Kris, just as a suggestion (and from experience) when you get home, say hi to Pickles, but dont try to touch him until about 10 - 15 minutes after you get home. sometimes my gccs (and ALWAYS with my amazons) they get super hyped up and excited once i get home (i mean you can HEAR the excitement from down the hall and sometimes out on the street!) if i try to touch any one of them, there is more than a 50% chance that i will get nailed by an overly excited bird.

let Pickles cool down a bit. do you own thing for about 10 minutes and then after that, approach the cage with Pickle's favorite treat. open the cage and see if he will step up nicely for a treat.

im sure pickles was just having an off day when he let loose on you.

Kate that is great advice! A cool down period should help a little.

Oh yeah, Quito gave me a good pinch yesterday. Probably the hardest she's ever bitten. Didn't break skin, but it took all I had not to react. It was my fault, I wasn't paying attention to her, and sometimes she takes that personally.

Everyone has given you good advice here. You may have startled her, or she was truly in a "leave me alone" mood. When you BF handed her back to you, she could have sensed your <ahem> shall we say "heightened emotions"?

I know this is really hard, but you have to really try to act like nothing ever happened, and everything is just hunky-dory, and handle her with all the confidence in the world. Whatever you do, don't let this incident make you handle her less. Do try to learn to read her moods though, and make sure she's aware of what you are going to do.

Good advice from everyone. And I think that Pickles might have up and down emotions throughout her settling in period, which can take some time.

Also, were you wearing something that she hasn't seen you in when the attack happened - glasses, different hairstyle, hat, etc.?

GREAT point! what about a different color that you might have been wearing at the time? my gccs FREAK OUT if anyone wears a baseball cap or the color RED.

I for one know how hard it is not to take it too personally when they are nippy and crabby with us.....i for one have renamed our blue throated macaw from Picasso to Chuckie Bird. (You know, the doll chuckie from the movie....that was real sweet and nice and then it attacked you??). LOL....it's all in good humor around here. It's important not to take it too seriously. Stay patient.

Kris, Tommaso gets exciited when I get home and starts puffing up and getting more excited to come out of his cage and hang out on my shoulder. He doesn't get nippy that often, and may nip me a little.There are times I think he is more excited than other days.
Like some folks have said, don't take it personally, and somebody else mentioned that time-outs are good. It's just his way of handling things. Pickles still loves you.

Morena

Kris, did you have your nails done or wearing any rings? That could set her off.

Well when I got home last night I said hi to Pickles and let her be for about 10 minutes. Then as soon as I picked her up she started going to TOWN on my finger. Just knawing the snot outta me. I'm talking bites hard enough to break skin. I put her back down on her playgym because she wouldn't stop. My BF came over and picked her up. Nothing! He picked her right up and kissed her on the head. She just sweetly sat there. So then he handed her off to me again. She sat there fine on my hand for a bit then when I went to pet her she stared biting really hard again.

This morning was no different. She began biting me as soon as I took her out of her cage. When she stopped biting me I walked over to the couch and sat down with her. She hopped onto my shoulder then bit the heck out of my lip. 15 minutes later it's still throbbing. So once I finally got her to let go of my lip I put her on my hand to hold her. She sat there for a bit then started attacking my hand once again. . . .

All I know is that she's now extremely aggressive toward me now. And not in the least to my boyfriend. My bf can touch her all he wants. But the moment I try to she fllipps out.

I didn't get my nails done and each time she's "attacked" me I have been wearing something different. So it's not that she was scared of something I was wearing.

I'm trying not to take her personal. . . but I guess I kinda am right now.

Could it be because I'm female and her previous owner was female? Her previous owner was abusive to her.

Could it be because that it's "that time of the month" for me? She didn't bite me at all before I began. (just an idea??)

it could be her abusive past with women...
it could be the hormonal season (it is spring!...my birds are flipping out)
it could be that the honeymoon phase is over...
it could be a combination of all three.

what you need to do is take it s-l-o-w-l-y.
be the only one that offers her the yummy treats.
go to a quiet area where she can't see her cage and your bf so that you two can have some one-on-one time together.
talk and sing to her calmly.

if it has to do with her abusive past with women, then you have the job of gaining her trust. it takes time. see it from her point of view. be calm, DONT take her bites personally (its her only defense) and dont expect to be bitten otherwise she will sense it. (someone else mentioned this earlier too..its so true).

hang in there. with time, you'll gain her trust.