GC super aggressive all of the sudden, PLEASE HELP ;-;

[FourFeathers]

A few months ago I had my GC out and out of nowhere he started biting me like crazy. I'm talking repeatedly trying to tear chunks out of my finger. He's about 3 years old and I've heard of them hitting puberty late, but he isn't showing any signs of wanting to mate with anything at all. At this point, I can't even walk next to his covered cage (after i put him down for bed) without hearing the clang of him jumping onto the bars and his angry chatter. Somebody please help, I miss my baby boy ;-;

 

[LaManuka]

Your bird does not necessarily have to show mating-type behaviours to be under the influence of a hormonal episode. He may also be exhibiting "cage aggression" where he has determined that his cage is his castle and he will defend his territory against all comers, including you, so you can probably throw that into the mix as well. It also may be worth a checkup with your avian vet to rule out any underlying medical problem that may be resulting in his current phase of acting out.

I had a GCC for a sum total of about 4 years prior to his premature death in August 2018 (still cry over him too) so I do not pretend to know everything about them. What I can tell you though is that my beloved sweet snuggly baby named Baci turned into a vicious and bitey demon practically overnight at the age of about 2 and a bit. Now this was at a time before discovering this forum and I had no idea what had happened to him. It was the middle of a summer heatwave and I’d been working a few long day shifts in a row so he’d been stuck in his cage in a hot house for several days and I thought he hated me for it. Anyway, like you, I found he was hugely vicious around his cage in particular and I couldn’t get near him for days without him LACERATING my hands. What saved us was the procedure of "laddering". I would stick a few protective band aids on the parts of my hand most likely to get bit, thus lessening my reflexive flinch when I thought he was about to bite, and in turn lessening his reaction to my flinching. I would then ask him to step up, and if/when he bit me, I’d ladder him onto my other hand and back and forth until he stopped biting, usually only a step or two or three until he stopped. Then I’d pop him down somewhere neutral like the back of a chair, and walk away for 5 minutes or so until he cooled off, then go back and repeat the process. Baci was a smart boy and it didn’t take him long to work out that he wasn’t going to get away with biting, he’d grumble at me a little but I’d give him a big kiss and tell him how much I loved him, then I'd pop him down and leave him to go about his business quite happily.

Now I know some will say laddering is not the ideal solution to an issue like this, and it by no means meant that he never bit me again. But as a short term circuit-breaker in this type of emotionally fraught situation I found it very useful indeed!

 

[chris-md]

Great advice above.

The other: time. Puberty is temporary. You WILL get your sweet baby back eventually, I promise. This isn’t a learned behavior that’s here to stay. Stick with him and he’ll come back to you.

 

[noodles123]

In addition to what was said about:

Remove all shadowy spaces/tents/huts/boxes access to under furniture or low ledges in/around the cage. This should apply for the rest of his adult life--dark spaces simulate nesting areas and if he has anything like a tent in his cage it needs to go.

Never ever pet anywhere other than the head or neck. Not now, not in the future.

Make sure he is on a sleep schedule (roughly 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep around the same time each night and with the same wake-up each morning)--sleep also regulates hormones and immune function.

Time spent with you should be interactive---not just petting etc-- Try to let him out of his cage still because he needs to get some exercise etc....Unless you think he will be injured.

Remove any shredding piles of paper or bedding (also simulate nesting).

 

[itzjbean]

Green cheeks are known to be especially nippy in general once they mature.

 

[Laurasea]

Firstly I feel your pain. GCC can bite hard and it also hurts us emotionally!

I've gone through several periods of biting and even flying to me to bite me from my GCC. So I know you can work through this and get back to having your freindly bird again!

Something did happen to upset your bird, you aren't aware of it yet, but something happened from the birds point of view. ( Unless is only agressive and protective of the cage, that's normal and should be accepted that it their space) Also , work from the idea that the bites are your fault. It's how a lot of us look at it, and work from there. Parrots bite when we don't catch in to their other clues. Then we also do stuff that reinforces the biting, or show fear, uncertainty, anger, that makes it all worse.

It's extremely easy to accidentally make GCC afraid of hands. Chasing them to put them up, using your hand to shoo them away, accidentally brushing a link feather you name it.

Are you the only person in the house? Are there other pets? If you aren't the only person in the house, ask everyone else not to interact with the bird at all , while you are working to overcome this. Make sure no other person is going near the cage.

The good news is GCC seem to be easy to bribe! Especially fond of the safflower seeds!!! So start back at the beginning as though you just brought the bird home. Set up a treat only dish inside the cage, that you can put a treat in easily from out side the cage. Also set up a treat only dish on the top of the cage. Stand back from the cage and let the bird see you have a great treat, then say hello ( birds name) and walk up to the cage and put the treat in the dish , and then walk away. Do this many times during the day. Until the bird seems to be so happy to see you coming with the treat. Then do the same thing but give the treat by hand. If you have your bird out , do this with the treat dish on top of the cage. When all of that goes well. Do the step up get a treat and take a short distance away from cage to a stand or perch you have set up and put him there and give a treat. Let him.hang out there for a few minutes then go up say hello, give a treat, have step up and take back to the perch you have on top of the cage have him step off and get a treat again. You can repeat every few min for a short training period a couple of time a day. You are working on trust, and that you always mean good things.

If there are no other pets or small children in the house. Then when a bite happens you can say no and set them on the floor, wait a few seconds and pick them up and go on as though nothing has happened. Or if it hurt and you feel mad, give yourself a minute to calm down.. birds can read your energy, mood, and expression very very well!!!



This is a good link, I will also link my Ornithology thread, on page ten of my thread are several articles on behaviors.

https://petcentral.chewy.com/think-your-pet-bird-hates-you/

http://www.parrotforums.com/general...hare-discuss-scientific-articles-parrots.html