Cranky conure

[Parakeet88]

My GCC has been in a pretty bad mood for the past couple days. He usually loves scratches but now he gets fluffed up and mad when I put my hand out to scratch him. I must admit I've been sort of slacking on my parronting lately I'm on day 6 of an 11 day work week and it's definitely wearing on me. It's tough to keep up with the birds and working so many days (nights actually). I still keep his cage open as long as normal so he's free to roam around but maybe it's just the very slight lack of attention he's been getting the past few days.

I'm trying to give him more attention but it's hard when he doesn't seem to want it. I just put his bath in his cage thinking it could help with any pin feathers that might be bothering him. I just swapped his toys around recently so he shouldn't be bored. My regular ceiling lights burnt out a couple weeks ago so I'm not sure if it could be a change in the lighting bothering him. I brought some lamps into the room but it's a different kind of light and not as bright. It's also getting to be winter up here so I wonder if the seasonal change is bothering him, it's getting dark earlier and it tends to be cloudy a lot.

Any other ideas of what might be bothering him? Any suggestions on what might help him feel better? I'm just hoping we haven't taken a big step backwards because I haven't been giving him enough attention lately

 

[Mizzely]

How old is he?

It could be lack of socialization (do you ever get cranky when you haven't had a normal, adult conversation for a week or more?), could be dry air from the winter making him irritable, could be that he doesn't like the lighting (florescents flicker and can cause headaches, for example) or maybe he doesn't like the toys.

 

[Parakeet88]

He's about 10 months old, I know they can be very nippy in the first year or so but this is different than his normal nipping/ behavior. I wonder if he's finally starting to get really comfortable here in his new home and is now trying to test his limits and take his place as king of my apartment lol I've had him about 3 or 4 months now.

I've been doing research on getting a humidifier, just have to pick one and order it so maybe that will help him.

I don't usually change all his toys at once, I only changed two this time because they needed to be cleaned. I leave his favorite toy in there all the time so he always has that. They're all toys he's had before (of course he also gets new ones often) but I just rotate them often hoping to keep him stimulated and busy.

My ceiling lights were fluorescent but they're burnt out now. I'm not sure what kind of light would be best to use for him/ my other birds but I had to come up with a quick temporary fix. I don't hear good things about the UV bird lights so I'm not sure what to get.

He did let me give him some scratches but he bites me first and then after a few seconds of scratches he'll bite again. It's like he wants scratches but he doesn't. I've been giving him some of his favorite treats from my hand to see if that will help him start to "like" my hand again.

I'm also applying to some different hospitals so that hopefully I'll never have to work 11 nights in a row again

 

[LittleBird]

I'm sorry, i don't really know what it could be
my one budgie used to get a bit "bitey", energetic and fidgety each time she molted her feathers
hope you find out soon!

 

[Skipper]

He may be just maturing. They do not stay cuddly babies forever, they sometimes get testy in adolescent age. It does not mean they don't like you, just the rules change. I could do anything to Gilligan when I got him, but at one point he decided he did not want to be touched anymore and fingers were evil (unless he wanted something). He still loves being on my shoulder, I just usually pick him up with a stick to be safe.

Or, he is just mad because you have been away. Some birds get that way.

 

[Parakeet88]

He's been doing better lately but still more nippy than usual. I just want to make sure he's happy and comfortable.

 

[Ella.pi]

Yes, Apache, my pionus, will cold shoulder me (and threaten me if I try and force the issue) when he's not yet ready to forgive me for spending a weekend away without him. He's a resentful birdie. Maybe yours has hurt feelings to! if he does, bribery is the best way to get back in his good graces. Does he like trick training? just spend hands of quality time with him until he's ok with being petted again.

Sometimes parrots have mood swings or just grow up and need more space... just like us, they are long lived and go through multiple personality changes their whole life. We just have to take it in stride and sometimes accept that we don't know the reason behind those sudden changes to... they are very complex creatures and we are not mind readers. Don't stress on it, respect his boundaries, find multiple positive ways of interacting with him to maintain your bond and you should be fine! he will likely revert to liking scratches at some point. Most conures do anyway.

