• Welcome to Avian Avenue! To view our forum with less advertisments please register with us.
    Memberships are free and it will just take a moment. Click here

I need help with behavior and biting problems, is this normal? What am I doing wrong?

Zara

♥❀Livin´ in Lovebird Land❀☼
Super Moderator
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avenue Concierge
Joined
1/8/18
Messages
31,370
Location
Reino de España
I thought pedi perches we for nails?
For beaks too :)

I recently got a lava stone thingy, but I haven´t got an opinion on it yet...
 

Zara

♥❀Livin´ in Lovebird Land❀☼
Super Moderator
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avenue Concierge
Joined
1/8/18
Messages
31,370
Location
Reino de España
¨ The Living World Pedi-Perch is a self grooming, non-toxic, cement perch for birds that helps trim and maintain blunt, well-groomed nails. The multi-grip, wavy surface promotes foot circulation and helps prevent arthritis and atrophy. In addition, it also helps clean and condition the bird's beak.¨
 

Xefalen

Meeting neighbors
Joined
11/19/20
Messages
25
Location
Lausanne
Observation of the day:

They have flight time (that they mostly have when I'm home) buit after 30 min they went back in their cage together. Coco regurgitates food to Snowball, I guess they missed eachother?No aggressiveness at all XD. They couldn't fly the last 2 days since I had laboratory work (I felt suuuper guilty) but I'm very suprised that they prefer to chill in the cage and speak. Both are super cute and calm, I have never seen them this calm. They probably start to be habituated to their new environement!!!
 

Xefalen

Meeting neighbors
Joined
11/19/20
Messages
25
Location
Lausanne
Little update:
They come on my arm now :). They also start to understand when I call them "I always do the same whistle + tongue clacking sound to call them) when they are flyingg aound, it's not a 100% but as soon as they see my arm raised (horizontally oc)/hear the sound they understand what I want and start coming even without seeing a treat.

They start to explore my room and become more daring. They even went on my bed once which is pretty much the "bottom" for them.

I still cannot get them to climb on my finger in their cage/outside the cage XD. These cute monsters really start chewing on my finger which is sometimes pretty painful, I don't know why they do that and how to fix that, for now I just go away from the cage. Also they chew/bite my neck/ear sometimes, I instantly push their beek away/my finger/hand scares them, so they stop, but what's cool, is that they aren't that scared anymore they won't fly away, but will just stay on my shoulder and stop :D.

They start to be more habituated to my hand. I can give Coco a treat and sometimes even touch her feathers without scaring her (I mean, she is suprised and freaks out a bit, but only for 1 sec, until she realises that I'm doing nothing XD). Also I can touch her beak and get near her beak with my fingers without her attacking me 70% of the time.

Snowball is still freaked out of my hand, if I try to approach him, he back offs. That surprises me, because he was fed by hand from birth on and is supposed to be more habituated to hands. Maybe his owner scared him. I think that he used the "lights out and I'll get you back in your cage technique" which was probably terribly scary for both birds.

They actually are together in their cage again. Two days ago they flew back together into their old cage and it was not possible to separate them, but since they are way more friendly to eachother I decided to let them together. Also it was just not possible to get them into another cage separated again. They groom eachother and they finally sit really close to eachother sometimes. They also regurgitate sometimes. Snowball talks more :)
 

Xefalen

Meeting neighbors
Joined
11/19/20
Messages
25
Location
Lausanne
Hello everyone,
I haven't written in a while. The birds are doing really well, they are in one cage again and are happy with each other. They fight sometimes but show no aggressive behavior anymore. They are not really scared of me. They climb on me and today they stood on me for 15 min. I still try to touch them, but I cannot get them not to bite me. They are not scared from my hand anymore, and don't really fly away, but once I approach them with my hand, they instantly start to either nibble (which turns into a bite) or bite. They maybe don't like to be cuddled, and I will respect that if it's the reason, but what's weird, is that they seemed to be pretty cuddly with their previous owner. I know that they can be pretty "attached" to only one owner, but it doesn't seem that they don't like me. For instance, I try to stop their biting behavio by training yesterday, Snowball started to flap his wings (happy emotion) at some tries, so he seems to enjoy it, and he sat on my shoulder a lot today and liked to look and interact with me.

Today, they were biting so hard, that even if they were playing with me, I had to put them back in the cage, just to show them, that biting is not approoved (I mean, I can get them in their cage at least :D). I'll let them out in 10 min. again and I'll se...

Maybe they just need more time. But it sometimes gets really annoying when they bite my ear, also it hurts quite a lot.
 

Zara

♥❀Livin´ in Lovebird Land❀☼
Super Moderator
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avenue Concierge
Joined
1/8/18
Messages
31,370
Location
Reino de España
My eldest went years without wantint scritches, then all of a sudden he wanted them. Maybe they are still warming up to you?

For bites, don´t return them to the cage. Just set them down on the nearest surface, and ignore them for a half minute.
If you notice they get nippy , say, around 4pm each day, then return them to the cage at 3.30. But don´t use the cage as a punishment. Ignoring them will work in the end.
 

fluffypoptarts

Biking along the boulevard
Avenue Veteran
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
11/15/12
Messages
6,883
Location
Florida
It can take a long time sometimes for lovies to get friendly with you. Their behavior is relationship-oriented, so a “tame” lovebird is often (not always, but often) only friendly to the people he/she is bonded to.
 

Xefalen

Meeting neighbors
Joined
11/19/20
Messages
25
Location
Lausanne
only friendly to the people he/she is bonded to.
So my lovies playing around with my hair and liking to stay with me are a sign of bonding and curiosity, but means that they are not bonded to me yet, right?

Both start to be pretty confident, they start to come on my lap and they dared to go on my desk :). We may have a long way to go, but they already make me happy :D
 

fluffypoptarts

Biking along the boulevard
Avenue Veteran
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
11/15/12
Messages
6,883
Location
Florida
So my lovies playing around with my hair and liking to stay with me are a sign of bonding and curiosity, but means that they are not bonded to me yet, right?

Both start to be pretty confident, they start to come on my lap and they dared to go on my desk :). We may have a long way to go, but they already make me happy :D
It means that they’re getting there - it’s a process! They are starting to bond to you and have the start of a good relationship with you. Just like a relationship with people, there are stages and levels of bonding. I’m glad they make you happy! :)
 
Top