my lorie sleeps hanging on his cage... Help needed.

[ennovy]

Hey I got my little bird today and everything is awesome. Just now he fell asleep and instead of sitting on a branch he hangs on the cage with his beak and claws. I read that they do that when they did not find a suitable spot to sit .I put different thick natural branches in the cage (bought in a parrot shop). And fixed them in different heights. Also a swing. When the evening started he became restless and started climbing everywhere until he stayed and slept. Thinking about it , maybe the branches I put are not high enough, because he is right now at the highest spot possible. What do you think? Looking forward for replies

 

[bug_n_flock]

Birds tend to roost high up. I think your assesment of the situation is accurate. Not a "good enough" perch high enough for your new buddy. Would you mind sharing a photo of your setup?

 

[LaManuka]

Our Lilly Pilly took a good week or two to settle into her new home with us, and she spent the night clinging to the side of her cage too. Lorikeets have proportionately much stronger feet and legs than other birds their size due to their feeding habits in the wild, climbing around branches looking for fruit and blossoms. Like yours, Lilly races around the house at roosting time before she settles down and pretty much puts herself to bed.

Once Lilly became accustomed to her new home of course chose the highest perch to sleep on. Your new addition should settle down in a few weeks, just make a nice high perch available for sleeping and leave it there, he will work it out eventually.

Does your baby have a name yet? And pics please

 

[noodles123]

Give your bird time. Make sure you have high branches---if you move stuff around at this point, you might just freak him out, so I would wait and see if tomorrow he settles in.

Also, how old is your bird?

 

[SilverSage]

Actually, a lot of birds prefer to sleep hanging on the wire regardless of how “safe” the perches are. Some of them sleep in the craziest positions! Don’t worry, this is normal! In my aviary full of tiels and Ringnecks most of the Ringnecks hang from the wire, and a few of the tiels. My girl Nohea sleeps in the top corner of her cage no matter if it is a travel cage, her regular cage, or a 250sqft aviary. She has had HUNDREDS of perches offered to her and she is the most fearless bird ever; she just likes to sleep hanging on the wire.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ennovy]

Wow , so nice of all of you to reply! Thanks a lot. His name is Leo and he is 7 month old. Today I got him a higher perch and in a few min I will know if he takes it. I can take a pic of our setup tomorrow and post and introduce him. I love him already so much, it is insane and we are glad that even if he keeps sleeping like that it is fine. We let him fly in the room today, but he crashes a lot , guess he needs more training...(He was in a cage and is not used to fly).
One strange question... Leo mated with my hand today. Does that mean he is male or do females do that too ? (My female bunnies hump each other a lot).
Thanks for all your kindness to help out a newbie!

 

[noodles123]

Wow , so nice of all of you to reply! Thanks a lot. His name is Leo and he is 7 month old. Today I got him a higher perch and in a few min I will know if he takes it. I can take a pic of our setup tomorrow and post and introduce him. I love him already so much, it is insane and we are glad that even if he keeps sleeping like that it is fine. We let him fly in the room today, but he crashes a lot , guess he needs more training...(He was in a cage and is not used to fly).
One strange question... Leo mated with my hand today. Does that mean he is male or do females do that too ? (My female bunnies hump each other a lot).
Thanks for all your kindness to help out a newbie!

Are you certain he mated your hand? You ABSOLUTELY DO NOT want to allow this behavior. Consider whatever you were doing that triggered it and don't do it in the future. You do not want a hormonal bird on your hands. Both male and female birds will masturbate on people and objects when sexually stimulated or frustrated. Do not scold the behavior, but avoid all triggers and do not allow the bird to continue--put it down and change the subject right away.

7 months seems young for this behavior, but I don't know Lori's well- if you are sure he mated with your hand, are you sure he is 7 months? EDIT---Google says that some will mature as early as 9 months, so it's quite possible.....Hormonal birds develop all sorts of behavioral (screaming, plucking, aggression) and health problems -- egg-binding can kill the females (a hormonal female can lay eggs without a male and they can get stuck inside of them).

No shadowy/dark spaces in the cage
Pet only on the head/neck
do not allow access to shadowy places outside of the cage (under clothes, blankets, furniture etc).
Make sure your bird is getting a solid 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep nightly
Make sure that you have a light/dark routine that you follow daily
Warm/mushy foods can trigger hormones in some birds---even though I know your bird has unique dietary requirements
Certain shredding toys (if too much like grass) can lead to nesting behavior in an already hormonal bird.
If you see any hormonal behavior, change the subject immediately and do not attend to it. If you are touching your bird when it happens, stop immediately and put the bird down.

 

[LaManuka]

What noodles said and then some!

You will want to discourage that kind of behaviour real quick. Many many years ago when we had our male purple crowned lorikeet called Sludge (God love him! ) he would masturbate pretty much any chance he got, with whatever or whoever he was with at the time! Which is one thing when the bird is as tiny as a purple crown, (think smaller than budgie size) but entirely another thing with a rainbow as he is much bigger and stronger and may well bite and claw you HARD!!

I am lousy at getting my Lilly to stop doing just exactly what she pleases and noodles has given you some brilliant tips (must try on Lilly Pilly one day!) but this is one behaviour you’ll want to nip in the bud as it can quickly escalate into aggression.

 

[ennovy]

Hey, thanks for the advice.

