• Welcome to Avian Avenue! To view our forum with less advertisments please register with us.
    Memberships are free and it will just take a moment. Click here

Troubled Toddler Turquoise

BeoBean

Checking out the neighborhood
Joined
5/10/20
Messages
2
So I have a 4 month old Turquoise GCC that's been with me for about 2 months now named Luca. He's usually a sweet little thing that loves attention and is honestly kind of a velcro bird that just loves being with me and/or my wife. For some reason though, he'll sometimes bite our hands without any warning, then will puff up, yell, and keep charging at our hands. He'll just do this completely out of the blue and wont stop unless we hide our hands. When he bites, he bites hard too, usually enough to at least bruise or leave a mark, if not break the skin. Sometimes when he bites he latches on too until you can somehow manage to pull your finger out of his mouth. He's usually completely fine with hands too and steps up with no problem and even knows how to shake. He even tries to preen our fingers and nails sometimes and does it gently without causing us any pain. It's just sometimes he'll randomly get aggroed on our hands and throw a fit. I cant seem to find anything that triggers this either. He'll be preening on my chest while I'm on my phone, all happy and content, then the next moment he bites me, war cries, then charges at my hands again and I have to quickly hide them before I'm bitten again. Sometimes it happens after I ask him to step up. He'll step up liked asked, I'll coo and talk to him for a bit, then suddenly he's reaching down to the hand he's on and biting, usually latching on. I never went through something like this with my other conure. Is there a way to stop this or at least notice some warning signs? I've tried the bite pressure training which has helped with his normal bites but not these random attacks. I've also tried not reacting or just blowing a puff of air on him to get him to stop and nothing seems to work. The puff of air doesn't even seem to faze him. Any advice?
 

Skyandkiwi

Sprinting down the street
Joined
7/20/20
Messages
593
Real Name
Misk
Hmmm... maybe your bird is hormonal or territorial. It can mean many different things, but I've never experienced this with my birds.
 

Lady Jane

Ripping up the road
Avenue Veteran
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
8/25/12
Messages
26,569
Location
Maryland
Real Name
Dianne
Don't let your hands be available to you bird and try to distract him with treats or special toys/play stand out of the cage. @JLcribber makes wonderful play areas for birds out of the cage. Make the entire room a wonder play area for your bird. He will forget about your hands.
 

macawpower58

Flying along the Avenue
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avian Angel
Shutterbugs' Best
Joined
8/25/11
Messages
1,000,000
Location
Pennsylvania
I've heard that GCC's can be bitey little beasts. I don't have one, but I'm sure the conure experts will chime in.
It does sound like your baby gets wound up quickly and goes into overload mode.
Perhaps limit the holding/cuddling time, and set him somewhere else before the crazies happen.
Most people will tell you the best way to stop biting is to not get bit.
That means walk away, put him down, don't reward with any kind of excited behavior.
No screaming, jumping about, no anything he may find entertaining.
Just set him down and ignore.
He's a baby and still learning.
He may just be playing overly rough.
He may be overexcited and wound up like a manic toddler.
Learn to walk away.
 

taxidermynerd

Biking along the boulevard
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
10/11/16
Messages
5,171
Location
Chicago Area, IL, USA
Real Name
Bee (they/he)
It sounds like he might be trying to show who's boss- whenever my bird steps out of line (hard bites, etc) I tell her "shh" in a calm but firm tone, and remove her from me. She has learned very quickly that if she misbehaves, she doesn't get to hang out with the fun human. Now all I have to do is say "shh" and she'll stop, no removing required.

I also reward good behavior. If shes being nice (allowing scritches, gentle beaking, etc) I tell her "oh, gentle bird!" in a nice, soft happy tone, and reward her occasionally with a treat, which encourages this behavior.
 

macawpower58

Flying along the Avenue
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avian Angel
Shutterbugs' Best
Joined
8/25/11
Messages
1,000,000
Location
Pennsylvania
@taxidermynerd He's only 4 months old Bee, will Conures start that that young?
 

taxidermynerd

Biking along the boulevard
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
10/11/16
Messages
5,171
Location
Chicago Area, IL, USA
Real Name
Bee (they/he)
Well my Jade started with that like 2 days after she came home, and she was just under 4 months, so I think so. Jade is 6 months as of yesterday.
 

Ripshod

Biking along the boulevard
Avenue Veteran
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
12/6/18
Messages
7,529
Location
UK
Real Name
Linden
Well my Jade started with that like 2 days after she came home, and she was just under 4 months, so I think so. Jade is 6 months as of yesterday.
Still bitey? How did you stop her? (most relevant to the OP)
 

taxidermynerd

Biking along the boulevard
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
10/11/16
Messages
5,171
Location
Chicago Area, IL, USA
Real Name
Bee (they/he)
Still bitey? How did you stop her? (most relevant to the OP)
As I said in my first post in this thread:
whenever my bird steps out of line (hard bites, etc) I tell her "shh" in a calm but firm tone, and remove her from me. She has learned very quickly that if she misbehaves, she doesn't get to hang out with the fun human. Now all I have to do is say "shh" and she'll stop, no removing required.

I also reward good behavior. If shes being nice (allowing scritches, gentle beaking, etc) I tell her "oh, gentle bird!" in a nice, soft happy tone, and reward her occasionally with a treat, which encourages this behavior.
 

Donna turner

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Joined
9/10/16
Messages
1,183
Real Name
Donna
I've had my gcc 5 years and she's a cuddle bug and very sweet most of the time , however she does the bite thing too with no warning or reason that I can see. She'll be all sweet and cuddly one minute and then seemingly get mad over nothing and chomp down. I've tried various thing, including putting her down or putting her in cage after saying don't bite, but that helps sometimes if I say don't bite and other times it seems to make her latch on harder. I've finally just accepted that she can be mean occasionally and love her anyway
 
Top