Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,
Our family loves pets. We've had a dog and two cats for years. But we'd never had a bird of any kind, mostly because we were worried about the cats, until this summer when a lovebird arrived in our yard and was eating at our feeder. We put up signs to see if anyone had lost her, but got no takers, so we kept the bird. The first day, the bird hopped right on someone's head and also allowed herself to be held. On subsequent days she liked to go on people's heads, but didn't allow herself to be held. Since then, she still likes to go on people's heads, but she is likely to bite your neck while she's there. One time, she bit my lip while she was sitting on my shoulder (while I was talking on the phone -- boy, did my husband get an earful!). She also will bite you if you have your fingers near her cage, like if you are trying to add food to her food container or refresh her water holder. She does draw blood. We love her, but she is a pain in the rear for these reasons, and I'm afraid to let her out of her cage with the kids around. I don't know anything about training her either. She has lots of toys and a big cage. She plays a lot, so she seems happy in her cage. She does have a Happy Hut, which she is very fond of. I'm afraid we can't really afford to take her to somewhere expensive (like an avian vet) for training. Any inexpensive suggestions? Thanks for your time.

This seems to be a personality trait with many lovies. They sure pack a hard bite. My only suggestion would be working with him/her slowly. Taking out of cage in a closed room (bedroom, bathroom etc) and handling or feeding. Then having a favorite treat or toy to distract while he is out. Sometimes the biting is due to boredom and if they have something else to bite on they will stop. Othertimes it is stress or fear which then working in small intervals with favorite treats should help. Lastly it can just be pure orneriness and they are seeing what they can get by with. If this is the case the best way is to immediately put the bird down when it nips, wait a bit and then pick back up, do not put back in cage immediately in this instance instead just "down". Then when he/she has calmed you can try again. Always try to make it a good experience with happy voices and a good treat or scritches (if your bird likes being rubbed).

Thanks for your reply! I appreciate you taking the time to consider my problem. Our bird doesn't let us handle her, rub her, pet her, scratch her at all. And if you try to make her stop biting you, she will fly off. So it is hard to interact with her in these situations. I'm afraid she is ornery, and sometimes I wonder if her previous family just let her go because of that! We would never do that, but I can't let her hurt my kids. It is kind of reassuring to know that our lovey isn't out-of-the-ordinary in her behavior.

One funny side note is that she isn't afraid of our cats at all. She sometimes will fly over them like she is teasing them. One time I thought she might land on one. I don't know if she used to live with friendly cats or she doesn't know that they are dangerous or she is showing how brave she is. We keep alert and remove the cats when our bird is getting too close to them, and we've noticed that our dog also seems to like to protect her! I've seen our dog chasing a cat away a couple of times. Go figure.