Aggessive GCC help?

[greencheekachick]

When I first got Moprheus he was very shy and unhand tame. He wouldn't bite to save his life and tried to get away any chance he got. I tried my best to help tame him but was unable to. He bonded to Meeka right away and about 6 months later they layed eggs and Morpheus got very aggressive understandably.
Now the babies have grown and Morpheus is still very cage territorial and protective of Meeka. He fluffs up and paces aggressively when he sees anyone or hears someone. If anyone comes close to the cage he lunges and tries to bite through the bars. If he does manage to bite, it draws blood. I'm amazed I can give them food and water without him taking my hand off! And poor Meeka wants to come out but I can't get her out as much as I used to because of Morpheus. If I do get them out and I have Meeka, Morpheus will fly to my arm (his flight feathers have finally all grown back) and commence to chew and bite my arm off.
~My question is if there is anything I can do to calm him down? Should I clip his wings? Should I separate him and Meeka? Any other thing I can do? I'm at a loss at what to do.
I've tried not reacting to him, reacting to him, blowing on him to divert attention but doesn't work, tried giving him treats and he just throws them away, tried giving him foot toys and he throws them away too.
~Am I just going to have to accept that he is always going to be aggressive now?

 

[FA22raptero]

Clipping wings is not a solution to bad behaviour. It CAN be useful for other purposes, but clipping wings would probably only make the biting worse. Having two birds, that have bonded, and who have had children, definitely makes it hard. I think the best thing that I could offer would be to seperate them. You can keep their cages close bye so that they can talk, and make sure that they still get to see each other and hang out every day, but also make sure that you spend time with each bird individually. Alternate who you visit first each day to avoid a preference. Only use positive reinforcement, and overall, just be patient. If he's come to you before, patience, a little isolation and a lot of treats/attention should get you started on the path to recovery

 

[SandyBee]

He is bonded to Meeka, not much you can do without devastating his world. Over time and with work you can earn some trust but bonds in the parrot world run deep.

 

[greencheekachick]

Clipping wings is not a solution to bad behaviour. It CAN be useful for other purposes, but clipping wings would probably only make the biting worse. Having two birds, that have bonded, and who have had children, definitely makes it hard. I think the best thing that I could offer would be to seperate them. You can keep their cages close bye so that they can talk, and make sure that they still get to see each other and hang out every day, but also make sure that you spend time with each bird individually.

Ok was thinking of clipping him so he wouldn't be able to fly to my arm and attack it when I had Meeka but also figured that it would probably make him more aggressive like you said. So I don't think I will clip him.
I would only like to separate them if it is absolutely necessary.

He is bonded to Meeka, not much you can do without devastating his world. Over time and with work you can earn some trust but bonds in the parrot world run deep.

Yes I can see that with Meeka. She was my only bird for a year and bonded to me first before Morpheus. She still lets me pick her up and likes to sit with me and begs me for attention too

 

[FA22raptero]

Okay... well then you have a bit of a problem perhaps an in between alternative I could suggest is to slowly start giving them alone time, and increase it. First one hour/day for a week, then two hours/day for a week and so on, until it is the entire day, and then eventually start splitting them up at night, but still ensuring that they get a good couple hours together a day.

 

[greencheekachick]

Ok I'll try that but I don't think I will completely separate them.
~Is there a way to try and give Morpheus some treats without using my hands? Because if I try to give him a treat he will either A. Throw the treat away or B. Conveniently miss the treat and bite my fingers, and I'd like to be able to reward him when he's being good.

 

[JennHacken]

If they're on open feed, I high suggest moving to meals- so there are points in the day where Moprheus is a little hungry and will be receptive to his favorite treats. work with him when he's happy to take treats and then give him his meal. My Gus looks forward to me opening his cage and being handles now - vs he would attack when his cage would open. Having food motivation is always useful!

The best way this was described to me is - after you've eaten a full lunch and are no longer hungry, could I get you to do a cartwheel for a hamburger? Probably not- but if you only had an egg for breakfast at 8 am, and it's now Noon/1 - would doing a cartwheel seem easy for a free hamburger?

 

[greencheekachick]

Alright that would help, I do this with Shyra... don't know why I didn't think to do it with them.. I guess because I didn't want to give Morpheus more chances to be able to bite me... I get jumbled and mixed on what to do that I usually don't think of the obvious lol