Ok a lot to tell here so grab some coffee....

I used to do a lot of behavior work with parrots in NYC,(in home consults, rehabs from abuse, lectures....) so I am no stranger to the subtitles of avian behavior. Eve has me stumped. So I need some advice, as I fear I might be to close to the situation to see what is going on. Eve is about to start his breeding season. (For those of you who are adept at behavior, if you have not read my vasa breeding behavior research please see google link in my sig. I say this as vasa's are different in terms of behavior from of other parrots.)

Now every year some things change and I am used to this and I find it exciting to see what gonna happen every year. Well, last year Eve started head hunting, and I had realized that his protein intake was too low, the need elevates before and during breeding season. And vasa's will naturally hunt for their protein and have a habit of becoming aggressive in captivity if they do not get enough protein. This year I have made certain he has gotten the right amount, so the protein factor in terms of behavior is out as for as explanations go. As the rest of his moods are fine.

Over the past 2-3 years eve has developed the habit of biting the back of peoples necks. Sometimes it is a fly by bite, or while he is taking off from your shoulder. The one thing that I THOUGHT was the trigger for this behavior, the computer screen, is definitely not the main trigger. Eve primarily does this when you are sitting at the computer. And the behavior started when eve used to sit on the back of the chair while my mother was on the computer playing her game. But the game would make scary noises, and it triggered eve to bite her neck or stab her head with the tip of the beak. Which actually hurts more. She then quickly developed a hatred for my mother, and would snatch spoons out of my moms hands when my mother would try to make her tea. Eve would swoop down and snatch the spoon and fly away with it. Poor mom had to struggle to have her tea. lol When I moved back out of my mothers place I figured Eve would be fine, since my mother, (new trigger) was no longer in Eves life. Eve has since transposed this aggressive behavior to my friend who lives with me. Only now it seems to be random. Which I know it can not be, Birds always do what they do for a reason, and it is us that is sometimes unable to pick up on things.

Eve even did a fly by bite on the back of my neck when I walked out of the room yesterday. He flyies and bounces off of your neck and at the same time manages to sneak in a bite. Now this could be a habit gone wild. Or there could be triggers that I am not seeing. This is where I need some help.

Here is what I have observed.....

1 Eve knows it is wrong as He knows he gets a time out for the behavior and tries his hardest to "evade capture" after the bite.

2 the computer is still a major trigger, I think the screen irritates him and he reacts

3 Walking out of the room or walking away from Eve can also provoke this behavior, although this only happens upstairs where is is not entirely comfortable, or in the kitchen. (yes when you are holding a spoon!)

4 This seems to happen to my friend only when I leave the room. Now my friend is more than capable of handling Eve, He is Poe's owner and has lived with Eve for the past 10 years, with the exception of me living back home to recover from my illness. He can also make eve play dead bird on his back, so eve is more than comfortable with my friend.

5 this behavior happens no where else in the house, not in the bird room, or on stands, or the living room, so territorial behavior is out, and vasa's are not territorial by nature.....

6 there is also hormonal component as this also only happens right before and during breeding season. Sometimes but not always it appears as a hormonal surge, in which case Eve has no control over his actions.

7 the ACTION of the behavior does mimic hunting (grab with feet and bite) , although that does not seem to be the behavior expressed given the above observations.

??????????????

this is what I know, and every year it gets to the point that I have to clip eve right before he moults as that is the time when the behavior is the worst. Luckily the clip only lasts for 4 weeks, after which Eve is fine.


I can think of several things going on, like habitual biting that has been transformed into the way he says he is uncomfortable. Eve however is not a biter. Eve never ever bites a soul in any other circumstance but this.

It could be nothing more than a hormonal surge that triggers his hunting instinct. But why then only in certain rooms?

I need ideas as to what is going on other than my own and some ideas on working with this to resolve the issue. I feel I am too close to the situation, to be able see clearly, I am objective but I might not be seeing the triggers correctly.

I dont know what to suggest although I will say Lola a sun conure will "attack" my shoulders when in the kitchen. It is not really biting more of a shredding motion of my T shirt or shoulder, just like a bird of prey ripping a kill. She is after cheese or pecan nuts, neither she gets that often. She is just telling me of a need she has. Banjo has taken to putting pressure on my feet to ask for a shower. Maybe Eve has similar needs wither real or imagined that is just executed with greater manifest because of the breeding season. With my birds it is frustration after I have missed the other more polite cues.

