws blood. He bites me repeatedly until i can get him in his cage or get ahold of his beak. Getting him back in the cage is very difficult. I just had to have the fridge repaired because he chewed some wires under there. He's obsessed with it. I have no idea what to do anymore. Can anyone help? I really don't want to rehome him.

Puberty really can stink! He sounds very hormonal! You must not let him in tight dark places anymore. Not only is he making you both miserable, he can easily get seriously injured or killed from chewing on live wires. Or he could get trapped or crushed!
Other PF members with more experience than myself with very hormonal parrots will be able to help you and your bird get through this rough patch and help rebuild your relationship. Trust me, your bird is frustrated and NOT happy to be this aggressive. You can get through this so don't give up.

Let's help Mrs Brisby and her bird, my friends.

 

[hiriki]

Definitely sounds like puberty... most of my experience is with adopting adults so I don't have direct firsthand experience to share but would second the above, keep him away from small dark places, and also add that you should absolutely make sure he gets 12hrs or more of sleep a night, and I've heard some users report that switching from seeds to pellets and chop also improved hormones, not sure what his current diet is.

As a side note regarding the fridge specifically, I would say the kitchen should just become off limits at this point, going under a fridge sounds like altogether a disaster waiting to happen. Kitchens have always been off limits to my birds anyway because of cooking fumes but if he's going to mess around with dangerous appliances, the kitchen is hazardous even when you're not cooking

 

[LaManuka]

ok so I'm new here. Sorry to jump in immediately with a problem but I'm at wits end. This is my second gcc conure. We've had him about a year. He was bonded to me and would cuddle and want to be petted, and would occasionally bite, and I would put him in his cage or walk away. Suddenly, in the last month or so, he has become extremely aggressive. He bites if I try to get him to step up. He doesn't seem to care about getting attention much anymore. he just wants to run around on the floor and hide under the fridge or other dark places. So I 'm thinking he's hormonal, but he's become terrifying. If I try to get him out from under the fridge, he bites me really hard and draws blood. He bites me repeatedly until i can get him in his cage or get ahold of his beak. Getting him back in the cage is very difficult. I just had to have the fridge repaired because he chewed some wires under there. He's obsessed with it. I have no idea what to do anymore. Can anyone help? I really don't want to rehome him.

Your situation sounds similar to one i had some years ago with a beloved GCC whose name was Baci - I named him after my favourite brand of Italian chocolates because when i got him he was so sweet, and it's Italian for "kisses" as well 💖 I offer you my experience in the hope that it will help along with all the other great advice you've had so far, even to hopefully just provide that emotional circuit breaker that you need.

I had only Baci for a about 5 years prior to his premature death from pancreatitis in August 2018, so I do not pretend to know everything about them. What I can tell you though is that my previously sweet snuggly baby turned extremely vicious and bitey demon practically overnight at the age of about two. This was before I discovered this forum, and up to that point I'd had birds for whom puberty had really been a non-event, so I had no idea what had happened to Baci. It was the middle of a summer heatwave and I’d been working a few long day shifts in a row so he’d been stuck in his cage in a hot house for several days and I just thought he hated me for it. Like you, I was heartbroken and confused, convinced that I had lost my baby boy forever, he had become SO vicious, and thinking that he hated me and that the best solution might be to rehome him. I couldn’t get near him for days without him LACERATING my hands, and he was lashing out biting my ears and nose which he had never done before and drawing blood. In desperation I looked up all sorts of crazy things online to try to find a solution, and there’s a lot of stuff out there like the “earthquake” method (doesn’t work with green cheeks, it just makes them latch on even harder!) and dropping them suddenly on the floor (NEVER an option as it could obviously result in injury!) Bribery with treats didn’t work on Baci either, he would take the treat and then bite me anyway, and quite savagely too! I think I was also lucky that, although i never clipped his wings, he was an extremely reluctant flyer so he never actually flew to attack me.

