I am hoping for some advice with our Red Belly, Al. He is 26 years old, and we just adopted him about 3 months ago. Ever since we got him he has always had an obsession with doors. Opening rooms, closets, the fridge, cupboards, etc would always result in him flying across the room and trying to get inside. About 4-5 weeks ago we gave in and would sometimes let him go into a cupboard or closet if the contents in there were safe for birds. He would put his wings up, fluff his feathers, and make a bunch of cute noises. It was very clear that he loved these spaces. A couple weeks after that (so, about 2-3 weeks ago from today) he began to really become attached to my significant other. He is constantly looking for her and will fly around from room to room in the house until he sees her, and then he calms down and will sit still. He likes to be as close to her as possible so he frequently goes to her lap or her shoulder. He can be very sweet with her, preening her face and giving kisses, etc, but around this same time he began biting her. These are definitely bites that are "out for blood." We work at a parrot sanctuary/rescue so we handle lots of different birds, and the bites from Al are much worse than the bites we have got from parrots four times his size! It was also around this time that he began occasionally "acting hormonal" while sitting by himself. He would hunch himself over, fluff up his rear, make a little peeping noise, and wobble back and forth from one foot to the other.
Most of the time the biting takes place whenever she is trying to move Al from one place to another, but sometimes they seem to be random. Whenever he latches onto her I quickly make my way over to him, make him step up, and put him back into the cage. He doesn't like me nearly as much as he does her, but he very rarely bites me, even when I am putting him back in the cage. We very quickly realized that this was likely a result of our letting him go into enclosed spaces, and now he has increased hormones. My theory is that he is aggressive towards her because she can't/won't mate with him, or that he just fears being taken farther away from her. So, we immediately stopped letting him into closets, cupboards, etc, after only a few days, and it has now been a couple weeks since he has been in one, but the biting still continues.
My hope is that some of you have some advice on how to prevent this excessive biting my significant other, as this aggression towards his favorite person is a problem I have not personally dealt with before. We are open to any and all suggestions!
Most of the time the biting takes place whenever she is trying to move Al from one place to another, but sometimes they seem to be random. Whenever he latches onto her I quickly make my way over to him, make him step up, and put him back into the cage. He doesn't like me nearly as much as he does her, but he very rarely bites me, even when I am putting him back in the cage. We very quickly realized that this was likely a result of our letting him go into enclosed spaces, and now he has increased hormones. My theory is that he is aggressive towards her because she can't/won't mate with him, or that he just fears being taken farther away from her. So, we immediately stopped letting him into closets, cupboards, etc, after only a few days, and it has now been a couple weeks since he has been in one, but the biting still continues.
My hope is that some of you have some advice on how to prevent this excessive biting my significant other, as this aggression towards his favorite person is a problem I have not personally dealt with before. We are open to any and all suggestions!
