First time lovebird owner: am I coming on too strong?

Fox

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Mar 17, 2015
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I got a baby peach-faced lovebird 3 days ago. I named him Olive and we have been getting along really well. The first day I got him I let him explore my room on his own and then placed him in his cage and left him alone until the next morning. The next morning I spoke to him softly outside his cage then eventually picked him up and put him on my chest beneath a towel while laying down. I feel like this was a bit too forward, but he wasn't visibly frightened or skittish at all, not even the first time I picked him up, so I thought it was safe to try to relax with him a little bit. While he was beneath the towel I talked to him a ton and pet him and he fell asleep on me. I put him back into the cage after that and a few hours later I took him out again and the same thing except he crawled into my shirt, and I put on soft piano music and spoke to him softly. Later in the day he crawled into my pocket and fell asleep there.

I also introduced him to my mother and sister (they live with me) because I want him to be well socialized. He was fine with all of them and cuddled with them willingly. Yesterday he was in my pocket or on my shoulder or in my shirt pretty much all day, except when I went out to get some more toys for him and a playground. When I got back and opened his cage door he leaped out and onto me and was with me for the rest of the night. I started to do some training with him (millet/clicker) and he responded well. My friend came over with her rabbit and Olive was great with both of them. He was a little too good with the rabbit, like I had to take him away because I was nervous about how cuddly he was being (I thought the rabbit would give him a love bite). He cuddled with my friend a lot. Now today he refuses to be away from me at all. Whenever I put him in his cage he chirps like crazy and crawls around the front waiting for me to open the door. When I do open the door he jumps out right away. Earlier I put him inside and left the cage open so that he could get out of he wanted to, then went back to my desk. Two seconds after I put him in he jumped out, walked all the way to my desk and jumped onto me again. I was also able to clip his wings extremely easily. He didn't struggle at all, I didn't even use a towel or anything like that and I didn't even need anyone else present to help me groom him. I was able to do it all myself in like two seconds. He's been cuddling with my brother too and has yet to get spooked by anything, not even my dogs barking or sudden noises outside my window (I live in a city). So I feel like everything is going well, but everything I've read online says I should wait weeks before doing half the stuff I've done with him. Am I coming on too strong? Am I really just stressing him out and making him upset? I'm trying my best not to but he seems to really enjoy being with me. He behaves like being in his cage is a punishment, but I try not to treat it like one. I just put him in there to avoid overstimulating him.

So... What am I doing right and what am I doing wrong? And what else should I do while he's still young? I'm trying to introduce him to / get him used to a bunch of different things, like new people, other pets and new rooms and stuff like that so that he won't be inflexible as an adult. Is that the right thing to do? Thank you.
 
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I think you are doing fine. Take your time observing your bird's body language and be sensitive in case he/she doesn't want to play or cuddle. However, at least to me, it seems your bird is one of those who loves company quickly! Just be careful of overbonding. Make sure that he/she learns to play with toys and self entertain so while you're out all is well. Enjoy!
 
I think you're doing really great with him. If he wants to be out of the cage and on you, that's great. Not all birds need weeks to get used to things. He sounds very confident.
 
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Thank you both very much!! That's reassuring. What can I do to avoid over bonding? I have tried to get him to play with his toys and use his playground, but he rarely does any of that on his own; only when I coax him.
 
What I did was to play with the toys with my bird. Slowly, in time, he "got it" and now plays pretty well on his own. If I have a long day - he welcomes me and we hang out for the evening.
 
Sounds like you're doing very well! As mentioned above some birds just love company. Sounds like your is one of these birdies. Some birds take a while to warm up and others hop right into new situations with both feet. Just watch your birds body language and respond accordingly.
 
Make sure he gets handled by multiple people and he shouldn't over-bond.
 
I have found getting them to target (touch) toys on command helps encourage them to play with them.
 
When I used to raise Lovebirds I train them to come to me on command so they'll fly around the house unless I call for them. Just allow them to have their own personal time you'll be just fine.
 
Sounds like you have a lovely bird there! I second the playing with his toys with him so he'll recognize that they are actually toys. I had to tie paper towels (which my bird was more than happy to destroy for fun) to some of his toys before he got the clue that they were things he could play with and rip up. I guess his previous owners didn't give him a lot of store bought toys. Hope it keeps going great!
 
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Fantastic! You said dogs, please be careful!

Thank you! And whoops, I meant dog's, not dogs. I only have one dog. I have taken care to keep Olive away from my other pets :) Her cage is in my room, which my dog is (usually) not allowed in. I have introduced them and I'm really happy with how my dog reacted. She's not a very friendly dog in general, but when I (carefully) introduced her to Olive she was curious, but relaxed and not antagonistic at all. She seemed a little afraid of her to be honest, but I guess she was just confused.
 
Fantastic! You said dogs, please be careful!

Thank you! And whoops, I meant dog's, not dogs. I only have one dog. I have taken care to keep Olive away from my other pets :) Her cage is in my room, which my dog is (usually) not allowed in. I have introduced them and I'm really happy with how my dog reacted. She's not a very friendly dog in general, but when I (carefully) introduced her to Olive she was curious, but relaxed and not antagonistic at all. She seemed a little afraid of her to be honest, but I guess she was just confused.

Thank you! I learned the hard way! For me it was guilt, but for Tango, it was her life! Really sucks!
 
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Olive died on Friday... I don't know what happened... I went to take him out that morning and he was on the cage floor, stiff... I don't know what went wrong. I gave him fruit, vegetables, seeds and millet... I gave him water and a bath and made sure he ate and drank every day... His cage was at least 40x bigger than him. He sneezed the first day I got him and then again a few days later and I planned to take him to the vet for it, but I held off because otherwise he had no signs of illness at all... He was spunky and friendly and loved to play and eat and do tricks... I feel awful and negligent and like it's all my fault. I can't believe he's dead. Every day I've woken up expecting him to jump into my jacket or snuggle beneath my chin but he's not there... I only had him for six days but I really bonded to him in that amount of time.
 
Sorry for your loss..... :(

What type of fruits and veggies you feed? Any sort of fumes/spray where he was kept? Teflon household products?
 
Omg I am so sorry :( my heart is breaking for you </3.

Little Olive lived a short time, but he was so well loved and shown so much care in it. I hope you can find some peace of mind in that fact.
 
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Sorry for your loss..... :(

What type of fruits and veggies you feed? Any sort of fumes/spray where he was kept? Teflon household products?

I fed him bananas, apples, grapes, oranges, pinto beans, corn, broccoli and celery every day... No fumes or sprays; he was kept in my room so I know that for sure. I'm 99.9% sure we don't have any teflon household products; I tried my best to check before I got him but I have trouble distinguishing between stick and nonstick kitchenware. But my room is on the second floor... I figured even if there was one I missed it wouldn't harm him since his cage is a floor away...
 
Would absolutely love my lovies to do that with me sounds amazing.. sounds like it is comfortable im sure if it wasnt happy it would definitely try to fly away like mine do lol
 

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