Help! MAJOR behavior changes over the last few weeks! What's going on??

[CleopatraLove]

I've had the most pleasantly sweet lovebird for almost 2 years now. She was a little temperamental towards other people, but was always sweet to me no matter what. Now, she's going to be 2 pretty soon, and all of a sudden she's vicious! She doesn't want anything to do with me, tries to attack my hand when I attempt to take her out of her cage, and will bite and won't let go...and geez, it hurts! She's never been territorial before....I have no idea where this is coming from. Also, if she's out of her cage and I try and get her to perch on my finger, she'll make her perturbed tweet noise, and move to get away from me like she's scared of me.

Absolutely nothing I can think of has changed. She still gets a tremendous amount of attention from me, she's always out of her cage when I'm home, daily baths, treats, and hanging out on my shoulder most of the time. (she doesn't attack or get nasty there thank god)

Ah--- it has JUST occurred to me. My boyfriend did get a new bird, but they do not come into contact. They're in different rooms, and communicate with each other from room to room. That's the only change since her behavior changed.

She also responds to just about EVERY noise she hears thinking it's the bird in the other room. A cabinet squeaking, glasses clinking together, even the noise of me clipping my nails! She's desperate to respond, and chirps in her "communication mode" ALL day long. This is new behavior. It's actually a little annoying and persistent.

Any suggestions? I want my sweet Cleo back....I feel like she doesn't trust me anymore, and I don't know what I did to provoke this. I'm starting to take this personally :(

[jack300s]

I know exactly how you feel. My lovebird did the same thing to me when she was just under a year old. All of a sudden my sweet little bird got mean and started to bite for no reason. Sometimes I would put my hand in and she would hop right on, other times she would bite very hard and wouldn't let go.

When I got the lovebird (named Elvis) at about two months old, I was told he was a boy. However, I always suspected Elvis was a female. When my daughters lovebird was around Elvis was the dominate bird. Elvis would even make female mating moves, and the other lovebird was always trying to get on top of Elvis.

As it turned out Elvis was a female and the pair now have three little baby lovebirds.

The oldest of the three babies is now about two weeks old. Elvis is back to her normal ways and doesn't bite me anymore. When she's out of the nest, I can stick my hand in the cage and she hops right on. Loves to get treats from me.

As to why the sudden change and biting? I'm no expert, but my gut tells me it has something to do with a female lovebird coming of age? Hopefully the biting will stop soon, and you'll get your sweet little friend back soon.

[penelope's person]

Ugh....I know how you feel. My lovebird acts like that all day, every day...but it's definitely not unusual for her :P

It could be hormones...or it could also be the bird. Even though they can't see each other...they definitely know when a bird is around...even if it's not the same species (my Penelope communicates with bluejays, crows, starlings, finches....everything!)

Perhaps you could test out the waters and try having them in the same room in their cages? Now I'm no expert, and if someone on here tells you different..I'd listen to them.

[LauraO]

These kinds of changes in behavior are pretty normal but very distressing when experienced first hand. It's hard to totally say what's going on with Cleo but it could very well be hormones, but it could also be something else. No matter what it is happening, It's important to remember that Cleo still loves you and wants to be with you.

The thing is Birds ALWAYS BITE FOR A REASON, and it's up to us to figure it out. So step back, relax and think about some changes you can make to take some pressure off Cleo while you figure out what is going on and make adjustments. You could try minimizing the use of stepping up on your finger. Lovebird hens bite REALLY hard and it only takes one good beaker bite and most of us start becoming timid or flinch, which confuses the bird and they bite more:confused:. You may want to just open her cage door up and let her decide to come out or not. If she is not flighted you could maybe offer your wrist or shoulder to step up on. The goal is just to figure out what causes her to bite and change your behavior in a way that doesn't put you in the position to get bitten:whistle:.

I don't know about this other bird, but I definately would not put them in the same room if the other bird hasn't been quarantined for at least 30 days.

Good Luck:)