What saved our relationship in the end was the procedure of "laddering". I would stick a few protective flesh coloured band aids on the parts of my hand most likely to get bit, thus lessening my reflexive flinch when I thought he was about to bite, and in turn lessening his reaction to my flinching. Then I would ask him to step up, and if/when he bit me, I’d ladder him onto my other hand and back and forth until he stopped biting, usually only a step or two or three until he stopped. Then I’d pop him down somewhere neutral like the back of a chair and walk away for a minute or two until he cooled off, then go back and repeat the process once or twice. Where possible I would repeat the procedure in neutral territory away from his cage, as green cheeks are also prone to a thing called "cage aggression" - another thing I didn't know about them before, where their cage quickly becomes their territory which they will defend to the death! Baci was a smart boy and it didn’t take him long to work out that he wasn’t going to get away with biting, which was pretty much the only thing I didn’t tolerate from him because he bit so dang hard! He’d grumble at me a little but I’d (carefully!!) give him a big kiss and tell him how much I loved him, then pop him down and he would go about his business quite happily. I also constructed what I would call my "armour plating" - about three bandaids permanently stuck together that I would leave within easy reach if I could tell that Baci was going to be bitey that morning, and I could strap them on quickly if/when the need arose.

Having learned a lot about GCCs from other members on this forum, I now realise that Baci's behaviour change pretty much coincided exactly with his reaching puberty. Undoubtedly there are better tactics than the "laddering" method that I've suggested, but it worked for us and as a short term circuit-breaker in this type of emotionally fraught situation I found it very useful indeed to help stop the worst of the biting, and it certainly saved me from having to make the heartbreaking decision to rehome. It helped us get our relationship back on track - I pretty much got my sweet baby boy back again and with much greater understanding of how to read his body language, how to avoid his biting and how to avoid it happening in the first place, so that it didn't become entrenched. So I hope something of my experience might be helpful for you too 🙏

 

[GaleriaGila]

Wonderful advice above. Horrendous behavior, whether due to puberty or unknown causes, is so difficult. Rehome? Seek expert help? Get a veterinary bill-of-good-health? Rehome? Rehome?

This wild little avian being is dependent, confused, verrry badly behaved at times... what chance has he got?

I have a very difficult bird... 39 years old and counting. He has necessitated countless concessions and profound compromises... somehow, early on, I just determined that he was my "cross to bear"... my little contribution to the world of animals. Weird.

Anyway, if you're a nut like me, there is a strange comfort in accepting the bird as is. You're stuck. Stuck with a beautiful responsibility.

Okay, I'm done!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Wonderful advice above. Horrendous behavior, whether due to puberty or unknown causes, is so difficult. Rehome? Seek expert help? Get a veterinary bill-of-good-health? Rehome? Rehome?

This wild little avian being is dependent, confused, verrry badly behaved at times... what chance has he got?

I have a very difficult bird... 39 years old and counting. He has necessitated countless concessions and profound compromises... somehow, early on, I just determined that he was my "cross to bear"... my little contribution to the world of animals. Weird.

Anyway, if you're a nut like me, there is a strange comfort in accepting the bird as is. You're stuck. Stuck with a beautiful responsibility.

Okay, I'm done!
View attachment 56163

The saddest thing about rehoming your beloved baby due to puberty aggression is worrying about what kind of future your bird will have in it's new home or more likely homes, as biters usually get re-home many times.
Quite frankly, who wants to adopt a bird you had to "get rid of" because he bites?
Most biters eventually end up cage bound and neglected, often for decades.
You will always wonder what confusion your once sweet beloved baby feels when he's out of control and finds himself wondering what happened to those nice two legged silly creatures that used to give him scritches.

I think we owe it to our birds not to give up on them too quickly. We adopted them, presumably for better or for worse, within reason, but when and where should the reasonable line drawn? If my bird became an incorrigible biter and I could no longer handle him I would get him a very large cage or an aviary and perhaps an avian companion and try to give him the quality of life he deserves rather than send him off to some unknown destiny.

A person who wants a parrot must have a full understanding of what can happen when their lovable cuddle bunny comes of age, and a plan to address it. This should discourage inexperienced people from getting a newly weaned parrot based on the amazing fun u-tube videos showing an entirely unrealistic picture of parrot ownership.

The facts are that parrots are not domesticated animals like dogs and cats, or even horses, and cannot safely be surgically neutered to prevent the behavioral changes that often come with puberty. Most adult parrots bite to some degree. And on top of that, the larger parrots (often the worst biters) live a very, very long time- that's a lot of bandaids.

