Is something wrong here?

[thelonelysnake]

My six month old CAG came home with my fiancé and I a little over a week ago. He had seen the bet the day before we picked him up and he was in perfect shape. However, twodays ago he started scratching his head a lot, wiping his beak much more than usual and using it to scratch his feet an ankles. He has also suddenly become quiet and no longer vocalizes like he was doing. HE has also become abnormally aggressive despite no change in lifestyle when he was happy as could be just the day before he fell silent. I think I found some stress bars on his flight feathers but he wouldn't let me touch him at all to get a better look. He used to adore head scritches and beak rubs and foot rubs but now he won't let me touch him at all. He still steps up just fine but any other form of contact will earn me a hiss or a growl or a bite but he usually just runs away from my hand first. I'm trying to not let him pick up that bad habit but I also don't want to bother him is he doesn't want petted.
Other than the stress bars I haven't seen anything really wrong with his physical body its mostly just the sudden, drastic behavior change that's got me worried. He's going to see the vet next tuesday but until then does anyone have any idea of what could be going on with him and any way I could help him feel better?

[Michael]

Stress bars don't come overnight. They have to do with the feather growing process and lock in a view of time when the feather was grown. It could be showing something from many months prior. Sooner sounds just a bit moody or under the weather but if this holds up, monitor for health issues. Monitor poop, weight, and good intake. If those become abnormal, then rush to a vet.

[Pajarita]

Michael is right in that stress bars don't appear overnight so that cannot be counted on as a symptom related to what is happening now. Now, when you say "he came home a week ago" do you mean that you acquired him a week ago? Because, if that is the case, he doesn't know you from Adam and they don't allow strangers to touch them. The two or three first days don't count because he was VERY confused and scared and, young as he is (he is the equivalent of a child), he would have felt terribly vulnerable and allowed all kinds of things (and would also not move too much so as not to call attention to themselves) birds that feel more comfortable would not. Back off and start from scratch. Parrots are not puppies which are always happy to see humans regardless of whether they know them or not. You need to earn their trust so don't take him for granted and start working for it. There are lots and lots of threads about gaining the trust and love of a new bird right here, just follow the instructions (they are always the same

[thelonelysnake]

That's a relief about the stress bars. A little more detail on the situation:
I visited him at the breeder's for four months before my fiancé and I took him home. We watched him grow up and spent lots of time playing with him and even helping hand feed him and clean up after him to help make very sure that we would be ready for the commitment of a pet that we would have the rest of our lives.
The first two days that he was home he was fearful and quiet and cautious (as expected) but the next six days after that he really came out of his shell. He was mimicking noises in the house and making all sorts of parrot noises and even speaking some birdlish, he explored the living room and the hallway and played with his cage toys and started to play with his foot toys as well. He even invesitgated the two puppies (from a safe distance, and the dogs were in their kennel unable to reach the bird). When I had him out for playtime, if my fiancé was at work, Draco would wander around and look for him. As soon as my fiancé would get home from work Draco always went straight to him and made happy little chirps. Two days ago, his eighth day being in the house, he stopped almost all vocalization and what little bit of sound he does make now sounds different. His voice is kind of scratchy and weak sounding. He's completely uninterested in his toys and he doesn't explore or walk around at all now either. He wants nothing to do with me or my fiancé. He is almost constantly preening and scratching his head and his beak with his feet. I'm also pretty sure he's not getting much sleep. Normally he naps around 2pm and falls right to sleep when I cover him at dusk but he has been skippig his naps and I can hear him preening and scratching in his cage when I walk past his cage at night, last night he was still awake at 1am.

I'm going to try starting back from scratch with him like you suggested, which shouldn't be too hard to do. The scratching has me really worried though, as well as the sudden, prolonged aggression. If he was just having a bad day or something I'd be less worried but its going on three days straight that he's been acting very out of character. I'll see what the vet has to say and I may just be worrying too much. I really hope that's all it is. And thanks for the advice.

[Wolf]

I know that it may sound like I am nuts but, I am betting on fleas. I would take him to the vet to be sure but it sounds like fleas are living in your carpeting. It could just as well be mites or a fungus, regardless you need to find the problem and fix it, and a visit to the vet may be the quickest and most reliable way.

[thelonelysnake]

He has an appontment next tuesday, its the earliest I could get him in. I doubt its fleas because the dogs don't have them and the house has no carpet, its all tile. I'll watch him closely when he preens and look for them just in case. Now that you mention it though, i bought his cage from a woman on craigslist, and she gave me a bunch of accessories with it (cage toys, foot toys, treats) and one of the things was a bottle of lice and mite spray for birds. I can see that its been used before. Do you think that maybe he picked something up from the cage or the toys and stuff?

[Wolf]

If everything was not thoroughly cleaned and disinfected there is no telling what little nasties he could have picked up, starting with mites to some really bad bacterias.

[Pajarita]

Oh, yes, it sounds like mites (I've never heard of a single parrot getting fleas, I think they might be too big to live on them). You need to throw away everything in the cage that is not made of metal (toys, perches, etc), take the cage apart, wash it thoroughly and let it dry in the sun (in parts, not put back together again). Get new perches and toys for him. And get yourself some Scatt so you can medicate him.

Mind you, this doesn't mean you should not take him to the vet - he could also have a skin or an ear infection...

[Wolf]

Flea doesn't have to live on parrot, the little bloodsuckers only have to bite to cause itchy skin. And they will bite anything with blood. Mites are however, much more likely.

[marie83]

Flea doesn't have to live on parrot, the little bloodsuckers only have to bite to cause itchy skin. And they will bite anything with blood. Mites are however, much more likely.

This is true about the fleas biting any animal but they can detect their preferred host pretty well so would be unlikely to bite a bird if there is a cat/dog living in the home, probably after that they would be more likely to go for a human than the bird. That's not to say it isn't possible ofc. The mites are the most likely thing really.