ibrevity
New member
- Nov 20, 2011
- 9
- 0
- Parrots
- Lovebirds:
(Elysium "Lyssie", 3 y/o, female)
(Olympus "Oli", 10 mo/s, male)
Hello all!
I made a post on here about a month ago about purchasing another lovebird and after a lot of thought and shopping around I finally found one that I really liked. I adjusted my schedule, figured out emergency procedure in case they hated each other, knew I could return the new bird and cage for a full refund if it didn't work out and brought him home.
That was 10 days ago. Olympus or Oli is a DNA-sexed male, peach-faced lovebird. He is only four months old, turning five on March 2nd. He was hand-fed. Him and my (definitely) female lovebird Lyssie are being housed separately but come out of their cages together. They have something of a friendship that they are obviously still working on (they will never be housed together either, if that is a concern).
Now this is where the issue comes in. Oli will step up on my finger but only in certain circumstances; when he really wants out of his cage, or when he really wants to go somewhere else in my room (like Lyssie, he's clipped). He will not be on my finger for any longer than is necessary. If I'm being too slow he'll jump off my hand to either try to get to my shoulder or the floor. That being said, when I want to put him back in his cage or move him to another room I usually have to use a perch, which he steps up on readily enough. He has no problems riding shoulders either, and has already learned that I don't tolerate him on my head.
About 3 days ago he began biting at me. When on my shoulder he would make irritated noises and then lunge at my face, and he never actually bit but a couple of times he would scratch the skin. I've been making no obvious noise responses to the biting and putting him back in his cage. Earlier today however, I was on my phone lounging back and he was on my chest and he bit my thumb rather hard. He seemed surprised and incensed when I put him back in his cage. I was told he would not bite because he was hand-fed, but Lyssie was also supposedly hand-fed and it took me two and a half months to even get her to come out of her cage (and three years later she still bites sometimes).
I need advice on how to curb his behavior before it gets worse. I still can't handle his body (he flips out the few times I've had to when he's fallen or whatnot) and I can't touch his feet unless it's his prerogative to step up.
p.s. this is an unrelated issue but he also almost constantly makes noises that sound like the noises Lyssie makes when she's in pain/irritated. He does it whenever he's in his cage. I can't figure out any obvious cause so I'm assuming that his pain noises must be different from Lyssie's? If anyone has any advice on this too it would be most appreciated.
I made a post on here about a month ago about purchasing another lovebird and after a lot of thought and shopping around I finally found one that I really liked. I adjusted my schedule, figured out emergency procedure in case they hated each other, knew I could return the new bird and cage for a full refund if it didn't work out and brought him home.
That was 10 days ago. Olympus or Oli is a DNA-sexed male, peach-faced lovebird. He is only four months old, turning five on March 2nd. He was hand-fed. Him and my (definitely) female lovebird Lyssie are being housed separately but come out of their cages together. They have something of a friendship that they are obviously still working on (they will never be housed together either, if that is a concern).
Now this is where the issue comes in. Oli will step up on my finger but only in certain circumstances; when he really wants out of his cage, or when he really wants to go somewhere else in my room (like Lyssie, he's clipped). He will not be on my finger for any longer than is necessary. If I'm being too slow he'll jump off my hand to either try to get to my shoulder or the floor. That being said, when I want to put him back in his cage or move him to another room I usually have to use a perch, which he steps up on readily enough. He has no problems riding shoulders either, and has already learned that I don't tolerate him on my head.
About 3 days ago he began biting at me. When on my shoulder he would make irritated noises and then lunge at my face, and he never actually bit but a couple of times he would scratch the skin. I've been making no obvious noise responses to the biting and putting him back in his cage. Earlier today however, I was on my phone lounging back and he was on my chest and he bit my thumb rather hard. He seemed surprised and incensed when I put him back in his cage. I was told he would not bite because he was hand-fed, but Lyssie was also supposedly hand-fed and it took me two and a half months to even get her to come out of her cage (and three years later she still bites sometimes).
I need advice on how to curb his behavior before it gets worse. I still can't handle his body (he flips out the few times I've had to when he's fallen or whatnot) and I can't touch his feet unless it's his prerogative to step up.
p.s. this is an unrelated issue but he also almost constantly makes noises that sound like the noises Lyssie makes when she's in pain/irritated. He does it whenever he's in his cage. I can't figure out any obvious cause so I'm assuming that his pain noises must be different from Lyssie's? If anyone has any advice on this too it would be most appreciated.