 

[wrench13]

Just a quick note: when shunning the bird for biting, place him on a chair back or other handy spot! NOT HIS CAGE!! Doing that only teaches him to bite when he wants to go back. SHunning has to be done EVERY time and by everybody.

PS - chasing your parrot or dragging him from under the icebox - BIG time trust killer. Better would be to get some lumber pcs and block it up. ANd consider a light trim, allowing a glide to the floor, not a SPLAT of a too severe trim. Always hold your actions up to that yardstick. Will this bust trust or build it?

 

[mrs. brisby]

Puberty really can stink! He sounds very hormonal! You must not let him in tight dark places anymore. Not only is he making you both miserable, he can easily get seriously injured or killed from chewing on live wires. Or he could get trapped or crushed!
Other PF members with more experience than myself with very hormonal parrots will be able to help you and your bird get through this rough patch and help rebuild your relationship. Trust me, your bird is frustrated and NOT happy to be this aggressive. You can get through this so don't give up.

Let's help Mrs Brisby and her bird, my friends.

Thank you for your reply. I did my best to keep him out from under the fridge but he managed to get thru even when i blocked it. He is very determined! I've tried a new form of blocking so i'm hoping this will work better.

 

[mrs. brisby]

Definitely sounds like puberty... most of my experience is with adopting adults so I don't have direct firsthand experience to share but would second the above, keep him away from small dark places, and also add that you should absolutely make sure he gets 12hrs or more of sleep a night, and I've heard some users report that switching from seeds to pellets and chop also improved hormones, not sure what his current diet is.

As a side note regarding the fridge specifically, I would say the kitchen should just become off limits at this point, going under a fridge sounds like altogether a disaster waiting to happen. Kitchens have always been off limits to my birds anyway because of cooking fumes but if he's going to mess around with dangerous appliances, the kitchen is hazardous even when you're not cooking

Hi, thanks for your advice. How do you keep your bird out of the kitchen? Mine has an open doorway so he just flies or walks in.

 

[mrs. brisby]

Your situation sounds similar to one i had some years ago with a beloved GCC whose name was Baci - I named him after my favourite brand of Italian chocolates because when i got him he was so sweet, and it's Italian for "kisses" as well 💖 I offer you my experience in the hope that it will help along with all the other great advice you've had so far, even to hopefully just provide that emotional circuit breaker that you need.

I had only Baci for a about 5 years prior to his premature death from pancreatitis in August 2018, so I do not pretend to know everything about them. What I can tell you though is that my previously sweet snuggly baby turned extremely vicious and bitey demon practically overnight at the age of about two. This was before I discovered this forum, and up to that point I'd had birds for whom puberty had really been a non-event, so I had no idea what had happened to Baci. It was the middle of a summer heatwave and I’d been working a few long day shifts in a row so he’d been stuck in his cage in a hot house for several days and I just thought he hated me for it. Like you, I was heartbroken and confused, convinced that I had lost my baby boy forever, he had become SO vicious, and thinking that he hated me and that the best solution might be to rehome him. I couldn’t get near him for days without him LACERATING my hands, and he was lashing out biting my ears and nose which he had never done before and drawing blood. In desperation I looked up all sorts of crazy things online to try to find a solution, and there’s a lot of stuff out there like the “earthquake” method (doesn’t work with green cheeks, it just makes them latch on even harder!) and dropping them suddenly on the floor (NEVER an option as it could obviously result in injury!) Bribery with treats didn’t work on Baci either, he would take the treat and then bite me anyway, and quite savagely too! I think I was also lucky that, although i never clipped his wings, he was an extremely reluctant flyer so he never actually flew to attack me.

