Chico, my mealy amazon, came to me in the Spring of 2004,
and he hatched sometime in August of 2003. For the past
few months we have played a horrible game of who's boss,
and initially thought that maybe this was him coming into
breeding age but I am not too sure. I have suffered two
bad bites in the past few months, and it pains me because
up until February he was the most lovable bird I have ever
seen. I had never been bitten by him. I would never
hesitate to hand him to someone, and he loved coming out
of his cage and playing with everyone, going on car rides,
etc. That is until recently.
It started with a severe bite on the webbing of my thumb
and louder and more perisistent vocalizations. This was
the first week of February. On top of that, he has begun
pulling his feathers out on his chest again (he has done
this one other time two years ago due to separation
anxiety when I went on vacation). After today I will not
handle him (never been sexed, always assumed it was a he)
without protection for my arms/ hands as anything you use
to pick him up with he bites extremely hard and grinds his
beak. He also puts his wings out and pins his eyes, and
moves in circles on his perch. He will notcomeout of his
cage for any reason and will move aggressively towards you
when you open the door. To socialize or give him a bath or
clean his cage I have resorted to having to towel him to
get him out.
We have recently moved, but this behavior was ongoing
before the move and has not changed to any degree. Food
has stayed the same, so has playtime, no new birds have
been added(I have four altogether), now I am just scared
for my safety to pick him up. I hate to say this,but I am
entertaining the idea of letting himgo after having him
for so long. To me the joy of parrot ownership is the
interaction, which is not happening. What is the problem?
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