Post by scootersmom on Oct 12, 2010 19:04:27 GMT -5
And boy are they wild and wooley when they do!
We added a new flock member in August, an (Un)Cape Parrot named Scotty. We have taken several trips away from Scooter before and he's always been fine, maybe a little clingy when we got home.
Well, we got back on the 4th from a trip to the World Equestrian Games and had Scotty and Scooter looked after by our pet sitter as usual. She reported all well, with no bird-related problems.
However, Scooter was a holy terror for 48 hours after we got home. We could not do a thing with him. Upon opening the cage door he would advance and bite HARD. He drew blood on both my husband and I several times before he settled down. Every time he saw us he would fluff up and get this demonic look (I don't know how he did it with those dark eyes, but somehow he did) and sometimes he'd open his beak in our general direction. And yell at us! Holey Moley! Good thing he doesn't know any swear words, but he managed to turn "Pretty Scoo Scoo!" into a scathing insult and a battle cry!
Fortunately, he began too settle a little on the second day and is has now been completely back to normal for several days. Had he not come around when he did, I'd have been donning chainmaille gauntlets and hauling him to the vet.
I still have no idea why he got into this state this time. There are plenty of variables... he's now well into prime time for the terrible twos at 19 months, it was the first time he'd been left alone with Scotty (separate cages, same room) and it was rainy when we got back. I posted on a couple of other forums and the general consensus was that birds can, in fact, be angry with us, and they can "hold a grudge" in the sense of continuing to be angry even after the immediate event that caused the anger.
I thought I would post here, now that he has regained his sweet and loving disposition, as I was feeling quite terrible and wondering if he was ruined for life or had a brain tumor or something. The wrath of a GCC is indeed fearsome to behold!
We added a new flock member in August, an (Un)Cape Parrot named Scotty. We have taken several trips away from Scooter before and he's always been fine, maybe a little clingy when we got home.
Well, we got back on the 4th from a trip to the World Equestrian Games and had Scotty and Scooter looked after by our pet sitter as usual. She reported all well, with no bird-related problems.
However, Scooter was a holy terror for 48 hours after we got home. We could not do a thing with him. Upon opening the cage door he would advance and bite HARD. He drew blood on both my husband and I several times before he settled down. Every time he saw us he would fluff up and get this demonic look (I don't know how he did it with those dark eyes, but somehow he did) and sometimes he'd open his beak in our general direction. And yell at us! Holey Moley! Good thing he doesn't know any swear words, but he managed to turn "Pretty Scoo Scoo!" into a scathing insult and a battle cry!
Fortunately, he began too settle a little on the second day and is has now been completely back to normal for several days. Had he not come around when he did, I'd have been donning chainmaille gauntlets and hauling him to the vet.
I still have no idea why he got into this state this time. There are plenty of variables... he's now well into prime time for the terrible twos at 19 months, it was the first time he'd been left alone with Scotty (separate cages, same room) and it was rainy when we got back. I posted on a couple of other forums and the general consensus was that birds can, in fact, be angry with us, and they can "hold a grudge" in the sense of continuing to be angry even after the immediate event that caused the anger.
I thought I would post here, now that he has regained his sweet and loving disposition, as I was feeling quite terrible and wondering if he was ruined for life or had a brain tumor or something. The wrath of a GCC is indeed fearsome to behold!