Well, not to me (for the most part).

It's with guests. When they come in to see Rio, he just goes all haywire and wants to bite them--hard! He's starting to fly to people and attack them! I refuse to let Rio out of his cage when there are guests. I just don't know why he's so aggressive! He'll attack everyone besides for me, and my younger brother. We share a room, so he see's us a lot. If it's anyone else, he gets ANGRY.

Is there anyway to make him mellow out? I'm even afraid to let them offer him treats, all he wants is to bite their faces off. He likes to take his anger out on me later and give me a nasty bite as well. He then calms down.

I know it's easy to say "don't take him out", but it's not only that. Leaving out of town is much harder because I have to get someone I not only trust, but also has the guts to go in the cage. He's really wild when there's other people.

Also, he wasn't always like this. It was recent when my bird gave his first lunge at a guest. As of today, he walking to people and biting their stomachs. Yes, that did happen.

I have heard of this happening with some parrots. You are not alone! It seems to be related to them thinking you are their mate and chasing others away. But, you probably already know that. I have read people say to try to control the hormones. I have also read they can grow out of it, especially if it is handled well, which I am sure you are doing. Keeping him away from guests sounds good. Would a harness work for you in those situations? Or, is the cage just as good?

Would he be less likely to attack a pet sitter if you were not in the room? I'm thinking about the theory that you are his mate, but he doesn't have to protect you when you are not in the room/house.

Perhaps have the pet sitter come over and change out the cage, but you be elsewhere in the house, to see if it would work out.

It's natural to be worried.

I read elsewhere you're going to leave Rio at a place were they are used to birds. So put your trust in them. Tell them what you're worried about. If they take it slow he'll get used to his new surroundings.

If you're calm I think Rio won't be as upset as he is when he notices you're nervous. He might pick up on it, your nervousnes might reinforce his behaviour. (I mean he might be thinking: 'see even my bumble bee feels nervous when this stranger comes in' Rio doesn't know that you feel nervous because of his behaviour.

He sees your room and everything in it as his place (sharing it with you two of course) and wants to keep everything he's not used to out. If he learns that attacking gets him his way...

What you need is a calm guy or girl that's willing to endure the attack without getting upset while you should be the one correcting Rio when he does attack.

That's how I would try to handle the situation. I'd volunteer to be the calm guy, but you're a bit far ...

Hope it works out!

EDIT: If it is hormonal this is the time of year the behaviour would manifest itself. I'd still try if you can think of a calm person though...

Thank you, but I'm not nervous one bit. I was in another room, and someone said they wanted to see the bird. I told him where he was and how he's aggressive. He later can back to me saying the bird was trying to bite him.

He doesn't bite anyone when he's not near is cage, or near me. I'm not sure how he'd react if he does get used to his new cage at the pet store. Maybe he'll be territorial there as well.

He's being territorial of his cage and of you. If he's in a different cage at the pet store it's not likely that he'll behave this way, since he'll be in a strange cage and a strange place, not in his regular territory. He's more likely to be scared of the employees than aggressive to them.

If you leave him with your grandparents he might or might not be aggressive. He would presumably be in his usual cage, but it would be in an unfamiliar location. So he might not feel like he's in his own territory.

I'll never be able to know how he'll act unless I put him in a different cage at my grandparents house, and watch them with a paper bag with eye holes over my head. But even if he does accept them, he'll still be loud. I doubt my grandparents can handle it for 9 days. They live in a one story house. My bird is upstairs and my mom even complains at times when Rio wants seeds.

The pet shop is probably your best bet. At least they're used to working with birds, and listening to birds scream is part of their job.

Thank you so much! I needed some confirmation that the pet shop was the right option. I would love to let my grandparents watch him, but it's not a suitable match.