New Conure owner--need help PLEASE!!!

[beakycheekie]

Hello! I'm so excited to be a part of this forum and talk to other people who are passionate about parrots! I don't know if this is the correct place to post my question but I just thought I would try. I am a new conure owner and am having some difficulties with my bird. I am familiar with parakeets and cockatiels and so am not a completely uneducated bird owner but my green cheek Louie is unlike anything I've had before.
I adopted him about a month ago from our local shelter and there was almost no information on his history. The only things that I know are that he is around 3 years old and belonged to an older woman, who passed away (thus his reason for surrender to the shelter). I've done a ton of research on green cheeks and everything I have read fits him to a 'T'. He is gregarious, social, confident, hyper-alert, curious and to put it nicely, uses his beak quite a bit. This last part is what brings me to the problem I am having with him. He stalks and attacks hands, bare arms and feet. He does not "nip" them, he bites HARD, breaking skin and often drawing blood each time he bites. It is so frustrating because he wants to be out with me, sitting on me at ALL times (he has no idea how to entertain himself, being in or on his cage seems to be akin to being in jail according to him). He cries and trembles when he's not sitting on me and contact calls constantly when he can't see me. But when he is out, as he desires, he spends much of his time stalking and following my hands. I absolutely cannot wear short sleeves around him. I have a smattering of scars on my arm from him seeing my arm bare. He attacked and bit me repeatedly, until I persuaded him to get off of me. I have no idea how to respond to him when he attacks. Nothing seems to work. I've tried saying 'no ' firmly, giving him earthquakes, making him get off of me, and not responding at all (which is tortuous because he continues to bite and won't stop). His behavior is not improving and in fact seems to be getting worse the more comfortable he gets in my home. He used to at least be gentle to my face, kissing me gently on my lips but now he grabs at my lips and bites down. This is the most aggressive bird I have ever encountered and I am at such a loss. Help!! Has anyone else encountered a bird like this before? I have no idea if he was like this in his previous home or if this is new behavior with me and my family (yes he does this to my spouse and child, also). i already feel attached to him and want him to be a happy member of our family but right now it seems that we're all miserable
What do I do?? Thank you in advance for any input!

[Wolf]

This is a tough one to deal with as there are so many possibilities as to why he is biting. I realise that you have had him for only a month, but I do not know how long he was at the bird rescue, and it may sound a bit strange but he could be mad at everyone because he was not handled at the rescue enough. He does not understand that they simply can't do that and are doing the best that they can. It is also possible that he is hormonal. The breeding season is coming up and with the days beginning to get longer his body may be gearing up for the season. It is still a bit early for this to be the case but I have noticed that more and more captive birds are exhibiting this type of behavior earlier than they would in the wild. This is controlled by many factors especially in the wild, but in captivity the main ones that we can control to any degree are their diet and their lighting so it would be helpful to know what his diet consists of and when he gets these foods and it would be helpful to know what lighting he is exposed to and when.

This is the hardest part of this... GCC's are very needy birds and they require a huge commitment in time spent with the bird, at least 3 to 4 hours daily with their favorite human and if they do not get this they usually respond by biting. And this is very difficult to do if the bird is already biting all of the time.

You will probably need to resort to several means to bring this behavior under control and still it will take time to work and I can't even begin to tell you how much time it will take, but I can say that a month is not much time when it comes to parrots. I know what this earthquake thing is and it may work on some birds but I have not heard of very many successes from using this method, so I don't use it. Distraction is usually fairly reliable for at least short periods of time which may get longer as the bird learns to not bite. This is simply finding and using either a small stuffed toy that he likes a lot or that he is a little afraid of and when he goes to bite putting the toy between him and his intended target. Mostly I will yell ouch or something of that nature when he bites and then put him down on the closest available surface while saying " No Bite" or similar and then ignoring him for a few minutes. It takes time but it does work Also you may need to resort to covering the areas that he likes to bite the most. You were on the right track with what you were doing as you were already doing most of these things, but you gave up and you can't do that you really have to stay with it as long as the unwanted behavior continues, The only other thing that I know to do is to watch for his body language for the signals that he is in an aggressive mood and don't pick him up at these times as the best way to teach a parrot to not bite is to avoid getting bitten, I know how that sounds but it is true.

