Sudden "Unprovoked" Aggression? Hormonal, this time of year???

[CrazyBird]

A little background on me and the bird in question: (sorry it's long, I'm a wordy person)

I'm new to this forum, but not new to birds. I recently adopted a 9 year old male (surgically sexed and tattood male, so we know for sure his gender) BFA.

In his previous home of 4 years, he was never handled. Though he was originally a pet-quality handfed baby in the home before that, and the home before that, (yes, I'm his 4th, and final, owner.) So he had become a little, how do you say.....NOT a big fan of humans.

The day I got him, he hated me, as expected. Two weeks of him being here left me with a few bites, nothing major. But for the most part our "interaction" was limited to treats through the cage bars and head pettin's the same way. Any tries of getting him out of the cage resulted in my blood being spilled. (how dramatic sounding)

Exactly two weeks to the day of him coming here, he went to the vet for a well bird checkup and a grooming. I had to towel him out of the cage, and the vet handled it from there. Upon coming home, he has been my best friend ever since. Literally. Corny as it sounds, I think he believes I was his only hope in getting out of that "awful" vet's, and he decided I wasn't half bad for that. He hangs out on the counter while I do dishes, he sits on the computer desk while I play on the internet, he sits on my bed while I get dressed and ready in the mornings, he loves to sit on me and we sing together, and he has earned the right to take showers with me too. In fact he had just taken a shower with me yesterday. From that day he has never offered so much as a warning bite. No aggression, nothing. He has been super sweet, and those who knew him before this sudden sweetness happened, can hardly believe how he changed so quickly for the better. Things have been this way for over a month.

So you can imagine my surprise when I went to get him out this morning the way I always do, and he bit me. Hard. Not a warning. Not a "test". But a full on, rip your skin off, and fling it to the cage bottom bite. Although shocked, I pressed on, and tried to get him to step up. He bit me again.

I closed his door, to give myself a moment to think and tend to my injuries, as well as give him a moment to cool down. I tried again about 15 minutes later. This time not only did he bite me twice very hard, but as I tried to close his cage door, he lunged from the back of his cage to the front and grabbed my finger through the cage bars and bit down on my knuckle.

I *REALLY* just thought this was a case of bad mood or something had spooked him this morning. So I left him be the rest of the day. About an hour ago, I decided to get him out because he had already missed out on a large portion of his 'out of the cage time' for the day.

I opened the door and before I could even get my arm in "step up" position, he was hanging on the side of the cage trying as hard as he could to get at me, beak gaping, and growling for all he was worth.

I tried just talking to him to calm him, and once he stopped pinning his eyes and lunging at me, I offered my hand again. I'll give you three guesses what happened. Yep.

After that, he flew off (glided down, he's clipped) his cage and landed in the kitchen. I offered him a step up off the ground, in which he gladly accepted with tail fanned and eyes pinned. Once he was up, he began sweet talking, and dropped his head in what I thought was going to be "pet me" position, only to bite down on the meat of my hand.

My hands are bloody and bruised, swollen and sore. I've taken 10 good bites from him, today alone.

Tell me what I'm doing wrong? All the body language I've seen from him has NEVER been what it is today. Yet there is nothing changed in our house, or his cage. His food types are pretty consistant. His daylight hours are shortening simply because it's getting darker earlier and all the birds go to bed earlier.

He does NOT sense my fear. I am NOT afraid of him. He's done some pretty good damage to my hands, and I'm not afraid of him doing it again. So I don't think he senses any sort of hesitation from me. Even though I know there is a good chance a nasty bite is coming, I don't jerk my hand away or act any differently toward him than I would have previous to this. I offer him a hand and a "step up" with confidence and no anger or fear in my tone.

I want my sweet boy back. (and the feeling in my thumb would be nice, too)

[Lisa B]

Well, seems your boy is overly excited today. they picture you posted is surely showing excitement.
The most easily excitable amazons are Yellow Napes and Blue fronts.
Males are harder to handle then Females. they dont tend to be touchy feely birds.
My male Dyh has bitten me 3 times in 16 years. All unprovoked,no warning and all left battle scars. If there is a hint of excitement, I will not offer my hand.

you might have to stick train him to keep you both safe while he is in his mood.

A seperate play area away from his cage to prevent cage aggression.

I will see if I can get someone who lives with several amazons to come on and help you, but I have to get ahold of her first......

[CrazyBird]

Actually that picture was taken yesterday, and he was excited to get a shower.

He is very big on flashing his eyes and tail when he is excited (in a happy way) about things like showers and treats and toys and singing. He has been literally 100% trustworthy and darn near cuddly up to this point. He loves his head scratched, and his beaky wrestled, and will melt into a feathery puddle if you give him scritches on both cheeks at the same time.

Today is totally different. While he's definitely "feeling" something, its not his happy go lucky excitability I've seen previous to today.

I approached his cage a few minutes ago, to give him and my grey some seed (treat time!) and he was smashing his face up against the cage bars trying to get at me while I stood there. Something he has NEVER done before.

If I didn't know any better I'd say someone snuck in while we slept last night and swapped out my sweet bird and left this demon in feathers.

