Lovebird v. Eyeglasses (he’s winning)

[Beasley]

Admittedly, Peeps does make a charming addition to my face lmao however I would like to see things and I can’t wear contacts. I am happy to be his favorite toy/jungle gym, but I cannot get him to stop eating/attacking my glasses. Has anyone else had any success with training their (love)bird to not eat their glasses?

 

[TikiMyn]

So cute! Have you tried a birdie necklace? Some plastic chain with favorite toy parts attached that you can wear heavily reward him if he uses the necklace instead of glasses. Or redirect him every time he Goes to your glasses with something else, like asking him to fly away?

 

[Dona]

Super cute pic. So funny. Gigi hangs on the side of my glasses if I let her. But she hops off if I insist. When she is in that mode I just put my hand over my glasses for a while and she forgets about it.

 

[MommyBird]

I can't see a thing without my glasses and they are so expensive to replace that I just never let any of the birds on them or touch them. They no longer show any interest at all. Just say no consistently and mean it. A distraction can be helpful too. I know how persistent they can be!

 

[Beasley]

Have you tried a birdie necklace? Some plastic chain with favorite toy parts attached that you can wear heavily reward him if he uses the necklace instead of glasses. Or redirect him every time he Goes to your glasses with something else, like asking him to fly away?

You can see a bit of the “necklace” I made for him out of jute string and beads clipped to the button hole in my shirt, it irritates my skin so I have it hanging for him to play with, but my glasses are apparently way more attractive to him. He isn’t food motivated and will drop anything given to him as a distraction toy. I can try using the “off” command but it’s almost like my glasses make him angry because now he’ll bite my face too.


He’s just about 4m old and has gotten rather crabby and bitey lately...

 

[Shezbug]

My bird tries the exact same thing with my daughters glasses. She has finally managed to stop him trying to land on them (same as how your bird is on yours) so now he sneaks around behind her and tries to steal them from behind her ears. She never lets him get them and he is slowly (very slowly) showing less and less interest in them.
My piercings are a whole different matter though, I do not think I will ever manage to convince him they are mine not ours.

 

[Beasley]

[QUOTE="Shezbug, post: 2941644, member: 26516" now he sneaks around behind her and tries to steal them from behind her ears. She never lets him get them and he is slowly (very slowly) showing less and less interest in them.
My piercings are a whole different matter though, I do not think I will ever manage to convince him they are mine not ours.[/QUOTE]

Peeps does that too! he also likes to preen my hair and thinks he’s being sneaky getting to my glasses that way, then he bites when I try to get him off. I keep my earrings off when he’s around but he is still really fascinated with the holes lmao. Many years ago I had a friends pet rat try to steal my lip ring and it took years to get full control of my lip back.
I might try gloves and glasses, he’s freaked out by my hands in gloves but those snappy “back off” bites hurt!

 

[metalstitcher]

Gracie use to do the same thing when she was a baby. She would try to perch on the arms or land on my face. Keep removing said fluffy butt to your shoulder and soon enough he will get the hint. It takes a little bit but he will figure it out. You are going to have to endure the nips for a little bit but as long as he isn't drawing blood you should be fine.

 

[Gazimon]

Moony does the same and I sometimes think he wants to preen around my eyes and the glasses are in the way. Of course he has also bitten the softer bridge rest piece before and I kept going back to the shop to ask for a replacement pair [ for the rest, not the whole spectacles ].

 

[Beasley]

Luckily there’s not been any blood drawn or damage to the glasses but they are very expensive and although he may not mind us cracking into the furniture my body is not amused lol my biggest concern is that I have that typical rental brown/beige carpeting and a chocolate tricolor chihuahua that I cannot see without my glasses, I would be beside myself if I were to inadvertently hurt him.

 

[Princessbella]

When Bella is a pain in the butt, I first tell her no in my not happy voice (not yelling but not happy) and then if she persists, she goes on her cage. It is not a punishment because she has so many toys to play with. She has different chirps for different emotions and I mirror these when I talk to her.

