First a little bit of backstory, I don't know if this information is important so apologies if I ramble.
I have had a male GCC (Edgar) for a few months, unknown age as he was a rescue. He has bonded with me quite strongly and he is very affectionate with me but far less so with most other people, and occasionally a bit aggressive with my partner.
We recently brought home another GCC (Alan), at this moment I believe he is roughly 20 weeks old (Got him at about 14 weeks old). Very cuddly with both me and my partner. Can be very nippy at times, but generally quite affectionate.
Now my issue...we have been introducing the two conures over the past few weeks and, being unfamiliar with conure behavior, are having difficulty telling the difference between genuine aggression and the "Play Fighting" Conures are known for. Edgar will regularly lunge towards Alan when they are close together, and if he manages to get a hold of him Alan starts squealing. We have them out together under supervision so whenever this happens we separate them, but as far as I can tell, Edgar has never actually harmed Alan. So I'm not sure if this is them trying to play or not, and if I'm actually hurting things by separating them.
There have been a few incidents of Edgar trying to Preen Alan, and once Alan gave Edgar a very short preen on his head while he was dozing off in my hand. This is gone well a couple of times, once with Edgar even cleaning Alan's feet without issue. But I think Edgar has been a bit rough a few times and as a result, Alan seems to get worried when Edgar gets near him lately. Alan actively runs away most times and dodges out of the way when Edgar runs towards him.
In spite of this, Alan will still often voluntarily approach Edgar when he sees him playing or dozing, but will quickly back off if Edgar makes a move towards him. Edgar managed to knock over and roll out a Toilet tissue roll today, so I gave him the pile to play with before I took it away. I took a video of Alan's attempt to join in and have attached two clips from it here.
Is anyone able to help me out with this? I've read in some places that separating conures that are play fighting can harm their relationship as they won't learn each other's limits. But I'm very cautious because I don't want Alan to get hurt and I honestly can't tell if this is normal, or if Edgar is being genuinely aggressive. Any help is appreciated.
I have had a male GCC (Edgar) for a few months, unknown age as he was a rescue. He has bonded with me quite strongly and he is very affectionate with me but far less so with most other people, and occasionally a bit aggressive with my partner.
We recently brought home another GCC (Alan), at this moment I believe he is roughly 20 weeks old (Got him at about 14 weeks old). Very cuddly with both me and my partner. Can be very nippy at times, but generally quite affectionate.
Now my issue...we have been introducing the two conures over the past few weeks and, being unfamiliar with conure behavior, are having difficulty telling the difference between genuine aggression and the "Play Fighting" Conures are known for. Edgar will regularly lunge towards Alan when they are close together, and if he manages to get a hold of him Alan starts squealing. We have them out together under supervision so whenever this happens we separate them, but as far as I can tell, Edgar has never actually harmed Alan. So I'm not sure if this is them trying to play or not, and if I'm actually hurting things by separating them.
There have been a few incidents of Edgar trying to Preen Alan, and once Alan gave Edgar a very short preen on his head while he was dozing off in my hand. This is gone well a couple of times, once with Edgar even cleaning Alan's feet without issue. But I think Edgar has been a bit rough a few times and as a result, Alan seems to get worried when Edgar gets near him lately. Alan actively runs away most times and dodges out of the way when Edgar runs towards him.
In spite of this, Alan will still often voluntarily approach Edgar when he sees him playing or dozing, but will quickly back off if Edgar makes a move towards him. Edgar managed to knock over and roll out a Toilet tissue roll today, so I gave him the pile to play with before I took it away. I took a video of Alan's attempt to join in and have attached two clips from it here.
Is anyone able to help me out with this? I've read in some places that separating conures that are play fighting can harm their relationship as they won't learn each other's limits. But I'm very cautious because I don't want Alan to get hurt and I honestly can't tell if this is normal, or if Edgar is being genuinely aggressive. Any help is appreciated.