 

[Donna turner]

You mentioned pin feathers. If he has a lot of them on his head could he be extra sensitive and scratches don't feel good now? Cheeky won't let me preen her pins.

 

[Parakeet88]

I don't think he has more pins than he usually does. Maybe he does have more or they're more sensitive.

This is a new problem but lately I've been shocking him when he touches me and I obviously don't want to keep doing that to him. I have to start remembering to touch something else first lol

 

[CrazyBirdChick]

Electric shocks mean you really should try to get that humidifier as soon as you can.

 

[Parakeet88]

Yeah I thought the humidifier might help with that. I'll definitely order one over the weekend.

 

[Donna turner]

I had a horse that hated to be petted or touched and I came to the conclusion that it was because I shocked him a couple of times when I touched him. He was the kind of soul that never forgot anything.

 

[Kristina M]

Gosh I'm so fond of how affectionate Goose is with me now I would hate for this to happen to our relationship!!! But you all are teaching me to cherish each developmental milestone and respect these sensitive intelligent creatures.

 

[Parakeet88]

I'm hoping its a temporary phase he's going through, if he's not biting my hand he's trying to mate with it so maybe he's just hormonal. I miss giving him scratches Sometimes he'll let me give him a few scratches before he tries to bite me. I've been trying to give him some treats from my hand but he will sometimes bite my fingers as he grabs it and I don't want to reinforce the biting by allowing him to have the treat. I don't know what to do with him. Should I leave him alone when he bites or will it make him think that he has to bite me to make me leave? Should I "bother" him to some extent to get him used to hands again? I don't even really know what went wrong, I can't figure out what changed that caused his behavioral change so its difficult to fix. It's hard to try to interact with him when it just seems to make him upset but I feel like by leaving him alone I could be making things worse.

I'm taking him to the vet tomorrow mainly for a check up. I think he needs his nails trimmed and his one nostril seems a little irritated lately so I want to get that looked at. Maybe the vet will be able to notice something I missed or give me some advice.

 

[Ella.pi]

I'm sorry you're going through this... I think a vet check up is always a good precaution to take when facing sudden behavioural changes.

Even though I get how confused and frustrated you're feeling, I advise you to never force yourself on him by "bothering" him. He won't become friendlier and decide to like scratches again if you force the issue. He could very well be even more wary of you and pissed off because you wouldn't be respecting him.

You want to avoid getting bit by closely reading his body language and backing off as soon as you see a warning sign. I would go back to interacting completely hands off for now and working up to desensiting him to touch with baby steps and positive reinforcement as if you'd just adopted him this way. Please try and avoid damaging your relationship further by getting bit it in the first place. Does he still warn you he's not in the mood by fluffing up etc.? if you just ignore his bites and his dody language, he could very well amp up his agression.

Remember that you wanting physical contact is not important, it's what he wants that is. There are ways to work on it but he may just not want to interact with you that way anymore because he doesn't enjoy it. They often do get less cuddly when groing up. Does he still want to spend time with you otherwise? is he still close to you?

Is he clicker trained? target trained? stick trained? I would lower the pressure by not touching him in any way for the time being and working on training the above if he isn't familiar with these techniques. If he is, use them. Trick training can be another way of stress free bonding to. If he bites while receiving a treat from your hand, give him treats in a bowl or spoon for the time being. Recall training can also be a super bonding exercise if he's just overall standofish right now.

I always ask my birds if they want scratches by wigling my fingers near them. If they don't give me any indication that they do, I don't pet them and try again later. If they are receptive, they fluff up their head feathers or/and lower their head. Even so, they could be done with it 5 seconds later, it's always their choice.

Once you've worked on all the above hands free, just start by rewarding him tolerating your hand close to him, and gradually closer from above and the sides, then just touching one foot for a sec, his beak for a sec, his back for a sec etc. and work up to longer touches and eventually scratches if he wants them.

