Caique suddenly attacking me

[diotima]

I seem to have a unique situation with my almost 2 year old Caique, Chip: I came back from a 10 day vacation a couple days ago and Chip was happy and cuddly - normal. Yesterday he was sitting on me while I was on my laptop. He often tries to wrestle with my hand by beaking, which I do not allow as he starts to bite too hard. I firmly said no biting and he climbed up my arm and lunged at my face. I moved my head and he didn't get me, so I picked him up and he chomped on to my finger. I quickly put him in his cage while prying his beak open. Every time I looked at him his eyes pinned and his wings went up. He's never done this before. I let him be for an hour or so and even when I went back to him his eyes were still pinning and he was being ultra aggressive. I offered him a walnut as a peace offering or something and even while he was eating it, it was like he was envisioning that the walnut was my hand and he was chomping it to smithereens!! Later I let him out and he seemed okay. I kept my distance from him but he came over and started talking to me so I pick him up. He sat on my shoulder for a few minutes, talked and whistled and then chomped on my face. He has now been in his cage since yesterday because he tries to go on me every time he is out and bite me and he continues to be aggressive every time I go near him. I am the owner and the only family member he is acting like this to. Is there any explanation for this behaviour or is it simply because I got mad at him so quickly after I went away from him? What are my next steps? Thanks for reading this long post!

 

[MonicaMc]

Is it possible he just needs to get some extra energy out of his system and because he can't, he's become bitey? I ask, because I know that caiques tend to be very high energy birds and if they don't have a way to get rid of their pent up energy, they might resort to biting.

I would suggest clicker training him and teaching him some behaviors to keep him busy. You might even try teaching him to drop an item into a cup and once he understands he's supposed to get a certain object and drop it in the cup, you can then have him moving a few inches to drop it in the cup, and eventually, several feet after picking the item up.

Does he enjoy foot toys and foraging? If so, you might keep him busy by giving him some small things he can enjoy playing with while he's with you... in that way, his beak is busy with an object rather than your skin.

 

[diotima]

Thanks for the advice! I do usually give him toys to chew on instead. It was just the way that he reacted that was very unusual. I'll definitely be doing some more training with him now though.