[linnymarie]

Hello New Conure Owner,

Welcome to the forum. I'm new here too.
I just wanted to share with you that my Senegal had been biting me for a year (ever since I got him) until I did some research on the clicker/target training method which is working REALLY well for me. My bird has only bitten me once since working with the clicker and it was my fault as I look back on what had triggered it. I cannot believe the change in the relationship I have with my bird in such a short period of time. It might help you too.

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum and thank you for adopting instead of buying! First of all, what's his name and do you know for a fact it's a male?

Now, your problem is VERY common with GCCs. They are either the sweetest birds or little mean pitbull birdies The problem with them is that they are EXTREMELY needy. As you already noticed, they want nothing else but to be on their human. To them, having their body touching yours is not a luxury, it's a necessity; and people, having normal lives, cannot provide this -thus, they end screamers and biters. And, because they are still needy, one finds oneself between a rock and hard place! What to do? Allow him to be on one's shoulder and get bit or put him in the cage, making things worse? It's a quandary, isn't it?

Well, I tell you, I've had four (have only one right now, a female), all four of them were given up because of 'behavioral' issues (biting, screaming), of them, the one that took the longest was one that had been abused by his first owner (this is according to his second owner, sister to the first owner) and he was just like you describe: he wanted to be on me, especially burrowing down my top (which made me end up getting bit in 'delicate' places ) but he bit me all the time. Unfortunately, the ONLY way to 'cure' this is to prove to him that he will get what he needs -and that means putting up with some bites.

Wolf is right in that the best course of action is to try to prevent him from biting you -this is not only because nobody likes to get bit but also because, although you don't want him to feel too bad about it (it's not really his fault), you still don't want to get him used to doing this all the time. Parrots only bite as a last resort. Pet parrots do it out of fear, to 'defend' their nest (cage) or 'mate' (chosen human), when they have no other way of getting their point across or, as in his case, out of sheer despondency. Most parrots are very forgiving but the needier they are, the more they will 'act up' and GCCs are VERY needy (I think as much as any cockatoo). People don't realize this and because they are small and cute, they think they are what people call a 'beginner's' bird which, in their minds, means 'easy to keep' so very young, very old, very busy people get them and these are the ones that, unfortunately, should not be getting extra needy birds for the simple reason that they cannot make them happy.

Now, there are things that help. A good diet is essential because these are birds that eat mostly fruit in the wild so free-feeding any type of protein food (seeds, nuts, pellets, nutriberries, avicakes, etc) is a no-no. They need a fresh food diet - things like gloop, chop or mash accompanied by fresh produce (especially fruit which should be given in portions larger than one would think a little bird would eat) and a small portion of a good quality seed mix for dinner. A solar schedule helps A LOT because this ensures that the bird is not hormonal all year round (sexual hormones = aggression, especially in males). Routine is another one, knowing exactly what will come and when gives them a sense of control over their lives and reduces anxiety (if they know that they are only going to be in their cage for, say, a couple of hours during the day, they don't complain). But, with GCCs, what really works is having them on your shoulder for hours and hours because it's what makes them happy and a happy bird is a 'good' bird. There are times during the day when birds are more prone to interaction and some that they rest.

You can wear long sleeves, something draped around your neck (to prevent him from biting it), a wool cap (to protect your ears) but don't wear gloves because it will make things worse (they HATE gloves). Always have something handy for him to chew on (a little stuffed toy, like Wolf suggested is good but experiment with different things like a untreated sisal rope knot, for example). Put things in his cage that he will like, like a little sleeping hut or a tunnel (they like hidey holes). Make him fly as much as possible because a tired bird is less likely to bite than one that has 'ants in his pants'. Try to get him to take a good bath every morning (they love baths!) and it's a good way of distracting them, get them tired and entertained for a while because they have to preen after the bath. See if you can get him to target train - but you will need to get him on the fresh diet first because you will need what it's called a 'high value' item as reward and these are always some sort of high protein/fat food like a sunflower seed (but it's better if you offer something like an almond sliver or a piece of walnut).

