19 month Indian ringneck, need advice please

[FGuc]

Hello. My 19-month-old male Indian Ringneck has been obsessed with reflective, screen-like things for a while now. He's constantly after TVs, intercoms, mirrors, and phones, talking to them. He broke the intercom, and I'm afraid he'll break the TV too. I removed the reflective things and bought two small, noisy balls to distract him and keep him occupied while he spends time in his cage. Now he's fixated on them, playing with them constantly. He's stopped chirping, whistling, and talking. He used to whistle wonderfully and say 5-6 words, but now he's silent for three weeks. He only plays with the balls. When I tried to take the balls out of the cage, he bit my finger – he'd never bitten like that before – it pierced and bruised my finger. I used to try to get him back in when I took him out of the cage, but he wouldn't want to go back in. Now, he stays outside for 10 minutes and then comes back in on his own to play with the ball. I don't understand if he's experiencing psychological trauma. I'm very unhappy about this situation. I'm thinking of just throwing all the balls away at once, but I'm hesitant because I'm afraid it might backfire and make things even worse psychologically. I'm in a strange situation. I'd appreciate some advice.

 

[Emma&pico]

Hey
I think you have to weigh up options of what’s worse if you take balls away he’s probably going to be become obsessive with something else you have to try find a happy medium I think with a toy he loves but isn’t too obsessed with

pico my lovebird was obsessed with a rope knot perch used to mate it feed it constantly wouldn’t come out etc hasn’t eating and drinking has he should so I removed it he then became obsessed with his cat ball but less obsessed he would just carry it around with him or know where it was

if you think they balls are really affecting him I would remove them and try to find something he enjoys but isn’t too obsessed less obsessive with

 

[Emma&pico]

What other types of toys does he have ?

I lot of pet shop bought toys are made from wood too hard to shred chip up we have vendors on here that make fantastic toys like seriously nutz or lil monsters and honestly it’s a game changer maybe he needs more toys in can shred up
Like sola balsa thin pine

 

[Mizzely]

A lot of this might be hormonally charged and may just need to endured for a bit. When my Jardine's is hormonal, he treats small balls and blocks as eggs and tries to sit on them. With your bird being young, he might have an instinctual nature about round objects but not exactly know what to do with them.

You could try some balls that can be destroyed, like sola, willow/vine, etc. That way you can see if that will help him transition to other toys. Having some destructive toys may help him through the hormonal period too. My Jardine's is partial to catalogs, phone books, and paperback books. Cardboard boxes, sola, and balsa are also highly regarded during this time.

Being protective of the balls is also a sign of this being hormonally charged.

 

[FGuc]

thank you for the answers. This morning I opened the cage, he went outside for a bit, and then I took the balls out. Then I tried to show him the ball in my hand to see if he would come to get it, but he didn't seem very interested. He went back into the cage and continued talking to the metal food bowl because he saw himself in it. I was surprised by this, as I thought he was very attached to the balls. He didn't seem to mind that the balls weren't there. Right now, the balls aren't in the cage, and he's doing the same thing to the metal food bowls. I bought a non-shiny food bowl where he can't see himself; it's arriving today, and I'll remove the metal bowls and put these new ones in. I also bought a natural fiber toy that he can chew on and bite; I'll put that in and see what he does then. When he went outside the cage, he immediately went to the TV and started talking to it. So, in the end, as long as he finds something where he sees himself when he's out in the open, I don't think he'll move away from this anymore. Since we can't remove all the screens from the house, it will continue like this. There's nothing I can do. But this situation is not what I wanted or hoped for.

 

[Mizzely]

I'm sorry, that sounds really stressful for both of you!