Help with my 16 year old male, DYH! - LONG

Medeia

New member
Jun 19, 2012
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Parrots
I have one male (sexed) DYH. He is 16 years old!
I know this is probably one of a million similar threads. I'm just so heartbroken and confused about what I should be doing to make sure my bird is happy. It's long, I apologize! I've probably been too thorough. I'd love to hear from anyone with experience!

Medeia and Abe

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My male DYH, Abe, is 16 and DNA sexed male. I got him at around a year old from a friend that didn't like the noise. Abe has a huge cage full of appropriate toys, eats a balanced diet of fresh foods and a small amount of Roudybush. He is physically healthy.
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The Problem:

He was a very sweet, cuddly boy until puberty hit around 7 years old. Then, we had rough patches but I waited it out and all would be fine once the hormones subsided.

When Abe was around 8 I added a Goffin's baby that I hand fed. Once she was 6 months Abe started courting her - preening her and sneaking over to her cage when I wasn't looking , feeding her. His behavior escalated quickly. If Eevee was around he became very aggressive. He'd scream at me and attack me. After a couple months of this Abe was 100% untouchable. He screamed constantly for Eevee if I took her out of the room. If I came in the room it was obviously an intrusion into Abe's territory.

Eventually, it was affecting Eevee. She became hysterical when Abe would come near her, she withdrew from the constant attention and screaming. On the advice of my vet, I rehomed Eevee to my mom's calm flock of eclectus.

Over the past 8 years the pattern has repeated itself anytime someone new comes to stay or just comes over for visit. My mother, father, mother in law, my sister, brother, boyfriend, neighbors, pet sitters - they all become immediately targets for Abe's affection. He will sit with them, preen them, try and mate with their hands. All the while, I cannot go anywhere near him. He will remain in this state until the other person is gone. This applies to people Abe has never met before.

Abe also attaches himself to ANY bird he encounters. When staying with my cousin Abe tried to court her macaw, the cockatiels and her galahs and eclectus! He talks sweetly to them, tries to feed and preen them through the bars, etc.

Mind you, this all occurs outside of normal breeding season. If we have no visitors over breeding season, Abe is quiet and withdrawn.

Last week, I walked past my sister's room (she's visiting for a couple of months) and Abe flung himself off the cage and onto my face, biting and scratching. He screams for my sister constantly and will immediately quiet when she comes into his room.

I've had 3 different parrot behaviorists throw up their hands and say that yes, he's just overly hormonal. I've been to every certified avian vets in town (we have 4!) and they don't feel there's anything to be done except place him with a female. The consensus from professionals seems to be that Abe is sexually frustrated and after 8 years it isn't likely to improve. He will always be unhappy because he doesn't see me as a partner/mate.

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Anyway, if you've made it this far, thank you! I'd love to hear from anyone who has ideas about how best to help Abe.

Medeia and Abe
 
You described your problem beautifully. We have some great Zon experts here, and hopefully one will be along shortly to answer you. :)

I'm curious to hear the answer myself.
 
Welcome to the forum :)

I agree with Safira on describing your problem beautifully! I personally cannot give you an answer to your problem, even though I have a Zon myself.

I think this is a question for our Zon expert Henpecked, who I am sure will be along very shortly to try and help you with this problem:)
 
OK you ready for the answer? YOU need to learn to preen him. He has already dominated you, so you are no longer an equal. You need to regain the top spot and earn his respect,not an easy feat. Zons are very opinionated and don't like to change their minds. Be confident,out going, consistent and affectionate. The affectionate part is what will turn the tide in your favor. At first work at playing hard to get instead of always pushing your affections on him. When he is enjoyed your attention ,always leave him wanting more by keeping the sessions short.Before long he;ll crave your lovin and that's when you start preening him and seal the bond. Just my .02 worth Your describing a classic case of a zon looking a mate. You just need to put your self back in the running by being a good leader and the "big Bird".The problem is ,in the beginning he somehow/someway got the "best " of you and feeling your to far down the "pecking order" to be worthy of him.He so badly wants a mate,show him your a good strong leader.I'll bet he goes crazy when some one loud and outgoing comes into the room. They all want to marry up not down, it's safer at the top.
 
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Have you tried clicker training at all? It seems like you need to get your relationship back on the same page. Just a basic click and treat for a few days and then have him touch a chopstick or spoon to get the click and treat. Once he's following the chopstick around without aggression you can start working on basic handling. It may take a few months to work your way up to that point. You can do all this from inside the cage if he's trying to attack you. Sometimes clicker training can do wonders for repairing a relationship so long as you don't get greedy and expect too much from them at one time. If he's being nasty, try a couple times and walk away. Keep trying until he manages to be decent. Keep in mind he is still a male amazon, so even if you've had a long stretch of good behavior, the occassional slip up is to be expected.

Otherwise, you probably won't like what I have to say. That is if clicker training can't help you, I'd consider finding him a same or similar species "mate." I hesitate to suggest you allow him to breed since generally I don't like to see failed pets contributing to the gene pool and passing on their hyper-aggressive tendencies to the next generation. However, if you can find yourself an older 30 plus female in need of a good home, that might be just the thing for him. He will be insanely aggressive with an actual mate around, but his happy with life factor will probably go up. If he's that pushy, an experienced hen who knows how to handle an over zealous male might be better than someone's pet girlbird who is likely to be totally overwhelmed by him. I'm thinking a retired breeder here. I would give clicker training a good solid try though. Take it slow and expect setbacks. As henpecked said, don't be pushy about it. Be willing to walk away. If your having a good interaction, end it yourself on a positive note before he decides to end it with a bite. You may never get him back just the way he was before. But I do think there is hope for getting some sort of working relationship with him. Keep in mind, send him to live with someone he has a crush on may or may not go over so well. He may be so in love with the other person he can't control himself and ends up in trouble there too because of aggression either to his beloved or other family members he wants to drive away.
 

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