Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a male and female cockatiel both of which are about two and half years old. They have been together for nearly two years and have gotten along beautifully. They are in a large cage, have the proper diet, and get 10 to 12 hours of sleep. Over the last couple of weeks, our male has become increasingly aggressive. He started biting some and now the biting has become vicious. He also is acting increasingly aggressive towards the female, but only when we are in the room with him. We let them out of the cage regularly, but have a tendency not to do so lately because of his biting. He has always been friendly and perched on our finger and flies to us when we call him, but everything has changed drastically lately. Their wings are not clipped, which I fear is a mistake, and I will gladly get them clipped if it will help stop the aggressiveness. We also happened upon them mating the other day. Could it be sexual frustration? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have heard of cockatiels becoming aggressive when hormonal which may be part of the problem. In tamer cockatiels it does IMHO help many aggressive tendencies to have wings clipped. We have had several that would be very handleable when clipped and become quite aggressive when their wings regrew. I would suggest at least trying this to see if it helps. I would also suggest keeping a close eye on your female. Some males (although not usually in cockatiels) will kill their mate if they become too aggressive when hormonal. If the aggression seems to be affecting her then they will need separated. Otherwise it could just be when he feels threatened or that his mate is threatened he acts on his aggression to whoever is nearest whether that is his mate or a human. Good luck.