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Paper shredding is out of control

Harlehd

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Good day
My baby P, whos is now around 5-6 months old, is crazy paper shredder. Since young age, he enjoyed shredding plain papers, and I would give him some papers to enjoy his hobby. Recently, his habit started to annoy me, as he started chewing on my books and he indeed destroyed some of them. Whenever I try taking the books away from him, he fights me and starts biting. I tired covering my shelves with large towels over the books but he always finds his way to the books.
Please help me, how do I stop or tame this annoying behavior?
 

tka

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Shredding is a totally normal activity for birds and not one that you're going to train out of them.

My advice is to separate the bird from your books. Either keep your books in a room to which the bird does not have access, or get doors for your bookcases. I have a few Ikea Billy bookcases with doors: BILLY / OXBERG black-brown, Bookcase, 80x30x202 cm - IKEA

The doors are glass so you can either get plastic film to cover them, or use something like washi tape across them so your bird can tell that there's a barrier there.
 

Zara

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Ahh so this is the infamous bookcase called Billy that the hotpots sing about

Please help me, how do I stop or tame this annoying behavior?
We have 7 lovebirds, so we have a house rule... If it´s out and not put away safe in a cupboard, it belongs to the birds.
I actually caught one of my boys shredding 2 pages of an important contract that my partner left out on the table, so now it has a decorative edging along one side.
I don´t own many books, but I do have a handful, each is expensive or sentimental so I have a cabinet (similar to the Billy bookshelf actually), and I keep my books inside there. I take them out to look at them or read/study, and put them right back once finished, I never leave them out. If my books gets destroyed, I only have myself to blame.
One of the girls got into a bad habbit of shredding my mousepad, so I binned it and now I use a takeaway flier, but I have a young male who just thinks that´s the best thing to shred.

Whenever I try taking the books away from him, he fights me and starts biting.
Hide the books before you let your bird out of their cage. My birds have never been within a wingspan of my books.
 

Kiwi & Co.

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Other than protecting the books as previously stated, you could also offer plain sheets of paper as a distraction from the books and just as a toy in general if your lovie likes to shred so much
 

WeasleyLover

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I don't think he is out of control, sounds like normal bird behavior to me. In my experience, if they see something and they want it, they are going to find a way to get to it. :roflmao:

Maybe you could make him a couple books of his own and leave them out for him to chew? Make a cover with a thicker paper or cardboard, pages with plain paper, and bind it together with some bird safe rope. Keep your books put away and leave those out for him!
 

Harlehd

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thank you all for your helpful advises
I actually hide them and cover them before letting him out of the cage, but he always find s his way to the books. I usually give him a plain A4 paper to enjoy himself while I'm studying but he always wants the one I'm holding.

I will try the Bi
lly bookshelf to protect whatever left from my books.

Thank you all again
 

TheBirds

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In addition to keeping your books behind glass doors, could you give your bird his or her own "book" to destroy? An ex-library book (they sometimes sell-off their more well-used books for cheap) or even a phone book.
 

tka

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I personally wouldn't offer any books or book-like things. It's hard for them to make a distinction between "books that it's okay to chew" and "books that it's not okay to chew", so I'd want to encourage the bird to ignore all books.
 

Zara

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I agree with Tka. Offer distincly different shreddables.
 

TrueBlue

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There is no stopping them. Anytime I'm just minding my own business trying to read something...while they're around...and...:banghead:...
20210201_171149.jpg
 
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