Aggressive bird behaviour

[Wrasse]

Squirt has been with us for just over a year now. He is a Rainbow Lorikeet and is roughly 18 months old.

He was hand raised prior to landing in a pet shop and me purchasing him. He was gentle, friendly and would actively seek out company, particularly that of my partner. Following him around and sitting on his shoulder. He had full roam of the house and would return to his cage at night.

He loved a good feed of honey and was partial to drinking Coke from the glass. He would drink coke, become hyperactive and his faeces turned to pure liquid. So we put a stop to him drinking it.

At this point he turned nasty. He would try to reach a glass of coke, only to have it taken away and he was told no. He started biting in retaliation and would get quite noisy, bossy and aggressive.

At this stage he was roughly one year of age and the aggression carried over to other situations. When changing the feed bowls in his cage he would actively attack my partners hands and often draw blood. My partner, who is technically, the 'owner' and prime carer of this bird became quite upset.

I was never attacked, but I would often 'defend' myself, using the feed spoon to threaten him if he made a move at me when I was feeding him.

We thought this could be mating behaviour or loneliness (as this behaviour corresponded with my partner getting a different job and working longer hours), so we got him a girlfriend, Lacey.

Lacey is the sweetest thing, very gentle and timid and if you can get her by herself, she is ok to handle. However, Squirt guards her jealously, attacking any person that attempts to get near her, while running away from anyone that attempts to get near him.

Does anyone have any clues or ideas on what to do about this situation ?

He clearly thinks he is the boss and is actively showing that with his aggression and protection/jealousy of anyone going near Lacey.

How do we get the upper hand back before this goes too far ??

Lacey (left) and Squirt.

[telefrag]

When I worked in a petstore many years ago, we had a resident rainbow lori. He would go out of his way to fly across the store to land on my head and bite my ears.

Also, when I was in the bird area, and he was in his cage, he would shoot his poo through the cage bars at me when I would walk by.

From the dozen or so rainbows I had been around, they were all very strong willed, and persistent.
I dont know how to break them of bad habits.. but I wish you luck.

your going to need it.

[savannah_babe]

birds have their own personallity. when we had our own petstore, the lori in there would follow me around the store, and hop from cage to cage to get to me, and he honked and loved to pick my teeth...lol. he was such a clown.. now that your bird has a partner, it might be hard to make you or your other half his partner. working with him will take time. working with birds takes a great bit of patience. from my experiece with lori's they are sensitive, just like any other bird. no hitting at all. birds remember that sort of thing, and it will get you no where. a big fat NO works with time. stand higher than him, let him know who is boss, and lower your tone. talk to him frequently.. let him know you care. and stick to your standards. find a healthy treat he likes, when he does something good, reward him. you have to gain his trust, as well as let him know you are boss. i wish you the best of luck with the little guy..he is a cutie

[Dr.Oviparous]

There's a few things I see... Does he still have full roam in the house? This can be very dangerous for parrots, I would end that, also it can make them feel more "powerfull than they really are. Glad you stopped giving him coke, the most dangerous thing there is the caffine. Caffine can kill birds in a heartbeat... literally. You don't want to threaten him. If he is already aggresive he will only take it as a challenge. I always try to think like my birds when I'm dealing with them. Your bird does not see it's self as a pet like a dog does. Your bird thinks of himself as part of his flock, an equal. Mabye not an equal in the pecking order, but an equal in species. He is trying to gain a better social status, or become the alpha. Birds do this when they start to mature. In the wild right now he would be struggling with his flockmates over social status, that is what he is most likely doing here. Give it time, stick with it, and be stern but non-threatening. You will want to remove the other bird if you want him to tame down if it's not to late. There are two types of parrots, family parrots and breeder parrots. If a bird bonds with another bird it will most likely never want to have anything to do with people. I honestly don't want this to sound condesending in any way, but I really think you should have researched the bird a lot more before you got him. A great book is "A Guide to Well Behaved Parrot" by Mattie Sue Athkins.