It could be the molt/breeding time that adds to the confusion - he is feeling off in 2 ways. Rio for instance was very uncomfortable this fall with this past molt & again this winter as I see he's very hormonal - crabby and feisty. More sleep and the passing of these times show a different bird. Perhaps different animals experience hormonal shifts like humans can - some are OK but others can be very sensitive or out of 'wack'.

Controlling his diet sounds good - any other things you could do to lessen his hormonal high?

I think we 2 species are a bit doomed to understand the others needs and boundaries. I've taken to wearing a crocheted cap when I read or work at the computer - I thought I'd actually get angry with the 2 for constantly landing on my head and fighting. I couldn't do anything & they just weren't getting my displeasure. This change is working so far - so maybe you can get things to shift with a change.......

The kitchen and utensils - may be a bad habit - or something else. I don't know if he should be 'allowed' in those areas for a while. [?]

Is there some way you could rearrange the place? - change can help by distracting. I know they get outside - how's he outside these days? How's he with the other birds?

I don't know but Eve, you can come bite my neck and Ruby's if you want! (How is that for help?)

it's so odd. It's like a mini psychotic break that lasts a second and all is fine. Rearranging....done that with no success. He is fine with Poe and Claybird, it is not territorial. And well, vasa's are not territorial birds by nature. They do not mate bond at all.

I almost wonder if it is a reinforced bad habit. In other words.....Eve started this with my mother right before breeding season, and the combo of the hormonal surge with the action of biting the neck from the scary noise with my mom became a habit. Make sense? He is so weird that it becomes hard to decide what is normal vasa behavior and what is a problem. He is definitely does this a lot less since moving out of my mothers house.

eve is not currently moulting.

At the moment we wave our hands in the air if eve tries to land on people, so he can not land.

But I've noticed something else.......riddle me this....

Eve only bites/stabs the neck of my friends father (he is elderly and lives with us) when he is in his bed room at the computer, He does not get attacked anywhere else.

eve bites/stabs my friend only when he is standing in the kitchen and once in his fathers room again standing

eve only gets me (which is rare) when I am walking away with my back turned. And even then it is only when we are upstairs in my bedroom.

????????

I am hearing that he bites necks when people are sitting with their backs to him or walking with their backs to him during a specific period of time, when he is hormonal. It is difficult to determine why he does it, could be negative reinforcement. Does he bite only when the neck skin is exposed? During this time, I would wear something odd around the back of my neck and that might stop him from biting.

We've done that! we were using towels last year, it worked for about 2 seconds, and than he just flew down, ripped the towel off with his feet as he landed and bite and flew off! He then got his butt clipped.That going to some extreme to carry out his behavior IMO, like it's a plotted mission more than a hormonal rush.

If areas of attack are specific, I would start by disallowing access to those areas. A popular method is a 60's hippy thing. Hang strings of beads in the openings to prevent passage. Although impossible, at all costs, never have your back to "The Enemy". Sounds a bit hormonal. Maybe, if all else fails, tis the season for a clip. They grow back.

Sounds almost like a game to me. He waits for your back to be turned, or for you to be doing something else, and then he strikes. Or maybe it's an attention seeking thing which has gotten aggressive due to being hormonal. Of course that doesn't really explain why only in certain places, unless it is just these places where you are generally doing something else and not paying him as much attention.

Hmmm, don't know lol.

huh ya know......you have me thinking ABC, a game......

because now that i think on it, this is also the same action he does when playing. It's aggressive show off play. only he attacks the wall. he squawks, lunges at the wall with wings flapping vigorously (also mimics a kill, little raptor) ........he also squawks and flaps his wings this way when the bite happens....I've never realized this before! It is the same action, mood, and body language. hmmmmm......

What's the consensus on the theory?

and what are every bodies ideas on how to deal with this then?

clipping works but that is a temporary fix, and in IMO that will not do, as it doesn't fix the problem it makes it temporarily go away.

hats would work to break the habit, but I fear the same will happen as did with the use of the towels.

Waving our hands in the air helps but comes with a price, confusion from Eve as to why we no longer want him, and we would accidentally training be him to not come to us. This contradicts his flight training.

???