What saved our relationship in the end was the procedure of "laddering". I would stick a few protective flesh coloured band aids on the parts of my hand most likely to get bit, thus lessening my reflexive flinch when I thought he was about to bite, and in turn lessening his reaction to my flinching. Then I would ask him to step up, and if/when he bit me, I’d ladder him onto my other hand and back and forth until he stopped biting, usually only a step or two or three until he stopped. Then I’d pop him down somewhere neutral like the back of a chair and walk away for a minute or two until he cooled off, then go back and repeat the process once or twice. Where possible I would repeat the procedure in neutral territory away from his cage, as green cheeks are also prone to a thing called "cage aggression" - another thing I didn't know about them before, where their cage quickly becomes their territory which they will defend to the death! Baci was a smart boy and it didn’t take him long to work out that he wasn’t going to get away with biting, which was pretty much the only thing I didn’t tolerate from him because he bit so dang hard! He’d grumble at me a little but I’d (carefully!!) give him a big kiss and tell him how much I loved him, then pop him down and he would go about his business quite happily. I also constructed what I would call my "armour plating" - about three bandaids permanently stuck together that I would leave within easy reach if I could tell that Baci was going to be bitey that morning, and I could strap them on quickly if/when the need arose.

Having learned a lot about GCCs from other members on this forum, I now realise that Baci's behaviour change pretty much coincided exactly with his reaching puberty. Undoubtedly there are better tactics than the "laddering" method that I've suggested, but it worked for us and as a short term circuit-breaker in this type of emotionally fraught situation I found it very useful indeed to help stop the worst of the biting, and it certainly saved me from having to make the heartbreaking decision to rehome. It helped us get our relationship back on track - I pretty much got my sweet baby boy back again and with much greater understanding of how to read his body language, how to avoid his biting and how to avoid it happening in the first place, so that it didn't become entrenched. So I hope something of my experience might be helpful for you too 🙏

Thank you, I will try the laddering. How long did it take to break his aggression? I wonder if gloves would work.

 

[mrs. brisby]

Just a quick note: when shunning the bird for biting, place him on a chair back or other handy spot! NOT HIS CAGE!! Doing that only teaches him to bite when he wants to go back. SHunning has to be done EVERY time and by everybody.

PS - chasing your parrot or dragging him from under the icebox - BIG time trust killer. Better would be to get some lumber pcs and block it up. ANd consider a light trim, allowing a glide to the floor, not a SPLAT of a too severe trim. Always hold your actions up to that yardstick. Will this bust trust or build it?

What do you mean by a trim?

 

[mrs. brisby]

Wonderful advice above. Horrendous behavior, whether due to puberty or unknown causes, is so difficult. Rehome? Seek expert help? Get a veterinary bill-of-good-health? Rehome? Rehome?

This wild little avian being is dependent, confused, verrry badly behaved at times... what chance has he got?

I have a very difficult bird... 39 years old and counting. He has necessitated countless concessions and profound compromises... somehow, early on, I just determined that he was my "cross to bear"... my little contribution to the world of animals. Weird.

Anyway, if you're a nut like me, there is a strange comfort in accepting the bird as is. You're stuck. Stuck with a beautiful responsibility.

Okay, I'm done!
View attachment 56163

wow 39 years is a long time. Is he still cuddly sometimes, or is he aggressive all the time?

 

[LaManuka]

Thank you, I will try the laddering. How long did it take to break his aggression? I wonder if gloves would work.

I wouldn't say it "broke" his aggression, but it did stop the biting almost straight away and lessened it by a LOT during the course of the day too. I would think gloves might be counterproductive, I never had to use them with Baci, just the few strategically place band-aids was enough You may not even need those, but they did help me in lessening my nervousness in approaching him, which seemed to make him bite even harder!

 

[mrs. brisby]

I wouldn't say it "broke" his aggression, but it did stop the biting almost straight away and lessened it by a LOT during the course of the day too. I would think gloves might be counterproductive, I never had to use them with Baci, just the few strategically place band-aids was enough You may not even need those, but they did help me in lessening my nervousness in approaching him, which seemed to make him bite even harder!

I'll try but I'm worried bandaids may not be enough! Sometimes he lunges and goes after my wrist or arm

 

[mrs. brisby]

The saddest thing about rehoming your beloved baby due to puberty aggression is worrying about what kind of future your bird will have in it's new home or more likely homes, as biters usually get re-home many times.
Quite frankly, who wants to adopt a bird you had to "get rid of" because he bites?
Most biters eventually end up cage bound and neglected, often for decades.
You will always wonder what confusion your once sweet beloved baby feels when he's out of control and finds himself wondering what happened to those nice two legged silly creatures that used to give him scritches.

