GCC suddenly extremely aggressive for no obvious reason

[quackerz]

Hello,

My GCC (around 3 yrs old) is usually very cuddly and sweet and stuff just like a forum's regular GCC. Yesterday I went to meet up with friends in another city and left him alone at home for around 12 hours and when I came back he immediately activated attack mode.

This has happened to me every time I leave home for a relatively long period. I know this is due to his frustration. Usually he would bite my fingers hard for few times and then return to the sweet guy and I'll bring him to his playground on my desk. But this time it became wild. He would constantly, actively chase my hands to bite them. And jump on my shirt and climb up my shoulders and bite my ears and neck. It almost seemed like I was his worst enemy.

I thought it was just frustration so I left him alone for the night. But this morning it was the exact same behavior. I have my fingers bitten and drawn blood more times in the past two days than the entire time I've had him. What's strange is he wasn't really scared of me. He would still come up to me, and flock call when I'm out of sight. But he releases the inner demon as soon as he gets on any part of my body.

I don't know what the heck was wrong with his brain and what could've triggered the behavior all of a sudden. I tried offering him treats and I tried the timeout method by leaving him in the cage whenever he bites but he just didn't seem to care. When he was on my desk he had one and only one goal -> bite the s* out of my hands and stuff. Just now he was camping me on my keyboard, trying to land a bite as soon as my hands get close.

Could it be hormonal behavior? Seems too sudden of a change to me. Plus he never did stuff like this previously even during hormonal stages. I don't know what do to next. Any help would be helpful!

 

[wrench13]

Shunning - 100% ignore him for 1 minute, no peeking no talking about or to him and then re=engage.
Oh yes - dont put him back in the cage, that only teaches him to bite if he wants to go back. Instead, immediately say NO BITE and put him on a handy chair back. Works best with parrots that are bonded and do not have the ability to fly off from the lesson. Do it EVERY time he bites.

 

[quackerz]

Shunning - 100% ignore him for 1 minute, no peeking no talking about or to him and then re=engage.
Oh yes - dont put him back in the cage, that only teaches him to bite if he wants to go back. Instead, immediately say NO BITE and put him on a handy chair back. Works best with parrots that are bonded and do not have the ability to fly off from the lesson. Do it EVERY time he bites.

Uh oh I forgot to mention that he was just recently flighted. I kept his wings clipped until the last 4 months for his primary flight feathers to grow back because I wanted him to try flying. Just the past week or so he became pretty good at it.

Could it be one of the reasons he is more grumpy now?

 

[HeatherG]

I wonder if he’s just mad you were gone and showing his mad with bossy behavior.

 

[quackerz]

I wonder if he’s just mad you were gone and showing his mad with bossy behavior.

Perhaps but it's strange I left him alone for similar amount of time multiple times before but he never maintained aggro for this long.

 

[onamom]

Sorry to hear you’re having this issue; and it does seem odd to be happening so suddenly. I agree with wrench about not using the cage as a time-out spot. You never want a place you encourage them to spend their time to become negative. I wonder if you could find some way to snap him out of this behavior when he starts it? With food or a toy or some other distraction? I would try the shunning method wrench suggested and then when re-engaging having his favorite treat ready to see if you can get him to calmly step up.

 

[quackerz]

Sorry to hear you’re having this issue; and it does seem odd to be happening so suddenly. I agree with wrench about not using the cage as a time-out spot. You never want a place you encourage them to spend their time to become negative. I wonder if you could find some way to snap him out of this behavior when he starts it? With food or a toy or some other distraction? I would try the shunning method wrench suggested and then when re-engaging having his favorite treat ready to see if you can get him to calmly step up.

I'm currently doing the treat method where he must step up without biting my fingers to get the treat. Otherwise no treat and timeout for a couple of minutes.

I'm very sure he knows he's biting me hard. Maybe he's still mad at me and just needs time.

 

[HeatherG]

Maybe you are already doing this, but I would not let him on my shoulder until he can behave himself and not bite.

I wonder if there’s something you overlooked? Could he have been short of food when you were gone? Maybe something scary happened and since you weren’t home he got very upset.

Or maybe it is in combination with the HORMONES as the winter solstice just occurred and days are getting longer.

 

[quackerz]

Quick update. Thanks for your suggestions! I'm making some progress. I realized that my bird has a big ego/pride and is spoiled rotten. The putting him back to cage/ground kind of "negative reinforcement" just doesn't work and kinda makes him act more tough.

Instead I actually gave him more space and "ignored" him. The idea was to make HIM miss our old interactions instead of myself forcing it onto him. Last night he was seeking scritches and actually came cuddling with my arm himself and let me scritch heads without biting. I also retracted interaction if he showed any sign of biting and gave it a couple minutes "no interaction" window as "punishment".

He's still mad though he would still bite & chase my fingers when I ask him to step up but I think we just need more time. Have no clue why he's mad in the first place. I think it could be a combination of him being recently flighted/molting(yeah he's got pin feathers all over the place)/me leaving him alone for an entire day.

 

[quackerz]

Maybe you are already doing this, but I would not let him on my shoulder until he can behave himself and not bite.

I wonder if there’s something you overlooked? Could he have been short of food when you were gone? Maybe something scary happened and since you weren’t home he got very upset.

Or maybe it is in combination with the HORMONES as the winter solstice just occurred and days are getting longer.

He was a spoiled brat but I don't allow him now. He would still try to fly on my shirt. Then I immediately take the shirt off and move him back to the desk.