Please help- my Caique attacks

[JackSparrow]

My 6 year old male started attacking me suddenly 2 years ago. I have been trying to get him to change his ways for so long and get nowhere. I have even been to several experts who tried to help but nothing worked. I miss my little buddy (Jack Sparrow) SO much. When I get near him, his eyes shrink, he puffs up, and lunges at me (literally comes at me). When I am not home, I hear that he is very well behaved, and when I am home, he screams when he sees me. I give him his favorite food and he crushes it and throws it away, when anyone else gives him the same food, he gets so happy and makes the sweetest noises. He has not turned on my husband, they get along great. Jack will actually go to anyone BUT me. I have never been aggressive toward him, nothing weird happened in the household (no yelling, nothing to scare him, nothing hurt him, no changes). I did have major neck surgery about the same time he turned on me but that can't be it. I saw that someone else had a similar situation and I posted under his post but wanted to create one of my own. I am tired of thinking this is a phase and that it will get better, I need help and I would appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks!

 

[weco]

I really have no idea why your feathered friend has turned against you, but thought I'd offer some things since no one else has offered anything.

Have you, in or before this time frame, had a radical hair doo, changed color, gotten a tattoo, had any major body alterations?

The reason I ask is because my birdsitter's oldest granddaughter had a temporary color added to her hair for a party a couple of years ago. She interacts with all of my birds, but when she walked in with her new doo, my Patagonian started screaming & the other birds followed suit.....apparently not normal screaming, but terror screaming that brought the neighbors to see what was happening.

I have heard of birds shunning parronts over tattooed eyebrows, breast augmentation, bright or strange nail jobs, strange or bright clothing and of course hair doos.

There has to be something ongoing that bothers him.

good luck

 

[Irishj9]

Disclaimer: I have 8 caiques but they're all under 18mths old.

However: I suggest you try bribery. Food is usually best with a caique. You already know what his all time favourite treat is. MAKE sure that YOU, and only YOU give it to him.

He will remember why you were his favourite hehe

JP

 

[BHCowner]

My caique is slowly going this way. He loves my mum but not me, although he is not good with anyone else but my mum really.

Some nights he will be ok with me and come see me but i cannot pick him up, i have to wait for him to come onto me first.

He is always on edge even when being friendly to me, and i have to watch him carefully otherwise he will get angry. He doesn't attack me though unless i go to him... He is always displaying at me and screaming though.

I am at a loss as to why he has gone like this as well, maybe its him trying to be dominant over who he sees as the "leader" of the flock? I have no idea. I am trying to win him over again but it is difficult. Hope you get some more suggestions as they may help me as well.

 

[MonicaMc]

As I asked under the other post, what experts did you go to?


Is there anything else he enjoys besides food?

 

[Thingamagigs]

Im not familiar with caique behaviour... but could he(or possibly she?) have bonded with your partner and now at maturity see you as competition?

 

[JackSparrow]

Thank you all for posting and trying to help. Sorry I am late to respond. I took him to 2 "bird people" one owns the bird store where I get his food (she also breeds, grooms, and boards), another is my vet, and I also asked the breeder I got him from. I am worried this has gone on for too long to be able to repair. I thought the problems were a phase and I probably should have put more effort into him when this forst started instead of thinking it would naturally stop. If you all think of anything else I can do, please let me know.

Thanks again for caring and trying to help me. I am determined to fix this.

Sincerely,

 

[JackSparrow]

weco - no, none of those things have happened. He just seems to hate me now

 

[MikeyTN]

Have you tried moving him into a different room and have him alone with just you in the room? Try that then bribe with his treats. Only work with him when your alone with no one else around.

 

[Brisch]

I may be wrong in saying this but, I find male birds bond best with female owners and vise versa. I recently adopted a 5 year old male conure from a 16 year old boy. The bird was hiss best friend until 3 years of age, now the bird viciously attacks him and wont allow him near the cage. Yet I now have this bird and he loves me cuddles in my neck and yells for attention. I am girl. Like I said, Im no expert but it is what I have notice working with breeders and running pet stores. male birds do better with female owners and vise versa....

 

[rockybird]

I like MikeyTN's suggestion.

