What do you do when...

[Miri]

First off, I'd just like to give a big thank you to everyone who responded to my last post about biting. We've been working on it and Kitty rarely ever bites me anymore. The advice was a real hand-saver.

But now I have another question. A week or so ago, she started regurgitating when I'd let her out of her cage. At first I was concerned, thinking she might be vomiting, but I brought her in to the vet and he said what she was doing was normal and that she was perfectly healthy.

A couple days later, Kitty had begun to prefer sitting only on my fingers, which is usually one of her least favorite spots, and hours after that she'd started trying to mate with my hands! It's not a constant thing that she does, but it has definitely been happening, and each time it seems she gets a little more determined to finish the act.

So my question (or should I say questions) to you all is this: is this whole fiasco something that most parronts go through? And if it is, what do you guys do when it happens? Is it something I should just ignore and let her do, or should it be discouraged?
I'm not sure how to react when she does it, because I don't want to orient her thoughts of mating with scolding or rewards.
And I've been considering bringing another bird into the home, but now, I'm not sure if that would be such a good idea.

Any thoughts/advice/knowledge on the matter would be appreciated.

Miri

 

[TexDot33]

Oh boy, we have a new fid going through birdy puberty ... so this is what you have to do, you have to sit her down and have a talk about the "humans and the bees" ... ok, seriously though ... j/k.

Ok, regurgitation is a normal behavior ... all parrots do it, if you read Flyte's posts you will see that her B&G, Madison, does it as well (I would rather be puked on by a lovebird than a Mac ... much less volume). This is one of those, don't encourage, but don't discourage behaviors. Take a "thanks but no thanks approach" it is going to happen and there is nothing you can do about it ...

Birdy masturbation on the other, er ... hand ... is a ... um, oh, touchy subject ... I would say this to you ... it is going to happen one way or another it only becomes a problem when it becomes compulsive ... let me put it to you this way:

My fictitious son has just turned 12/13 - ish ... he still goes to baseball/football practice every day, keeps his grades up in school, the phone is ringing off the hook with other preteens/teenagers calling my house and my 'fridge is constantly empty because he is eating me out of house and home ... what he does in his bedroom at night is his business. On the other hand, I buy him the new Madden '08 football video-game (knowing he is a huge fan) and he loves to play playstation/Wii/X-box and he's not playing it, and his grades are slipping, he suddenly becomes a loner and won't leave his room ... then there is an issue ... see the difference.

How I would handle this situation with a birdy is a distraction method ... when your fid starts to act this way you need to remove him/her from the situation and distract with another favorite toy ... hopefully that will break the behavior ... mating with your hand is something that needs to be discouraged gently ...

Hope this helps,

~ Tex :50:

 

[Flyte]

Yes, unless you want a much closer relationship with Kitty find some sort of distraction.
I remember when my Amazon, Rocky first started doing this. My mom and I both thought he was having a seizure and was going to die. He started getting all excited with.. erm.. a sheet on the couch and then he rolled right down the front of the couch and landed on his back on the cushions. He got up and just started moving around all weird and making these crazy noises and we were like OH GOD NO HE'S DYING! So here I'm trying to calm him down and pick him up not realizing I'm making it worse..lol..
He stopped after a minute or so and then he was absolutely normal. I went to my bird club a few days later and asked about it and became quite embarrassed to find that Rocky was just very enamored of the sheet, not dying
When he does this now I just put him back in his room and leave him alone for awhile. I love him but I really don't want to have that kind of a relationship with him. Neither do my sheets.

 

[Miri]

Oh, that must have been so scary for you!
At first, I thought she was trying to cuddle in to take a nap, but it didn't take long to figure out what she was doing.

Thanks so much for the responses, guys!

 

[NicoleN]

I agree with Tex & Flyte. One thing they didn't address in their posts though was how you mentioned about getting her a mate. This is one of those things that you could probably go either way on.

Since Kitty does this to you (and you only, I'm assuming), it means that she probably thinks of you as her 'mate'. If you get her a little friend, she might not accept him. However, if she becomes so enamored with you and is distressed b/c she can't actually mate with you, it could possibly lead to some unwanted behaviors like plucking.

Ask Wilma (a.k.a. Eclectica) about it. She has a ring-neck that really really loves her and shows his love by being featherless.

IMO, I would try out what Flyte & Tex said first, if there's no change in Kitty's behavior then maybe you'd want to consider a mate.

 

[Flyte]

I think a lot of animals do this. My cat does the same thing.. and my dogs. No one wants to talk about their pet ah.. 'masturbating' but its normal. I don't think that means you need to get a mate for your bird.
Many birds become so bonded to a mate that they no longer want to interact with their owner, something to keep in mind.
My Blue Crowned Conure, Echo, who I hand fed and had for over 15 years, wanted nothing to do with me when he met Cora, a beautiful little girl Blue Crowned Conure. He just wanted to be with her, even bit if I tried to hold him. Not saying that would definitely happen to your bird as birds are individuals, it's just what happened to me and was rather hard to take.
Of course, the birds welfare is more important and I guess I'm glad that Echo was really happy with his Cora but I still missed him.. (Feels very silly to be jealous of your bird's girlfriend. lol)
Anyways, since the behavior has just started it's probably going to pass. then again..Madison still tries to regurgitate to me all the time, sometimes she even says 'ugh' when she's doing it. lol. I guess I need to be more careful with my reactions!

 

[TexDot33]

Ask Wilma (a.k.a. Eclectica) about it. She has a ring-neck that really really loves her and shows his love by being featherless...

Where has Wilma been? I could use a good Pikie picture right about now!