Aggressive little lovebird

[Valentines]

Hi, my female lovebird is a little over a year now and has some aggressive and territorial issues. For example, when I place my hand on a surface that she's on she'll immediately run to bite it. And cleaning becomes very difficult, when I put my hand in her cage she very quickly goes to bite it.

But, besides all of that, she is adorably cute and sweet! Is there any activities or anything I can do to discourage this behavior? And is there anything I may be doing to encourage it? Thanks!

 

[DoubleTake]

Any surface or the surface of her cage? Do you have nesting material in the cage or a hut/cave like bed for her?

 

[Leih]

Lots of birds are cage aggressive, I think we just work around it.

 

[Monica]

If you want to clean her cage, then either teach her to station away from where you are cleaning or don't have her in the cage at all.

If you don't want her going after your hands when you set them down, then give her a toy to play with instead, cue her to perform a behavior or something else. Keep her busy so she doesn't feel the need to bite.

 

[Valentines]

She plays mostly on my desk, right next to her cage. Should I bring her into a new room like a bathroom to play? Sometimes she just bites my neck when she's on my shoulder, and bites my hand at random times. I know birds rarely bite with no reason, so I try to make her feel safe and respected at all times.

I also put her in a small kennel with paper to keep her occupied when I clean her cage. And what kind of toys? She LOVES to strip paper, I mean she just LOVES IT! So I usually let her do that when she's out of her cage, I have been trying to let her eat out of my palm (she's never done that before) and it seems to me like she's getting a bit more use to my hands and all. But she's just a aggressive little baby. It's a bit sad to think I will never get to give her head pets, but she is my little baby and I won't mind it if it makes her uncomfortable.

 

[Monica]

Why would you take her to the bathroom to play?

If she's biting you while on your shoulder, then she could be bored and needing something to do or she could be overstimulated and needs some rest in her cage.


Through desensitization, you could train her to accept head scritches willingly, but I would say some basic training such as target training and station training would be better.

Have you tried toys made with craft sticks, yucca, balsa, thin slats of pine, wooden beads and foraging toys?

 

[Valentines]

I thought maybe a new room to train with her in so she doesn't feel like she has to protect her cage or territory. And yes I have made her toys with popsicle sticks, safe plants, cardboard.. etc. But she mainly likes paper! And she completely ignores everything in the room when she's shredding the paper.

So should I feed her millet when she's on my shoulder to distract her from biting or becoming aggressive?

And also she does not have any nesting boxes or huts in her cage. Is there anything else that might cause biting or aggressive behavior? Thank you.

 

[Monica]

If she's protective of her cage, then that's even *MORE* reason to work with her at her cage! Taking her away from her cage without doing any training *at* the cage will only make her more aggressive over her cage.

When she's on your shoulder, have you given her any toys she could play with? Or perhaps make a "bird toy" necklace to wear so she could chew on that?

Or have you tried spending less time with her? Shorter intervals, but you could take her out more often if she's willing?

Have you given her any foraging toys?


Lack of training and direction can cause birds to become aggressive. Us not knowing how to read their body language can result in bites.

 

[Valentines]

Good to know, I'll work with her around the cage then. Over the time I've had her, I can finally almost completely read her body language! This helps me to avoid a bite.

When she's playing around the cage (on my desk) how should I work with her to not bite? I usually feed her millet when she walks up to me. And when she does get a bite I lightly blow on her face, she doesn't really like this so she stops. Is that good? Or should I go with another way to make her stop? Thanks for all the help.

 

[Monica]

If she bites, simply remove her from you. You don't want to allow the behavior to continue. Blowing in her face could possibly make her angrier or possibly have some other adverse effect.

 

[Valentines]

Should I just put her back in her cage when she bites?

 

[Monica]

If you aren't literally right next to the cage when she bites, then no.

You really only need to get her off of you and "ignore" her for a minimum of 3-5 seconds. See if she'll interact again without biting. If she goes to bite, give her some more time to cool off.

 

[Valentines]

Thanks, all this has really helped me a lot.

 

[Leih]

Target training is really great. My lovebird was at a stage where she'd step up on a perch, but bite my hand if I asked her to step up. So I started using targeting and when she'd go for a bite, no click, no treat, and I'd simply turn my back to her for about 5 seconds. She really got over biting by doing this! I also worked very slowly for her to accept scritches, like Monica said, but stepping up without biting was our first goal. Now she loves scritches. She will absolutely not do it when she's on camera, but she turns her head upside down so I can scratch her chin, it's pretty cute. She took a long time to train, but I just kept reading her body language and proceeding accordingly. It's been 120% worth the patience!

 

[Leih]

Oh and as she becomes hormonal, foraging and frequent rearrangement of her cage are a must. Anything that keeps them thinking and figuring things out. My girl started biting hard as she went into maturity, and those two were our saviors!

 

[Valentines]

That's really good to hear, it sounds like mostly girls have biting behavior. I wonder why?

 

[Valentines]

That's exactly what my lovebird is doing, she steps up on a perch but she bites me if I try step up with my finger. I'll look into target training, it sounds great!

 

[Leih]

That's really good to hear, it sounds like mostly girls have biting behavior. I wonder why?

Females tend to be more aggressive from what I hear.

 

[Valentines]

I've come up with a little foraging toy for her, so I got a egg carton and took of the lid. Then I filled the little egg holder things up with millet and a little bit of fruits and veggies that are safe for birds, she LOVES IT! I'm so glad. Will this limit the biting?

 

[Leih]

I've come up with a little foraging toy for her, so I got a egg carton and took of the lid. Then I filled the little egg holder things up with millet and a little bit of fruits and veggies that are safe for birds, she LOVES IT! I'm so glad. Will this limit the biting?

It may, you just have to give it some time and see. Basically anything that makes them have to work for a reward. Sometimes I just put some beads into Aoife's dish so she has to push them around to get to her pellets. She was terrified of the egg carton! @Zara has a dish with marbles that she puts some millet in for her birds to forage. (I think that's the setup?) I've seen some birds really like even very simple things like wrapping a treat in some paper.