aggressive amazon needs some TLC

[Veronica]

Ok so I finally convinced my parents to give me their lonely amazon. I believe he is a yellow naped amazon but im not 100% sure. He is about 18-20 years old he was locked in his cage about the age he hit puberty because he started biting. he left me a beautiful scar right under my eye when I was young haha I still have it. It only brings me back good memories tho so I like it. So my parents kept him outside for a pretty long time due to my dads allergies. Oh and his chosen person was my older brother. Back when paulie was a baby and not aggressive my brother and paulie had a great relationship but when paulie started biting my brother became very scared of him. Paulie but his fingers once really hard and since then my brother refused to handle him. Paulie mostly speaks gibberish like mimicking a persons long conversation haha very cute. He loves to talk over me when im on the phone doing something important. To this day he still calls out for my brother. My brother moved out about 8 years ago but it breaks my heart so I always answer him. Ive tried to convince them years back to let me take him in but my mom wouldn't budge until about 6-8 months ago she finally agreed to let me take care of him. He lives with me in my room his cage is right next to our bed and I talk to him every day. But nevertheless he was neglected. He is not used to ppl handling him he is very scared. When I first took him in he would climb on my arm for about to minutes and then continue to attack my arm. He is very aggressive. He now does not let me pick him up at all. I think he knows Im scared too. I know that his actions are due our mistakes as humans but id really like to work with him. I was able to convince him to take food from my fingers because he wouldnt even do that before but thats as far as ive gotten with him. He is beautiful and healthy but I need help with him.

[liz]

Thank you so much for the compassion you have for this poor bird.

The mood and aggression could be caused by it's diet. It is probably way too high in protein. (you can't feed junk food to a kid and then call him bad because he is bouncing off the ceiling .) I don't know what you feed him but morning should be colorful veggies cut to the size that he can pick up. I give mine carrots, celery, apples, pears, oranges and etc. They like berries and I give them in season because of price but splurge on their food when I eat cheap. Cranberrys are in season and I am surprised how much they like them. (I chop them small for my Tiels because they don't pick up their food.) I will pass diet on to Pajarita. She is way ahead of me on that and has been teaching me.

How much true sun does he get. Even though I am in Florida and have not seen a day without sunshine, I have their UV light on from 9 am to 5 pm even when the sun is coming through their window. Not only do they need the sun but they see much more in sunlight.

I don't know how old you are but you probably spend a lot of time in your room with him. Open his door and let him into your world. He may only sit on the top of the cage but he will know he is out. The more freedom and respect you give him the better. Since I only rescue and don't know most of the backrounds, I rescued them so they would have a better life. All I require from them is to be happy even if that means they don't want to be involved with me. My cockatiels teach each other. The three I have had the longest are bonded to me and show the others that I make a good perch.
Myrtle took a very long time. She was scared but knew she was better with me than where she was but it took 4 years before she allowed me to touch her head. I did not expect for her to trust me or bond with me so I felt blessed when she did. Wolf does rescues too. Some especially Mimi are slow to trust but Wolf has the personality that could calm a wild elephant. So I will leave it to Wolf to help you with that.

My birds are my kids and I treat them like kids. A rescued child would come with fears and a lot of baggage that he can not tell you about causing him to be withdrawn. It is the same with critters.

I have rambled on but I have good hopes for you and you new kid. So it is food, light and love - even if he looks like he does not love you.

They understand more words than they say. When it calls for your brother, tell it that he went "bye bye". I had to do that with Rambo when his "Grandma" passed last year. He still calls for her in case she came home. I just tell him she is still "bye bye".

[Wolf]

