Incredibly Aggressive GC Conure

[will.agnara]

My family have had our GCC for around 3 years and he’s always been bitey, I’ve tried training him out of it over the years but nothing has ever stuck. I live with my parents and can’t be sure they’re actually doing what I’ve asked when it comes to the bird and his training, which frustrates me beyond words. In the past few months he’s been getting even more vicious, he will fly over to me and latch onto whatever skin is closest to where he lands (usually my neck, ears or face) and will take chunks out of me, not small ones, full beak chunks. (This I’d rather gross but it’s disturbing me as well, I have on many occasions watched him eat said chunks after. I know conures have the capacity to eat some meats but it’s horrifying that he considers me something to eat.) He draws blood every time he bites and will not let go unless he successfully takes a chunk off or I remove him (which i try to be gentle even while he’s hurting me very badly, I make sure not to yell or react to anything, but it’s hard to hold back a painful grunt while he is actively gnawing on my lip.)
I have no idea what to do, I don’t want to rehome him because despite it I do love him, and I don’t want him to have to go through the experience of being rehomed, but I don’t know how long I can continue keeping him because of the physical and emotional trauma that these experiences have caused.

I really need help

 

[DonnaBudgie]

My family have had our GCC for around 3 years and he’s always been bitey, I’ve tried training him out of it over the years but nothing has ever stuck. I live with my parents and can’t be sure they’re actually doing what I’ve asked when it comes to the bird and his training, which frustrates me beyond words. In the past few months he’s been getting even more vicious, he will fly over to me and latch onto whatever skin is closest to where he lands (usually my neck, ears or face) and will take chunks out of me, not small ones, full beak chunks. (This I’d rather gross but it’s disturbing me as well, I have on many occasions watched him eat said chunks after. I know conures have the capacity to eat some meats but it’s horrifying that he considers me something to eat.) He draws blood every time he bites and will not let go unless he successfully takes a chunk off or I remove him (which i try to be gentle even while he’s hurting me very badly, I make sure not to yell or react to anything, but it’s hard to hold back a painful grunt while he is actively gnawing on my lip.)
I have no idea what to do, I don’t want to rehome him because despite it I do love him, and I don’t want him to have to go through the experience of being rehomed, but I don’t know how long I can continue keeping him because of the physical and emotional trauma that these experiences have caused.

I really need help

Wow! Yikes! So sorry your bird is "eating you"! I would wear a long sleeved hoodie whenever he's out of the cage. Other than that I defer to the experts on vicious parrots.

 

[zERo]

My family have had our GCC for around 3 years and he’s always been bitey, I’ve tried training him out of it over the years but nothing has ever stuck. I live with my parents and can’t be sure they’re actually doing what I’ve asked when it comes to the bird and his training, which frustrates me beyond words. In the past few months he’s been getting even more vicious, he will fly over to me and latch onto whatever skin is closest to where he lands (usually my neck, ears or face) and will take chunks out of me, not small ones, full beak chunks. (This I’d rather gross but it’s disturbing me as well, I have on many occasions watched him eat said chunks after. I know conures have the capacity to eat some meats but it’s horrifying that he considers me something to eat.) He draws blood every time he bites and will not let go unless he successfully takes a chunk off or I remove him (which i try to be gentle even while he’s hurting me very badly, I make sure not to yell or react to anything, but it’s hard to hold back a painful grunt while he is actively gnawing on my lip.)
I have no idea what to do, I don’t want to rehome him because despite it I do love him, and I don’t want him to have to go through the experience of being rehomed, but I don’t know how long I can continue keeping him because of the physical and emotional trauma that these experiences have caused.

I really need help

Welcome to the forums!
Sorry that you’ve come here under these unfortunate circumstances!

First, a few questions:
What’s his diet like?
How much sleep does he get?
Does he have access to any place that is nest-like?
Has he been to an avian vet for a blood test?
Does he have plenty of toys to destroy?

So sorry you are going through this! It’s so stressful and can make us feel helpless when we aren’t sure why our birds behave the way they do, I hope we’re able to help you with your conure!

 

[onamom]

So sorry to hear you’re going through this.

Can you tell us more about how you react and respond when he bites you like this? Do you tell him no or gentle? Do you just try not to react and remove him?

Is he biting you like this every time he is near you? Is there any pattern to when he bites like this - for example only a certain time of day etc? Does he do this every time he comes to you or only sometimes?

 

[clark_conure]

If it is this bad.....consider....and not lightly...

