Freaking hormones...

[Freedomoflight]

Ok, so I know you aren't supposed to blame bad behavior on hormones, and a lot of the time people blame awful behavior on hormones as a way to explain it away or deal with it later, under the belief that it will go away.

But I've started dealing with some very significant behavior that IS hormonal, and I wanted to share with you all. Cuz frankly, it sucks.

I have a caique- a rehome. He has been with me 5 years, and I got him when he was 3 years old. He was so evil when I got him (he was rehomed through a bird club program) that they were talking of putting him down because no one could handle him. I decided to take him home and give it a whirl- and we are best buds. He can still be a little (insert your choice of expletive here) but I love him to death.

Well the past 2 months, Higgins behavior has gotten more and more more hormone driven. How can I tell? Constant regurg, getting frisky with objects in his cage, lots of shredding. That was all fine and dandy, until he started going after people. And not just jumping people (which, if you've ever been jumped by a caique, you know how absolutely terrifying that can be, lol)- but going out of his way by finding ways out of his cage, climbing down, walking across the floor, and latching on - pitbull style- to an unsuspecting person's foot. Lovely.

After he attacked my mom for the 4th time this year (which is unheard of. He can be a little jerk but not repeatedly attacking people like that), I had the last straw. Not to mention my mom as well. Sooo we went into major hormone adjustment mode.

#1- I switched his food. His former food was hemp and safflower based (which most seeds are), and I searched high and low to find a seed that did NOT contain: hemp, pumpkin, and soy. Finally found one and put him on that.

#2- switched his cage. I have a stacker cage, and my female was on the bottom and Higgins was on the top. I took everything out of both cages and switched them around so Higgins is now on the bottom and the female is on the top. She loves that, but he isn't too thrilled.

#3- early early bedtime. He gets 12 hours of bedtime MIN. At around 8 pm, the cage gets covered.

#4 daily showers in cold water. Not cold cold water mind you, just a tad below 'lukewarm'.

Has all this helped? Actually, it has. Instead of lunging through the cage at other people, he actually started interacting with them- whistling, laughing, etc. Whenever that happens I go over and praise him and encourage that positive interaction. The regurging has subsided somewhat, and his screaming has lessened as well. I've been encouraging lots of foraging and showering to burn off some off that energy, and last night I was able to have him out with other people in the house, and he didn't try to jump anyone at all. Yay!

[jenseits]

Ooph, sorry to hear about your rough times. It must be hard on everyone, including Higgins. Hang in there... it'll pass (eventually).