Help! OMG Random anger

[Sevi]

Hey Everyone,

 

Long time no post, things have been super busy, but everything had been going well. Until two days ago...

 

Edison has always been a very well behaved bird. The odd bite here and there... ninety-nine percent of the time we know why and it's usually our fault. In my 12 years with him I have NEVER seen this and am completely bewildered. There's obviously something we're missing,so hopefully you guys can give us hand.

 

My significant other,lets call him C, seems to have inherited the brunt of his random anger. In fact this morning I saw Edison jump/fly at him, beak open, with the intent to destroy. It looks as if he's been trained as an attack bird. Normally, if I'm at work and C is home Edison is always out with him- either sitting on his cage-porch and playing with toys or on his perch. He will usually step up without issue. The same troubles we had this morning happened yesterday.

 

This morning I opened his cage door as usual, he walked out, asked to step up, stuck his foot out and Stepped on to my hand as normal and BAM! total 180 in character. Dug into my arm, several times, would not let go. Tried to pretend there was no pain, "No. No bite." Eventually he let go and that's when he went into attack mode on C. Then again on me. We had no choice but to put him in his cage.

 

Now up until 2 days ago, things were fine. These past two days he's still more than happy to take food from C,or talk with/to him, blows him kisses. But will randomly decide to bite. With me, last night, things were like normal,except I had to put in a special effort to keep him away from C.

 

Neither of us can think of a reason for his outlash... Can't think of anything that has changed. He's never had an issue with C, or me for that matter, like this in the 5 years we've been together

 

I feel terrible and I think C feels worse... because there has to be something that's bugging him.. but we're just so taken aback... Again, he's 12 (hatch day is January 6th so 13 soon!) and I've had him since he was a baby and never seen him like this.

 

We have a vet appointment coming up, so I'll bring this up with him as well... Really hoping it will pass and he's just moody... Right now he's sleeping after chatting to himself and eating and playing as if nothing happened... <br><br>Post edited by: Sevi, at: 2009/01/04 17:51

[judygram]

The only thing I can think of it his hormones are kicking in big time as he is a fully mature bird, I know that this can make them act entirely different from their normal behavior but otherwise I am stumped, we need one of the more experienced members to shed more light on why this is happening.

[Sevi]

Ahh Judy, I'm so stumped. I suppose it could be hormones, they're the reason for pretty well everything

[Dave007]

Any recent easily seen changes in your color of clothing, drastic changes in hair style, new glasses, new things put around his cage, recent arguments between you and C? Any changes that you can think of?

New jewelry?<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/01/04 19:50

[she]

I think it is a good idea that you have an upcoming vet appointment. As Dave said it could be some change in his environment, Christmas decorations? change of ruotine over the holiday period? more activity in the house hold, any number of things but I would rule out any physical problems with a vet. I know the few times my grey has behaved out of character he has been found to be ill.

[Sevi]

Dave,

 

Really nothing that I can think of... I look the same as I did months ago (though it is time for a change)... Nothing with C. It's odd that he's really interested in biting the hand that feeds him the most treats.

His newest toy was placed in his cage on Christmas, but he's fully embraced the new foraging wheel... We haven't moved any furniture, the same old stuff is by his cage as was before...

 

I'd say that maybe he's a little sleep deprived and hasn't fully recovered from New Years Eve. I know new years day he slept almost the entire day... even though he was covered at a decent time, I guess celebrations were too noisey/exciting for him to actually sleep. So maybe he feels a night behind sleepwise? It feels like a bit of a stretch, because I've seen grumpy, sleepy Edison before and its not like this. I dunno... It's just strange that he'd be this aggressive.

 

She,

 

Yeah, I'm glad I have the vet appointment coming up soon as well. If things keep up as they are I definitely want to rule any illness out. There was a bit of a change of routine over the holiday period (ie: a few more people visiting...) but he was a sweetheart until Saturday.<br><br>Post edited by: Sevi, at: 2009/01/04 21:21

[Dave007]

Well, since there's nothing wrong with your bird unless the vet finds something, the best thing you can do is to see if this was a random one time attack. All parrots bite. Many times, the person can see it coming and other times it's so quick that a person will think a bird did it without thinking. Some birds will be in the wrong position and will bite out of discomfort. Other birds will bite when they're in areas on a person in which biting will be easy. Other birds bite when they see something attactive. Other birds bite when they're startled. Other birds bite when they can't get to the place they aimed for and the person tries to retrieve the bird. Some birds bite when they're being rubbed in the opposite direction of how their feathers are growing of. So many reasons, but the best thing right now is to look for permanent changes concerning the biting. Most often it's random and most of the time, it's a one time incident. Punishment really doesn't do any good ( I'm not saying you did that). So just watch and see what happens.

[Sevi]

Oh I know birds bite, and it's definitely not like I haven't been bitten in 12 years, it's just never been this determined and consistent over a period of two days.

 

As of yet we're just taking steps to minimize damage and not encourage it...

 

Like I said, I hope it's just a short period and it won't continue. Was just hoping others may have experience with the whole "I'm randomly going to attack for the next few days and you can't do anything about it" complex

 

I appreciate your replies everyone . We'll get to the bottom of this...<br><br>Post edited by: Sevi, at: 2009/01/04 22:16

[Lyric]

Hi Sevi- I was just reading your post and wondered if things had improved? I hope so, those little temper tantrums don't sound like a fun thing to deal with.

[Sevi]

Ahhh... yes... I meant to update but kept forgetting to .

 

Well things have toned down a bit. I can interact with him normally, so I suppose he's had enough of most-likely redirecting his anger towards me. As per the vet everything is absolutely fine with the bird and all of his blood work came back a-ok. Which I never really suspected as the problem, but it's nice to hear anyway.

 

He has stopped flying to attack C. Which is nice, but Edison still gives him the evil eye whenever he is out of his cage. The bird also makes an effort to bite C's feet if he's given any chance to do so.

On the plus side, head rubs from C can still be had if Edison is in his cage, now with no attempt to allure him into a bite.

Right now we're working on having some One-on-One time between Edison and C without me around. Which has proved difficult at times, but slowly things between them are getting better. They're still not as good as they were but better is... well... better. The vet was of the impression that it was probably some hormonal-related possession aggression since he's now considered an older bird (he gets his cholesterol checked ).

 

So in summary, the random outbursts have stopped. Now he's just a little less personable with C. Which is sad for C who got along with him really well, but we're both happy with the improvement.

[Lyric]

I'm glad to hear things are getting better and that everything was good with the vet check.

Edison may have just decided that you are his mate, and looks upon C as competition for your affection. Hopefully things will continue to improve between them!