Biting amazon

[Ainon]

I have a red-lored amazon male, he is 2,5 years of age. He's fed by his parents but as tame as any handfeed bird, not wingclipped since I'm training him for freeflight.

I got a problem, the last two days he bit my hand severe (it got bloody) three times.
The bites are totaly unpredictable, he sits on my hand and a second later I've got a bite. They are also very fast, no chance that I can grab his beak.
Now I throw him of me (he can fly) and then take him to his cage, but I don't know if it's the best thing to do

I think he's starting to get hormonal, but then he's a bit early

Give me tips on what to do!

[Joanie Doss]

There is a very good chance that your guy is hormonal. Hormonal bites are almost always bad ones. You might want to try to cut back on the amount of light he receives. He should be getting 12 hours of darkness. If he is now getting that and biting, then increase his dark time by another hour. If after a week he is still biting, increase the darkness by another hour until he is getting 14 hours of darkness. This generally gets most birds out of hormonal
behavior. If he is still biting, then his biting is behavioral and you will have to
work on that from another angle.

Joanie Doss
the Amazing Amazons
http://www.parrothouse.com/jdoss.html

[Ainon]

Thank you so much for your answer.
He is currently getting 10 hours of sleep, I'll will imidiately increase it to 12 hours.
Is there any way to train him to not bite when he's hormonal?

If the bites isn't hormonal, how would you suggest that I work with it?

[Ainon]

It's AWFUL, I'm afraid of handling him! When ever I'm going to pick him up I have to have a very thick jumper and pull down the arm over my hand.
He can just sit calm on my arm and the next second he lauches a bite for my arm/hand. Or when I want him step up om my hand/arm he refuses and attacks it with bites. He also has been flying and attacking me.

The strange thing is that he doesn't look aggressive (apart from just when he's biting ofcourse) you know when they flash ith their eyes,tail and so on, he looks relaxed and calm...

What should I do apart from increasing sleeping hours?
It's not fun to have a bird that bites you all the time... I've stopes the freeflighttraining because I'm to afraid of him :(

[n8wb]

I wonder if a feather trim would help? I know that you wanted a flighted bird, but perhaps the inability to fly will let a little air out of his ego.

[kateBird]

please dont take the hormonal biting personally...they are just a rush of hormones taking over their normal personality. during the spring, i was jump-attacked twice by my 18yr old amazon. not fun to see that large body/wide wingspan coming at you.

what i would recommend is to keep his wings clipped, at least during hormonal seasons. this at least will limit the damage he can do to you, and keep him dependent on you to get him to go wherever he needs to so he at least should behave a wee bit so that you agree to take him wherever he wants to go.

another thing to do is just give him more space. amazons during hormonal season are just in their own world - just look at those eyes and aggressive stances! you dont want to also start repetitive negative behavior at this point because it could carry on to after the hormonal season is over. if he doesn't want to come out and is looking a little aggressive, let him be. dont force the situation, or you will get bit. amazons usually don't give you mixed messages - if they dont like something, their body language tells you everything, even before you reach in to their cage.

continue the ambient attention. sit beside his cage, talk to him, give him a treat or LOTs of praises when he sits calmly in his cage with you near him...

hormonal season is tough...not quite looking forward to the next season, but thats how it is. :)

[Ainon]

I will not clip his wings at this point, if he starts to fly and attack even people who doesn't interact with him I will consider it.

The thing is that you can't se it coming, I've really tried to study him and I can't se any sign before the bite/bites, he doesn't flash ith the eyes, he just if he's on my arm) sit in a relaxed posture.