Help! A Lovebird's Bad Habit!
ERIK DAVIDSON
My boyfriend Erik, got a lovebird, BeBe, almost 15 years ago when he was a
baby. He was hand fed, and bonded with Erik. I've lived here now for about 1
1/2 years, and we've also acquired two cats along the way. The bird does not
come out of the cage as often for obvious reasons... he might become a tasty
snack!
BeBe has developed a really bad habit, and I don't know what to do deter him
from doing it! He's regurgitating... A LOT. He probably regurgitates about
75% of the time he is awake. The other time is spent acting out sexually
with a wood block on a chain. The wood block distracted him from the
regurgitating for a short time after I gave it to him, but he's back to it
again. I've tried changing his toys frequently. I've also tried cutting down
how much food and water I give to him, but the poor little guy was always so
thirsty because he didn't stop the behavior when I did that. So I don't do
that at all anymore, it's just not nice.
The problem with the large amount of regurgitating he's doing, is that fruit
flies breed in it. 100's of them! Even when we cleaned it out everyday, it
made no difference since he continues to keep regurgitating anyway. Last
spring, we resorted to putting him outside, so our house wouldn't be
infested with the fruit flies. However, it's getting cold at night, and I
think he should come back inside. However... there are still fruit flies
breeding in his cage.
I have no idea what to do. We've talked about finding another home for him,
but if we dislike this behavior and are considering giving him up, I doubt
someone else will tolerate it either. I've tried looking up this behavior
online, and have never found anything (other than it's a mating behavior) on
it. We've even talked about getting another lovebird so he won't be bored or
lonely, but don't know if he would be territorial about it since he's always
been alone in his cage.
Does anyone have suggestions?
Thank you so much!
Kelly