Hi all. About a month and a half ago, we got two lovely bonded lovebirds, Chino and Chai. They are extremely affectionate with one another, and my husband and I don't mind that they may never truly bond with us. We let them out of their cage every day for pretty much the whole day, only closing their cage when they go in for food around 5:30 pm for the night. They are extremely inquisitive and playful and fly all over our apartment, exploring every nook and cranny.
We are happy for them to be out and using their wings and we can see how happy they are when they're playing around the apartment. However, they are getting very naughty and have taken to biting through just about everything they can get their beaks on. Our window blinds have taken a beating, and we've had to throw away about all of our succulents and other houseplants as they've destroyed them all.
We recently bought Avert bitter bite spray, which we put on some of our furniture and blinds - it seems to help a bit but not as much as I would have hoped.
We are trying to be patient with them, but often when they're not destroying something, they're just busy screaming as loud as they can, calling back and forth to each other even if they're only a few inches away from one another... Because we stay in an apartment block, we're getting worried that neighbours may soon start complaining about the noise.
We're realising that we really need to get them tamer, otherwise I'm not sure how sustainable this arrangement will be. When they're still in their cage in the morning, I put my hand in for 10-15 min so they can start getting used to being close to me. Generally, they're just nervous about either me or my husband being too close. They just sit as far away from me as possible in the cage when I have my hand in (although they used to totally panic and fly all over when I first started... progress?)
We really need advice on how to get these guys to behave and become a bit more comfortable with us. Any words of wisdom would be appreciated!
We are happy for them to be out and using their wings and we can see how happy they are when they're playing around the apartment. However, they are getting very naughty and have taken to biting through just about everything they can get their beaks on. Our window blinds have taken a beating, and we've had to throw away about all of our succulents and other houseplants as they've destroyed them all.
We recently bought Avert bitter bite spray, which we put on some of our furniture and blinds - it seems to help a bit but not as much as I would have hoped.
We are trying to be patient with them, but often when they're not destroying something, they're just busy screaming as loud as they can, calling back and forth to each other even if they're only a few inches away from one another... Because we stay in an apartment block, we're getting worried that neighbours may soon start complaining about the noise.
We're realising that we really need to get them tamer, otherwise I'm not sure how sustainable this arrangement will be. When they're still in their cage in the morning, I put my hand in for 10-15 min so they can start getting used to being close to me. Generally, they're just nervous about either me or my husband being too close. They just sit as far away from me as possible in the cage when I have my hand in (although they used to totally panic and fly all over when I first started... progress?)
We really need advice on how to get these guys to behave and become a bit more comfortable with us. Any words of wisdom would be appreciated!