Guess it's that time of year agaon (hormones).

[Z28Taxman]

Ditto threw me into panic mode again this week. I was on the couch watching tv and saw him start gacking again. This of course immediatly got me thinking "oh no not again!" since it was about this time last year that he got sick.

However he immediately started acting like he's feeding a toy. He's been pretending to feed his toys since wednesday now and it took me a bit to remember that his normal hormone cycle usually starts just after or around thanksgiving. Whew!

His hormones were interrupted last year because he got sick and didn't feel like it so it kind of slipped my mind.

[maya_exquisite]

Be lucky that his hormones only come around during this time! ;) It's not fun having a bird with hormonal issues year round... we have to severely limit our interaction with Mika to help lessen (but not stop) it. :( It's not fun cleaning gack off of everything daily! :rotfl

[Z28Taxman]

Be lucky that his hormones only come around during this time! ;) It's not fun having a bird with hormonal issues year round... we have to severely limit our interaction with Mika to help lessen (but not stop) it. :( It's not fun cleaning gack off of everything daily! :rotfl

Yeah a couple of months is bad enough. Don't know how you do it. Fortunately most of the time he doesn't actually feed the toys. Just fakes it.

[maya_exquisite]

Yeah, it's not fun! He heaves all over surfaces so I have to wipe counter tops and perches constantly (it's so much harder to clean after it dries). It's not as bad if we just don't touch him at all, but it definitely breaks our hearts so he occasionally gets a kiss or scritch.

If he was a bird's bird, we'd get him a female but we (including our vet) agree that if he's never stopped heaving when he's had bird friends in the past, it's not going to stop now. We just have to lessen the heaving with minimal interaction. BLAH.

[Z28Taxman]

He's been much more calm today. Still faking feeding his toys but not doing nearly as much gacking.

I think I might have figured out what's going on. I've been home all week and wed-friday I played a lot of need for speed on the playstation3. He always gets wound up with the noise the games make and I guess so many hours of engines screaming, tires screeching and me yelling at the game (would I do that? :whistle:) got him supercharged. He usually does get supercharged when we're playing games (he likes to help, or bite the controller) but he's not normally hormonal.

I didn't play any games today and he's back to his calm self. Except now of course. It's time to come out and watch tv so he's pitching a fit, screaming and beating up everything in site.

Guess I'd better go and let his royal highness watch tv. :rotfl

[Z28Taxman]

And right on schedule it appears his winter moult has kicked in. Pins on his head and feathers flying everywhere. :omg:

[Z28Taxman]

I think I figured out why he's acting a bit different this year than he has in the past with his hormones.

I threw out his old knotrageous toy last year when he got sick with the yeast because he threw up all over it and it was getting old anyway. I got him a new (larger) one which he absolutely loves since it hangs all the way down to his branch so he can snuggle up under it and have something to snuggle up next to. The difference between this one and the old one is at the top. The old one had a wooden ball at the top that he would feed and this one just has a piece of rope on top of a piece of cactus wood. Instead he's trying to feed one of his bell toys which have a stack of those wooden balls with the chain going through them. That doesn't work out so well since the darn thing swings around on him. So he goes back to the knotragous toy and fakes feeding it.

One cute thing he's been doing is with his piniata toy. It hangs from the top of the cage next to a perch and he's been standing next to it and snuggling. Apparently the shredded bits also work to give himself head scratches to work those pesky pin feathers.

He's been begging for skritches 24/7 the last few days since he's started his winter moult. Poor little itchy dude.

[thebubbleking]

Aww give him a scritch for me!!!

[Z28Taxman]

Silly bird. Must definately be hormone time. He's trying to tuck pieces of string into his chest feathers. Of course he has no idea what he's doing so it's not working very well. He'd better not swallow any again. Guess I'm gonna have to go in and give his toy a little haircut again.

[Z28Taxman]

And the hormones are in full swing now.

Late morning early afternoon are the worst. He'll eat, take a break and hop to the top perch, gack, spin, gack, scratch head, ring bell, spin again and hop over to the knotragous toy to feed it. His little dance seems to get more involved by the day.

[michael]

Geez... sounds like a lovebird square dance! .. Oddly, Goof seems stuck in men-o-pause. Few head bobs, and he's done for the year. .. Beeber's...he a perpetual Don Juan. I'm afraid to hide my feet for fear of what or who he'll go after next! ........:omg:

[Z28Taxman]

Geez... sounds like a lovebird square dance! .. Oddly, Goof seems stuck in men-o-pause. Few head bobs, and he's done for the year. .. Beeber's...he a perpetual Don Juan. I'm afraid to hide my feet for fear of what or who he'll go after next! ........:omg:

Fortunately, Ditto stopped trying to court me years ago. He hasn't tried to feed my toes in about 5 years and only nibbles at my fingers. In fact letting him out of his cage calms him down completely and he's content to snuggle in my hand most of the time with a few trips to his gymn to flirt with the knotragous toy there and preen it.

The only thing I can't do is go near his happy hut or knotragous toy. If I put my hand anywhere near it he'll stand in front of it and go into protect mode.