Hormonal Behavior?

Birdie is a female Sun Conure. I posted before that she was obsessed with diving into my t-shirt and chewing on my bra. Well, she hasn't stopped trying to do that along with scratching her feet while she's doing it. Very uncomfortable and I'm constantly verbally discouraging this behavior. I got some new toys and pine cones which she loves, but if I'm sitting on the couch or a chair, she immediately rushes over and tries to dive in. She's always snuggled in my and my husband's t-shirts when she's sleepy. But this obsessive behavior is new and she only does it to me. Is this hormonal behavior and how long does it last? She's 3-1/2 years old.

It could be a sign of hormonal behavior in that she is looking for a good 'nest' and your shirt has been a good place so far!

If she's getting aggressive at all (biting, not listening to commands) then you should stop this behavior by preventing her from diving into your shirt. If holding your shirt closed causes her to become upset or aggressive towards you, it's definitely time to stop letting her climb into your shirt period or it may cause her to become possessive of her hiding/nesting/sleeping place.

Other species do this too, females will desperately try to find a place to nest and will do everything and anything it takes to get there. But it becomes a problem when we allow these behaviors to go on for too long and they start to get either possessive or aggressive of their place.

Hard to tell.

How long have you had the bird?
Has she always done this or is it a recently occuring behaviour?

Could be hormonal, or else she just likes to feel safe in there. Wait and see. But if you keep discouraging it, she might stop doing this, is this what you want? I think it's sweet. However, i can see it being annoying, if she has sharp nails. Sharp parrot nails can almost feel like cat nails, sometimes i have red marks all over from my bird climbing around doing his thing. (time for a trim)

Instead of discouraging it completely, i would say, use the "don't-let-it-happen"-method. And use this only when you don't want it to happen. Makes sense? If you observe that she is on-the-way in there, just say "come here" or "step up" and distract her with something, it can be whatever. If you want her to stop completely, be consistent with this, and never allow her. But if you want her only to do it when you are in the mood, just allow her, and if you're not in the mood, don't allow her / distract her. Hope this makes sense, hopefully i'm not being too simplistic about this, but i just don't think that we have a complicated problem here. Let's not overcomplicate things.

Good job with the pine cones, makes good toys

No, she's never aggressive or biting. I just have to be consistent which I have been the last few days. And she's catching on. She knows now that I don't like this behavior and she's gotten better the last few days. She's got so many things to play with, bite, nibble, destroy, etc. I just wanted to know if others experienced this behavior as hormonal.

Have had her since she was 4 months old.

Is she scratching her nails against your skin whilst inside your shirt? Boomer did this at about 2 1/2 to 3 years old as a precursor to his first hormonal rage. That was so painful, I remember. He stopped doing it after a while but to save my sanity at the time, I had to have his nails lightly clipped at the vet. I never really discouraged the behavior, he stopped doing it on his own. He instead flips inside my shirt now so his nails are against the cloth and not on my skin. Either he realized it was hurting me or he figured he was more comfortable that way.

I suggest getting Birdie's nails lightly clipped to save yourself the pain. After that you wouldn't even notice her roiling about in there. Just make sure the nails aren't cut too short so they don't bleed and expose her to infection.

Nailfile... always (for mine anyway)

Cytrynka also always liked to dive under a shirt, especially late evening she finds it a cozy place to beak-grind and slow down.

This way we immediately know when she needs her nails filed, when her scratches on the skin became painful

Recently it became problematic since she started to chew-on shirts, and she turns every shirt into a swiss-cheese

So it seems the behaviour is very common to our Conures

Sounds hormonal to me as well. Let others in your house know she is hormonal and to be extra vigilant as she will no doubt be very protective of you at the moment. When Enzo gets hormonal, which seems quite often, ill distract her if i can without rejecting her. Sharing a snack, sharing a drink or even simply doing a house chore together whilst she shoulder surfs. Distractions seem to work for her.


Also, Enzo will never scratch whilst she is on me, only in draws or dark corners (nesting). She will pull my finger or hand to her and stand with one foot and scratch with the other, but i will just start another distraction if this happens.

Birdie gets her nails trimmed every 4 months because they can get like little razor blades. So although it's annoying, it's not that painful. Inevitably, though, she'll pinch the skin while chewing away on my bra and that does hurt. Yesterday I only allowed her in my shirt at bedtime when she immediately chilled and went to sleep. We'll get through this. Figured it was hormonal though. Thanks all for the input.