I don't recall having talked very much about diet or a solar light schedule while we were talking about your Lilac Amazon, but if this one is a Yellow Naped Amazon these two thing are very important to the birds well being as well as for your safety when trying to handle him. Pajarita can give you the horror stories regarding this species of Amazon. I do not have any to share with you as I only have one Yellow Naped Amazon and it is a female, but I can say that you do not want a hormonal Yellow Naped Amazon male to start attacking you.
This is a bird that needs to begin his day uncovered without any artificial lights on until sunrise so that he is exposed to the twilight period that occurs at dawn, then he needs to be given fresh produce and a food such as gloop ( found in the health, nutrition and diet section ) for breakfast and all day foraging and then after time out of his cage to interact with you and to do bird things needs to wind his day up by getting his seed mix or pellets for dinner and with the artificial lights turned off be exposed to the twilight period of dusk and allowed to go to sleep at full dark just like the birds outside do. This will gradually reattune his biological clock so that he is only hormonal when it is breeding season and thereby hopefully he will not be overly hormonal as he is very dangerous to handle if he is overly hormonal.
This is the very first thing that you need to know about this species of Amazon.
When he was young and before going through puberty, he had chosen your brother as his special person and then attacked him after he was going through puberty and this is probably due to the natural releasing of the dependent parent child type of bond that he had and prepared to search for his mate ( or new special human ). This is the point where so many humans lock their bird up forever or rehome them or send them to rescues because of the issues with aggression that they are unprepared for and don't understand what is happening and therefore can't deal with. It is really sad for this bird as he truly could not help himself as he was caught up in the onslaught of hormones for the first time in his life.
This is the point of my contention with breeders and pet stores, they do not inform the perspective parrot owner about what to feed their new friend or otherwise how to care for it, nor do they make sure that the customer is made aware of the birds life cycle and how certain events are going to affect the bird, leaving the person who buys the bird unaware and unprepared for these changes. Many people don't like breeders and pet stores because they sell their birds while claiming to care about them or at least that is how they say it, but I think that it is more along the same reasons that I have and they just don't know how to say it nicely. And I have a hard time being nice about it myself. This, however, is not your problem, and I probably should not have vented here about it.
Now, with Pauley, he may be cage bound or not, this is where even when he has the opportunity to leave the cage that he will not. Mimi, my Yellow Naped Amazon hen is cage bound and so her door is open all of the time as long as I am present. It is closed when I sleep or can't be there due to our having cats in the house. I placed a rope perch up one side of her cage next to the door as well as across the top above the door and I put a perch on the inside of the cage door so that she can perch outside of her cage on the door while it is open. This provides her a series of perches to climb all over the front of her cage and makes it easy for her to climb to the play area on the top of the cage. After three years, she does not leave the cage or go on top of it but will climb around on the front of it and once in a while around the sides. When I had one of the other bird's cages near enough she would climb onto their cage to try to bite at them through the bars if they were in their cage. If they were not in their cage then she also avoided their cages.
If Pauley will come out of his cage and if he will also leave the cage of his own accord then he is not cage bound and this is good, but he may still be territorial about his cage and if so he may try to bite if you reach in it. I do not go into my birds cages except to clean them or to change out toys, I wait and let them come out on their own.
In any case Pauley is going to require a lot of loving care and a consistent routine as well as a solar light schedule and a low protein diet. From this point it is probably best that I let you tell me about him and what currently occurs in his day and for you to ask questions rather than for me to just continue to ramble on.

[Pajarita]

Yes, you need to start him on a super strict solar schedule and a low protein diet asap. You also need a good quality full spectrum light installed in the ceiling fixture of the room where he is kept and to make sure that no light whatsoever filters into his cage (and, most especially, TV, computer or any other electronic screen light). The full spectrum light needs to be turned off at 3:30 pm this time of the year and his cage would need to be covered at around 4:45 to 5 pm (he will be roosting already by then and, most likely, half asleep). Aside from that, I would just open the door to his cage and walk back. You do NOT want to interact with him physically. He might get on your arm or hand willingly because, after all, he must be desperate for attention and touch (parrots NEED to feel another body next to theirs) but he does not trust any humans right now and a hormonal male YNA is a large, strong and dangerous animal. Trust me on this! I have ended up with large holes in my body and head from their attacks so I am speaking from personal experience on this. Just open his cage and allow him to come out, spend as much time as you can in the same room with him, talk, sing, whistle and offer him a treat (I would use a small piece of a good quality multi-grain bread because I assume he has been eating high protein all his life and you need to reduce his intake asap). Give him stuff to chew on (they LOVE cardboard boxes, the bigger and the thicker they better -you can buy some at the post office) and establish a steady routine and wait until he is not so hormonal and begins to feel more comfortable with you before you even attempt to get close to him.

