Very scared and territorial Meyer?

[maryyy361]

I've had my Meyer, Charlie for 6 months now and he has been an absolute dream. He loves coming out of his cage and socializing and eating his favorite treat, Cheerios. However, something very odd happened yesterday.

I put him back in his cage around 4pm when I left for work. I got home at 9pm and when I went to take him out he starts hissing, lounging at me and ruffling his feathers and grinding his beak very loudly. He bit be and I let him be, thought maybe he was in a bad mood or I had woken him up. I watched from a distance as he ate and I tried about a half hour later with the same behavior. He decided to step up onto my finger after a little more hissing and once I took him out he seemed okay except he is very very twitchy and seems scared of me.

What changed in those couple hours? I didn't change my perfume and all my family did was eat dinner and watch TV since I was gone. Today he has done the same thing but finally got him out again as I am writing this and he seems a little better but still not his talkative happy self. There is no sign of injury and he is eating and drinking normally. Charlie is 5 years old. Could he be wanting a mate? Or is there any other explanation for this behavior?

 

[RavensGryf]

My Pionus Raven is definitely a morning guy. He is pretty much grumpy by the evening and ready to stay in his cage and settle before bed. Maybe your bird is finding that he is more of a "morning person"?

 

[RavensGryf]

I re-read your post... The first time I was on an iPhone and it was so small I missed some stuff lol. As far as seasonal hormones go, Poicephalus parrots like your Meyer's and my Red Bellied typically have their "season" during the winter time, not the spring like many other species. Just keep seeing that he is eating and acting "normally". If not maybe a vet check might be wise. If he seems fine, just notice the next few days and see if he comes back to his normal self. It might have been really "nothing", such as something subtle in the environment at the time.

 

[MonicaMc]

It's possible that something about you or something within his environment changed.... or maybe it was another person or pet.

Birds can react to you simply by wearing the wrong color of shirt, having your nails painted, or having a different hair style.

It could also be something new or different in the house that wasn't that way before. Or maybe something on the TV freaked him out.



He might need a bit of time to settle back down.

 

[SandyBee]

Does he have a window to look out? Our African brown head was acting weird a while go, we finally figured out an owl was stalking him from outside and he could see him. We keep the curtains closed till a little later in the morning and a little earlier at night.

 

[maryyy361]

Thanks everyone for your input!

No, nothing in the living room has changed, I wear the same perfume and my nails haven't been painted in a while. He is next to our parakeet and they seem to get along well, chatting back and forth. Nothing has changed at all not even the temperature and the fact that his behavior changed so radically in just 4 hours is still confusing me.

Today he has been a little better, not as scared of me out of the cage and more talkative but still very aggressive when I take him out. He is still eating and pooping and acting fine otherwise.