Grumpy, biting, hormonal and probably about to moult!!!

[Jottlebot]

Hi Everyone,

Just after some advice. My monster is being, well, monstrous. We were working on step up training, turns out I'm a bit of a coward, so it's taking a while.

Things have gone backwards, for all the reasons mentioned above I'm sure. He's lunging and refusing to step up at all. I don't know whether to carry on or wait until this perfect storm has passed? Every now and then he's his usual sweet self for an hour or so.

On the plus side he's started talking all of a sudden. I think he does it to flirt! He currently seems to be trying to impress the wild birds outside, but he's fickle because last week it was his ladder toy...

 

[chris-md]

I know this is stressful. Sorry your dealing with it. How old is he? I’m trying to distinguish between annual hormones vs. puberty on this one.

You really have two options to help get you over this hump.

First is to use a glove - this could be hit or miss. Some parrots HATE gloves and it makes them bite harder but with a nice thick fleece glove on an alexandrine will go a long way. They aren’t quite as strong as say an amazon. Parker has come to respect the glove. When it comes out he knows I mean business.

Option two is to train him to step up to a stick. Do this with targeting. This way you have a mechanism for getting him out of his cage safely.

 

[Jottlebot]

Thanks chris-md. He's about 17 months old, he might be a few months older, I don't know his hatch date. His hormonal behaviour has lasted about 3 weeks so far. He's regurgitating without actually bringing anything up pretty much everyday.

I'm reluctant to use a glove, I think I might rely on it and not dare to try stepping up without it. He will jump into my wrist no problem and will usually fly to my hand. I have always let him come out of his cage on his own and I can put him back in by getting him onto my wrist (or hand until recently) and giving him a nut to eat while I put him in.

 

[GaleriaGila]

I love how caring and open-minded you are!

May I ramble a bit about considerations I have made over the years?

I suspect that if you're going to contain some of those behaviors, you'll have to clip wings (did I miss anything about whether he's clipped or not?), and I don't want to do that, so I put up with the consequences of flighted-and-fearless! It's a very personal decision...

I have reduced biting to almost zero over the decades... not because I've changed the bird, but I have changed me. And a lot of that has involved giving up on a lot of my desires/expectations. After years of battle, I surrendered. I don't do stuff that gets me bitten. I NEVER do stuff that makes him mad... I don't touch others when he's out; I rarely try to get him to step up onto my hand first. Hand-held perch first, then hand. In some ways, I swallow my disappointment at having such a little monster for a pet, but he is what he is. I ALWAYS wear my hair down when he's on my shoulder, so all he can bite is hair. Really, I don't involve hands much... he doesn't like them. He seems to think the real ME is my head, perched on a weird moveable tree with questionable appendages.

Since he's fully flighted, the ONLY way I get him into the cage is to toss a chile pepper in and he flaps in after it. So food reward is a necessity for me. Time-out doesn't exist in the Rb's kingdom.

I have had some success with using the "earthquake" technique for biting. When he bites, give your hand a swift shake... it should make him let go. The idea... every time he bites, a mysterious earthquske shakes him up. Some people feel this is mean and/or engenders lack of trust. The same can work for clothes biting... give your shoulder a shake, or jump! For me, it has helped.

But please... listen to and try all the good advice you'll get here. Chris is very wise.

Don't surrender until you know you've done your best. Then just accept and love whatever/whoever your bird turns out to be.

Parrots aren't always easy pets to understand and control, and your bird sounds ALL-PARROT!

My Rickeybird is in some ways kind of a worse-case scenario, but we have it all worked out between the two of us.

Parrot-owners usually wind up determining their own personal comfort level with various behaviors.

Good luck, and good for you for reaching out.

 

[chris-md]

Hmmmmm. So obviously my experience is with my ekkie, never met an alexandrine. However, the limited information I can glean from google shows they hit puberty around 2-3. Your boy may very well be closer to 24 months.

Congrats, you’ve hit puberty :-/

I know what you mean. Everyone’s different but I honestly don’t think would get to the point of psychological dependence.

I went through this with Parker. Not puberty but a couple years ago he got so spring-hormonal to the point he was unhandleable. I had to lock him up and leave him in cage for 3 days. He would hunt me down just to bite me, then run back to his play stand. When I did handle him it was with a glove. I’ve attached here a video of that time. When I was choosing a species I was terrified of what hormones would look like. Going through this mess I described I realized it wasn’t that bad, and I wanted to communicate that to others who might be in the same boat. Just watch the first minute or so. This video shows some of what these three days were like.

[ame="https://youtu.be/zD8R7zcD9NI"]How to handle a hormonally aggressive eclectus - YouTube[/ame]


The way the glove use usually plays out, psychologically, is eventually after using the glove for a week you notice that he’s not biting anymore when you ask to step up. So you begin to question “will he bite if I ask to step up without the glove?” Eventually you get the courage to try, and he doesn’t bite. That biteless step up is what builds the courage to drop the glove.

That said, I’ve never seen a larger parrot through puberty. My conure, yes but I don’t even remember it - she probably didn’t manifest much hormonal behavior during the time. I’m hoping on of our amazon folks speak up with their experience, as your experience is similar to what amazons go through. Aggression abounds!

This is could last up to a year before the behavior subsides so you need coping tools. Amazon owners who have seen their birds through puberty are some of the best sources for you on this. At minimum you really do need to train stepping up to a stick. That will help spare your hands.

 

[Jottlebot]

Thank you both, reality checks abound!

Thankfully he doesn't hunt me down to bite! It's only when I offer a hand to step up onto. He is fully flighted, I won't clip him either GaleriaGila.

I will persevere and see how I get on...