Getting frustrated

[Andrea69]

Have a tamed lovebird she is not scared of me and loves coming out of her cage (she runs up and down like crazy when she sees you coming) My problem is once she is out of her cage. She is biting and chewing everything. Little pieces of skin on my neck (they get sore after a while) earings, my glasses ( climbs on top of them to get a better chew) she is driving me crazy. I say a firm no and push her beak away with my finger, I give her time out in her cage (only after I can get her) and I have tried rewarding her when she is just sitting quiet on my shoulder telling her she is a good girl and giving her treats. But she is getting worse when I try to gently push her beak away she bites. And her picking at everything is nonstop. I am not sure if she is doing it out of boredom. I have bought her toys but she won't come down to play with them

[linda040899]

Hi and welcome to Lovebirds Plus Community!

Your lovebird is doing what parrots do, exploring and testing anything and everything! Lovebirds are particularly active and yours seems to fit that bill completely. :)

Parrots don't understand the concept of time outs or any kind of negative response from you. Time out is just a change of venue....... What many of our members have found is that spray bottles filled with water and the spray set to "stream" will get the message across almost instantly, as long as your lovebird doesn't like it and think it's time for a bath!! I would keep a small spray bottle of water nearby and use it when necessary. You may find, after a while, all you will have to do is pick up the bottle and the behavior will stop.

You may want to wear something around your neck so she can't chew on skin. Perhaps an interesting birdie necklace will give her something to chew on.

Hope this helps!

[bird-brain]

My lovebirds are convinced that touching human skin will poison them. Lol. But my Blue Crown used to be very bad about chewing on me and my princess parrot may as well be a puppy the way he chews. :omg: I have a necklace I made from jute string and pieces of balsa and other birdsafe wood like Popsicle sticks. Or at times even just balls of wadded paper. I have to remake it pretty often. Alternatively I wrap a scarf or wear a hoody and pull the hood up. Lol. A plain baseball cap with nothing that they can pull off, is a favorite of all of my birds they love chewing on the bills of caps or pulling my ponytail if I stick it out the back.

I tried timeout with Skyy. All that did was teach her to bite when she was ready to go back to her cage. Spray bottle and distractions like the hat and the necklace worked with Skyy and eventually she stopped. Remy likes misting as his bath so the squirt bottle is useless. But he bites for attention or food and I've found the easier way to deal with him is to prevent boredom by keeping several areas of things to play with on and near me when he's out and also having a few forage opportunities at the ready.

I know that it's frustrating and can be very painful. I hope some of our experiences here will be of help.

[GeorgeMas]

I have the same problem with my new 3months-old baby. He literally bites everything: toys,cage bars, perches.

The problem occurs when she tries to nibble on the old male's feet. He gets frustrated after the 4-5th attempt and bites back so that she screams a bit :(.
Hopefully as she gets older it will pass...

[linda040899]

If nothing else, the younger one will quickly learn that your older one will not tolerate foot abuse. At least the older one is letting the youngster know where the boundaries are. Just keep an eye on them to make sure there are no injuries.

[Jaycer17]

I am seeing my experience right here, with nibbling, biting, driving-everyone-crazy little Sky. This quarantine has gotten more challenging thanks to that. I'll start using the water bottle right now!

Plus, I have another question: Sky is starting TO PICK MY SCABS (FROM THE BITES HE'S LEFT ME) AND... SIP MY BLOOD?! What the heck is going on??? Is it out of thirst?! He has his water like, right there!!! Have any of you gone through something like this?

[linda040899]

Quarantine can be frustrating enough without a nippy little lovie but she will adjust.....eventually! :) I have a very clingy Amazon who thinks she needs to be velcroed to me 24/7 now that I'm at home instead of working!!!

Picking scabs (or any other imperfections in skin) is grooming. The scabs are a different color so they need to go away! If you have small dot type band-aide, try covering the "injuries and see what happens. Either that or wear clothing that covers them up, assuming the spots are on arms....

Leave it to a lovie!!!

[Z28Taxman]

Quarantine can be frustrating enough without a nippy little lovie but she will adjust.....eventually! :) I have a very clingy Amazon who thinks she needs to be velcroed to me 24/7 now that I'm at home instead of working!!!



I've been working from home going on 3 weeks now. Of course my desk is right here where the birds are. Try having a conference call via Skype with them in the room. They need to be part of it too.