Tango is jealous!

[trish1172]

Tango seems to be quite jealous of Lily, my female cockatiel, who is new to the home. He definitely didn't like being moved back to the smaller cage so Lily could have the larger cage since she is bigger and needs more room. Today, he found his way over to the outside of the big cage and he & Lily came face to face. She tried to ignore him, but he tried to nip at her feet when she started climbing the bars inside. Normally, he is in his cage and seems like he constantly throws "temper tantrums". Everything from squawking to shaking toys violently. Is his jealousy thing going to be permanent or will he get over this?

[kimberly1985]

Yep! Tango is def. jealous! LOL I can't blame him if someone took my big home and gave it to the new person! But Lily definitely needs the bigger cage though!

[shadnamber]

It sounds like he wants his cage back and he doesn't want a roommate. Maybe this change will be good for him though once he accepts it. Did he get to keep his possessions like toys and food dishes? Maybe that would make it easier for him.

[trish1172]

Yep. He got his food dishes and all of his favorite toys. I only took 3 or 4 of the one's he never played with anyway, so I doubt he misses them.

[linda040899]

Actually, the cage/toys, etc. have very little to do with the behavior you are seeing! Tango is protecting what he considers to be his territory....you and your home. Lily is viewed as an intruder and he's not being very accepting of her because he was there first! He's going to have to get to know Lily and realize that she's not going to take YOU away from him.

Have you introduced him to her? If not, give a formal introduction a try. Give praise and rewards for non-aggressive behavior from him.

[trish1172]

No, actually I guess I never thought about doing that:confused: It sounds like it's worth a try and I really think they could get along in the same home. I certainly don't want Tango to get stressed over Lily "moving in".

Thanks!

[summerday]

Yeah I agree with all that's said above =p

and I'd also like to add one more thing. A similar thing happened with me long time ago when I had a lovebird named Cherry, and a friend of mine wanted to look after a parakeet named DJ for awhile. One day I came back from home, I found DJ's foot bleeding, and one tip of her toes missing.

What happened was that Cherry was so jealous that she actually went over to DJ's cage (just like Tango), and when DJ was climbing up the cage wall, Cherry bit her feet so hard that she actually lost a toe. I remember crying so hard and running to the nearest vet to save the poor parakeet!!


I'm not telling you this story to scare you or anything, I just want you to keep an eye on your birds because lovebirds can be VERY jealous!! They even attack birds and animals much bigger than themselves...

[trish1172]

Yeah, that's what I've been reading and hearing. That was the one thing that Tango tried to do last week. He did jump on the outside of her cage and as she was climbing up the side to get away from him, he attempted to bite at her foot. I immediately tried to use his perch to take him back to his cage, which he tried to run from. That made him forget about Lily and eventually he hopped back onto the perch and was placed back by his cage.

Over the past couple of days, he has calmed down some. I've been trying to pay attention to him as much as possible, since we are giving Lily some space and time to adjust to her new home. With the exception of talking to her occasionally throughout the day, we have just been letting her explore her cage. She's been here about a week now, but sometimes she still "hisses" when she gets nervous. Tango isn't trying as hard to get over to her cage (which is now a few feet across the room). I took him over on the perch yesterday, close enough to introduce him & Lily, but not close enough for him to jump on her cage.

[linda040899]

I think you will find that Tango will accept Lily fairly well once he realizes that she's not there to replace him. You may even find that they could become friends, depending on the two of them. Tango just needs to feel secure with his place in the flock. :)

[trish1172]

Tango's latest thing is to pick up the feeding doors on his cage and drop them....constantly! I've had to take the 2 clips I have to hold millet and put them at the top of these doors so he can't do it so much. So, since he can't lift these, now he pulls off his food dish and dumps it!:omg: I am spending time with him, my daughter spends time with him, and so does my husband (who is the one person Tango won't mess with cause he knows that Russ isn't afraid of his bites). We still let him out to roam around & feed him millet. I've let him see Lily so he doesn't feel left out, & yesterday, Lily came out of her cage for the first time & even suprised us when she flew over to see him.
Tango is just one, little determined Lovie:) I know it will take time for him to become less insecure about Lily moving in. Until then, I guess he continues his tantrums:evil:

[linda040899]

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

He's an opinionated little character! That's for sure. Give him a bit of time and see if his attention getting antics calm down a bit.

[RicosPoppy]

Not that it's any consolation, but my Lovebird Rico bangs his water dish ALL THE TIME. This has been going on for about 7 years now. The only remedy is to let him out. :)

They definately know what they want and how to get it.