Ask Lafeber

Sudden aggression in my male Conure.

I got these two Conures for three years now. They have always been very loving and kind to each other. The last two days, the male conure has become very aggressive towards the female conure. He tries to grab her by the neck and bites her feet as she tries to run away from him. Why the sudden change? Is there anything we can do to stop the aggression? Would we have to separate them now?

Hi,

This is hormonal behavior. It sounds like she is not ready to breed but the male is ready, so he gets frustrated with her and attacks her. I would separate them for now, until his hormones settle down. He could end up hurting her. If you do not want to breed them, then you may have to separate them when they get hormonal. If you did want to breed, it sounds like she needs some time, so I would wait until next year to try to breed them.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda