Desperate Scarlet Owner

[BirdieDad]

Hello,

Looking to anyone who may be able to help. In the last couple months my Scarlet (4 years old) has become aggressive towards me and I cannot figure out why. In the past I was the highly favored person, and my wife was not. Now, she still comes to me for cuddles and head scratches but prefers to hang with my wife (which I expected because I work a lot). However, recently in the middle of training or flying in the outdoor enclosure she will start biting aggressively then go sit with my wife and if I try to pick her up then she strikes out. The thing that baffles me is we had such an unbelievable relationship just 4-5 months ago. Now it is so unpredictable. I am pretty bummed about it but just figure she switched favorited and this is my new role. Well, if anyone has advice i would appreciate it.

 

[Owlet]

Macaws go through puberty at about this age.

 

[BirdieDad]

Macaws go through puberty at about this age.

Thank you, I thought it was early but that makes a lot of sense with the other things she has been doing.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Thank you, I thought it was early but that makes a lot of sense with the other things she has been doing.

It must be pretty distressing when your "baby" suddenly turns on you and rejects you like this seemingly out of the blue but I guess adolescent hormones will do that. Especially when your baby has a branch cutter on her face! I suggest you follow the advice of the experienced big parrot owners on this forum-they have a wealth of collective long term experience dealing with hormonal parrots. Good luck!

 

[SailBoat]

Welcome to being second. Still very possible to build a strong relationship as the job of being the one that provides the treats are now all on you! This will help rebuild your relationship. The next couple of months can be iffy and you should work at rebuilding your relationship.

As this season passes and things become a bit less 'in your face' start over from the beginning rebuilding a relationship! Mac are very open to family relationships and things should become better. At some point, early Summer, your wife and you should begin playing 'pass the potato' as your Mac is moved between the two of you.

"This Too Shall Pass!" As time is on your side!

 

[BirdieDad]

Welcome to being second. Still very possible to build a strong relationship as the job of being the one that provides the treats are now all on you! This will help rebuild your relationship. The next couple of months can be iffy and you should work at rebuilding your relationship.

As this season passes and things become a bit less 'in your face' start over from the beginning rebuilding a relationship! Mac are very open to family relationships and things should become better. At some point, early Summer, your wife and you should begin playing 'pass the potato' as your Mac is moved between the two of you.

"This Too Shall Pass!" As time is on your side!

The hormonal comment really helped. She is trying to rub her butt up against me then when we play she gets aggressive after I play with her beak for a little bit. She will sometimes prefer to go to my wife and then she will sometimes prefer to go to me and become aggressive to anyone that tries to prevent her from doing what she wants. I made a couple changes that have seemed to help. One is limiting her daylight to 9 hrs, showers, less physical beak play. Dunno, my wife is not allowed to cuddle because she will get bit but I can turn her, toss her up and catch her, beak swing and it is totally fine. I will just keep working on it...I have no idea. She is more well-behaved with my wife and with me it is party and play 24/7.

 

[ravvlet]

Hang in there! Puberty is rough. We avoided it on our big guy as we adopted him late in his life but we did enjoy our little cockatiel throwing tantrums and similar.

I have an 11 year old kid though and we are hitting that point… remember that she trusts you, and that might also be why she is acting out with you more than the wife. My kids do the same thing. I’m the “pick up the pieces” parent, so when someone has a nuclear meltdown it is almost always on me!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Hang in there! Puberty is rough. We avoided it on our big guy as we adopted him late in his life but we did enjoy our little cockatiel throwing tantrums and similar.

I have an 11 year old kid though and we are hitting that point… remember that she trusts you, and that might also be why she is acting out with you more than the wife. My kids do the same thing. I’m the “pick up the pieces” parent, so when someone has a nuclear meltdown it is almost always on me!

Thank God 11 year old children don't have massive beaks and tendencies to use them!

 

[wrench13]

On Hormones (or Horror-mones)

Parrots go thru puberty, just like humans do, because their internal metabolism tells the body –“Hey time to start thinking of babies”. When that happens, their little bodies get flooded for the first time with hormones. The when is only estimated, puberty can occur from 6 months or so for small parrots like budgies, cockatiels and parrotlets, with the larger parrots taking longer, progressively. Macaws and cockatoos, it could be a year or more before it starts. Puberty (and successive mating seasons) is not a precisely timed event. Depending on the individual parrot, it might occur earlier or later then the norm for that species, and other factors come into play on when it starts.

Like human children (and our parrots are so close in temperament to children), puberty can bring on all sorts of behavioral changes, which the parrot has absolutely no control over. One minute they are their normal selves and all of a sudden, BAM, they bite you, and the next second they are back to their normal selves. Mood swings like this are so common that for inexperienced parrot owners, this is the time when parrots are most often given up or surrendered. They can do a 180 degree turn and formerly the person who was THE person is now like yesterday’s news and the parrot might fixate on another member of the family (and it might not be one who actually likes parrots!). This does not happen every time, but it does happen, and the former favorite person needs to wheedle and scheme to get back into the parrots inner circle.

Some other behavior you might encounter:

• Trying to mate with objects like toys or food bowls, even your hand. Butt rubbing is what this looks like.
• Shredding paper, bedding, or any material that can be made into nest like stuff
• Seeking dark hidey places
• Being abnormally loud and making new clucking noises or others

Puberty can last anywhere from a few months to a year or so in larger parrots, again depending on species and the individual parrot. The 2 things to take away on this is that it will come to an end eventually and the other is to try and not let unwanted behavior become normal or habitual.

And now we come to mating season. Most parrots go through an annual mating season. Species like Eclectus parrots and a few other rare ones can have mating season at any time the environment produces mating triggers. For the rest, its once a year. Mating season is triggered by some things we can control and others that we cannot. The behavioral result of mating season is very similar to the ones displayed in puberty, with the exception of switching allegiances to a new person, which is rare. Uncontrollable rapid mood swings are pretty common and can vary with the intensity of the hormone release. Some years mating season can be pretty mild, and some are just killer for the poor parrot, as the drive to mate is frustrated (unless you are a breeder). The diurnal cycle of daylight to night time is one of the stronger triggers. Some folks keep their parrots on a day/night cycle that mirrors this, while others keep a 12hr day/night cycle. Either one has its pros and cons and we won’t get into that here.

Some things you can do to reduce (but never 100% eliminate) the effects of mating season are:

• Remove any shreddy type materials and limit access to them when the parrot is out of the cage
• Prevent access to dark hidey holes
• No touching the parrot anywhere except for the head and neck. This is a biggie as this can be interpreted as mating behavior by the parrot.
• Limit or remove sugar bearing foods, like fruits and high fructose foods like corn, any pasta, etc
• Lots of exercise – a tired parrot is less likely to indulge in mating behavior

Always keep in mind that the parrot has no control of itself during these periods! A bite received during them is 100% different than a bite you might get because the bird is angry with you. You should not use “shunning” or other methods to modify the behavior, because they have no more idea of why they bit you then you do. But, same as a normal bite, you should try to avoid being in a situation where the bite COULD occur. Cuddling with your parrot, giving/getting kisses or letting them near the face during mating season is likely not a good idea! Along these lines, during mating season, try to not let behavior like biting, humping or other outward signs become habitual.

Finally – always, always remember – “THIS TOO SHALL PASS”. Your loving friend is still in there and will be back!

 

[BirdieDad]

On Hormones (or Horror-mones)

Parrots go thru puberty, just like humans do, because their internal metabolism tells the body –“Hey time to start thinking of babies”. When that happens, their little bodies get flooded for the first time with hormones. The when is only estimated, puberty can occur from 6 months or so for small parrots like budgies, cockatiels and parrotlets, with the larger parrots taking longer, progressively. Macaws and cockatoos, it could be a year or more before it starts. Puberty (and successive mating seasons) is not a precisely timed event. Depending on the individual parrot, it might occur earlier or later then the norm for that species, and other factors come into play on when it starts.

This is absolutely fantastic! Copied and made it into a PDF. She is more back to normal-ish with a bit more pinching even for her. She will go through a phase during the day where she looses her mind and she just wants to roughhouse, fly, and play like crazy. During this phase she like to ask for a lot of kisses, "Give me a kiss" or "I want a kiss". Wish I was making this up. She is still more behaved/calm with my wife but more affectionate/amorous/playful with me. I am just holding on, but I absolutely appreciate the help.

 

[wrench13]

Yep, just sit tight. This phenom is so very common, I wrote this because I got weary of writing it every time it came up on here. Honestly, more of a hands off approach is warranted during these periods of hormone release - you dont want a bad action, like biting, to become a permanent habit.

 

[SailBoat]

The hormonal comment really helped. She is trying to rub her butt up against me then when we play she gets aggressive after I play with her beak for a little bit. She will sometimes prefer to go to my wife and then she will sometimes prefer to go to me and become aggressive to anyone that tries to prevent her from doing what she wants. I made a couple changes that have seemed to help. One is limiting her daylight to 9 hrs, showers, less physical beak play. Dunno, my wife is not allowed to cuddle because she will get bit but I can turn her, toss her up and catch her, beak swing and it is totally fine. I will just keep working on it...I have no idea. She is more well-behaved with my wife and with me it is party and play 24/7.

With the larger Parrots, its not uncommon for them to 'trust' one individual with some activities and not with the other. It is a slight variation in the Bond /Trust Structure. With time (years) one can transition to both of you being able to balance the activities.

Enjoy! Life with the Big Birds is such an on-going adventure!

 

[BirdieDad]

I wanted to thank everyone who took time to reply and help me out. My Scarlet is completely back to normal and our relationship is completely back to normal. things that helped me:
1. Video taping our interactions
2. Seeking additional assistance from Hillary at Avian Behavior lab.
3. Changing interactions to make them more positive from all angles

If there was a key, it was realizing my Scarlet was acting aggressively when I placed food into her cage. It was not always immediate but it was definitely noticeable once I identified it. I had been using treats to put her into the cage when I go to work or when I wanted to do something. It must have been to frequent for her and she was very angry about it. I changed my approach and it was highly successful. I also changed out games to being less "rough housing" and more foraging and tearing up toys with a little rough housing/head scratching. Thanks again to everyone who took the time. Here is a picture of her protesting a private phone call where she actually drove me to the room by sitting next to me saying, "Hello, Hello!"

 

[Birdman666]

Macaws go through puberty at about this age.

Yep. That's what it sounds like to me too. Starting to become hormonal, and doesn't know how to handle it yet. And Scarlett's are one of the beakiest big macs out there... so they express themselves with the beak when they don't know how to handle it.

It should calm down after a couple of seasons, but the first few seasons can be rough.