biting/hormonal aggression?

[lizzygrant23]

Hi! 🙋🏻‍♀️ I just recently (like a week and a half ago) got a 3 month year old agapornis or a lovebird. Hes a male and i got him from a lady who fed him by hand since he was little. For the first week everything was going great, he was exploring my room and gently biting my fingers. But last few days the biting got stronger and much more painful. This situation got me really upset cause now it is visible hes not biting just to explore, he purposely runs to me every time hes out of his cage just to bite me anywhere not just the fingers. He is also extremely energetic to the point he gets aggressive. I cannot describe it that well. When i was younger we had 2 cockatiels and we never had an issue similar to this. They were bought in some random pet store and were scared of us first and we slowly built our trust. They never ever bit tho. I read some articles that said you shouldn’t punish the bird just make him pay attention to something else. But in my case it’s impossible, he is always running towards me to bite me. Even when my legs are covered, he finds his way under the blanked and aggressively bites my leg. It has gotten to a point when im just scared being around him. Its truly heartbreaking cause i got him thinking he was about to be my best friend. I don’t know if this is some hormonal aggression or what but i swear im not treating him wrongly. Thanks for any kind of reply or a tip!

 

[lizzygrant23]

Is it possible my 3 month old parrot might be all the sudden aggressive because he goes under the blanket too much? He goes there all by himself, i thought he was just playing on the sofa but ive seen an article that said if parrot hide in dark places they get hormonal.

 

[wrench13]

At a year +3months, yes its very possible he is going thru puberty. Puberty is a giant flood of hormones rushing thru his little body, triggering all kinds of instinctive reactions.
Its also the time when most parrots get rehomed, because people have no idea why their cutsey baby turned into a hot mess. SO things to reduce hormonal behavior

• 12 hours of quiet solid sleep
• No nesting type materials - papers shreds, cloths, ropes, anything that can be shredded to make nesting material.
• No touching anywhere below the neck - thats a stimulation to them, and not a good one.
• No dark hidey holes, like under blankets, towels, nooks and crannies.
• No warm soft foods
• Much reduced or totally eliminated any sugar foods, including corn, fruits, and others.

These can lessen hormonal behavior, NOT eliminate it. And remember: This To Shall Pass. Puberty lasts the longest, and then you only have yearly mating season to deal with, which can also be a bear but a smaller one. The big thing to remember is to try and not let bad behavior become a habit.