[cbalvino]

I can sympathize totally! that's what happened with my Sennie Buster,bff,them POW acting like a total loonie,I have birds I that don't handle well,but they were never my sweetie and then turned into a slasher bird,he is "better" now but I really don't trust him like I used too,it is so sad he used to get on my shoulder and go "a Kiss?" no shoulder now maybe never,he was flying off his cage trying to rip open my face more than once,I don't understand either,and I certainly can't just ignore it breaks my heart,I hope it changes for you

[CrazyBird]

Originally Posted by cbalvino

I can sympathize totally! that's what happened with my Sennie Buster,bff,them POW acting like a total loonie,I have birds I that don't handle well,but they were never my sweetie and then turned into a slasher bird,he is "better" now but I really don't trust him like I used too,it is so sad he used to get on my shoulder and go "a Kiss?" no shoulder now maybe never,he was flying off his cage trying to rip open my face more than once,I don't understand either,and I certainly can't just ignore it breaks my heart,I hope it changes for you

I love senegals, though I've not owned one myself. I fostered one for a while and he was adorable, but not very handlable.

I know about the trust being lost.

I absolutely loved that Sota could and would do anything with me. Especially with the way things started.

I've been bitten by all sorts of birds, some bigger, some smaller than Sota. (I'm a collector of scars, perhaps?) But this one hurt the most. My feelings, that is.

[ear]

Originally Posted by CrazyBird

He is very big on flashing his eyes and tail when he is excited (in a happy way) .

I have found excitment, either happy or not so happy can lead to a bite. IF Tiko is chomping at a toy, or dancing around, and I put my finger there, I will get bit.

I am sorry this is happening....did the weather change?? I know Tiko is getting a little funky now with the sun not shining so much. She seems to need a little more sleep, and a little slower handling sometimes.

good luck!!

[Isaac-1]

While it does seem to be the wrong time of year for most amazons to be acting hormal, he has only lived with you for a couple of weeks, and perhaps this change in his daily schedule has brought on breeding season hormonal issues, as this does certainly sound like a hormonal amazon. I have a BFA that is 19 years old, and has lived with me for the last 12 years, this last summer was the worst, most aggressive, longest, hormal season in the 12 years he has lived with me (I would go so far as to say I was bit more this year than in the last 12 put together). His change in personality last summer came on and went away like someone flipping a light switch. (starting in mid March and ending the last week of August)

Ike

[CrazyBird]

Looking back on the month and a half that I've had Sota, I can see why his hormones would be misled into believing it's time for breeding.

He's gotten large amounts of one on one time and human affection/attention for the first time in over 4 years.

He's gotten large amounts of treats, and other variety foods, whereas previously he was strictly pellets.

He's gotten a bigger cage, with lots of toys and stimulation (physical and mental) but in his previous home he had no toys, and a small cage with only 3 slick manzanita perches, and spent a lot of time hanging on the cage side.

Longer daylight hours. It's dark outside, but he stays "up" til we would get ready for bed. I didn't take this into consideration when I put the other birds to bed. He is the only one without a sleep cage in the bird room, mostly because we spent a good bit of time together after the other birds had gone to bed. So I would just cover him at bed time.

Longer daylight, abundance of food, stimulation, attention and lots of petting.....(and maybe the fact that I sent him the "wrong signals" by taking a shower with him) (j/k)

So now I guess it's just a wait him out thing. I cut back on the treats and stuck mostly to pellets today. No soft foods in his treat bowl (which sucks cuz he looooooves my birdie bread). He watches with great interest as I interact with my grey, but I basically ignored him today, only giving him verbal attention. I'd talk to him when he talked first, but I did not approach the cage, nor offer to pet him. Honestly, I feel guilty as sin for "neglecting" him today, but my hands are beat to hell and I didn't feel like risking another bite right now.



I feel like a high school kid that just got dumped by my boyfriend. I miss him.

[shf]

sorry to read about your struggles with your amazon. I went through a struggle with my new amazon sonny also similiar to yours but I definitely did not push the circumstance and not wanting to be bitten.
Please do not try to handle him yet he needs a lot of time (months) they are very slow birds to get accustomed to their surroundings. They also are very stubborn and do not like to be pushed to step up when they don't even know you.
We definitely went through a biting phase the first three-6 months it was a power struggle; sonny definitely was not trusting or loving but I learned from my experience and I would say that you are pushing your luck to be able to get a new amazon to sit on your finger and trust you the first week in a new environment.
New amazons need at least 6 months just to get accustomed to their new surroundings and amazons are very subtle birds they are very difficult to read sometimes they will look gentlle or playful when they are not.
I would suggest not to push him amazons are difficult and trust has to be earned throught time and familiarity. After about 6 months the biting, growling, nipping gradually stopped and now I can do anything with sonny. I have earned his total trust. Also look into his diet he may be deficient in nutrition, carrots are very good and fruit also. They need carrots vitamin a at least 3 times per week. IN the picture his head feathers are puffed that means he is excited (do not push or I will bite). When you can approach him with you finger very slowly and give him a verbal command step up a couple of seconds before you show him your finger and approach him with your finger very slowly it will prevent him from being startled or agressive.