My Greencheek Conure

[Roary]

I am a long time owner and at one time a breeder of various pet birds. About eight years ago I purchased an eight week old green cheek and named him 'Caillolu' who was extremely tame. I trained Caillou to do approx. 18 different tricks and even put on some traveling shows with him and about three years ago he was featured at the local annual exhibition in the City. I no longer do that with Caillou now. What really concerns me is that he has turned vicious. I can't go near his cage but he shows anger with his feathers all fluffed up and biting viciously at everything within reach of him. He had a little comfort hut but tore it up in his vicious moments. The only way I can get him out of the cage is on a perch and even then I force him to get on it even as he fights it and bites at it viciously. Once he is out of the cage some times he stops being like that. But not all the time because sometimes he has taken to viciously biting me and has drawn blood many times. I wonder if anyone else has experienced this and how they have handled it or would give advice on how it could be or should be handled. Even with my experience in pet birds I am at a loss as to why this happening and how to handle it. Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[lquan]

May I ask, in the last 3 years since you don't let Caillou do shows in front of the audience and practicing tricks, what other activities do you do with Caillou to keep him entertained? Or does Caillou sit alone in his cage most of the day in the past 3 years?

 

[Kiwibird]

That sounds like a frustrated and bored bird who has no other way to 'vent' than lashing out.

Has his routine or environment changed lately (moving, new baby, divorce, different hours you work ext...)? Our amazon started acting out a bit when my husband got a new job with longer hours a few months ago. He likes me enough, but he LOVES my husband, plus we had recently moved cross country, and all the changes were quite distressing for him. I bought a backpack carrier and have started taking him for walks and out and about on errands with me. He has really been enjoying it, and the negative behaviors subsided. All of it boiled down to he had no other way to communicate he missed his favorite human and wanted to do new things besides misbehaving.

Is Caillou good about playing with his toys? Has he learned how to forage? Just because you provide them and rotate them like you're suppose to doesn't necessarily mean he's playing with them or understands the foraging toys. If he was a bird who did tricks and thrived off social interaction before, he may not 'know' how to play/forage or how to keep himself entertained with toys. More information on the situation would help us help you better

 

[veimar]

I'm no expert in birds, but my gcc has several "aggression toys" which he loves to attack, bite and throw back and forth on their chains. I pretty often play with him using those toys shaking them and ringing the bells - he gets really "mad" at them and is so funny. But a second later he would be totally sweet with me and step up on my hand. He does that several times a day. He has a sweet temper (he's still very young), but this probably helps him to get rid of aggressive energy. Those toys are just simple parrot toys and even some cat toys, and they all have bells and are colorful. Did you try anything like that?

 

[Roary]

Thank you all so much for your replies. The only change Caillou has had was the no longer doing shows. He is still in his same place, with no big changes, no moves of any kind to new places and he has the same attention, other than the training, that he had before. He has all kinds of toys which he plays with. And yes some toys he gets really angry with. He is also allowed out of his cage every day on a play gym in a window where he can see out and see people coming and going. I am retired so I spend time with him every day as I spend time with my Indianringneck 'Blue' which is in a cage beside Caillou. So he is not bored from the lack of attention. In fact when he first started the aggressive behaviour he was on my shoulder while I was working at my computer, as he has done quite often over the years, when suddenly he tore into my ear for unknown reason and made it bleed. I have pictures of him where he would crawl down inside my shirt, turn around and just stick his head out under my chin and stay there looking around until I was finished at the computer. If I were to give him more attention I would spend 24/7 with him. He has been in a very large cage and this week I put him in a much smaller cage and I noticed that while in this smaller cage he has not been acting in a vicious manner and he lets me put my hand in that cage and take him out, all without biting me. I no longer let him sit on my shoulder at the computer or elsewhere out of fear that he will again bite me as he did before. That was not a pleasant experience.

 

[mimi88]

Could this be a case of cage aggression/territorial behaviour?

You say he SOMETIMES attacks you while he is out of the cage. So that means sometimes he does not. I'm just wondering if the times when he does decide to attack, can he see his cage? Birds are smart little things and i'm wondering if he is attacking you when he has "had enough" and wants to go back to his domain.

You also mention an Indian ringneck. What is his relationship with the ringneck like?
When he is out, is the ringneck in view while he attacks you? How long have you had the ringneck for?