please explain new behaviors

[SammySamantha]

I haven't posted on here in ages! For some background, my Sam was a found bird. I took him in 2 years ago last month. No idea how old he was at the time. No idea what sex he/she is, just refer to Sam as he because it seems easier. The last few weeks, some of his behavior has changed and it makes me wonder.

First - the shirt diving. He has always liked to rummage around inside my shirt, chew on my bra strap, pop his head through any gaps, fun stuff like that. Now he is aggressively digging his way under my clothes. I even tried to hold my shirt closed and he bit my hand (he never usually bites). And if I am in my bathrobe nothing can stop him, he is really obsessed with it. He digs his way to my armpit and just hunkers down there until I can't stand it and have to shoo him out.

Second is the paper chewing. Again, he did this before sometimes but usually only if it was a paper I was actually holding. Now he frantically dives across the room to anyone who has paper in their hands (he used to never leave my shoulder for anyone). If I leave him out of his cage, he chews ANY paper product he can get his beak on. I have to leave magazines out for him. He can tear through a whole magazine in a day. Sometimes I leave him out of the cage shut in my bedroom if I am only gone for a short time. When I come back it looks like someone has thrown me a ticker tape parade! Funny, except when he finds things like book jackets and speeding tickets.

Is he nesting? Isn't he too old to just now start laying eggs, if that is what this is about? What other behaviors should I look out for? Will this pass, or get worse? Is he just finding new ways to annoy me?

Thanks for any light you can shed on my bird's issues.

[Gill]

Those behaviours describe my female Bobble perfectly! She is always down my top, if i stop her she nudges my hand out the way or if im laying on the bed she will dig around my sides and armpits headbutting me!

When she was nesty she used to dive for paper, she'd go bonkers in the cage if she saw my flatmate or me with a magazine, she knew exactly what it was!

In respect of discouraging, Bobble went straight into nesty mode after 2 clutches of eggs in a row, i took EVERYTHING out of the cage that she could shred and i mean everything, no paper to shred was offered at all but she still dived straight down my top when I let her out, quite quickly she showed no nesty behaviour in the cage, only slightly outside now, she is 90% out of nestiness, if she sees paper she ignores it.

Im glad I have cracked weening her out of nestiness so i should have better luck next year!

[Dave_K.]

This also sounds exaclty like Zoe. A bird we had dna sexed and sold as a male two years ago and who layed eggs about two months ago. We now have her back in our flock and she is a very sweet and friendly little girl.We have broken part of the nesty symptoms but not the shirt diving or shredding. If I am reading I have to be vigilant about my book or an instant notch appears, they are so fast!

We learned from the former owner that her and her family were guilty of petting her in some of the no touch zones which made her really nesty. Within about two days of not making those mistakes her behavior changed quite a bit but not totaly. Good Luck!

[Jally]

My Peanut is a DNA'd male and he loves to be in my shirt. Especially when he wants a nap or at night. He can chew paper really well too. The difference between a male and female is if the bird chews strips and tucks them in her tail to carry back to the cage then it's a female. Or if the bird just chews up little paper spit balls it's a male. It's not 100% foolprrof though because my female can't keep strips of papers in her tail and some males can do it pretty well.

I let my female shred papers because if I don't, then she will shred her chest feathers :(

[Enko_chan]

These are pretty typical lovie behaviors.

Some of my lovies have been clothing spelunkers (cave divers) and some haven't... but its a normal compulsion. Its partly a desire to explore, partly a desire to cuddle and be affectionate. It seems to be more common among single lovies than paired ones, in my experience, but certainly is not limited to single lovies! Clothes diving was a favored passtime of my first lovie to be closely bonded with me, and he had a mate.

As for the paper shredding, I've never yet met a lovebird that didn't do this. Hens may do it more as a nesting compulsion, but both my lovebirds are male and will make a bee-line toward any paper product in the room.

I can't imagine a way to make my birds quit doing these things. I can't have valued items, like books, which are made of paper or unframed pictures or posters out within reach of the lovebirds. We keep our books shelved in the other rooms and I stick them in a drawer when the lovebirds are out to play- even so, being an avid reader, most of my books have a few beak holes punched in them.

To keep them from going down your shirt, you can try to move your bird away whenever an attempt is made to enter it, firmly but gently say "no". This may take a while to sink in, and it can be very difficult to stop them from doing something they really love to do.

[bookworm0550]

mine love going inside my shirt and ripping anything paper like to pieces. they have a phone book (and the rabbit has one as well). i don't know if you can really do much about the paper part. i have to give mine paper otherwise they go for my blinds more when there's a lack of paper toys. and i actually like my birds crawling inside my shirt. i dont mind it. the only one who does that a lot is joey. that boy is always crawling into my shirt or pant legs. it's like a game to him.