Mating with Toys

[TikkiTembo]

Hi friends,
I know it's normal, but should I allow Chipper to mate with a toy? He is in love with his rope. They had a moment this morning, and is now crouched on it, laying on it, and quivering! He's in a safe place, so nobody is at risk of getting too close, but I'm genuinely confused as to whether I'm supposed to let him do this or not. On one hand, it's a good outlet, but I also don't want him to get nasty about his cage, especially since he won't leave it yet.
@JLcribber ?

 

[JLcribber]

How you gonna stop him? You take away the rope he'll find something/someone else.

If nobody is getting hurt I let them do what they want. Unless/until it turns into a problem obsession.

No more bags to hide in.

Read or re-read. Always find something in there to help.
Site Name - Articles - Behavioral - Sex And The Psittacine

 

[TikkiTembo]

@JLcribber Thank you! That's kind of what I was thinking, better the rope than my feet or something!

 

[cassiesdad]

Remember, we're talking about a natural thing here.

You take away the rope he'll find something/someone else.

Agreed. Birds will find something/anything to relieve their urges...Sunshine Tiel does his thing on the edge of his food bowl (!)...and is not bashful about when he does it...the only thing that concerns me is that he gets food all over the end of his tail...which entails a clean up...

 

[Karen]

Is Chipper a wood chewer? I was thinking a great big wood toy may keep him very busy!

 

[TikkiTembo]

@Karen he's an everything chewer!

 

[AkasyaEllric]

An inanimate object is definitely better than a person. Slade needs to learn that. . .

 

[TikkiTembo]

@AkasyaEllric Tikki got my head the other day...How rude!

 

[alleykt123]

My Linnie has an unnatural love for my feet. He will slowly sidle up, perform some sweet talk and extend a leg. Nope, not interested in his sexy-time...

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

I had an obsessed Meyers Parrot years ago who literally LOVED my head. I eventually weaned him onto a stuffed bear as his relief object. This is a natural need and I feel it is cruel to curtail it. So an animal behaviorist told me how to transfer his obsession to a toy. Worked great.

And I didnt have to wear a cock Meyers as a hair ornament for months on end!!!!

 

[Sarahmoluccan]

Ok I've got a question now. And its weird The quivering thing, i have witnessed male bird masturbating more than i care to mention but I've never seen quivering. I have limited experience with seeing female birds masturbating, but I have see quivering them a little bit. So my question is quivering a female bird thing? I had to reread the description again and it totally sounds like Chipper could a girl.

But I dunno... I could be totally off base here. But in my experience male birds mount and there will be pelvis thrusting (you'll see tail moving back and forth) and there's panting.

As I have said I have limited female bird mating/masturbating experience. When my female lovebird was caged next to my male cockatiel she would occasionally sent what appeared to ready to mate signals. Wings up over her back and tail up and do this little dance and quivering. The only other thing I've seen was a YouTube of U2 apparently female and the same sort of posture as the lovebird and quivering too.

Ok first the obvious question is has Chipper ever been sexed?

As long as Chipper doesn't become cage aggressive I think mating with a toy is fine too

 

[TikkiTembo]

@Sarahmoluccan Ooh, fascinating thought! I'm not sure if he's been sexed, but I'd assume he would have laid at least one egg in the past 30 years? He got on top of the rope, wagged his tail back and forth, then crouched over it for a good 30 minutes, quivering. Hmmm

 

[TikkiTembo]

Also, @Sarahmoluccan , no panting either.

 

[JLcribber]

The quivering thing is foreplay/an invitation for the male to hop on. But the males will do it on occasion. Like in an unnatural human/mate situation. Because everything is screwed up.

 

[Sarahmoluccan]

Sorry I'm not 100% caught up on his background, but depending on the situation he or if he is a she may have not felt they in a stable enough situation to be willing to use the energy to produce an egg. Plus different environments will produce different behaviors too. What you described doesn't sound like "typical" male bird masturbatory behaviour to me but I'm no where near an expert.

I have heard of birds who even after they been DNA tested to be male laying an egg. I think its safe to assume that just sloppiness on the lab that tested it thou. I never had a bird dna test but assumed base on appearance and masturbatory behaviour that they're male. The only 2 females i had layed eggs.

Echo was assumed female when I first got him, when I took to my vet at the time she thought he was male based on the colour of his eyes. With cockatoos females tend a reddish tint to their brown eyes. male eyes tend to be deep brown almost being black. Now you can't 100% rely on this as there birds who don't follow these general rules.

Because of the risks that unfortunately come being female, such as being egg bound, you might consider have Chipper dna tested. These just my take on things, I'm so curious if others have similar or different experiences.

 

[TikkiTembo]

@Sarahmoluccan He's got a vet appointment on Monday, we'll have a chat about it!

 

[Sarahmoluccan]

@Sarahmoluccan He's got a vet appointment on Monday, we'll have a chat about it!

good thought! I'm curious please let me know what your vet says

 

[AkasyaEllric]

@AkasyaEllric Tikki got my head the other day...How rude!

I'm lucky that Slade only seems to like my right hand, left hand if right is unavailable. I'm still waiting for Ollie and Diggle to start but they would be going after my husband instead

 

[Dona]

My Linnie has a love interest toy as well. She spends time with it during the day and sleeps right next to it at night. Unfortunately she is often cage protective but we easily work around it. She is a super friendly girl outside of her cage, so I think it's OK.

 

[sunnysmom]

Believe it or not, my senior tiel, mates with his perch every day, sometimes more than once. I've never had a bird do it that frequently. So I asked the trainer I know from the Aviary here, and she said as was already suggested here- toys, toys, toys. And ways for him to forage. She said even fill a food dish dish with crinkle paper and hide a nutriberry in it for him to find. So, that's been my recent mission. Trying to find things that Scooter is interested in other than humping.