by Pajarita » Mon Aug 15, 2016 11:15 am
Wolf's general parrot diet 101 is correct but I will like to add something to it. What a parrot should eat in the sense of what is too much or too little of any one nutritional component in their diet depends entirely on the diet they evolved to eat. In the case of GCCs, they are mainly fruit eaters and this tells us that their diet needs to be low protein, low fat, high moisture and high fiber. Unfortunately, free-feeding pellets is wrong for them. They are waaaayy too dry (90% moisture in natural diet vs max 10% in pellets), too high in protein even if one knew how much protein was in them (they are all min 15 or 17% while a GCC should not eat more than 12% and then in a measured amount), the fiber they use has been shown not to 'clean up' their systems adequately, etc. High protein and high carbs (the millet) brings them into breeding condition which, usually, means aggression and, if you add the soy in them and the light schedule, the problem intensifies.
So I would say that she is reacting to sexual hormones and the fact that she was 'abandoned' by you for days and days. But the good news is that it's perfectly 'fixable'! It won't happen overnight or even in a week but if you really stick to the solar schedule (she needs the twilight for, at least, 1.5 hour - just to give you an idea, I turn off the overhead lights around 4:30 pm these days and feed them dinner at 6 pm) and reduce her protein intake by feeding more raw produce and something different for breakfast and all day picking (like gloop or mash or chop, for example), she will calm down and stop biting. But, remember, she is an only 'child' so she needs, at the very least, 5 solid hours of out-of-cage (with as much flying as you can make it) and 3 hours of one-on-one every single day. Oh, and steady routines! They comfort them and reduce anxiety and stress.