Male Moluccan Cockatoo is attacking us.

[Gandolph]

We adopted a 17 year old male cockatoo about 3 months ago. The past month he has begun attacking me, my husband and son. He is very partial to me. I read about mating seasons. He usually spends most of his time out of his cage, but as soon as he bites (and it REALLY hurts) we put him up. Can someone help. Thank you!!

 

[Molcan2]

Try to read his body language before the attacks occur, in order to prevent them. Once you start seeing a pattern before the bite then you can try to redirect his attention to something else. Unfortunately you are dealing with a bird that has not settled into the house yet and is now dealing with raging hormones. I think redirecting the behavior may curve it. Try teaching him some tricks and use that to redirect him. I know hes new to you and you probably are not picking up on his subtle body language that he shows prior to an attack. There is almost always a physical characteristic prior to a bite, sometimes they are very hard to detect (usually you find them the hard way, by being bitten several times). He may be trying to chase the other members of the house away from you, he may like you too much. Don't pet him down his back, and dont do too much cuddling with him right now.

Large male Toos are notorious for picking one member in the household and not allowing any others to handle/touch them. You may end up being the only one that can handle him, even outside of breeding season. He is also very new to the house and trying to get comfortable in it. He may feel that he is being pushed a little past his comfort zone and is pushing back. It can take a year or two for an older Too to really get acclimated to a new household.