I think we owe it to our birds not to give up on them too quickly. We adopted them, presumably for better or for worse, within reason, but when and where should the reasonable line drawn? If my bird became an incorrigible biter and I could no longer handle him I would get him a very large cage or an aviary and perhaps an avian companion and try to give him the quality of life he deserves rather than send him off to some unknown destiny.

A person who wants a parrot must have a full understanding of what can happen when their lovable cuddle bunny comes of age, and a plan to address it. This should discourage inexperienced people from getting a newly weaned parrot based on the amazing fun u-tube videos showing an entirely unrealistic picture of parrot ownership.

The facts are that parrots are not domesticated animals like dogs and cats, or even horses, and cannot safely be surgically neutered to prevent the behavioral changes that often come with puberty. Most adult parrots bite to some degree. And on top of that, the larger parrots (often the worst biters) live a very, very long time- that's a lot of bandaids.

Yes the thought of rehoming me makes me very sad. My first conure that we lost last year used to bite, but it was nowhere as bad as this! He was never vicious like this one. I can deal with occasional biting, but he is biting me multiple times a day, and really hard! He also attacks feet. if i wear shoes, he lunges at my pants leg and hangs on. Then near bedtime, when he gets sleepy, he comes to me and wants cuddles and scritches! His bipolarness is making me crazy!

 

[LaManuka]

I'll try but I'm worried bandaids may not be enough! Sometimes he lunges and goes after my wrist or arm

Yes, Baci would do that to me too, but I just stuck the band aids on the areas most likely to get bit, like my forefinger, and left it at that. In the mornings I'd generally let him get himself out of his cage and try to get him to step from the top of the cage, or the cage door, or the back of a chair, just to lessen the possibility of "cage aggression" where he'd be defending the cage as his territory. Once he realised he wasn't getting the same kind of "payoff" in the reaction he got from me every single time he bit me, he really didn't bite nearly as much. As you say, you're concerned that he'd still go for exposed areas of skin if you just wear band aids, the same would apply with gloves, he'd just go for areas further up the arm or elsewhere, plus the gloves would probably frighten him. I really do wish you all the best of luck! 🙏 🙏 🙏

 

[mrs. brisby]

Yes, Baci would do that to me too, but I just stuck the band aids on the areas most likely to get bit, like my forefinger, and left it at that. In the mornings I'd generally let him get himself out of his cage and try to get him to step from the top of the cage, or the cage door, or the back of a chair, just to lessen the possibility of "cage aggression" where he'd be defending the cage as his territory. Once he realised he wasn't getting the same kind of "payoff" in the reaction he got from me every single time he bit me, he really didn't bite nearly as much. As you say, you're concerned that he'd still go for exposed areas of skin if you just wear band aids, the same would apply with gloves, he'd just go for areas further up the arm or elsewhere, plus the gloves would probably frighten him. I really do wish you all the best of luck! 🙏 🙏 🙏

thank you!

 

[wrench13]

You just need to hang on until puberty is over and done with, Push through, most time the nasty bad behavior of puberty (which they literally have little or no control over) will go away, especially if you have not allowed bad behavior to become habit!

ANd "trim" means clipping a small part of some feathers on his wings, just enough so he cannot get any altitude when trying to fly. Feathers grow back, so this would only be during his puberty.

 

[GaleriaGila]

wow 39 years is a long time. Is he still cuddly sometimes, or is he aggressive all the time?

About 50-50... half naughty, half nice. Still, he has become my perverse touchstone. No matter what else is going on in my life, the Rickeybird is there, always. Kind of an anchor. Or a teddy bear that bites. Hah!

 

[Saravp]

I am not an expert in the matter as my bird hasn't yet reached hormonal age. but that definitely sounds like hormones. There are a couple things you can do such as keep him away from dark spots such as under furniture or in blankets, even remove all furry blankets in his reach. Also do not feed him any food that is mushy or warm as it mimics regurgitated food that his partner would feed them if he was in the wild. Also do not pat them anywhere other than their head and maybe feet, but do not touch their back as that will produce more hormonal instincts.

Best of luck