Help! Our female eclectus wants to breed with us!

[jfish930]

Hello Everyone!
I am new to this forum and am seeking some help and guidance.
We have a wonderfully well-behaved 3 and a half year old female eclectus, Sophie. For the last month or so she has been trying to "mate" with me and my son; we are the only 2 males in the household--she has not tried to mate with my wife. What she does is sit on our chest right in front of our face, and move her head back and forth, sometimes rubbing it on our chin and saying every word that she knows. She also elevates her rear slightly when doing this. At first I wasnt sure what she was doing and thought it was cute, but now every time my son and I hold her its all she seems to want to do.
I called my local "bird-guy" who is very good and he is the one who informed me she is trying to mate with us. He said do not pet her back and when she does this behavior to just set her back down on her cage. The problem is that she does this almost all the time and I do want to be able to hold her and so does my son. My "bird-guy" also said I can take her to the avian vet and he can give her hormone pills, but that sounds drastic and I don't want her on any chemicals. If anyone can give me some advice or has experienced this we would be very grateful for some help!! She shouldn't be expressing these behaviors for another 8 years!
Thank you

 

[Spiritbird]

One thing you can try is to lengthen her night time or dark hours. If you put her to sleep at 8 pm try 7 pm. It may stop the behavior. Correct on not touching below the neck. Do not feed any phytoestrogen foods such as flax seeds or oil. Hope it helps.

 

[jfish930]

Thank you SpiritBird! We will try the "early to bed" method

 

[enegron_1]

Hi I am also new to this forum. I will be purchasing a female Eclectus any day now. My question to you besides her wanting to mate with You how is she has a pet? Do you have any regrests. Thank you and good luck with your Eclectus issue.

 

[jfish930]

Hello!
To answer your question--we love our Eclectus-Sophie! We had another breed of parrot in the past and Sophie is extremely well-behaved compared to the other bird.; when we go out of town (about twice a year) and we board her at an "all bird" 'pet shop, Sophie is one of the most popular birds there. I am sure this is because she is quiet, mild-mannered and does not mind being passed around at all to the customers that come in. The owner of the pet shop even says she is "good for business" !
Some things you may wish to know: Not all eclectus' are big talkers. Sophie is 3 and a half and she only speaks a few words/phrases such as "love you" , "whatcha doin", "peek-a-boo" , "grrrrrr- gotcha" and of course "step-up" and "come on". Thats about it and she can go a week without saying anything. Sometimes we forget she is in the room she can be so quiet!
Also, some Eclectus' don't want to be handled all of the time. Sophie can sometimes be held and pet for an hour at a time but like a cat, they want it on their terms. Females can be cage-territorial. When we change her paper in the cage she tries to run and attack us ( only when we change the playtop where she runs around up there). However, if you let her "attack" you and leave your hand there, she will not really attack--she makes biting motions that never hurt.
I must say that being an Eclectus owner, I am of course biased and partial to Eclectuses. But if you are seeking a parrot that is not extremely demanding of your time and is relatively quiet, they may be a good fit.
Another suggestion, we visited Sophie weekly for a few months after she hatched before we took her home. This gave us time to bond with her and see if she was a good fit. We have a very quiet and non-chaotic house and lifestyle and it seems that Sophie likes it that way.
Hope this helps and feel free to respond if you have any more questions!