For example, you can uncover (if the cage is in a human area or in front of a window where he would get the light of a street lamp) his cage when the sky is beginning to get lit (at 6:30 am this time of the year) and allow him to come out on his own (they are usually pretty mellow when they first wake up) and you can clean his cage, have a cup of coffee, etc (but you can't turn on the artificial lights, it has to be done with the natural dawn light), then, when the sky is completely lit (around 8:15 am) you turn on the artificial lights, put his breakfast in his cage and put him back in it. Half an hour later, you open the door to the cage again and offer him a bath (this takes about 20 minutes from beginning to end because they need to preen after). Then you can put him on your shoulder and do whatever for a couple of hours. At about 11:30 am, you put him on a playstand or on top of his cage and do target training for 10 minutes, put him back in his cage and give him a treat (always give him a treat when he goes back to his cage). He should then rest for 1 to 2 hours. Then you open the door to the cage again and let him out to play with you -you can put him on top of a table while you sit in front of it and give him little things to play with for a while. Then you can put him back on your shoulder for another couple of hours. And, by 4:00 pm, you turn off the artificial lights and put him back in his cage with his dinner. Once he is fast asleep, you cover his cage so he can go to sleep (again, if the cage is in the middle of a commonly used human area, you will have to keep the noise down so he can sleep).

See what I mean? I know it's a lot of work but it's pretty much the only way things work with parrots... some are more independent than others but GCCs are not and, when you are dealing with one that was obviously deprived of the attention he needed, you need to make up for it. But things do get easier as they begin to trust you and realize that their life is now good.

[beakycheekie]

Wolf, Linnymarie and Pajarita thank you so much for your responses!!!
Wolf, I love the idea of a distraction device like a stuffed animal. This would work to interrupt his behavior if only for a minute but perhaps over time it'll work for longer and longer periods. Linnymarie, I have been doing some clicker training with him and he is very smart. It hasn't decreased the aggression overall but I have been trying to intercept the impending bite by asking him to do something, like spin in a circle for a treat.
Pajarita, thank you so much for all of the advice! No, I haven't had Louie DNA sexed so I don't really know if Louie is a male. And I think you are right, he seems to me to be a needy, clingy cockatoo in a tiny body!! His diet is HORRIBLE. His owner was feeding him cockatiel food and he simply picks out the sunflower seeds. That is literally all that this bird is subsisting on. I've bought him that multicolored pelleted food (which I know is still not that great for them, but I thought if I could just get him eating anything other than sunflower seeds), I've tried making "birdie bread" with a couple different varieties, I offer him fresh fruit and vegetables every day and this bird absolutely refuses to eat anything else. I go ahead and put this stuff in his dishes every day anyway, but they are always untouched. He will try anything that I eat in front of him, but after one little lick or nibble he turns his back on it. I don't know what to do about his horrendous diet. This bird is basically living on the equivalent of fritos!
My house is fairly dark so I think I'm ok with the lighting aspect but I have wondered about the hormonal aspect...
Here's the hardest part (ok, maybe just as hard as the diet part) and that's routine. Besides a cockatoo, I guess I probably couldn't have picked a worse species of parrot. I work full time and am gone most of the day. I try to include Louie in everything I do at home but it is hard with other animals and a child. My cockatiels and parakeets are so mellow and content, I guess I wasn't prepared for a creature that was so incredibly needy and insistent. I know I've got to figure out a routine for him because right now it's kind of a free-for-all and he doesn't know what to expect. Ugh, I just wish I knew if this behavior was going to improve or if there is no hope of anything changing.

