GCC Aggression Issues

[ProsNConures]

Hi all! I have a 6 month old Green Cheek Conure (w/Turquoise Mutation) named Zazu and recently over the last couple months she has become a bit aggressive towards other people outside my immediate family. I am not sure what entirely changed but I believe the lack of social interaction (not having many friends/family over due to COVID) may have caused her to become less friendly?

During her first 2-3 months at home, she was completely normal and would attempt to go to everyone and was super kind to everyone who held her. But now....she immediately tries to attack or go for a bite any chance that she gets (mostly when that person is next to me or very close). She does this especially with my girlfriend who had to move back home for a couple months and was unable to see her since early April.

Is this a phase that might pass eventually? Or is there a specific kind of training I can attempt to help her become more used to & friendly with new people or outsiders like she used to be? Just want to make sure the biting & aggressive behavior does not get out of control. When she gets worked up because of 'outsiders', she starts biting me too and I'm not sure how to prevent this. The bites are getting stronger too and sometimes even makes us bleed lol. We keep trying the 'earthquake' method but she gets annoyed and tries to bite the finger/hand that is keeping her up :18:

Overall she is such a sweetheart but we just want her to get used to people again.

 

[wrench13]

Best method to teach No Bite is the shunning method. Immediately when a bite occurs, the bird is placed on a chair back ( not the cage), and turn your back and totally ignore her. No eye contact, nothing. Keep that up for a max of 2 minutes ( longer and she will forget the lesson), and then she can be picked up again. This has to be 100% consistently done by all in the house.

More socializing is important too. Play warm potato with family and friends, but after she has learned No Bite. No one wants to hold a parrot that bites!

 

[Talven]

Sounds like she has bonded with you and is warning the interlopers off of her human. The lack of interaction with others most likely strengthened your bond making it worse. The method mentioned by wrench13 will help but I think she will always be a little standoffish with others now. I know my GCC Ari has never gotten any better once he went down that path but I must admit I've been lax in training him not to bite.