Aggressive 6 Month Old Kakariki

Merlin.Kakariki

Regular Member
I have a pet Kakariki who is 6 months old and he’s become extremely aggressive towards me and has drawn blood on me three times now.

I’ve allowed him to freely roam my bedroom all day every day as I have a stand for him with plenty of enrichment for him as well as a hanging perch at my bedroom window and he absolutely loves both things.

When clean my bed or my bedroom floor from his poop he will aggressively chase me to bite my hands of feet and he’s drawn blood from me three times now and I don’t know what to do.
 
I am guessing he sees you doing the cleaning as a threat, why not pop him in his cage until you are finished. Usually after observing that it is a harmless exercise a few times they relax.

Brooms are not very well tolerated here. :)
 
:welcome: Merlin looks very cute in your avatar!

I'm just running out but wanted to give some sort of answer. Thanks for the tag, Di. :)

The easiest thing to do is change the cue for the behaviour... ie. if he wasn't in the vicinity he wouldn't be able to attack you when you clean. Putting this in practical terms, does he have a cage that you could put him in briefly each time you clean?
 
Going by what you have said I do not think he is against you but what is setting him off is the noises and hassle when you clean. I have the same problem with one of my senegals (Sparky) and Joey a LSC2. I either have to cage them or put them in the garden or shut them in another room. they are great any other time
 
Kaks are lovey birds but I have to say Ringo my kak turned at about 6 to 8 months and became very aggressive I think this is hormonal, I did lots of reading up about it and apparently they go through this stage then calm back down but I'm yet to see a change in Ringo. Male kaks are supposed to be a bit more bossy that the females. I have had my kak drawing blood for 12montbs now I would say he really wants to be with me but really wants to bite me anywhere he can. I would say just shut him away when your cleaning and see if the hormonal period passes.
 
Kaks are lovey birds but I have to say Ringo my kak turned at about 6 to 8 months and became very aggressive I think this is hormonal, I did lots of reading up about it and apparently they go through this stage then calm back down but I'm yet to see a change in Ringo. Male kaks are supposed to be a bit more bossy that the females. I have had my kak drawing blood for 12montbs now I would say he really wants to be with me but really wants to bite me anywhere he can. I would say just shut him away when your cleaning and see if the hormonal period passes.

Aww thank you for the advice, I will try to see after he is 8months old to see if it’s Merlin’s hormones kicking in xx
 
Going by what you have said I do not think he is against you but what is setting him off is the noises and hassle when you clean. I have the same problem with one of my senegals (Sparky) and Joey a LSC2. I either have to cage them or put them in the garden or shut them in another room. they are great any other time

It’s strange as Merlin will just randomly attack both my mum and I even if we are just sitting on the sofa just watching tv he will just attack us so I’m not sure if it is to do with the noise or hassle xx
 
:welcome: Merlin looks very cute in your avatar!

I'm just running out but wanted to give some sort of answer. Thanks for the tag, Di. :)

The easiest thing to do is change the cue for the behaviour... ie. if he wasn't in the vicinity he wouldn't be able to attack you when you clean. Putting this in practical terms, does he have a cage that you could put him in briefly each time you clean?

I have a travel cage that he sleeps in during the night to keep me safe as I don’t want him biting me while I sleep so I could put him in that but it’s not just when I clean, all I could be doing is watching tv on the sofa and Merlin is on the floor he will run up to my feet to aggressively bite them and I wouldn’t have moved an inch to set him off.

Thanks honey Merlin is a cutie when he wants to be xx
 
I am guessing he sees you doing the cleaning as a threat, why not pop him in his cage until you are finished. Usually after observing that it is a harmless exercise a few times they relax.

Brooms are not very well tolerated here. :)

It’s not just when I clean I could just walk into my bedroom and he will aggressively try to attack my feet and he could be on my wardrobe and he’ll fly down just to attack my feet xx
 
Kaks are quite feisty little birds I think!
It’s great that Merlin is getting lots of freedom and is able to fly about, but it sounds as if he has become a bit territorial about your bedroom, and sees it as his space perhaps? I know this may sound a bit daft but have you tried announcing what you are about to do, Merlin I’m coming in now, be a goooooood boooooy (long vowel sounds are meant to be soothing to birds)?
How much time is he getting in his travel sleep cage?
 
Kaks are quite feisty little birds I think!
It’s great that Merlin is getting lots of freedom and is able to fly about, but it sounds as if he has become a bit territorial about your bedroom, and sees it as his space perhaps? I know this may sound a bit daft but have you tried announcing what you are about to do, Merlin I’m coming in now, be a goooooood boooooy (long vowel sounds are meant to be soothing to birds)?
How much time is he getting in his travel sleep cage?

I’ll try the announcements tomorrow as I’ll be in all day so I can tell Merlin what I’m about to do, he could be territorial as he probably now sees my bedroom as his domaine and that he owns the entire room.

I will make my words as long as I can make them to try help help sooth him as well starting from tomorrow and see if that works or not.

I get him out his travel cage at around 09:00am when I wake up then he’s out of the cage all day and then I put him back into the travel cage at around 10:00pm so he know it’s bedtime and he needs to settle down for the night and that every day that I do this.
 
Walk into the room and drop a towel on your feet so that they are not visible and see how that goes to start? :)

That actually sounds rather logical as that way he can’t see my feet and I’ll too will be protected from his bites, something so simple like that might actually work.
 
I’ll try the announcements tomorrow as I’ll be in all day so I can tell Merlin what I’m about to do, he could be territorial as he probably now sees my bedroom as his domaine and that he owns the entire room.

I will make my words as long as I can make them to try help help sooth him as well starting from tomorrow and see if that works or not.

I get him out his travel cage at around 09:00am when I wake up then he’s out of the cage all day and then I put him back into the travel cage at around 10:00pm so he know it’s bedtime and he needs to settle down for the night and that every day that I do this.

This is his travel/sleep cage
2112E489-5056-42DF-BB66-8FDCFFEF435D.jpeg
 
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I know this is an old post but my kaka has started attacking Me I'm just sitting there mainly my face and head and I don't know why it's got worse again in the dining room where he sleeps any tips would be helpful
 
Thanks for the tag, DizzyBlue. Some initial thoughts:

At 6 months old he’s becoming sexually mature. Does he have access to any nest boxes/materials? If so I’d remove them. I read on the internet that Kaks can be very territorial. This doesn’t offer a solution to his behaviour but something else to take into consideration. How big is his cage? The smaller the cage the more aggressive a bird can become as it defends it.

Territorial and sexually mature/hormonal are labels - they offer a little understanding but don’t solve very much. So look at the behaviours in context. He attacks you in the dining room where his cage is. Think about how to interact with him differently. Are there any particular times he attacks? What are you doing on those occasions? For example, if he attacks when you go to change food bowls, think about leaving him caged until that deed is done. That way you can let him out when you have no need to go near his cage.

Are you able to interact with him without him attacking? What are you both doing on these occasions? Can you build on these times? Does he play with toys? Have you done any training with him? Encourage him to do these alternative behaviours before he is likely to attack.

Be careful of eye contact if he’s in attack mode. Turn away and do something else. Never get angry with him as that makes the whole thing 100 times worse.
 
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