He did the masturbation on my hand when I put my hand in his cage (to attach something, or change food). All together it happened about 3 times. I did not touch him at all, there are no dark spot and no shredding toys or any of the other things. He is obsessed with fingers. I gave him fruit and put it wit my fingers from the outside into his cage. He chewed it but he seems most of the times more interested with my fingers and tries to lick them. when he is outside he is ignoring all his toys , ropes or my husband and just tries to go as fast as possible to me. (Kind of cute but not healthy). Once he reaches me he starts walking around my hands and arms and licks them and makes tiny bites( no bleeding and does not try to break skin, I think, but still pretty painful. When he masturbated on my hand I just let him because I could not move my hand out without dropping something or endangering him. But when he is outside he does not do it. Next time I will make him focus on something else and do not enter his cage while he is inside... As for the night day routine, I guess I make it wrong. He just starts to sleep when it gets dark outside and wakes up in the morning with the sun. I think he does not get enough sleep at night , because we have neighbors who start working in their garden at 7. I could hang something over his cage maybe to make him sleep earlier?On the other hand he would lick the fabric. We just ordered black out courtains. hope that helps, but I am worried he might still not sleep enough if he hears us in the next room talking (we have no tv on, but we talk a little bit and use the stairs that might make noises.

One more thing that is strange, (Do I need a new thread for that ? sorry if I post too much here) He does not mix his dry mix with water. I saw him eating it but he did not mix it. In the shop he did mix it. I also gave him the wet mix and he eats it and seems to like it. I mix it with boiling water and let it cool down (the shop told me to ... but on the package it say to use lukewarm water) I change it every 4 hours. The name of the mix is : from Versele Laga, orlux lori. I gave him a strawberry, mango, grapes, blueberries, cherries , apples and celery. He seems to be really into grapes and apples a bit cherries, but the rest is not so interesting I guess. Can I keep feeding grapes daily ? Pics come tomorrow I guess, he is resting and I do not want to get him started


Thanks a lot for your advice about everything and the mating behavior.



Have a great day!

 

[ennovy]

Oh, and he is sleeping on a perch now and I managed to stop the biting a lot. About the age, I am not sure. The shop owner told me that he is 7 month now.He also seems pretty young.He went to sleep and said : I am very sorry.

 

[LaManuka]

Yes all of those behaviours sound pretty typical for your average lorikeet . Just try to keep the undesirable behaviour to a minimum. My previous lorikeet Sludge used to stay awake after hours but Lilly is not a nightowl, she insists on going to bed as soon as the sun goes down. I cover her cage at night and she settles down very quickly and as far as I know doesn’t chew or lick the cover.

Lilly gets dry mix throughout the day and wet mix in the afternoon, and I either use cooled off boiled water or filtered water to mix it. It’s fine if you feed wet mix during the day as long as you keep refreshing it, and you may want to have a few feed dishes for that so you can clean and rotate them. Lilly doesn’t mix her dry food with water either, and she gets her fruit compote pretty much daily too.

All in all it sounds like Leo is settling in very well - still waiting for those baby photos

 

[noodles123]

I have a Cozzy Cover for my bird's cage and I love it (available on Amazon)-- it is a sturdy fabric and it is breathable while blocking light. It also has velcro on the sides for adjustment etc. If you get one, I would advise that you wash it on the gentle cycle in warm (not hot), as mine is falling apart a bit at the seams due to many washes in hot/regular mode.Bird Cage Covers by CozzzyBird --My U2 has only chewed one hole in hers and it was quite small. The fabric drapes the cage quite nicely and it is heavy enough not to bunch up etc. Before I had my U2 on a light/dark schedule, I had to dim the lights and close the blinds to get her to go to bed. Now, even if it is light out, she seems to know when it is time for bed because we have a solid routine.

My bird tends to fall asleep within an hour of being covered (even if there is some noise), but if there is noise in the morning, she is less likely to stay asleep as she has already gotten a lot of sleep (even if it isn't enough). Consequently, I put mine to bed way earlier than I would because when I get up at 5:00, she is up by default. She doesn't sleep more if she needs it in the morning--the second she hears me moving, she is up if it is past 5:00AM, even if she went to bed at 9...which is why shes goes to bed early.

I have never owned a lori, but be careful feeding low-nutrient/high fiber foods (e.g., celery, ice-burg lettuce etc). They provide little nutrition and fill them up. Also, the stringy part of celery can impact parrots' crops.
https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/lories-and-lorikeets-feeding
https://petcentral.chewy.com/dont-feed-your-pet-bird-these-6-foods/

 

[LaManuka]

My vet also suggested lowering energy intake, Lilly gets some fruit but she also loves broccolini, kale and bok choy. Anything to tone down the sugar rush is helpful!

 

[ennovy]

Thanks a lot for the tips.

I will buy the cover , great idea.
also the food list is great. Today we try a less sugary mix and try new fruits and veg. also I will try to make a fruit mash. I might have caused a major sugar rush yesterday because I fed too many grapes. I change the food every 4 hours. The thing with the celery is scary. I got the idea about it from a list of safe food, they did not mention any danger. . I never planned to have a lori but We are really happy and he seems to settle in. If I planned for it I would have done even more research.. But I just could not leave him in the shop.

P.S. Funny thing is, he speaks a bit. He says shut up , I am very sorry and seriously. We did not teach him this.

Photos will come soon.