Taming An Untame Lovebird

[Arabianhorselover]

Have any of you managed to tame a Lovebird? Is it really as hard as they say?

[starwynde]

It's not hard as much as it is time consuming and requires a large amount of patience. People seem to confuse those. I've taken a human hating, finger gnawing, vice-beaked hellion (kept in a pet store in an open Plexiglas pen where anyone and everyone could stick their hands in and chase the birds around until they either caught one or got bit) and had him tamed to the point where he would come when called, sit on my shoulder and talk to me, groom me, and nap on my chest in about a year. This required about 3-4 hours every day of working with the bird, 100's of band aids, and a few tubes of Neosporin, and to be honest, there was no real progress made for the first few months with the exception that my fingers went from shredded and bloody to bruised but intact.

Renegade (aka Ren) was an exceptional case though, and most birds aren't subjected to the kind of stress and environment he came from. Gem, my current lovie was tame within a matter of weeks (I hand fed and hand-raised him from 4 weeks of age), and Mig, my first lovebird, was hand tame within a few months; he was 4-5 months old when I brought him home and came from a protective breeder/pet store owner who didn't allow just anyone to handle her babies.

[Arabianhorselover]

Thanks for your response. There is a woman not too far from me that has two beautiful 5 month old Lovies that she is getting rid of. They have not been handled. Also, she does not know the sexes of them, and I would only want a male. So I think I will pass. I really don't have that kind of time.

[missdea]

This required about 3-4 hours every day of working with the bird, 100's of band aids

Hi Starwynde,

What are you doing exactly for those 3-4 hours a day? How are you "working" with the bird? I'm currently just sticking my hand in Pez's cage and talking to him for a couple of hours a day, but I I can't get close enough for him to bite me so bandaids aren't necessary! I'm not sure what else I could be doing that would qualify as 'working' with him?

[starwynde]

Working with him was interacting with him, basically the same thing you are doing. I would do it for an hour or so at a time, 3-4 times a day. Some sessions, Ren was good, and he tolerated my in his cage, and others, well, it was band aids and Neosporin. I never got angry when I got bit, and for personal reasons, I never used gloves. I figured if Ren bit me, I did something to deserve it.

I always made a point to one step further every week, sticking my hand further into his cage and holding a treat of some sort in my palm. Eventually it got to a point where my hand was no longer a threat and he stopped trying to get away from it. Curiosity eventually led him to me to check out what was in my hand. I should note the only source of treats at this point was my hand, so there was some incentive for Ren to come to me.

I don't believe in chasing birds around cages with open hands, however, when Ren was comfortable enough with my hand in the cage, I would make a fist with my index finger extended like a perch and move that towards him. This was the next stage of the game and yup, he either ran away, tolerated me, or bit me, but eventually, like with the initial hand-in-the-cage exercise, the fist and perch became "normal" and from there (with a sprig of millet clasped in my fist) Ren would hop onto my hand, grab a beakful of millet, and run off again. This formed the basis for stepping up and eventually I was able to take him out of the cage while he was still perched on my finger.

You have to keep building up the trust by doing something new. I have a favorite quote from Frank Zappa: "Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible." It works well in this situation, even though I mostly use it to get my husband to try something new so our marriage doesn't get stuck in a rut :rotfl

[missdea]

Oh that's great - thanks for the advice, on both the bird and husband front :lol I'm newly married so I'll be sure to keep that one in mind!!! :nyah: