charmedbyekkie
New member
Hi all! Cairo is 16 months old, and I'm expecting him to start getting hormonal anytime soon since he's growing up 
He's been with us for over a month now - he warmed up surprisingly fast. First week, he really didn't want to engage or step up, then next following weeks, he started preening us and trying all sorts of tricks, even got him harness trained! He's a sweet boy who would rather fly away from strangers than attack them (and we make sure to protect him from touchy strangers but also encourage him to accept treats from the ones who adhere to his personal space).
His current setup is almost free reign of our room. His common/preferred areas are:
- His cage.
He goes into his cage for sleep, for mealtime, for when both of us aren't home (rarely, maybe twice a week for a couple of hours), and for when my partner is busy freelance/working (a couple of hours each weekday). He's ok with me touching his cage (I clean it regularly and update his toys when he shreds them beyond safety), so long as he's not on, or in, the cage. If he's on his cage, he would growl and motion to bite me, so I learned to make sure he's away from his cage before I start moving things around. He's ok if I'm adjusting his food or water while he's there, but anything else is not really acceptable for him. But he's perfectly fine with me adjusting things when he's on my shoulder, observing; just not while he's on/in the cage.
- A covered standing table.
He likes this for the height and viewability, since he can see both my partner, myself, and outside the window. He likes to try to find things to bite there, but it's completely covered so he can't access any wires. He's starting to growl and act as if he wants to bite when we shift the cover and he's on the flat surface, but he doesn't mind us interacting with the space or him if he's perched up on the monitor. We don't feed him here at all.
- A nightstand converted into playstand (our current place doesn't have a lot of space, but we're moving at the end of this year).
Here, he has his toys (that aren't inside his cage). We have basic foraging toys there as well. In addition, when he gets the odd coconut, he eats/plays with it there. This is the sore spot for him (and us). When we try to return a toy that he's dropped or push a coconut that is about to fall off, he will lunge to bite. He doesn't draw blood on me, but he did on my partner once. In fact, since the nightstand is next to our bed, he will march across the table and onto the bed to hunt down my partner, who adjusted the coconut before it could fall off.
Now, I can see it two ways:
1. We are kinda encroaching on his territory. He feels like that is HIS space, HIS room, HIS toys, HIS food areas; and tbh, if someone came into my room and adjusted it, I'd be pissed too.
2. We're a flock and need to share this space. Biting hard is not socially cool in our flock.
Now this little guy is normally very polite and kind. He would gently tell you he didn't like something with a bite that wasn't a nibble but wasn't hard or painful in any way, and sometimes he still gently conveys his point. I started observing what would upset him and work around it (e.g., he doesn't like tissues being used on the same perch as him, so I'd get him to step up or go somewhere else before I used a tissue on that place - this method still works as he doesn't respond to the tissue when it's in a different space from him).
Our current response to his aggressive biting/lunging is to tell him, "no bite," and put him back in his cage for a few minutes. I had thought that creating multiple food areas would prevent him from becoming too territorial over one space, but the nightstand is getting a bit tricky if he's in a bitey mood or remotely close to bitey. And during his bitey moods, he'll even start attacking his toys and perch - not for an extended period of time, but for a few minutes during which we try to give him a wide berth to calm down. I mean, even when I get into a disagreement with people, I need time to calm down, so I can understand his moodiness. We just are struggling with his sudden switches that occur when he's in select places. He'll go from happily tossing toys around and accepting them back from me, to territorial about me giving him back a fallen toy.
So what's your take? Are we interpreting something wrong? Is this his teenage/hormonal phase? How should we handle this - adjust him, adjust ourselves, and how much from both sides? Does he need more toys, more food areas, etc?
He's been with us for over a month now - he warmed up surprisingly fast. First week, he really didn't want to engage or step up, then next following weeks, he started preening us and trying all sorts of tricks, even got him harness trained! He's a sweet boy who would rather fly away from strangers than attack them (and we make sure to protect him from touchy strangers but also encourage him to accept treats from the ones who adhere to his personal space).His current setup is almost free reign of our room. His common/preferred areas are:
- His cage.
He goes into his cage for sleep, for mealtime, for when both of us aren't home (rarely, maybe twice a week for a couple of hours), and for when my partner is busy freelance/working (a couple of hours each weekday). He's ok with me touching his cage (I clean it regularly and update his toys when he shreds them beyond safety), so long as he's not on, or in, the cage. If he's on his cage, he would growl and motion to bite me, so I learned to make sure he's away from his cage before I start moving things around. He's ok if I'm adjusting his food or water while he's there, but anything else is not really acceptable for him. But he's perfectly fine with me adjusting things when he's on my shoulder, observing; just not while he's on/in the cage.
- A covered standing table.
He likes this for the height and viewability, since he can see both my partner, myself, and outside the window. He likes to try to find things to bite there, but it's completely covered so he can't access any wires. He's starting to growl and act as if he wants to bite when we shift the cover and he's on the flat surface, but he doesn't mind us interacting with the space or him if he's perched up on the monitor. We don't feed him here at all.
- A nightstand converted into playstand (our current place doesn't have a lot of space, but we're moving at the end of this year).
Here, he has his toys (that aren't inside his cage). We have basic foraging toys there as well. In addition, when he gets the odd coconut, he eats/plays with it there. This is the sore spot for him (and us). When we try to return a toy that he's dropped or push a coconut that is about to fall off, he will lunge to bite. He doesn't draw blood on me, but he did on my partner once. In fact, since the nightstand is next to our bed, he will march across the table and onto the bed to hunt down my partner, who adjusted the coconut before it could fall off.
Now, I can see it two ways:
1. We are kinda encroaching on his territory. He feels like that is HIS space, HIS room, HIS toys, HIS food areas; and tbh, if someone came into my room and adjusted it, I'd be pissed too.
2. We're a flock and need to share this space. Biting hard is not socially cool in our flock.
Now this little guy is normally very polite and kind. He would gently tell you he didn't like something with a bite that wasn't a nibble but wasn't hard or painful in any way, and sometimes he still gently conveys his point. I started observing what would upset him and work around it (e.g., he doesn't like tissues being used on the same perch as him, so I'd get him to step up or go somewhere else before I used a tissue on that place - this method still works as he doesn't respond to the tissue when it's in a different space from him).
Our current response to his aggressive biting/lunging is to tell him, "no bite," and put him back in his cage for a few minutes. I had thought that creating multiple food areas would prevent him from becoming too territorial over one space, but the nightstand is getting a bit tricky if he's in a bitey mood or remotely close to bitey. And during his bitey moods, he'll even start attacking his toys and perch - not for an extended period of time, but for a few minutes during which we try to give him a wide berth to calm down. I mean, even when I get into a disagreement with people, I need time to calm down, so I can understand his moodiness. We just are struggling with his sudden switches that occur when he's in select places. He'll go from happily tossing toys around and accepting them back from me, to territorial about me giving him back a fallen toy.
So what's your take? Are we interpreting something wrong? Is this his teenage/hormonal phase? How should we handle this - adjust him, adjust ourselves, and how much from both sides? Does he need more toys, more food areas, etc?
