Aggressive lovebird

[Sandu]

I have a pet male lovebird, yellow with a red stripe on his head and his tail, but do not know his age. When I got him in April, he was very playful, and would sometimes lightly nibble on my fingers. But since about 3 weeks ago, he has become a wreck. He bites (and hard) whenever I try to pet him or hand feed him, but he used to let me do this freely. When I let him fly around my book, he rips up papers and chews on book covers, bed sheet, whatever he can find. He eats and drinks fine, and there is nothing off about his poop. I supply him with many toys, different kinds of fresh fruit everyday, and try to talk to him whenever I can. He has, however, been molting and his beak is getting noticeably bigger than when I got him. I don't understand if I'm doing something wrong or if it's just a phase and he'll get over it. Please help!

[linda040899]

Hi and welcome to Lovebirds Plus Community and the world of learning to become the perfect "lovebird slave"!!

First thing I'm going to ask is can you share a picture of him? To do that, you have to upload the photo to an online storage site such as Imgur. Then copy/paste the image URL here. I'm thinking you have a Lutino mutation and, most likely, a female rather than male. Females are the more aggressive of the 2 genders and they are the relentless chewers and shredders. I can relate to the biting hard!! For such a small parrot, their beaks sure clamp down with some force!!!

[Sandu]

Here you go! If the link doesn't work or you need a better image or one from a specific angle, please tell me and I will send another :)

https://imgur.com/a/CLazMf5

[linda040899]

You've given me enough to determine mutation, which is Creamino (blue series Ino). This is a sex linked mutation and only certain pairings will produce it, thus, there are considerably more females than males. Does yours try to tuck shredded material into the tail feather area? Females are experts at this and only the Peachfaced species does it. Tucking material into the tail feathering is how females transport what they shred or collect to the nesting sight to build their nests. Other species simply carry material in their beaks.

Any idea how old this lovebird is? Lovebirds are sexually mature at around age 7 months so you could be seeing hormonal behavior. All parrots go through such a period, even without a companion. I'm thinking this is a phase, but I'll hold that thought until later on. Another picture, front shot, may offer a bit more information.

[Sandu]

Wow, thank you! I checked the spacing between my bird's pelvic bones and they are considerably spaced out, so it is probably a female. However, I have no idea what her age is, as the shop we got her from barely told us anything about her. I haven't noticed her tucking anything in her tail, but that's probably because I never really payed attention to it, I'll keep a closer eye out in the coming days. I will try and send another picture tomorrow, as my bird has already gone to sleep in her cage.

[linda040899]

If you knew what mutations her parents were, you could tell almost for sure if you have a male or female. If breeders are paired correctly to produce Ino mutations, you can sex babies as soon as they hatch, simply by eye color. Inos, Creamino and Lutino, have pink/red eyes and that can be seen through the eye lid even before the eyes begin to open.

Most sources will tell you that pelvic sexing is unreliable but I, personally, have found differences between male and female. Females have wider pelvic bones than the pelvic bones of a male are much closer together and further down towards the tail feathering. It's not always accurate and I would never sell a lovebird based on this as a guaranteed male or female. However, it's worked for me when looking for my own breeding stock. Since you got her from a pet shop, I would say it's fairly accurate to say you have a hen that is somewhere around 6 months old. Most pet shops only sell youngsters.

Hope this is helpful.

[Sandu]

Here is a better front-facing image:
https://imgur.com/a/YVd3uL7

And about the biting, should I just wait for this phase to pass or should I also attempt to stop the biting? I've seen some methods such as firmly saying "no" when the bird bites, encouraging it to chew scraps of paper instead of your fingers, and spraying it with a spray bottle or putting it in a small cage with no toys for a few minutes as a time out when it bites.

Thank you!

[linda040899]

Thanks for the new photo. Unfortunately, it tells me what I suspected. You have an adult lovebird, at least 6 months old. What I was looking for was beak coloration. With young birds, beaks are amber colored and fade to horn color by age 3.5 months. Your lovebird has what I call graded coloring, horn transitioning to amber about half way down the beak and continuing to the tip. In mutation, your lovebird is split for whiteface. To explain that, one of the parents was whiteface and the other was normal coloring. In Peachfaced, there are normal coloring (reddish brow for green series) and cantelope coloring (blue series), and whiteface. Put that together and babies are what they call split for whiteface or seagreen. The coloring is stunning and only gets prettier with each molt.

As for handling the biting, there are a couple of ways to do it. You can use a spray bottle and squirt her each time you get bitten but the spray has to be immediate or the reasoning is lost for why she got wet. Parrots don't understand punishment. They have to connect what they did wrong with the consequences. Another thing you can do is turn the biting into something pleasurable for her. Birds love beak rubs and the part of the beak they like rubbed is the upper portion. If you put your thumb and index finger on either side of her beak and rub it, she may forget about what she was going to do....bite you. Also, keep in mind that if you have control of the upper beak, you have control of her head. She really has to be quick to bite around your fingers.

I don't use cage time outs because all it is to a parrot is a change of venue. They don't get it that they did something wrong. They are in their cage so they just adjust. In fact, cage time outs can teach biting. Ghee. I want to go back to my cage so I bite my slave. Bingo! Guess what happens.....

You are pretty much living with a bird with the intelligence of a 2-5 year old..

[Sandu]

Thank you so much for all the help and info! :)

[linda040899]

Please keep me updated on how taming is progressing!

[Sandu]

Sorry for the late reply, but the taming has been going really well! By telling her "No biting" firmly then spraying her whenever she bites, she has nearly quit biting. Now when she tries to bite me and I tell her "No biting" she stops almost immediately. I've also been talking to her a lot lately, and I think she has gotten used to me as she will occasionally fly off her perch onto my head or my arm whenever I'm reading or doing anything at my desk.

[linda040899]

Thank you for the wonderful update!!! I'm so very glad the training is going so very well! The object of the game is to earn trust and it's working!!!