[Pajarita]

Transitioning them to a good diet is actually not that hard if you time things right. I have transitioned hundreds of birds to gloop (I used to run a rescue) successfully and there are 'tricks' to it. Gloop is a great food to transition them to because you can start off with something that looks and feels like seeds (whole grains cooked very lightly so they are still hard inside) and, as you mix a teeny tiny amount of seeds into the cooked grains, they start by picking out the seeds but soon start eating the grains, too, and, once they do that, you are on your way! The other trick is giving them breakfast and dinner and making the dinner the higher protein food because the main reason why parrots don't transition to a fresh food diet is that they would always prefer to eat something with higher protein and if it's there in the bowl, they would fill up on it and have no appetite left for the produce. So timing is of the essence. They are always hungriest in the morning because they don't eat during the night and as it takes a bird 2 to 3 hours for food to go from beak to poop, their crops, proventriculus and ventriculus are empty (and don't forget the big poop they do in the morning that also empties their intestines!). You use this to give them the produce first thing and eat it in front of him. I always use the same phrase which I call the 'food mantra' because this helps later on with introducing new foods as they end up associating this phrase with 'this is good to eat', and, although this is not something I do with any other bird, when I have a new one, I offer it a piece of my fruit making sure I am offering the side that I did not bite. Parrots learn what to eat from their parents and other parrots and eating together is a social event for them so when we eat with them, we are telling them they belong to our family and, when we offer them what we are eating, we are not only reasssuing them that it's safe to eat, we are also showing them we want to be their friends so you get two bonding techniques with one single action (cool, no?). Then, about a hour later, you put the cooked grains mixed with the tiniest amount of seeds and leave it there all day long until the evening when you take it out and replace it with a measured portion of a seed mix (for a GCC that has been eating nothing but sunflower seeds, I would use a heaping tablespoon of a budgie mix). Nex morning, you do the same thing. At the beginning, he will only eat the seeds but, eventually, he will realize that this is all he is going to get for all day long and start trying the grains and, when he does, you will find empty white 'skins' - and, when you do, you can start adding veggies to it. I always tell people to start with corn because every single bird I have from the tiny finches to the big cockatoos absolutely LOVES corn.

[beakycheekie]

Pajarita, thank you so much for the information! Forgive me for being a little overwhelmed and confused. Is the gloop the same as the cooked grains? So, once they start eating the cooked grains you start adding other stuff like your "apple pie" and "pizza" recipes and this is gloop, which you feed after the produce first thing in the morning?

[Pajarita]

Correct. I used to make different 'stages' of gloop to transition them. Stage one was just hardly cooked grains (the one you mix with the seeds to start them off). Stage two was the same cooked grains with corn, carrots and peas, which most birds like. And stage three was the 'regular' gloop (the one that has a different flavor each day) that all the birds ate. I stopped doing it because I realized that the regular gloop worked just as fine from day one. But, for 'difficult' birds and when you have just the one (I had an average of 240 at the rescue), doing the different stages works great. And the daily flavors don't need to be as complicated as mine (I don't have a large nunber of birds now but still enough to need a large bowl of gloop on a daily basis it and I've been doing it for so long that I can do it without my brain in auto-pilot ), you can use just spices when in a pinch like chili powder one day, cinnamon the next, then a bit of garlic, oregano and black pepper, followed by ground ginger, then thyme and rosemary, then some unsweetened grated coconut, -see what I mean? Of course, if you add more stuff to it, its' great!

[beakycheekie]

Awesome! Thank you so much. I'm so excited to get started.

Out of curiousity, have you ever transitioned cockatiels or parakeets onto the gloop diet before? I assume the all-seed diet is probably detrimental to their health as well (although I think their diet consists of more seeds in the wild than a conure's does).

Thank you so much for all of the great advice!!

[Wolf]

All of my birds eat gloop, including my pair of Parrotlets and my pair of Budgies. The Budgies don't eat much fruit but do like their veggies.