are ours normal?

[emmab]

I'm actually getting a bit worried now - after reading so many posts mine seem very different! :eek:

They do like to call to us and wake us up if we lie in but.....

- they won't eat fruit or veg
- don't want to come near us
- don't appear to bathe (we do spray them) but they have a lovely bath they seem to ignore
- HATE any toys on their cage (we have a lovely chewy / leather / knotty hangy thing we've dubbed 'The Monster' as they avoid it at all costs! :rolleyes: )
- have ony just learnt how to use a cuttle fish / mineral block (and thats only one of them - Blue avoids it)
- will only eat small millet seed , despite us providing a wide range of different seeds and dried fruit - they pick it up and chuck it out!

We love them hugely but they seem (shall we say :wink: ) slightly backward.
Maybe somebody forgot to tell them how to be a lovebird! :roll:

We think they're about 8 months old by the way

[bellarains]

I wouldn't call them abnormal. I would however say that they were not taught at an early age to eat fruits,veggies, play with toys, given a cuttlebone, etc..... They will come around, but it will just take time.

A few things you can do is, eat the fruits and veggies in front of them. Give them some, then sit down with your own, take a bite, and make YUUUMMMMM noises to show them how good it is. Do make sure they know you have the same thing you've given them, so that they can associate you eating it, with them eating it.

Some that don't play with toys, just don't know how. You can take the toy, show them how to play with it, ie, make noise with in, pull out the leather strips and twirl them around your finger, etc.....

All of these things are part of interacting with them also, so every time you spend time with them showing them all the cool stuff you are giving them, you are socializing also:)

[Janie]

My older adopted bird ate nothing but seed for the six years before I got him. It did take time (3 weeks at least) of offering the same food, raw broccoli, every single day before he tried it. I was consistent to say the least! :D He was and still is afraid of toys that hang and move. Probably due to an accident he had many years ago but that is only a guess. Since I got two more a year ago he is learning how to be more lovebird like and will fly to the boings I have hanging in the bird room and his eating habits have greatly improved because I feed all three the fresh vegetables on a plate and once he saw them eating corn, kale, carrots, etc., he eventually tried all of those things. :D The only real bird toy that he likes is a colored popsicle stick toy that I place on top of his cage instead of hanging it. He love to chew on those sticks and I buy that toy by the dozen. The other two play with any and everything and although Oliver has watched them, he has not joined in if the toy is hanging. He will (after several months of observation) climb the leather strips that I have hanging from the ceiling in the bird room. Oliver never bathed (other than sticking his head in his water dish occasionally) a single time before I got Big Boi and Shy. I did bathe Oliver in the kitchen sink about once or twice a week to help with the itching when he was molting but he would not do it on his own. Big Boi and Shy LOVE their bath and the very first time Oliver met them, after quarantine, that was the first thing all three did together....bathe! :D I was besides myself, watching my sweet little Oliver finally take a good bath on his own. Lori did give me a great tip on getting them to bathe.....splash your fingers in the bowl and that will usually get their attention and interest in a bath.

I think bird personalities are very different. They can change certain behavior traits but if I've learned one thing with three, none of them are anything alike. :)

[DebSpace]

Yep, I've played the eat-n-front-of-them game to entice more fruit n veggies in the diet. I take a bite, then say "Yum, yum." That is what I refer to all the treats/food as: YumYum. Even the millet, I will say "millet yumyum" and over time they learned that "yumyum" really meant it! My birds didn't/don't like EVERYTHING, but it has helped with a lot of foods. I like the water splashing idea for encouraging a bath. I spray Nip as she has never been too interested in the water, even though Tux really liked it. Nip is always afraid of new toys, but usually gets brave enough to give them a try once they have been around a few days. I want to get some of those chip forks Heather was talking about - Nip LOVES to shred wood. She also adores the little plastic chains that come in those honey/seed treats. :lol Reminds me of human toddlers; give them a gift and they are much more interested in the box than the toy! :rolleyes: