# Cockatiel suddenly developed an attitude?



## Chocobo (Aug 3, 2013)

Lately, my cockatiel gets easily annoyed at everything, and I don't know why. Usually he'd let me pet him without any trouble, but now if I don't scratch a particular spot that he likes, he gives he a series of warning bites (they don't hurt at all, but you can tell he's really pissed off). When I type on the keyboard and he's sitting on the laptop, he'll start giving me those warning bites also, even if I' not even touching him, like I'm somehow invading his space. Usually he doesn't give these bites unless something is really pushing his buttons, but lately it's really easy to provoke him. He never ever gave me a serious bite that really hurts, but I'm afraid it might turn into biting behavior soon.
I was thinking it could be mating season or his hormones are kicking in, but it's been a few months and the behavior seems to be on and off each time I take him outside. I don't know why he's so hard to interact with and so easily annoyed. Does anyone have experience with his kind of behavior? How do I stop it?


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## CaliTiels (Oct 18, 2012)

He does sound hormonal. Read up about hormone control in our sticky library. I'd give you the link, but I'm on my mobile


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Also, if he's male, they go through a bratty teenage stage and nothing you do pleases them. The hormone techniques should help calm him down and he will eventually grow out of his grumpiness.


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## Chocobo (Aug 3, 2013)

Ah, that explains it. Mine's a male and he's pretty young, so that's probably what's going on.
Unfortunately, I just bought a conure a few days ago and he seems to think that it's a hen. He won't stop following it everywhere now, even if the conure is saying 'back off!'. He tries to bite me when I separate them or put him back in the cage. Will his hormonal stage end? I'm afraid that as long as I have my conure, he will continue to be aggressive towards everyone else. I'm worried that he won't be tamed anymore - he's acting like a wild bird.
Will I have to keep him away from the conure forever? Will there be a day when he is able to have a non-possessive, platonic bond with the conure?


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