Getting a peach-faced lovebird! - Page 2

[LeoDiaz]

he has a sand perch but they still seem super long. There is a lot of white nail after the wick.

He attemps to glide sometimes depending on his level of curiousity. Like if he wants to fly across the room to play with our rabbit...kinda strange, but funny. I've only seem him glide/fly upwards once, which was impressive. I think the plan is to keep him clipped for awhile till he's mature and then give him the option of flight.

any suggestions with the beak?

Cuttlebone and mineral blocks keep the beak nice and sharp lol. Also for the nails I use this on wooden perches

 

[MJDuti]

clever idea! I don't think I've ever seen those in the store but I will check now. Would that wrap around a plastic perch? He also totally ignores his cuttlebone.

 

[LeoDiaz]

clever idea! I don't think I've ever seen those in the store but I will check now. Would that wrap around a plastic perch? He also totally ignores his cuttlebone.

They wrap on any type perch as long as a uniform and round in shape.

 

[MJDuti]

time for an update. He got a nice little trim and doesn't scratch or hurt much at the moment. We just arranged his sand perch to be the highest perch in his cage to help with his nails. Must have missed that suggestion when the guy mentioned it before. The potty-training is a lost cause at the moment. He is coming up with more sounds. Nothing distinct yet but quite funny. And now his new thing is hanging his head out of the top of our shirts.

 

[LeoDiaz]

sound like your having fun taking care of your new bird.

 

[MJDuti]

he's something else. keeps you very entertained and never wants to be away from you...unless he wants to hang out with/annoy our rabbit.

 

[MJDuti]

odd question. Speaking of the rabbit, our bird loves to rip apart his hay. He doesn't eat it, just tears it into 1,000 pieces. Would it be ok to get him a hay toy so he can go to town on it in his cage? Just a ball or something simple. They are typically sold in the rabbit section of pet stores.

 

[LeoDiaz]

odd question. Speaking of the rabbit, our bird loves to rip apart his hay. He doesn't eat it, just tears it into 1,000 pieces. Would it be ok to get him a hay toy so he can go to town on it in his cage? Just a ball or something simple. They are typically sold in the rabbit section of pet stores.

Yea I never used a hay toy. But I don't see why you cant.

 

[MJDuti]

I got some good news and some bad news!

Good news: he is really starting to develop some bright orange coloring on his head!

Bad news: he is going through a ferocious biting stage! Since it's been a couple months I can tell the difference between him being curious and him being nasty. He can be great one second then a devil the next. He's like a 2 year old. Is there anything I can do to help with this? We use the time-outs in his cage and a stearn "NO", but that's about it. Will he just grow out of it?

...and the potty training needs to come, just after we nip the bud on this biting. He poops ALL the time. Our tissue supply has easily doubled.

 

[Witchydesign]

You have to let him bite you. If you flinch or put him away its rewarding his bad behavior. Hes getting what he wants. You have to push through it and he will get over it. Time outs won't work. It sucks while hes learning but if you let him get away with it now he will continue and it will only get worse.

As for potty training good luck lol. Its one of those pet owner things your gonna have to deal with lol.

 

[LeoDiaz]

You have to let him bite you. If you flinch or put him away its rewarding his bad behavior. Hes getting what he wants. You have to push through it and he will get over it. Time outs won't work. It sucks while hes learning but if you let him get away with it now he will continue and it will only get worse.

As for potty training good luck lol. Its one of those pet owner things your gonna have to deal with lol.

Agree with her let him bite you.(take it like a man lol) If you react he will learn that hurt you and use it against you when he is mad. It just a face like a puppy chewing face. My conure is going through that face we means he tries to bite everything my eyes,my lips even take my teeth out lol. In potty training, is hard thing to do.

 

[MJDuti]

oh, I thought the cage would be a good thing. I considered it punishment cause he hates being in the cage while we're around, so we ignore him for short stints. It just hit me that this may put a negative feeling towards his cage, but he is fine when it comes to bed. He definitely bites us and we don't put him in there after every bite (usually a 3 strike your out thing). Guess we'll try letting him bite us more. Just stick with the "NOs"?

How do you do this with big birds?!

 

[LeoDiaz]

oh, I thought the cage would be a good thing. I considered it punishment cause he hates being in the cage while we're around, so we ignore him for short stints. It just hit me that this may put a negative feeling towards his cage, but he is fine when it comes to bed. He definitely bites us and we don't put him in there after every bite (usually a 3 strike your out thing). Guess we'll try letting him bite us more. Just stick with the "NOs"?

How do you do this with big birds?!

What do with my conure is blow air in there face. They don't like an stop biting. How you do with big birds is hand feeding them makes the very tame. Also bigger birds act like little dogs so there more playful.

 

[Witchydesign]

Yep blowing helps. Its like with a puppy. You have to teach it that bitin is bad. Saying no is good, but you can't flinch away either. It shows him it works. Even if he keeps doing it, you have to push through it. I used to breed them, its just part of the life :-D

 

[MJDuti]

I'd be scared a big bird, like a macaw, would rip my finger off considering a lovebird can break my skin. I'll keep you guys updated. He is only a few months old (~4) and has changed so much already. We'll see how long this lasts.

 

[Witchydesign]

Easier to fix it now rather than later