Help? Extremely clingy GCC

[emily rose]

I’ve recently found my bestfriend!

A little male GCC, who I’ve named Atlas!

he’s two months old and has such an adorable little personality. He doesn’t bite often, and is fairly quiet.

The only issue I’m having is he has to be with me 24/7. If I am home and not with him, he paces the bottom of his cage until I let him out.

He spends more time out of his cage than he does in it; if I can have him out I will. But in the mornings, when I’ve just woken up, or if I’m trying to eat, or doing anything where it’s not easy to have him out, he stays in his cage.

I’ve given him many, many toys, and even have an out of cage play area for him. But he always finds his way to climb all over me when he’s out. He’ll jump or fly over to me, and bite anyone that gets between us. (Which is the only time he will bite).

Is this common or? He just runs back and forth, squawking and even does little flips (rolls over a few times) along the bottom of his cage until he has my attention.

I know they’re jealous animals, and I love the little guy so much, but I really need him to learn to play nicely with my family, and to entertain himself in his cage for just a little while.

Any ideas??? (sorry for the long post)

 

[Sylvester]

He is just a baby and right now you are his whole world.

Can some family members sit down outside his cage and just softly speak to him, or give him a treat? That would show him to not be afraid and to view them as a person of value.

You will always be his favorite person, but you can take some steps to make him more comfortable with others.

 

[Mark & Da Boyz]

Cheddar is much the same way But I am leaving him in his cage few a bit at a time to let him learn to play with his toys, he love the foot toys in Riti's cage...he has the same toys in his cage BUT it's just not the same you know. They have to learn to entertain themselves or they will be lost when you're at work, school or out.

 

[emily rose]

He is just a baby and right now you are his whole world.

Can some family members sit down outside his cage and just softly speak to him, or give him a treat? That would show him to not be afraid and to view them as a person of value.

You will always be his favorite person, but you can take some steps to make him more comfortable with others.

I’ll try! He seems to only like anyone else when they have food of interest, which is blueberries for him (his favourite). That’s how we’re coping with him when my sister, or anyone else, wants to hold him. But, if they talk he gets irritated/scared and comes back to me. I’ll keep trying!

 

[emily rose]

Cheddar is much the same way But I am leaving him in his cage few a bit at a time to let him learn to play with his toys, he love the foot toys in Riti's cage...he has the same toys in his cage BUT it's just not the same you know. They have to learn to entertain themselves or they will be lost when you're at work, school or out.

I’m trying to leave him in his cage a bit more, but he just doesn’t seem to enjoy his toys that much when it’s just him.

If I’m there, he’ll play and carry on, but when I stop touching him or go away he just sits there; and starts pacing when he sees me.

Do you have any tips on how to get him to entertain himself or?

 

[Farlie]

He's just a baby and as mentioned above, you ARE his whole world. He needs lots of toys to keep him busy when you're not around.

 

[Lwalker]

From what I understand, GCC's usually wean at about 8 -12 weeks and it is recommended they stay with the breeder a week after that so your Atlas is really quite young. It may take him time to grow a bit more to be confident and learn to be independent.

 

[Monica]

Try making his toys into foraging activities for him or get some foraging toys and feed less in the food dish.

Now is also a great time that you can teach new behaviors such as target, station, turn around, high four, fetch, etc!