Why does my GCC attack me when I try to give her toys?

[RodgerRodger]

There have always been a few specific toys that when I try to give them to my conure Cosmo, she outright attacks me for. I didn't think it was weird at first, I just figured maybe those specific toys scared her or she didn't like them, and she let me know by fanning her tail and biting my hand. It's not pleasent but it made sense.

I'm only confused because now she's attacking my hand for offering her toys she used to love. like binder clips, the little metals ones. she used to love those, and she'd gently take them from my hand and hold and chew them until she dropped it, and then be just as happy when I'd retrieve it for her. But now if I try to give her one of those to play with she attacks my hand (not the toy, me fingers. She's very deliberate). It's like she's saying "that's no fun anymore" which may be the case.

is that normal? She is still young (4 months) so maybe she just outgrows toys she likes?

 

[Flboy]

Baby growing up and confused!
http://www.parrotforums.com/training/57935-brainstorming-biting-parrots.html

 

[Notdumasilook]

My sun conure goes in to attack mode protecting toys and food... same instinct. Hes wanting you to get away from them...hence you are triggering that response. I can sometimes offer Booger a treat and he will bite the crap out of me before taking the treat. That is NORMAL for them. Little birds gotta be scrappy in the wild to survive. Just go with the flow..offer toys from a distance..and don't get feelings hurt if/when u get attacked. I urge you not to attempt to punish him for acting on instinct. Hes being a bird... Its not a battle worth picking. Note he looks at you now..instead of a mama/daddy bird..but now as competition around toys/food etc

 

[clark_conure]

This might help. My GCC has a wire frame plastic ball with a bell in it. I took it off it's thread of four so we would have a ball to play with. I would give it to him and he'd go nuts holding it in his claw and biting it and griping at it and then throwing it off the chair after about a minute.

I figured he didn't like it, but might some day, so I kept it around. Then one day it was sitting on the desk, he walked down, picked it up calmly, walked it up my shoulder then began beating the hell out of it again and chirping and screeching at it. And throwing it off again. We both looked at it over my shoulder to make sure it was dead. We play on the floor with they same ball. This behavior has been repeated many times. Sometimes he makes feigned attacks at me like he's really pissed off at the world that he has to contend with this ball....That he went and picked up.

The thing to take away from this is... GREEN CHEEK CONURES ARE INSANE! And I love mine....I wouldn't have it any other way. But the real answer is conures love attention, and I have to imagine you are talking more and are completely focused on him when he attacks and give him completely undivided attention for a while ....

They are insane but it's diabolical... If you want it to stop then drop the toy and ignore him...he's feeding off the extra attention, it's nothing about the toy it's about your reaction to him and him figuring out how to get extra attention.

 

[clark_conure]

Oh also I don't do this...I love the ways he strives for attention.....like he's sitting on the couch and content and I get up to look for a snack....his wings flutter and he's all about "BUT...there's a puma in the next room" ten seconds ago he was content and calm. Learn to enjoy it so long as he can be civil with the biting.

 

[T00tsyd]

LOL Oh yes - go to do something nice for Syd and the feathers fluff the beak opens and he dives for my hands! It's as if he is saying 'get off that's my space, my toy, my food, my home and you're a cobra'.

I've decided he's just nuts. I wait and try later and find he readily accepts whatever I was offering with a cheeky grin. Predictability doesn't seem to feature in his makeup and at this moment I'm not sure who lives with whom. I've a feeling that there are times when he thinks he's the boss. No worries he'll come around in the end.

 

[Notdumasilook]

"" Sometimes he makes feigned attacks at me like he's really pissed off at the world that he has to contend with this ball....That he went and picked up."
This is exactly the behavior Im speaking of. He is in protect mode over the ball. Telling u to back off..its HIS. I promise ya... there is method (and instinct) behind what appears to be madness

 

[SassiBird]

Mine use to attack with certain toys. They were some of her favorites so I just assumed she was protecting them or just that impatient. The behavior eventually stopped. I don't even remember when or how.

 

[Skidood]

Mine goes nuts when I grab my aspirin bottle and it rattles. She goes straight for my finger like a rocket and bites me HARD. Well, she only did it once, and almost a 2nd time, but after a little experimentation/verification, I saw that its some kind of weird trigger for her.

 

[T00tsyd]

Last night Syd had an early bedtime since he had a late one the night before as I was out. I usually prep and clean his day cage when he is asleep in another room but didn't last night.

I cheerfully thought I would clean and change his cage this morning while he was out and about. Everything was fine while I cleaned and replaced flooring etc but the minute I started changing toys and perches etc to make his life more of a challenge all hell broke loose!

He suddenly flew across the room straight into his cage screeching and attacked everything in sight particularly my hands. He had no problem afterwards when I was revamping his play perch, but leered at me from the cage doorway daring me to enter again. I took the easy way out and shut him in and he has been happily exploring and munching since with occasional chats to me when he remembers I'm here!

He obviously loves the changes - even more proof that he's a male! Hates the idea of change in the home until he sees it then congratulates himself on the improvements! GRRRrr!

 

[RodgerRodger]

I think I have figured out her trigger then, because she seems to be particularly aggressive in that sort of way when she's on top of her cage, which is where most of her small and easy to drop toys are. She gets poop all over them if I leave them in her cage because they end up on the ground. And the toy she absolute HATES is a little yellow and purple dumbell shaped thing that rattles. the second she sees it she attacks it, and if she manages to grab it instead of my hand she shakes it violently and throws it on the ground, and then walks a victory circle.

