jzarc17
Sprinting down the street
Hello Everyone!
I have some GCC questions that I have not been able to find an answer on yet by doing searches on this forum. My main question at the moment is about my bond with Nico, my 3 month old male.
I brought home Nico on 1/23/21 and so much has happened in his development! As of current he is VERY attached to me. I am a little worried he might be too attached. The reason I say this is because he will make noises during the day that sounds almost like a cry when he is in his cage and I can’t have him out all the time. I do take him out for several hours a day on and off through out the day. When Nico is out he would love nothing more than to be in contact with me 90% of the time. It’s very adorable! He LOVES it when I hold a toy and he perches on my hand and rips the toy apart. He wants me to be involved in pay time. He also does not like it when I leave the room when he is out playing. He has followed me a couple times when he is able to. As soon as he sees me leave the room he stops playing and watches where I’m going. If I am eating he wants me to share. The real difficult time is at night when I dim the lights. He often screeches and cries very loud and gets progressively worse as I gradually make the room more dark. I never leave him without some kind of light. I just feel so bad hearing him cry! The past couple nights I went to his cage and got him out, cuddled for a short time and then put him back and he went to sleep. Last night when I got him out when he was crying he was determined to snuggle into my neck or in my hair and go to sleep. It’s so hard not to let him because it’s so cute but I worry this dependent behavior is not good for him? I’m not sure also if the crying at night is because he is afraid of the dark or if he is wanting to be with me.
I am also working on deterring him from biting, I have read a lot on changing the antecedent to control the behavior. I’m having a hard time with that because it means I can’t touch him. So instead I’m trying to put him down or disengage when he bites. It’s hard to always know the motivation for the bite. He seems to just enjoy chewing on everything including me. It’s much better than it was in the first two weeks, he was biting down and not letting go. I had to carefully pry his beak open to get my skin out LOL. He does not latch down so much now. He bites when he’s on my and has access to skin and he not actively chewing a toy. I try VERY hard to make sure he has a toy available all the time to chew and also a new one as soon as he gets board with the current one. It’s tough because he gets board quick. Thankfully I have purchased TONS of bird toy parts and have lots of textures to offer him. I know GCC are known to be a little mouthy and I can deal with it now that he’s not breaking the skin so much.
Lastly, when i offer a treat he takes it very aggressively. I over treats to get him to step off me and onto a play area and as soon as I present the treat he charges my fingers and snaps at the treat. I have no idea what thats about??
Over all though he is amazing! Loving, smart, hyper, confident and social little guy! He mimics me a little too. I love him!!
I have some GCC questions that I have not been able to find an answer on yet by doing searches on this forum. My main question at the moment is about my bond with Nico, my 3 month old male.
I brought home Nico on 1/23/21 and so much has happened in his development! As of current he is VERY attached to me. I am a little worried he might be too attached. The reason I say this is because he will make noises during the day that sounds almost like a cry when he is in his cage and I can’t have him out all the time. I do take him out for several hours a day on and off through out the day. When Nico is out he would love nothing more than to be in contact with me 90% of the time. It’s very adorable! He LOVES it when I hold a toy and he perches on my hand and rips the toy apart. He wants me to be involved in pay time. He also does not like it when I leave the room when he is out playing. He has followed me a couple times when he is able to. As soon as he sees me leave the room he stops playing and watches where I’m going. If I am eating he wants me to share. The real difficult time is at night when I dim the lights. He often screeches and cries very loud and gets progressively worse as I gradually make the room more dark. I never leave him without some kind of light. I just feel so bad hearing him cry! The past couple nights I went to his cage and got him out, cuddled for a short time and then put him back and he went to sleep. Last night when I got him out when he was crying he was determined to snuggle into my neck or in my hair and go to sleep. It’s so hard not to let him because it’s so cute but I worry this dependent behavior is not good for him? I’m not sure also if the crying at night is because he is afraid of the dark or if he is wanting to be with me.
I am also working on deterring him from biting, I have read a lot on changing the antecedent to control the behavior. I’m having a hard time with that because it means I can’t touch him. So instead I’m trying to put him down or disengage when he bites. It’s hard to always know the motivation for the bite. He seems to just enjoy chewing on everything including me. It’s much better than it was in the first two weeks, he was biting down and not letting go. I had to carefully pry his beak open to get my skin out LOL. He does not latch down so much now. He bites when he’s on my and has access to skin and he not actively chewing a toy. I try VERY hard to make sure he has a toy available all the time to chew and also a new one as soon as he gets board with the current one. It’s tough because he gets board quick. Thankfully I have purchased TONS of bird toy parts and have lots of textures to offer him. I know GCC are known to be a little mouthy and I can deal with it now that he’s not breaking the skin so much.
Lastly, when i offer a treat he takes it very aggressively. I over treats to get him to step off me and onto a play area and as soon as I present the treat he charges my fingers and snaps at the treat. I have no idea what thats about??
Over all though he is amazing! Loving, smart, hyper, confident and social little guy! He mimics me a little too. I love him!!