# Is this hormonal behavior? Am I responding appropriately to it?



## spainer (Jun 21, 2013)

About a month ago, my whie-faced male cockatiel (Misty, or officially Mr Misty) started changing his behavior a bit when interacting with me. I got him over a year ago at a pet store and he was young. He didn't know how to fly at that time and per vet, he felt he was less than a year old at that time. So we estimate he's about 1.5 - 2 years old. He's loving, talkative, and good natured. He can fly fully and gets to come out on regular basis to allow him almost full roam of my 2 story, 3300 square foot home. He comes when I ask him and so those things are still good. What's changed is few things:


Possessive behavior over his mirrors. He does aggressive tap at mirror when we're in room. He threatens if anywhere near either of his mirrors (so yes, they're gone now)


When petting, he'll suddenly change and begin fast bits with bit of an angry screams with it. Not drawing bLood or super hard but definetly telling me he is not agreeing. I pet very gently, no different than when he's enjoying it, closing his eyes and rubbing his head on my finger


he'll go to my phone, talk to it with one foot waving up in air and threaten me if I need my phone. 
He's molting too so I'm super gentle when i do pet. It's generally that the bites start right after I stop or in between a pet


He frequently stretches one leg/wing or does the heart shaped wing stretch whenever he sees me or sits on my hand, he didn't use to do that this much 


He comes to sit on my hand that's resting on table while I'm reading or at PC and while sitting on my hand (I'm not moving it) he starts "attacking it". I would understand if he did that when I moved but not while siitting still yet he keeps climbing on either hand and then starts this fast biting behavior). Now seconds later, he'll be calm, ask for pet and if I gently pet, he closes his eyes, fluffs his "beard" and turns his head in enjoyment and is fine

Some of the things I've done to thwart the behavior :

Increased his sleep to 12 hours


removed his mirrors (he still has 2 of his favorit toys that are shiny mirror like but rounded)


don't let him sit on my shoulder, keep him chest level


upped outside cage time or time I spend with him in case that's his way of telling me I'm neglecting him


tried to mist him more frequently during this time of molting. he only likes it occasionally so any tips welcome on how to teach him to use his bird bath welcome so he can determine when he wants to splash in water. I use mister, not super cold water, spray up so it's not direct at him. he loves it when in the mood for water splashing but just doesn't want to daily


Have the petting sessions or time with him during day, night-time he is more prone to just being done with handling in general


put him in cage if it is more of a "fit" session where it doesn't stop after a few bites. not angry just gently place him in his cage. (happens occassionally in last 3 weeks)

is this hormonal as I think it is? If so, how long do these periods generally last? Most important question is whether I am responding correctly to his behavior or are my actions encouraging it. I like to think it's working as it seems like it's improving. yesterday we had 0 incidents, today we had 2 but in both cases they were related to "toys" he wanted (1 of which was my phone, the other was a mirror-like toy he found and immediately began talking to with the foot in air and then when I tried to take it, he of course didn't want to have any part of that).
:tiel3:


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Yes it hormonal. Sounds like he's also going through the bratty teenage stage. The long nights should start taking affect after about two weeks but there's really no telling how long he'll be bratty for, it varies from male to male.

And yes you're responding appropriately. Although, if he starts to act hormonal with those other two mirror-like toys I'd remove them too.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Possessive behavior over mirrors or the cage is hormonal behavior. His behavior with the phone might be hormonal too, especially if the phone is shiny and he can see his reflection. But he's not necessarily hormonal at the "I want to breed" level because birds like mirrors all year long.

The other stuff isn't hormonal behavior. I can give my birds head scritches even when they're breeding, although obviously I have to wait for a moment when they're not busy with the eggs/babies. Apparently Misty isn't in the mood to be petted as much any more. It might be a phase that he's going through, and you'll be able to pet him more later. When he's doing fake bites on your hand, just move your hand away and don't try to force the issue. You don't have to "punish" him for it, he's just telling you that you're doing something he doesn't want. It can be helpful to do some mood-improvement activities before you go for the scritch, like holding treats in your hand for him to nibble, making noises that he likes, or kissing him on the head. 

Stretching is the way a bird limbers up when he thinks he might be getting some action soon. If he stretches in the cage whenever he sees you, it means that he thinks you might be getting him out soon. If he does it when he's on your hand, he might be getting ready to fly off. Now that he's flying he's more physically fit than he used to be, and the additional stretching is probably a result of knowing that he can fly now.

It's fine to let him sit on your shoulder. Shoulder-sitting can be dangerous with the larger parrots because they can do serious damage to your face with their beaks, but a cockatiel can't do much physical harm. The old "height dominance" idea is a myth, sitting at an equal or higher level than your face doesn't make a bird think that he's your boss. But there are still a lot of people who think it's true so you'll see this advice a lot.

You can try to keep shiny objects that cause aggressive behavior away from him but you probably won't be 100% successful. I don't think it's a big deal if you let him play with one occasionally anyway. Just don't try to scritch him while he's doing it, and if you need to take him somewhere you can always ask him to step up on a stick instead of your hand. There's no harm done when a bird nips at a stick.


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## eduardo (Jan 27, 2012)

Roxy Culver and Tielfan have already said everything, but I just wanted to add that yes, definitely take mirrors out. They don't do any good to a single bird.
Also, I agree, your boy is "big" now and he is very likely going through his hormonal phase, compounded by the fact that he doesn't have a female to mate with.
Another thing you can try is lightly clip his wings. I know it helped me when my Tony was going through his especially naughty period. It seems like it calmed him down.
Sitting on your shoulder will not make his behavior worse, mine do it all the time, and they are still submissive towards me.
Other than that, I think your cockatiel has a wonderful life in your home.


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