[Veronica]

K so ive mean meaning to ask. Is the UV light or light bulb for parrots the same one that is used for parrots? When I went to the pet store near me they said that the very same ones were used so I just wanted to make sure and also can you install that same light bulb on the ceiling fixture (fan) I have in my room? I have a clamp lamp for them but it would be better if I put it on the fan oh and one more thing is that ok for humans to sit in that same light for endless amounts of time? Becuase I like to stay in my room when I do my homework or should I go to another room? Now about the covering of the cage at 4:45 is it ok if I cover it and im still going on about my day in my room? Next I am feeding him fruits and veggies during the day im starting to feed him beans and rice just getting him used to it. In the evenings I give his seed mix. And about the toys, he doesnt play with toys he has many in his cage and he doesnt chew or play with them very rarely does he touch them. Is there anyway I can help motivate him to play with them?

To answer your question about being cage bound he is not. Lol not at all he likes to escape his cage whenever he can. One time I had the cage open and he will usually stay on the cage but this time he decided to climb down and walk on the floor and try to attack my toes. Not the sweetest thing haha but it looked like he was having the time of his life. Whenever I let him out of his cage I make sure I have alot of time because I cant get him back inside when I want him to go he just goes back inside when he feels like it. I try to let him climb into a perch and stays on it for a couple of hours but sometimes he gets excited and times like that is when he may start lunging and he does not like my husband at all so if he gets close on accident its a definite lunge. My husband is very scared of him. Like liz said all I want is for him to be happy even if he doesnt ever really trust me.

[Veronica]

So his days all start out the same just at different times. We wake up, open the blinds and let the sun in. I make them their vegetables and talk to them for a little while, we all say good morning and pauley moved closer to the edge of the cage so he can listen in on the conversation. Then I take rex out of his cage and take him to the shower with me. When im finally done I give rex a treat as I put him back in his cage. When I get him in his cage I go back and give paulet a treat too. After that I'll go to school or work and when I come home the first thing I do is come say hello to them. Sometimes pauley is ok with me other days he lunges at me as soon as he sees me getting close to his cage. If he does lunge I back off and just talk to him and he talks back if he doesnt lunge I try to get as close as he'll let me and just talk or sing and he joins in. On sundays Iet him out of his cage because that is when I am home the longest but let me tell you it is always a trip when I do. Every sunday I take him out we are very cautious because he will do whatever he wants whether it is reign terror or be very calm. When he is in his cage during the week days I try to interact with him as much as possible. I even read to them. I dont know if they like it but I do. Sometimes pauley wants me to scratch his head (in the cage) and so I try very cautiously be because even though he invites me to do si he usually turns on me and I have to be ready for it. He will just turn his head slightly like hes readjusting and enjoying his head scratch and then bam! He goes in for the bite. These occasional head scratches last about 3-5 seconds before he goes in for the bite. Im scared of him but I love him and im more than willing to work with him.

[Pajarita]

No UV light, only full spectrum and check the specifications, it needs to have a CRI of 93 or higher and a Ktemp of 5000 to 5500 (but, if I were you, I would go with the 5000 because your birds are both hormonal). If the light bulb doesn't have specifications, don't buy it no matter what the package of the salesman says it does. The light industry is not regulated so, legally, they can say whatever they want and it's not illegal even when they are lying. And yes, you can sit and read and do whatever you want under full spectrum light, it's actually good for you. These lights were created in answer to people in Northern countries suffering from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) so they are great for humans.

They need to be exposed to dawn and dusk so unless you are getting up at 6:30 am and not turning on any artificial lights until 9 am or so, and turning off the lights between 3 and 3:30 pm, they are not getting the exposure they need to set their internal clock. And, yes, you can stay in the room after you cover their cages but you need to make sure that no light filters into them (not easy to do) and that you are quiet (they need to get quality sleep).

I am not sure I understood correctly but, are they out of their cages for 4 hours every day? Because that is the standard for parrots...

[Wolf]

At this point I would like to add that if they do not get high protein foods during the day except for a few treat that it should not be too difficult to train then to return to their cage at dinnertime when they would then receive their high protein foods such as seed mix or pellets. The thing is to make sure that they know what they are getting when they watch you put it inside of their cage.
I would try to make sure that they have at least a couple of hours of out of cage time before it is dinner time as it will make it easier as well as faster to train this habit in them.