And I'm going to get flack for this......

Consider clipping the birds wings and practicing the time out method....you can do a search everyone has written about it. It will be a few months till the flight feathers come back but with the time out method would be an ammount of time to fix this.

 

[Eleanor]

If it is this bad.....consider....and not lightly...

And I'm going to get flack for this......

Consider clipping the birds wings and practicing the time out method....you can do a search everyone has written about it. It will be a few months till the flight feathers come back but with the time out method would be an ammount of time to fix this.

I agree this calls for immediate action to stop it. If the diet and sleep conditions are correct, avian vet finds no issues, clipping his wings so he's more manageable is a good idea. I think it's a mistake to not react. A sharp No and then ignoring him is a start. My female conure accidentally drew blood when grooming my husband's ear - and liked it! She always wanted to go back to that spot but was easily redirected and eventually forgot about it. I don't like clipping a bird's wings but was glad my male's were clipped when we got him from a pet shop. He was definitely never tamed. I did reverse target training with him, taking his food out of the cage which was right next to my desk, moving it slowly closer to me until he started to investigate. There were a few episodes of him ending up on the floor because he couldn't fly but he wasn't at all upset by being picked up in a towel. It was hands he was terrified of. I left his cage as his safe place where I wouldn't enter and that worked really well. He's much more nippy than the female ever was but always gently now. Your bird's behavior sounds more intentional than fearful. He has developed a taste for you - literally and that has to be strongly discouraged. All birds will eat meat and cannibalize their dead ones.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I agree this calls for immediate action to stop it. If the diet and sleep conditions are correct, avian vet finds no issues, clipping his wings so he's more manageable is a good idea. I think it's a mistake to not react. A sharp No and then ignoring him is a start. My female conure accidentally drew blood when grooming my husband's ear - and liked it! She always wanted to go back to that spot but was easily redirected and eventually forgot about it. I don't like clipping a bird's wings but was glad my male's were clipped when we got him from a pet shop. He was definitely never tamed. I did reverse target training with him, taking his food out of the cage which was right next to my desk, moving it slowly closer to me until he started to investigate. There were a few episodes of him ending up on the floor because he couldn't fly but he wasn't at all upset by being picked up in a towel. It was hands he was terrified of. I left his cage as his safe place where I wouldn't enter and that worked really well. He's much more nippy than the female ever was but always gently now. Your bird's behavior sounds more intentional than fearful. He has developed a taste for you - literally and that has to be strongly discouraged. All birds will eat meat and cannibalize their dead ones.

This whole thread begs the question: Is a companion parrot capable of hating someone? I'm not talking about fear or self defense aggression, but actual hatred for no "natural" reason? And not people in general, but a specific individual. Can a dog or cat hate a person enough to aggressively attack them?
Personally, I have no idea whether animals can hate people or why. Any thoughts?

 

[Jcas]

This whole thread begs the question: Is a companion parrot capable of hating someone? I'm not talking about fear or self defense aggression, but actual hatred for no "natural" reason? And not people in general, but a specific individual. Can a dog or cat hate a person enough to aggressively attack them?
Personally, I have no idea whether animals can hate people or why. Any thoughts?

Interesting question. From my experience working with a variety of animals, each animal is an individual (just like humans) and thus some of them can have a personality that is more naturally prone towards aggression or more sensitive to triggers ( short fused). If an animal consistently shows extreme animosity towards a particular person, that’s usually a sign of some bad history between the two ( or a totally innocent person may remind the animal of someone who treated them badly in the past). An animal who is truly violent, unprovoked and without reason, usually seems to be the result of a hereditary/ congenital defect or a chemical imbalance. This seems to be extremely rare: I’ve only personally heard of one case ( with a dog) where this occurred, but towards another dog not a human.

 

[clark_conure]

Id say clip the wings and see if the time out works...If it does then problem solved.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Id say clip the wings and see if the time out works...If it does then problem solved.

A bird that aggressively attacks you can't be allowed to fly to you.

 

[zERo]

While clipping this birds wings will ground him, it will not solve him biting at other times.

Clipping is like putting a bandaid over the real problem and I feel we need more information before coming to a conclusion.

 

[clark_conure]

While clipping this birds wings will ground him, it will not solve him biting at other times.

Clipping is like putting a bandaid over the real problem and I feel we need more information before coming to a conclusion.

Clipping isn't the solution at all, it allows you to do the time out method, which is basically shunning the bird for bad behavior.