Affection is a big deal and a very personal thing to parrots. I get you miss those interactions but it's not fair to expect them from him no matter why he's not into it at this moment in time. There are other ways of bonding, interacting and playing with him in the meantime. I hope he's feeling fine health wise and is just growing up. Often babies will tolerate just about anything even if they're not 100% cumfortable with something, that changes when they mature. Maybe this has gotten worse because of your way of dealing with it or because of prior interactions?

I'm always careful labeling things on hormones personally... but anything's possible! especially if you say he's trying to mate with your hand. (you never want that to happen by the way, redirect him with a toy or something or just walk away if he tries it.) Does he have plenty to do to take his mind of that and burn up any excess energy? just do your best to very closely listen to what he's telling you, observe him as much as possible and avoid conflict. Good luck!

 

[Parakeet88]

I do always ask him if he wants scratches, I can usually tell his body language but sometimes it's like he tries to trick me. He'll bow his head down as if he wants scratches but as soon as I touch him he bites without warning. I don't let him mate with my hand, I usually just leave. But it's weird because when he first starts with it he does bite pretty hard as he tries to get in position. I always wonder, would he bite a bird mate like that? Why is he biting me while simultaneously trying to mate?

I understand that his personality could be changing and it's not important that I'm able to give him scratches all the time, I just wanted to make sure there wasn't an underlying issue that needed to be addressed. I'm trying to figure out if it's really just his personality changing or if I did something that caused the change. I was always aware that he could become less cuddly with age but I didn't realize he'd actively try to bite me. I want to make sure he's healthy and happy before I start trying to rebuild our bond and I know it's possible that a heatlth issue could be causing him to be cranky. I just want him to be happy but sometimes it's hard to tell what he wants.

I started to target train him but he was really aggressive with the the stick and would get worse and worse as I continued the session, he'd get so mad at the stick that he'd bite my fingers when I tried to offer the treat for touching. I didn't want to reinforce aggressive behavior by rewarding him. I posted on here about the issue but didn't really get any responses. So, unfortunately he's not target trained. I'll try with him again and see how it goes, I'll see if I find some other things to use as sticks to see if he does better with something else, I had previously been using a chop stick.

 

[Lodah]

May I ask how much direct attention he gets per day? Hours Minutes?

 

[Parakeet88]

May I ask how much direct attention he gets per day? Hours Minutes?

It's hard to give an exact amount of time. I try to give him as much attention as I can but with his attitude these days it's difficult. Whenever I try to interact with him I just feel like he's annoyed, like I'm bothering him. I keep a play gym on the couch next to me and he always has the opportunity to come up and see me if he wants attention. He used to come up more often, but he really doesn't bother with me at all now unless he wants to bite me. Also a lot of people on here are saying to back off so that's what I've been doing. I try to interact with him a few times a day but usually he doesn't seem to want me around so I leave him alone. So honestly he hasn't been getting much attention lately and I know that can be bad as well but I also don't want to keep aggravating him.

 

[Ella.pi]

I really feel for you. It must very hard to deal with. When I mean "back off", it's only from physical contact and situations that trigger his agressiom. But you still should try to find other ways of positively interacting daily with him so you can work on this new attitude of his.

Maybe he was just afraid of the stick while target training? have you tried presenting it to him like you would any other toy to get him desensitised to it first?

In this case, the amount of time you spend with him isn't as important as the quality of your interactions. 15 positive minutes of one on one interaction twice a day and lots of free time for him out of his cage is better than agravating him if he doesn't want to interact. Does he attack you if you leave him alone? (supposing that he's flighted?) does he keep busy during the day? has his behaviour changed in other ways to? or is it just his attitude towards you?

 

[Lodah]

There are lots of reasons why a conure might not want human companionship... sickness, pain, hormones, lack of proper sleep and the list goes on!

And once you have ruled those options out... perhaps a daily routine might be the go?

Let us know how you go!