cinnamon GCC cage aggression help? :)

[taylor_]

our first month and a half or so with crowley has been a blast. we finally took him in for his first vet visit, and he's totally normal and healthy, i got him dna sexed and he's officially a male, OUR LITTLE MAN haha.

everything has been great except for his cage aggression. he's totally fine if you can find a way to get him off of his cage. for example, i make a bridge from a blanket from the desk his cage is on to our couch and sometimes if we're doing something he'll come over from his cage to see what we're doing. but most often, he just hangs out on the top of his cage, will act like he wants you to come get him (flap his wings when you're in the room, and chirp like, "HEY PICK ME UP!") but if you go near him or hold your finger out, he either chomps down on it with a vengeance or does this angry head bob if you're too far away to bite. it's so confusing. also sometimes when he is hanging out with us, if he sees his cage, it's like his only thought is to get back to the cage no matter what the cost.


does he not want to hang out with us? am i doing something wrong? i guess i just thought birds were usually more content being with people not away from them any input guys?

p.s. here's a cute picture of him after a bath with his alfalfa feathers sticking up

 

[AFP520]

Tried any treats? I'm not familiar with GCC behavior but if he's a male I would think he would stick to you like glue.

 

[DebsFlock]

It's normal for them to feel protective of their home and to treat the cage as their special space. At some level that's desirable. Just make sure that there are fun and comfortable places to be away from the cage.

Some people claim Happy Huts contribute to this kind of behavior and if he has one, you could try taking it out for a while. But Scooter loves his and sleeps in it every night, and every time I've tried addressing a behavior issue by taking it away, it has made not one iota of difference, so I'm not convinced.

I think your best bet is to work with reward to get him to step up and come off the cage -- target training might be good here. Also, make sure he feels that he won't be forcibly kept away from the cage, let him tell you when he wants to go back and honor that. Then take him away again. Maybe at first just aim to get him to step up away from it and then go right back.

I'll admit that at the moment I have the opposite problem... can't get him to stay there, wants to be on my desk wreaking havoc!

Mmmm, I read the post again and I wonder if something also went wrong at some point with the actual picking up process. If he's soliciting you to come get him and then biting, that may be the case. I do know that I have occasionally been guilty of picking up Scooter carelessly and sort of whisking him unceremoniously out of the cage whizzing his poor little head close to the doors and toys. He got pretty nippy with for a while when I was picking him up as a result, and he still has moments where he seems uncertain, but then I make a point of moving more slowly.... just a thought.

 

[dishgal1]

I think it is just a phase. They go thru lots of those. Try getting him on a stick or perch then offer your finger to step up as you move away from the cage.
Also we have turned an end table into a feeding station for ours. His favorite place is the back of the couch and he goes down to the end table to eat and drink. Also we have a boing hanging from the ceiling at the end of the couch. Took 4 weeks for him to accept it because it was something new and now he hangs out on it everyday. I COver the table with doggie pads and line the floor behind the couch with cage liner that you can buy in a roll. That way I can just remove it and put another behind it at cleaning time. Sure beats dragging the couch out all the time. Maybe a favorite place or playstand away from the cage will help. They definitely claim territory somewhere once they are use to being out. Forrest went thru a nippy stage last week, and this week he is so sweet. They just get in moods frequently.

 

[dishgal1]

OH and one more thing. Be careful what you wish for. Hanging out on the cage can be a good thing. Forrest is always with us. OUr Sun likes to hang out on his cage, it would be nice if Forrest did that too at least part of the time. LOL

 

[Trina]

My sun had bad bad cage aggression, he bit hard to draw blood. I never entered his cage with my hand i used a dowel. to get him out of the cage once he was out he was fine..now i can get him out of his cage with my hand anytime i want and he will hop on even before i can say step up..this took months of work though and i only used my hand when i was positive he would not bite. If he bit the dowel i would simple walk away and try 5 minutes later if he did it again i would leave him and come back again in a few minutes..after a couple time he would hop on the dowel.

 

[friedsoup]

Try moving the cage away from the couch area where he can't see his cage from where you want him to hang out with you that way the only time he sees his cage is on his way back to it so he will be overjoyed to get to his cage when he see it and keep a wooden spoon handy to use to step-up to avoid bites.

 

[Lovelyloribeth]

I know it's off topic but I do love hearing about Forest!! He's a character!!