Hello, new to the site, I’d sure appreciate some help.
We have a black capped conure, 3 years old. Used to be such a lovely, snuggly little guy. Hit puberty about 8 months ago and was very, very aggressive. I believe I prolonged this behaviour by continuing to cuddle and kiss him when he wasn’t attacking me, but I’ve since had a few 2 week moratoriums on cuddles and he seemed to get better. And he is better, for the most part, but I still can’t trust him to land on my shoulder and he often attacks when I just walk by. Sometimes we can go a week with no attacks, but sometimes it’s a few times a day. My neck is riddled with bites. Also, seconds later, it seems he has no aggression and behaves as though he didn’t just try to murder me.
For context, he is almost never caged. Only when we eat and when he sleeps, which is very structured at 12 hours a night. He’s got free run of the house, has so, so many toys that he either is uninterested in or afraid of, but he likes bowls and boxes and such so he has as many of those as he likes. His diet is good, as far as we can tell. Mostly vegetables, pellets, and some fruit.
Most importantly, he is very loved and gets a lot of attention. I know it’s silly but I’m so hurt that this little guy I love so much and used to get along with so well now just attacks me at random (and it’s really painful!). I just want my little boy back.
Any and all advice would be so welcome. Thank you!
We have a black capped conure, 3 years old. Used to be such a lovely, snuggly little guy. Hit puberty about 8 months ago and was very, very aggressive. I believe I prolonged this behaviour by continuing to cuddle and kiss him when he wasn’t attacking me, but I’ve since had a few 2 week moratoriums on cuddles and he seemed to get better. And he is better, for the most part, but I still can’t trust him to land on my shoulder and he often attacks when I just walk by. Sometimes we can go a week with no attacks, but sometimes it’s a few times a day. My neck is riddled with bites. Also, seconds later, it seems he has no aggression and behaves as though he didn’t just try to murder me.
For context, he is almost never caged. Only when we eat and when he sleeps, which is very structured at 12 hours a night. He’s got free run of the house, has so, so many toys that he either is uninterested in or afraid of, but he likes bowls and boxes and such so he has as many of those as he likes. His diet is good, as far as we can tell. Mostly vegetables, pellets, and some fruit.
Most importantly, he is very loved and gets a lot of attention. I know it’s silly but I’m so hurt that this little guy I love so much and used to get along with so well now just attacks me at random (and it’s really painful!). I just want my little boy back.
Any and all advice would be so welcome. Thank you!