Luckily she's alright with me moving things around in her cage though. I've rearranged it twice now and both times she just waited for me to get my head out of her cage. I can also swap out old toys that she's ripped up to replace with new ones just fine. It's the small toys she bites me for touching.

It is very difficult to not teach her bad habits. with as much attention as I give her she obviously still wants more, and what's a better way to get attention than to bite me or start screaming when I walk into another room without her? I'm trying the time-out method, so if she is being particularly pesky or nippy she gets to go back in her cage, and when she's being sweet or playful I give her treats and lots of attention. Seems to be working, because I get bitten much less often now.

 

[Notdumasilook]

Psst.... the calls you get when you leave the room are "locating calls". This again is instinctive behavior. Its normal. Not misbehavior, or some spoiled child acting up. What you are suppose to do is call back. My lil Booger has a "dikadee dikdee" locating call and I call right back when I leave the room. I have also managed to teach Booger and Cookie what to expect when I leave the room. IF im coming back real quick I tell them "be right back". I take a nap sometimes during the day.. so if heading to bed I tell them "daddys goin nite nite". (they know what nite nite means). If Im leaving for the store or to work I simply tell them "bye bye. They shortly learned what those phrases meant, so I have cut the panicked "locating calls" to a minimum. Its all about communication. These lil critters are smarter than most give them credit for and learn quickly. Personally I prefer to work with their instincts instead of fighting against them. Im sure there are "problem birds" out there as a result of people trying to punish instincts out of their birds. I do my level best to meet mine halfway and respect them for the creatures they are instead of change them. Just my 2 cents there.. Good luck with your lil birdie. He sounds adorable.

 

[T00tsyd]

I agree. Syd seems to understand the difference to me taking the dog for a walk, going shopping or simply leaving the room. As I travel the house doing chores he is usually with me, but if not he will call. If I don't answer he gets louder until I either reappear or call back.

If I am obviously going properly out I tell him where I'm going and how long I'll be gone and he accepts it without a sound. I have even stood outside to check. Amazing!

 

[plumsmum2005]

Great to see your birds are all keeping you lot in check LOL.

 

[Notdumasilook]

I agree. Syd seems to understand the difference to me taking the dog for a walk, going shopping or simply leaving the room. As I travel the house doing chores he is usually with me, but if not he will call. If I don't answer he gets louder until I either reappear or call back.

If I am obviously going properly out I tell him where I'm going and how long I'll be gone and he accepts it without a sound. I have even stood outside to check. Amazing!

... Amazing indeed!!... Glad to see someone else besides myself caught on to how smart they are. Communicating with these critters more or less on their level with short key words and phrases can really help avoid stress tween us and our lil feathered family members as well as making bonds even stronger!!

 

[clark_conure]

With clark if I leave the bedroom light on it means I'm just going out for a bit, if I turn it off he knows I'm gone to work and he should go ahead and go to sleep. He also knows if I leave him at his cage that I am leaving the house. Otherwise he's just on me or around me.

 

[RodgerRodger]

On the note of screaming then, she also screams a lot right before she goes to bed. She is generally quiet, as in she talks but doesn't squawk, but come 10-11:00 at night she starts screaming. I try talking back quietly to let her know it's not the time of day to be loud, but she just keeps squawking. I've tried covering her cage with a sheet to see if she's asking me to turn off the lights but it doesn't seem to make a difference to her. Is that her trying to communicate something too, or is she maybe practicing her voice and she just likes to do it before bed?

 

[T00tsyd]

Syd goes to bed between 7.30 and 8pm, and starts calling at 8 in the morning. He is very noisy and a bit manic from about 6.30pm onwards and then by about 7.15 starts chuntering to himself as if he is beginning to settle. By the time I lift him to his sleep cage he is definitely winding down and likes a little chat where he seems to practice words he already knows and possibly new ones he's rehearsing. He has a treat I cover him with black and leave him to settle himself to sleep. I usually don't hear anything else from him except tonight he called for nearly an hour. In the end I went in and he had another of his chats just for a couple of minutes and since has been quiet.

He obviously hadn't finished his conversation! WHOOPS - Note to self : Must try harder,

 

[Notdumasilook]

In general..evening before bed both birds can get together and get loud... its a bird thing. I sometimes join in...singing "row your boat" or something. WTH...its a flock thing ) o sometimes I just squawk along with them. Over 30 years of being involved with birdies it doesn't irritate me like it does some. First 2 things I learned about birds. They are noisy and messy. Ive learned to live with both issues as Im sure u will too! Good luck with your new family member!

 

[clark_conure]

To rodgerrodger my bird also gets loud right before bed, he's telling me it's sleepy time. Once i put him away, and lay down in the bed next to his cage so he knows I'm not having fun without him, he will talk to himself and grunt and make noises quietly, but then goes off to bed. He might just be signaling you hey bozo it's bedtime don't you know it's nighttime?

Because half the week I work clark's bedtime is around 6pm when it begins to get dark, so a lot of times I have to feign sleep so he will go to bed. Then I sneak out and go to bed much later.

Unless you mean he is loud in his cage, if he's be loud on you it means I'm sleepy, time for bed.