Hi everyone. We got our white belly caique when he was 4 months old and now he is nine months old. Before we brought him home, he lived in the same cage with his brother and got into a flight with his brother. The bird shop owner had to give him stiches on the right side of his body between his neck and wing. At the very beginning, everything seemed good and he was gentle. We feed him multiple servings of fruits and veggies, nutriberries, nuts, seeds and grains. We also take him outside (with harness) to enjoy the sun and nature when we walk. My mom has a one-year-old green cheek conure. We put them together sometimes for a day or two when we are busy. The conure tends to bite certain people but not hard and no major behavior issues. In early February this year, we went on vacation and left him with my mom's green cheek conure for around 10 days. We noticed some behavior change after we brought him home. He tends to bite more often and harder and becomes more demanding. For example, I get bites that lead to bleeding almost every day for the past week. He doesn't seem to understand his bites are hurting me. He bites whenever he is excited (ie: sunbathing, morning walks) or whenever he doesn't get things his way. He doesn't seem to be interested in playing with the forging toys we got for him, and he doesn't want to play on his own without us being around. It appears he only likes being on our finger or body/sunbathing/walk in the nature/eating. We want to encourage him to play on this own with the forging toys but it is not successful.
About a couple of months ago, we also noticed he has been plucking his feathers from his chest area. We took him to a bird medical center and the doctor is unable to tell if the missing feather is due to molting (he is molting and has a lot of new feathers coming out according to the doctor). The doctor also encourages us to show him how to play with the toys. We did but it appears that he is not interested. Should we get him a companion? How do we communicate that his biting is not nice. We kept telling him no no, no biting but he doesn't seem to get it. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.
About a couple of months ago, we also noticed he has been plucking his feathers from his chest area. We took him to a bird medical center and the doctor is unable to tell if the missing feather is due to molting (he is molting and has a lot of new feathers coming out according to the doctor). The doctor also encourages us to show him how to play with the toys. We did but it appears that he is not interested. Should we get him a companion? How do we communicate that his biting is not nice. We kept telling him no no, no biting but he doesn't seem to get it. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.
