Why Has My Green Cheek Conure Started Biting Quite a Bit?

Last Updated on February 16, 2023 by Mitch Rezman

Pat D. relates,

My GCC has started biting quite a bit.

I want to do light therapy with her.

Can I keep her cage in the living room and cover him at night or should she be moved to another room to sleep?

Dear Pat

Light Therapy can help if the problem is hormonal behavior.

If she is dealing with the frustration of no mate, lashing out at you can be one of the effects.

However, this is the time of year when even the most level-headed birds can still suffer some.

For the 3 day Light Treatment, she needs to be in her cage for the full 72 hour period to get the full benefit.

If you don’t cover her cage at night, at least wrap around the sides, if not over the top of the light too, then if she sees you she may be distressed because she will want you to let her out and may call out to you or fuss constantly.

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So covering the cage is helpful, or you can put the cage into another room entirely. But that can be a hassle dealing with plugging and unplugging the lights, setting them back up in the other room, etc.

Once the 3 days (72-hour treatment is complete), make sure that her cage light is set on a timer 12 hours on and 12 hours off, all year round.

We do 7:30 to 7:30 in the winter here, then in the summer with DST it becomes 8:30 to 8:30 pm without touching anything.

If she spends a lot of her day out of the cage and on a stand. Then you may wish to hang another light over the stand so she continues to get the benefits of the lighting to keep her hormonal levels even.

Also, if you have not already, be sure to keep your handling her, petting her head only.

Neck up only, no beak stroking.

How Pet Bird Keepers Get The Lighting Thing Wrong

This Link Also Goes to All of Lighting Blog Posts

Please reach back out should you require additional assistance.

Regards,

Catherine