Hello everyone, my name is Oli and my conure is my best friend.
I posted this also in the behavior forum but I really am worried..
WARNING: VERY LONG POST. Summary at the bottom if it's too long
background: I've had a female pineapple green cheek conure since November 2015, her name is Juliet! Her birthday is in April, and she was 7 months old when I adopted her.
She is my whole world socially, and I'm fine with that. I love her so much and she loves me, and we go everywhere together (weather permitting). She is fed Harrison's pellets, lots of fruit and vegetables, and pistachios everyday. She also gets plenty of treats and I share my appropriate table food with her.
Her behavior: Juliet has always been very 'stoic'. She never made much of any sound, unless I left the room. She would do a two squawk call for me then, and whenever I accidentally bother her she does a squawk and a little peck (not a bite) on My fingers. When I first adopted her she was untamed, her owner had a heart attack right before she hatched. After a few months we were totally bonded and close. For a long time she used to call for me early in the mornings, and I would let her out of her cage and she would come sleep next to my head for another hour. I never pet her anywhere except her head and beak, and sometimes I would cup her to scoop her up. She very rarely bit me and I always did my best to respect her boundaries and "off" days.
THE PROBLEM:
for the last 1-2 weeks, Juliet had started some new and sometimes really aggressive behaviors
-she has been biting me whenever she gets the chance, yet she still loves to cuddle my hair and body and ears. I don't mean love bites. I mean BITES, ow!!!
-nothing in her environment has changed. My schedule has not changed.
-not so much a problem, but an observation. This doesn't bother me at all, she can be as loud as she wants, but lately she makes lots of chirping and chattering sounds, which is really unlike her.
-I go to get her to step up on my finger and like usual, she uses her beak to help herself, but now when she does she lingers for a while and almost chews on my finger and it really hurts...
-she has lots of toys, wood, plastic, rope, paper- you name it, and she has never been one to chew holes in clothes or anything, but lately she's pulling at everything and chewing holes in my shirts and pillow cases.
-just in general been really clingy, which isn't hat new, but she's been really aggressive about it.
-there's a spot on my bed frame between my bed and wall where she sits sometimes (not dangerous), and she likes when I help her up to bed fr there (it's a loft), but lately she doesn't want me to touch her while she's there, and gets really angry if my hands even close and will lunge.
-the thing about her lunging that confuses me is that she doesn't display any other typically angry body language, and isn't quick or sudden, she just reaches out and bites really hard, and then puts her beak down on the solid ground she's on.
-she's not really all that receptive or caring about scritches lately. She doesn't refuse them but she doesn't seem to want them or relax with them either.
-if I make even one tiny little misstep in petting her that she doesn't like, it's a scream and a peck, where before she was a lot more lenient if I accidentally poked a pin feather.
TL;DR- my almost 2 year old female conure has been extremely talkative and girly, which is unusually for her. She's also been uncharacteristic ally aggressive, defensive, and 'off'. She still wants to cuddle and be held, but mostly she wants to cuddle with me and have me not reciprocate.
It would be so great if anyone could tell me what's going on... thank you so much!
I posted this also in the behavior forum but I really am worried..
WARNING: VERY LONG POST. Summary at the bottom if it's too long
background: I've had a female pineapple green cheek conure since November 2015, her name is Juliet! Her birthday is in April, and she was 7 months old when I adopted her.
She is my whole world socially, and I'm fine with that. I love her so much and she loves me, and we go everywhere together (weather permitting). She is fed Harrison's pellets, lots of fruit and vegetables, and pistachios everyday. She also gets plenty of treats and I share my appropriate table food with her.
Her behavior: Juliet has always been very 'stoic'. She never made much of any sound, unless I left the room. She would do a two squawk call for me then, and whenever I accidentally bother her she does a squawk and a little peck (not a bite) on My fingers. When I first adopted her she was untamed, her owner had a heart attack right before she hatched. After a few months we were totally bonded and close. For a long time she used to call for me early in the mornings, and I would let her out of her cage and she would come sleep next to my head for another hour. I never pet her anywhere except her head and beak, and sometimes I would cup her to scoop her up. She very rarely bit me and I always did my best to respect her boundaries and "off" days.
THE PROBLEM:
for the last 1-2 weeks, Juliet had started some new and sometimes really aggressive behaviors
-she has been biting me whenever she gets the chance, yet she still loves to cuddle my hair and body and ears. I don't mean love bites. I mean BITES, ow!!!
-nothing in her environment has changed. My schedule has not changed.
-not so much a problem, but an observation. This doesn't bother me at all, she can be as loud as she wants, but lately she makes lots of chirping and chattering sounds, which is really unlike her.
-I go to get her to step up on my finger and like usual, she uses her beak to help herself, but now when she does she lingers for a while and almost chews on my finger and it really hurts...
-she has lots of toys, wood, plastic, rope, paper- you name it, and she has never been one to chew holes in clothes or anything, but lately she's pulling at everything and chewing holes in my shirts and pillow cases.
-just in general been really clingy, which isn't hat new, but she's been really aggressive about it.
-there's a spot on my bed frame between my bed and wall where she sits sometimes (not dangerous), and she likes when I help her up to bed fr there (it's a loft), but lately she doesn't want me to touch her while she's there, and gets really angry if my hands even close and will lunge.
-the thing about her lunging that confuses me is that she doesn't display any other typically angry body language, and isn't quick or sudden, she just reaches out and bites really hard, and then puts her beak down on the solid ground she's on.
-she's not really all that receptive or caring about scritches lately. She doesn't refuse them but she doesn't seem to want them or relax with them either.
-if I make even one tiny little misstep in petting her that she doesn't like, it's a scream and a peck, where before she was a lot more lenient if I accidentally poked a pin feather.
TL;DR- my almost 2 year old female conure has been extremely talkative and girly, which is unusually for her. She's also been uncharacteristic ally aggressive, defensive, and 'off'. She still wants to cuddle and be held, but mostly she wants to cuddle with me and have me not reciprocate.
It would be so great if anyone could tell me what's going on... thank you so much!
)