 

[Beasley]

When Bella is a pain in the butt, I first tell her no in my not happy voice (not yelling but not happy) and then if she persists, she goes on her cage. It is not a punishment because she has so many toys to play with.

That’s exactly what I’ve been doing but he only goes in his cage if he decides to start biting my face, which continues with hand biting until he’s in his cage

 

[metalstitcher]

Lovies are smart and they know when they do something wrong. I would continue with removing said fluffer butt from your glasses and tell him not to do that. When he goes back just keep at it. They are stubborn and I mean seriously stubborn but he will understand eventually. You just have to be patient. Ever pair of glasses I have are scratched from Gracie flying into my face when I wasn't looking so I get it. I can't see past a foot or everything is blurry. It won't be resolved over night but if you keep it up he will understand they are not a play gym for him.

 

[Ankou]

This is going to sound possibly insane but do you have a similar old pair of glasses from a prior prescription you could give him?

While I can't remember if I tried this with glasses, generally giving Peanut her own thing really helped her work through her obsession and by it being "allowed" as a toy made the real one more boring since it wasn't forbidden and special. At the very least it doesn't make her obsession any worse and encourages her to obsess over the one that I'm not using.

Also if you have any tiny screws on your glasses check them every once and a while to make sure they are still tight.
Mine would always pop out at the worst possible times, Peanut loved loosening them gradually over the space of several months and they would always, without exception, fail while I was away from home. I'd have to feel for where it fell, in public and half blind, then try to screw it back in with my bare hands.

 

[metalstitcher]

@Ankou that's a good idea I would have done that with Gracie but all mine have thins arms she would have chewed through them in 5 minutes lol

 

[faislaq]

My bird tries the exact same thing with my daughters glasses. She has finally managed to stop him trying to land on them

I'm sorry, what other bird do you have? Because right now I'm imagining a macaw hanging off your daughter's glasses.

 

[Beasley]

I’m guessing he’s just being a grumpy wumpus right now because he’s molting and hormonal... he is like Dr. Lovebug and Mr. Attackmom. I am just going to wait until his demeanor evens out because my face is already getting totally random and unprovoked bites the glasses are asking for trouble.
He really wants to be with me until he’s out and then suddenly he’s not a fan lol he won’t stop attacking my chihuahua and the poor guy is already afraid of birds :evilsign:

 

[metalstitcher]

You need to keep removing him from your glasses because he is going to think its okay for him to do that. I know it's hard but you will need to work with him and push through the bites and squawks and his attitude but in the end it will be the best for the both of you. If he is molting be gentle with him because this is a stressful time for them. It takes work and he needs to know your glasses are not a play-gym.

 

[Beasley]

I have been researching molting and I didn’t realize that it could be painful for them! I stopped petting him when/where/how I wanted to and it was night and day. I was provoking his bites, I just didn’t know it. It seemed like suddenly he just wanted to bite me.

I’ve let him come to me and wait for him lean his head for scritches and kisses. Immediately the snappy biting stopped and he’s back to being my little sweetheart. Now that he’s molting I can see his flight wings were clipped before I got him, I’m wondering if those pokey ends hurt him.

He could fly when I brought him home, but not very well. I thought being just over a month old he was simply learning how to fly. Either way since I have to grab him to pull him off my glasses, I am just going to wait for him to finish molting so I don’t accidentally hurt him. Then we can get to training.

 

[Shezbug]

I get into big trouble when I touch too much when new feathers are coming in. Burt is really the total opposite of his gentle calm patient self when he is getting new feathers, he is like that on his own too. He bumps things in the cage or when he is out and he has a tantrum about it, I guess they really bother him. He was alright when it was his head and body (only a little bit grumpy) but now with the tail and flight feathers starting to come in he can be very unhappy and frustrated at times.