Biting

[Spearmint]

Spearmint has been very strangely 'angry' lately. It's to the point i'm actually dreading taking him out the cage. He will lunge, grab and bite through skin. I can't look at him without him biting me. I can't think of anything that has provoked this either, he's been acting fine otherwise. I've tried to give him space, I've tried interacting with him in a different room, and not reacting when he bites; but it's hard not too, as he's drawing blood. I was thinking it might be hormones, as he's 2 and a half now, but it's been going on for about 1 week now. What do I do?? I love him but I am struggling with this biting.

 

[Toy]

Hormone phases can go on for a few month & they do tend to get grumpy, nippy, etc. Nature is telling them to breed & they can't, so they can get very frustrated. When my B&G macaw would go into a hormone/breeding phase I found lettiing her alone was best. I would feed her, talk to her, let her out out a bit, only handle her when I had to.

 

[Spearmint]

Hormone phases can go on for a few month & they do tend to get grumpy, nippy, etc. Nature is telling them to breed & they can't, so they can get very frustrated. When my B&G macaw would go into a hormone/breeding phase I found lettiing her alone was best. I would feed her, talk to her, let her out out a bit, only handle her when I had to.

Thank you! I think i'll try to give him some time out the cage while still being able to do his own stuff. Really hoping this dies down soon though, my hands aren't looking too nice

 

[Mockinbirdiva]

If you haven’t trained him to step up on a hand held perch it’s time you do. I can pick up all but one of my conures by hand. The one male is a nasty biter so the only way I pick him up is by a perch. He’s always very cooperative and takes direction well with a simple word or hand signal when I want him to go back in his cage. I do on occasion get bitten by the others depending on the situation but it’s not often.

 

[Spearmint]

If you haven’t trained him to step up on a hand held perch it’s time you do. I can pick up all but one of my conures by hand. The one male is a nasty biter so the only way I pick him up is by a perch. He’s always very cooperative and takes direction well with a simple word or hand signal when I want him to go back in his cage. I do on occasion get bitten by the others depending on the situation but it’s not often.

I absolutely agree with you. I'll dig out an old unused perch that I can use. He's target trained so hopefully won't be too difficult.

 

[SumitaSinh]

If you haven’t trained him to step up on a hand held perch it’s time you do. I can pick up all but one of my conures by hand. The one male is a nasty biter so the only way I pick him up is by a perch. He’s always very cooperative and takes direction well with a simple word or hand signal when I want him to go back in his cage. I do on occasion get bitten by the others depending on the situation but it’s not often.
[/QUOTEold]
What changes have you observed in your CBC during hormonal stage? By what age shall I expect them? My CBC is nearly 8 months old

 

[Mockinbirdiva]

I don’t remember if yours is a male or female. I really don’t see hormonal changes in either of the two crimson males. They “entertain” their favorite toys throughout the year and it’s been a long time since Rocket humped my hand. That courtship behavior had a lot of light pinching on my hand and fingers so I knew to put him down before he would get carried away. The two crimson girls do their best to get the one male to mate with them. He’s the Dudley Doright in the love department but would give it a go if I let him. I only allow preening and to a point because both girls like to pluck feathers from him and I can see it’s painful when they do. There can be some serious bickering between him and one of the girls too. They are very forward in behavior and rarely back down from a fight. Rocket and female green cheek Astro are out together every evening. He pretty much just invades her cage, bangs her toys, eats her food and will go back to his cage to “visit” his favorite toy. She yells when he leaves her cage. She’s 15 and he’s 14…. They have never touched each other in all those years. All in all, each one is different so it would be hard to tell you what to expect. It’s my yellow nape zon who goes through the most dramatic change.

 

[Mockinbirdiva]

I absolutely agree with you. I'll dig out an old unused perch that I can use. He's target trained so hopefully won't be too difficult.

Is he flighted? When you take him out do you put him on a stand or would you hold him or let him sit on your shoulder ( before he started biting) ?

 

[Spearmint]

Is he flighted? When you take him out do you put him on a stand or would you hold him or let him sit on your shoulder ( before he started biting) ?

He's fully flighted, but he's got issues with flight (hesitation, lack of confidence etc from being clipped younger) but we're working on that. Usually I would put him onto his smaller stand at his forage box, or his larger floor stand, from where he'd fly to sit on my shoulder and relax with me, or walk around the table and play with his toys. I've just worked on the perch training, and it went well. He happily steps up onto it when offered. He's seeming a bit better now, but I also gave him some nice chamomile tea before this.

 

[SumitaSinh]

I don’t remember if yours is a male or female. I really don’t see hormonal changes in either of the two crimson males. They “entertain” their favorite toys throughout the year and it’s been a long time since Rocket humped my hand. That courtship behavior had a lot of light pinching on my hand and fingers so I knew to put him down before he would get carried away. The two crimson girls do their best to get the one male to mate with them. He’s the Dudley Doright in the love department but would give it a go if I let him. I only allow preening and to a point because both girls like to pluck feathers from him and I can see it’s painful when they do. There can be some serious bickering between him and one of the girls too. They are very forward in behavior and rarely back down from a fight. Rocket and female green cheek Astro are out together every evening. He pretty much just invades her cage, bangs her toys, eats her food and will go back to his cage to “visit” his favorite toy. She yells when he leaves her cage. She’s 15 and he’s 14…. They have never touched each other in all those years. All in all, each one is different so it would be hard to tell you what to expect. It’s my yellow nape zon who goes through the most dramatic change.

Thanks so much. My Rio is a male. Though he's a goofy fluffball, he can be nippy sometimes.

 

[Mockinbirdiva]

He's fully flighted, but he's got issues with flight (hesitation, lack of confidence etc from being clipped younger) but we're working on that. Usually I would put him onto his smaller stand at his forage box, or his larger floor stand, from where he'd fly to sit on my shoulder and relax with me, or walk around the table and play with his toys. I've just worked on the perch training, and it went well. He happily steps up onto it when offered. He's seeming a bit better now, but I also gave him some nice chamomile tea before this.

Glad it went well! I do think (male or female) go through phases that may or may not be related to hormones. My female greencheek ( hatched here 2008 and hand fed by me) is a year round seemingly hormone driven girl. She’s sweet but untouchable in that the moment my hand comes up to touch her head she squats down and puts her tail up in the air. I don’t want to encourage this behavior or put her into hormone overdrive so I only touch her head for a few seconds. She tends to run away from being picked up in a super shy manner. Now, when Rocket is locked away she can’t wait to climb onto my shirt collar when I refresh her food, climbing down my arm and scooching into the nook of my elbow to just hang out… happy as can be. She’s been doing this for at least a month. So very unlike her to be social so it’s a treat to get some love from this little character. I’ll stand in the kitchen and scroll on my phone until she gets figity and then take her back to her cage where she has treats waiting. She is the only one not possessive about her food bowls when it comes to taking them out or putting them in. All of the others have great desires to pinch and bite.