biting and growling a lot

[Kaitlynandjason]

hello

so my electus parrot's name is Chappo... we bought him a bit over a year ago from a flea market and aren't too sure how old he is... he seemed full grown when we got him and he was able to speak a lot of works, he knew step up, and he was potty trained.. anyway... he has always been really great, friendly and super smart. But. recently he has become more aggressive.. he growls at us constantly and frequently bites.. we did move in October so I don't know if that is maybe what is causing this?... another new thing is.. I have been giving him quite a bit of freedom... he has 2 cages and they r always open.. so he pretty much always has free range of the house and goes from one cage to another... could I be giving him too much freedom that he thinks he is the boss now??... Another thing... a few months back he became REALLY attached to me... he was constantly wanting to be on me... at that time he was sooo friendly with me... he would let me touch him or hold him any way... he would also regurg. his food and try to feed it to me.. he has since stopped doing this though.. anyone know what might be going on??... any suggestions??? is there anyway to discipline a parrot when they are being bad??? such as biting and growling???

Thanks!

 

[wrench13]

Hi. Parrots do not take negative punishment, all you will do is alienate him. Goodness no. The saying goes like this...it's never the fault of the parrot, it's always the fault of the human. So sayeth sailboats, our resident parrot psychologist . Me I think it's a combination of moving, and he is gettng... horny.

 

[Kaitlynandjason]

Okay...thank you.. so too much freedom isn't a thing u think ?

 

[LordTriggs]

nah, he just got the horn on. Try to make sure he gets minimum 12 hours of dark time each night and in a couple weeks should pass.

From everything I've seen with birds their social structure is entirely different to animals most people are used to (dogs and cats) with a bird there's no chain of command or anything, everyone is on the same level so there's no such thing as dominance, the relationship is more mutual. Because of how a bird and human share affection though a lot of what we do is percieved as the type of interaction a mate would have but they can't act on their urges so get frustrated and we're just the best punching bag for them. Just reinforce stepping up during this time, plenty of dark time like I said. Just push through, ignore the bad behaviours and they'll work through the frustration

 

[chris-md]

To be clear, your boy is hormonal. Fun times!!! the answer is keep doing what you are doing and this will pass in a couple weeks at the absolute most. You can't do any thing to stop it, and can't train it out. It's nature at its finest. You can really only grin and bare it.

All the old tricks (reduce light, don't feed warm mushy stuff, etc) may shave the worst of it off but won't stop it. You just have to ride t out.

My boy can get like this. There was one point he got so bad he didn't come out of his cage for 3 days, he was completely unhandleable.

Key to remember is that this will go away on its own. I say it lasts a couple weeks at most but more likely it's just a week at most.

Here's the hiccup: not knowing his age, there is a chance this could be puberty, the very first onset of hormones. That can last much longer. Prescription is the same: keep interacting, do your thing. It will abate eventually. It's a temporary period.

 

[Anansi]

Yup. Hormones, most likely. Another thing to add. Be mindful of where you are touching him. As LordTriggs mentioned, what we may intend as normal petting and such as might be done with a dog or cat, they may perceive as sexual overtures. So when he regurgitates for you and shows other signs of his readiness to... take things to the next level, and you don't respond in kind? Yeah, he probably gets really frustrated.

So avoid stroking the back, under the wings, running your hands along the tail, and (obviously) petting anywhere near the groin region. These are areas that would only be repeatedly and consistently touched by a mate, or a bird looking to mate.

Cutting down the daylight hours also helps, as does lowering the intake of sugary foods.

Also, once you get better at reading the signs that he's getting that loving feeling, the best move is to put him down for a bit so that he can cool down.

 

[StChelle]

With two baby boys.... this stage is going to be a hoot, I can tell lol

 

[Kaitlynandjason]

Thank you so much for all of the replies.. this really helps and makes me feel so much better that this should pass