Help! My female eclectus is aggressive and won't come out!! ):

[balbusaur]

About a week ago my female ekkie started becoming very cage aggressive, and refuses to come out for me. Whenever I approach her cage, she leaps onto the food bowl in the back corner and crouches down into attack mode. ):

She usually comes right out for me, or if she doesn't want to she just doesn't step up onto my hand--the lunging at me and eye-pinning is very unusual which worries me a lot. I've never seen her this aggressive. She's almost 3 years old, so I was thinking she may be maturing, but I wasn't sure. She's also molting very heavily, and we think that is probably contributing to her frustration.

I'm very worried about her, she's been cooped up in her cage for nearly a week!! I'm extremely concerned that not only will she become more aggressive, but also that she'll get sick because she's not out playing/stimulating herself.

 

[kc_y0]

Hello!

At 3 years old, I guess my first thought would be hormones. Would it be possible to take her to a vet to her checked over, especially being so out of character? Just to make sure she isn't trying to hide some kind of illness from you. I don't have any other suggestions, but I hope some other people have answers for you!

 

[MonicaMc]

You said she's going to the back of the cage... is she acting aggressive or afraid?



In other words, is your ekkie trying to get away from you?


Or is she going out of her way to attack you?

 

[balbusaur]

You said she's going to the back of the cage... is she acting aggressive or afraid?



In other words, is your ekkie trying to get away from you?


Or is she going out of her way to attack you?

No i guess i'd say she's more afraid. She's acting like she did when i had just gotten her.

 

[MonicaMc]

If she's afraid then, doesn't that change things?


Did anything change within the past week or two? Anything about you? New pets? Different people? Furniture? Clothes? Hair? Anything at all different in the last week?


Is there any possibility that she could have hurt herself and blames you?

 

[Pedro]

About a week ago my female ekkie started becoming very cage aggressive, and refuses to come out for me. Whenever I approach her cage, she leaps onto the food bowl in the back corner and crouches down into attack mode. ):

She usually comes right out for me, or if she doesn't want to she just doesn't step up onto my hand--the lunging at me and eye-pinning is very unusual which worries me a lot. I've never seen her this aggressive. She's almost 3 years old, so I was thinking she may be maturing, but I wasn't sure. She's also molting very heavily, and we think that is probably contributing to her frustration.

I'm very worried about her, she's been cooped up in her cage for nearly a week!! I'm extremely concerned that not only will she become more aggressive, but also that she'll get sick because she's not out playing/stimulating herself.

I agree with KC any out of character change should ring alarm bells & your girl should be seen by your Vet, a Eclectus that is unwell will act like that.

Her molt is easy to sooth, a daily shower or spray will help with that.

Yes she is classed as a matured bird at 3 years old & she could be getting ideas about nesting. She maybe have decided she doesn't want intruders in her cage which can explain the cage aggression.

However i would first see the Vet to make sure she doesn't have a bacterial/fungal infection. If her health is fine then you can start to look at other reasons for this behavior.