Old lovebird new toys?

[Canada88]

Hi guys -
I have a hand fed peached faced lovebird who is now about 14. I'm not sure what sex "he" is.
My question is about toys and play. When he was younger (3 or less) he used to burrow in my shirt and hide in boxes and generally be more playful. Now, the only toy he is interested in are bells, which he treats as if they were other birds (he gets very excited when I put his bell in his cage after travelling with him in the car, for example); he regurgitates for the bell and cuddles with it. All other toys he rejects, acts afraid of, and attacks, even if introduced very slowly (on the outside of his cage for weeks). At best, he will tolerate and ignore new toys, even if they have mirrors on them. He is also no longer interested in hiding in my pocket or playing inside any kind of box.

He is still healthy looking and seems happy enough - just stuck in his ways. He steps up and sits on my shoulder without problems, and spends most of his day when I am home on top of his cage on his playgym or his perch stand (in either case generally squished up against a bell). I've noticed he is a bit more friendly with me when I remove his bells (but then I feel guilty) but the rest of the time he is not very social. He's a well behaved bird but will lurch to attack fingers near his cage or in his space if he is in a bad mood or if you are a stranger.

Is it unlikely that he will ever be able to take to new things because of his age? Any experience working with older lovebirds would be helpful.

Thanks!

 

[Ankou]

Peanut is a bit younger than your old man, she is 12, but I've found with persistence she'll accept new objects eventually.

If he is afraid of something I recommend leaving it as far from him as you can but the toy still be in his line of sight. Generally if he doesn't react to it but can see it it's probably a good distance. If he seems to trust you fairly well, isn't frightened of you anyway, you can try touching the object if you walk by it. As he becomes more comfortable with it, move it closer but not so much he's panicked by it. For Peanut this means scary toys start off about 10ft away, across the room, and depending on her reaction can be given to her in as few as two days or as many as two weeks. There are very few items she just doesn't ever accept.

Since Peanut is tame I can sometimes show her something is safe and fun to play with myself but I have no idea how well that would work on a bird who is less tame. Does he ever copy or watch your behavior? If so, as ridiculous as you may feel, he could learn certain toys are safe and fun or even just be curious if he sees you pretend to be fascinated by them. (Though I would be careful of bells. If he thinks of them as his mate it could just make him angry to see you touching them.)

What sort of toys does he have other than bells? Does he like to shred paper or soft wood?
Most of the lovebirds I know of like bells, but as toys not as a mate. Is it possible he sees his reflection in the bell? It seems weird then he wouldn't react to a mirror though.
If he ever rings the bells and plays with them you could try other clanging stainless steel metal objects on his toys. I've even seen hanging spoons used on bird toys.

When he "attacks" his toys, is that a new behavior or has he done that his whole life?
Peanut can play extremely violently with some things and it honestly looks like attacking, it basically is, but she's having fun. The harder she "attacks" a ringing toy with bells on it the more noise it makes. Throwing things, chasing things, shaking them, leaping on them like a velociraptor, and biting them repeatedly is just part of how she plays. Even shredding things like a cube of balsa wood will be pounced on and bitten viciously a couple of times before she settles a and just methodically shreds it into sawdust.

Finally, on him seeing the bells as his mate... If you remove the bells but spend more time with him yourself it's probably a positive thing. You can provide a lot more friendship to him than a bell is capable of doing, if you want.
Eventually he may even become more tame doing this too. Right now, if he sees an inanimate object as his mate I can't imagine it's a very fulfilling relationship for him but if he's happy I guess there may not be any harm in it.

Finally, I do want to add it is pretty normal for lovebirds to be territorial about their space. Peanut is very tame and still would lunge and bite at me from her old cage. She isn't as bad in her new larger cage but she would still attempt to maim me if I had the poor judgement to try and change her food while she was in there.


Sorry about the novel of text there, welcome to Avian Avenue. I hope you get some helpful information.

 

[Canada88]

Thanks for your reply!

My lovebird is not really un-tame; he steps up easily, often watches me, and bobs his head when he wants to come over to me. He's certainly a lot more likely to want to step up onto me then other people. I like to spend time with him and usually give him about an hour per day. He occasionally bows his head to be scratched, but wont tolerate other people doing this. The rest of the time he sits on his perch stand that i made for him and watches what i am doing; i live in a small apartment so he watches most things. He does like to chew up paper.

I think he does see his reflection in his bells, but I agree, it's odd that he doesn't like other mirrors. I'll try some other hanging metal toys like you suggest- he does ding his bell a lot. He tends to run up to his bell for reassurance, and dings it when he arrives. He also sometimes turns on a time and viciously attacks his bell when he is unhappy.

His toy attacking behaviors aren't new. He will usually tolerate a toy outside of his cage, and then inside not near his perch, (he ignores), but once it is near one of his perches he will lunge at it and then generally stay far away from it (as if he is afraid).

Maybe all of his behaviors are normal, just not having had any other birds before, I wondered, as I tend to read descriptions of love birds as playful, cuddly and dependent, which he certainly has not been since his very early years!