Squeekmouse
Well-known member
My Congo African Grey, Trigger, will be 3 years old this August. Last year Trigger was a huge handful. He was always energetic, was quick to bite, easily frightened, and enjoyed the sound of his own screaming. We have him out of the cage as much as possible (he attacks our Green Cheek so he has to be carefully watched), and we train with him at least 30 minutes every day (target, recall, tricks, clicker). Over the winter he began to calm down. He learned to stop biting (just applying gentle pressure when he wants us to stop what we're doing that he doesn't like), he was happier to just sit and hang out without screaming, attacking, or otherwise getting into trouble. He became more affectionate, more talkative, and just a sweet little angel. :21:
....and then Springtime came and the Horror-mones reared up. We're making sure to get him a good 10 hours of sleep, covered in his cage, plus 2 hours of quiet, dark time out of his cage to wind down beforehand. We still train with him and have tried all that we can think of. But he's still screamier, bite-ier, wilder and crazier than he was over the winter. We figure he must be going through particularly bad horror-mones because he's in his adolescence.
Can anyone with older birds share their knowledge, how long will this season of horror-mones/puberty last? Is there anything we can/should do to help him chill out?
The main point is wanting to know how long this puberty/hormone explosion will go on.. and when can we get back to how sweet he was this winter, these days we have to be more hands off and give him more and more time-outs because he starts grunting and regurgitating just as soon as he comes out of his cage.
Thanks!!
....and then Springtime came and the Horror-mones reared up. We're making sure to get him a good 10 hours of sleep, covered in his cage, plus 2 hours of quiet, dark time out of his cage to wind down beforehand. We still train with him and have tried all that we can think of. But he's still screamier, bite-ier, wilder and crazier than he was over the winter. We figure he must be going through particularly bad horror-mones because he's in his adolescence.
Can anyone with older birds share their knowledge, how long will this season of horror-mones/puberty last? Is there anything we can/should do to help him chill out?
The main point is wanting to know how long this puberty/hormone explosion will go on.. and when can we get back to how sweet he was this winter, these days we have to be more hands off and give him more and more time-outs because he starts grunting and regurgitating just as soon as he comes out of his cage.
Thanks!!