Can you handle him at all? My male wb caique turned into a little savage monster at about 4 yrs. of age. He would attack and bite for no reason. (Very bad bites.) He would hold a grudge for hours and still be angry hours later. I am the only human in the household so my situation may be different, but his anger at me always stemmed from me leaving him and his feeling ignored. He attacked anything that I held (as well as me) that he associated with me leaving the house - sunglasses, car keys, boots, beeper. He would even attack me if I headed towards the garage with him on my shoulder. He was jealous of the cell phone and if I talked while he was on my shoulder, he would go for my face. It got to the point where he would even stalk me!

This went on for years. I was at a loss. He was so angry that I could do nothing to rationalize with him to get him to stop. When my green cheek went through a similar phase, I would put her on a counter, the bed, the top of her cage, and walk away. She hated to be alone and would cry and whine for me. After awhile, she quit biting, realizing that I would turn and leave (just like the flock). With the caique, I could not get him off of me.

I believe a combination of things have worked. 1) He likes a schedule, and as long as we stick to it, he is very happy. 2) His cage is in front of a big window where he can watch people and cars walk by while I am at work. 3) He is now 10 yrs. old and I believe maturity is setting in. 4) I am ashamed of this, but a few times when I saw he was going to bite, I wrapped him in a towel (sustaining more bites), put him in the night cage, slammed the door shut, covered it, and walked away. The suddeness of the whole event seemed to settle him down some (and probably scared him as well).
5) I try to talk to him, take him for walks, interact directly with him so that for a little while, he is no. 1. 6) Sometimes I will wrap him in a towel when I see he is getting angry. Once I have control of him, he does settle down a bit. I kiss the top of his head and take him for a walk around the house. If he is angry enough to inflict damage, I put him in the cage, turn on my heel and walk away.

I would try to take him out and spend time with him alone - just you two. Can you take him safely on a car ride? For a walk? My caique even likes walks around the house where we investigate the back rooms, inspect objects up close (picture frames, door jambs, inside of showers, etc.). If he can get some one on one time with you only (and maybe bring treats), it might help. Caiques really love one on one attn. My bird just thrives on it. He might be mad at you for leaving him to go to work, or for your surgery but giving him special attn. that no one else does might help. Do not give up on him. My little boy is now a real sweetheart.

 

[adamf]

I don't even own my Caique yet, but "on my shoulder" could be the problem, according to everything I've read.

 

[Kath2334]

im sorry i dont know how to help you there. But my caique, Nevel is the same way with everyone in my family except me. Especially my brother. oh lord he HATES my brother. when ever he goes near or around the cage he lunges at him.But i soon as i walk up to the cage he calms down almost instantly and gives me kisses and whistles. but when he's out of the cage he's alright with my mom. He one time Nevel was out and about on his cage my brother, this was before we actually knew he doesn't like my brother, walks by the cage to get something and Nevel flies to him and nearly bites his eye luckily he missed.

 

[Jmayfield321]

Like everyone else, Im sorry your baby turned on you. I have a 7 year old male i got when he was almost 2 and he had been in two other homes before mine. To say he is strong willed and determined is an understatement. I am no bird expert. but these things work for me when my brat has gotten out of hand


1) floor time. When Rocco gets nasty and bites me he goes on the floor. This put me back into being the dominant member of the flock usually quickly... but he has chased me in barefeet to the couch biting at me. Even from the couch i am still up higher in the tree and he will typically calm back down after he has been put back in his place. I leave him on the floor for awhile and talk to him,after he has clamed down. I coo at him play with him and reinforce the step up comand to asert dominance.

2) This i have neer read anywhere and probably sounds mean. But I too have toweled him and just talk to him to calm him. He likes towels generally, especially wet ones so he has no fear of them. I just wrap him and prevent him from biting me and remind him who is boss

3) Again, another a-typical process that worked to create an amazing relationship with my boyfriend and my beloved caique... was heavy duty firemens gloves. I know, sounds awful and drastic but hear me out...

Rocco HATED my new (at the time) boyfriend. I mean hated him. He would go crazy if he stood near his cage let alone hold, pet or touch him. My boyfriend loves animals and really wanted to be able to have a relationship with Rocco like I did. But in order for him to be able to able to touch or hold him, he had to wear firemens gloves for protection. The funny thing is it was like agressive stress releif for Rocco. He went biserk biting and tearing at the gloves while my boyfiorneds hands were safely inside and after about 15 mins of no reaction from my boyfriend and Rocco wearing himself out they became friends. It took severl treatments, but now Rocco will lay on his back and let my boyfriend stretch out his wings ect. Rocco just needed to get his tension out i guess...

Good luck!