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caique showing aggression towards males

rlmartin2

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I have a 2yo WB caique named Zazu whom I have had from 4 months of age. Recently he has been becoming more and more aggressive towards particular males, and some females.
He is a mostly very sociable bird who has always been very eager to play with anyone who came around. He went through a short fear phase at 8 months (pretty normal really) which we got through really well. He adores ladies of all ages, my mother and I in particular, and rarely shows any aggression or reticence to meet a female friend.
Until the last month he lived with me and my male flatmate, whom he got along with well; we had a weekly game night where a largely male crowd would come to the house and he always enjoyed playing with them, never biting anyone.
However as he has gotten older, the new males he meets he tends to act aggressively towards. Also, if it is a smaller group, or a group with more girls than men he seems to get territorial.
The main problem is that he seems to have taken a dislike to my father. They got along well when Zazu was a bub, but now every time he sees dad, he wants to bite him before he will again be friends. Afterwards he will often calm down and seek dad out, but othertimes he will (seemingly) randomly attack later. Some of the time his body language allows us to mediate until he calms down, but there are times when there are little to no signs towards my father. And then Zazu will fly at his face. I think some of the territoriality may come from the fact my father is the only male zazu sees me and my mother hugging.
I am wanting to know if anyone else has had a similar problem/ if this is common; and what people might suggest to change his behaviour.
Otherwise he does not display problem behaviours- no food aggression (though he will protest loudly should you take something he likes), no cage aggression, very little screaming, no rough beaking, no feather plucking.
Thanks for the help!
 

Irishj9

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There are few possible causes for this change in beheaviour:
1) Until last month he lived with you and your flatmate, then his world changed rapidly
2) He is 2 years old, and time for hormonal beheaviour to start

IMHO both can be helped with ritual and food bribery. Get him into a daily ritual in his new setup until he feels decure again. Have your dad hand him treats when Zazu is in his cage.

Watch for any hormonal posturing, or the famous red eye stare, and back off.

Im sure lots of other caique owners will have suggestions

JP
 

JLcribber

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JLcribber

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My caique is horribly scared of me is he being being hormonal?

You're going to have to give us a lot more information about your situation, the bird's age/history, his environment, what you are doing, what he is doing when these things happen to give any sound advice.

 

CaiqueLover

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Visiting my cousin just here for a while he is bonded with a female amazon parrot and he is very connected with his owner he ownly snuggles female people 1 years old
 

Irishj9

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My caique is horribly scared of me is he being being hormonal?
When a caique is hormonal, he is scared of NOTHING. When you see hormonal, you will know it.

An aggressive caique stands tall, head high, feathers raised, even leg feathers, red eyes staring at you. And he wont stand there for long. he will take ACTION

...............Your caique is not scared because of hormones
 
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rockybird

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My caique only gets mad for one reason...if he thinks he is being ignored. He demands lots of attn. and if he thinks he is not getting it, he will attack. With the change in your household, is he getting less attention from whomever he is most bonded to? Does he see other individuals as competition for attention? Does your dad pull you away from the bird, or does the bird see you engaging with your dad when the bird is locked in the cage and wants out? My caique will even attack things he associates with me leaving the house - keys, purse, boots, sunglasses. They are very needy in that they need a lot of interaction and mental stimulation.

Regarding angery behavior, as Irish9 says, look for red eyes. The pupils will constrict. The bird may posture. He may walk with his head down, neck feathers raised and rhymically pace. When a caique is angry, he can bite very badly.

@CaiqueLover I think you should start a new post and tell us more about your bird so we can figure out why he might be scared.
 
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