Understanding Male Hypersexuality and Practical Applications

UNDERSTANDING NONSTOP MALE HORMONAL BEHAVIOR. THIS VIDEO IS A MUST WATCH FOR ANY EKKIE OWNER.

When we talk about hypersexual behavior, we are talking about year long expression of breeding behaviors, including regurgitation, masturbation, aggression, and territoriality.

Ekkie owners, and those with males especially, understand the struggles of nonstop masturbation and especially regurgitation. This video places this behavior in a nuerohormonal context and explains much of what we see, with mild emphasis on linking this physiology to in-home behaviors we see.

It also puts some of the oft repeated refrains (“ekkies can breed any time of the year” for example) into greater context.

For those who are able to synthesize this information to everyday life, it’s insightful.

[ame="https://youtu.be/IXw3BDJ9U2Y"]Male Hypersexuality in Eclectus Roratus (Eclectus Parrot) - YouTube[/ame]


TL;DW (too long, didn’t watch)

ALL parrots - including ekkies - are sensitive to photo regulation of hormonal release to some degree. Ekkies CAN have a breeding season. What sets them apart is the disproportionate importance of non-photoregulated cues such as food abundance and availability of nesting sites in regulating this behavior alongside photoregulation. These shifting cues are what shift the breeding window around and breaks the bounds of “spring and fall breeding periods”.

In the wild, Males quite likely rely on social cues to turn off hormone production responsible for copulatory behaviors such as humping/masturbation. The cue? Female rejection of this behavior.

In the home, males who EARLY IN THEIR LIFE don’t get this cue from their favorite person (e.g. their chosen mate) can develop a life long habit of uninhibited hypersexuality, leading to feather destructive behaviors, immunosuppressive, to name a few. Did you catch that? THE PERSON WHO THE BIRD CHOSES AS THEIR MATE/FAVORITE HAS AN OUTSIZED CAPACITY TO SHUT DOWN THIS BEHAVIOR FOR THE YEAR. Non mates in the home likely lack the ability to affect this expression of hypersexuality.

Let that sink in. That’s deep.

ALSO: constant regurgitation can lead to nutrient deficiency, manifested often as feather loss around the nares and pale beak color.

Essentially, it comes down to this:hypersexuality is the result of desensitization to testosterone reduction hormones due to failed sexual communication early in life.

As a new eclectus owner, it really is up to you early on to make sure you’re giving all the proper signals.

As an owner of an adult bird with hypersexual tendencies - like many of us - there’s not a WHOLE LOT you can do, because it is a combination of learned behavior and physiological deficiency. This explains why we say to use hormone control measures but not to expect them to eliminate anything. Continue with hormone reduction measures to take the edge off, but hold on to your seats because you really just have to ride it out.

Early intervention is key.

Hope you found this as informative as I did!

good info! Learned something new!

Excellent, thank you!!!

And it addresses the question as to why I am thankful you are here!

SailBoat said:

Excellent, thank you!!!

And it addresses the question as to why I am thankful you are here!

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You are beyond kind sir. I’m just a humble participant.

Laurasea said:

good info! Learned something new!

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It really was eye opening. It basically affirmed what many of us already kind of knew, but added an enmense amount of color around the “why”; saying “they don’t have a breeding season” is really only half the story.

Brilliant treatise on male hypersexuality, wonderful synopsis, Chris!

Sadly my pair of Ekkies never bonded and lived separate lives, each loved as individuals. I bought Angel and Sasquatch from a close breeder friend, both from distinct lines. Shared a cage for about one year, eventually introduced nestbox. She tolerated but did not like him, rarely allowed entrance to nest. Squabbling intensified, so we split them up, though they'd stand on a playstand together. Thankfully, neither ever exhibited much sexual energies.

That was a long time ago, knowing what I know now, would have handled them far differently!

My friend, we all have those “coulda woulda shoulda” stories!

Fascinating Chris, and I don't even own an Ekkie. It does touch on one thing I always offer to parronts whose bird is exhibiting hormonal behavior. And that is try to prevent any undesirable behavior from becoming a learned behavior. Parrots learn new behavior so rapidly that its hard to change them once it becomes a permanent one.

Moderators, I would nominate Chris' original post to become a stickie in the Eclectus sub-forum.

This is a constant struggle with Basil! For whatever reason, he is attracted to human feet. And I don't mean just my feet, I mean ANYONES. I have been battling this for decades with him now, and we do shut him down. Regardless, if he sees and opportunity, he will try it... And we shut him down to a look of disgust by him.

Thanks for posting this, Chris. It explains a lot. There a couple of toys that Oscar gets frisky with and regurgitates on. He also over preens his feathers, and in the last year, he has become very noisy, doing a high pitch squeal, which I assume is his contact call.
Recently, the noise has become so insufferable that I've considered getting another parrot as a friend for him, in the hope that it might make him quiet. Do you think this would work, Chris? I'd appreciate any insight. Thanks.

Keatz said:

Thanks for posting this, Chris. It explains a lot. There a couple of toys that Oscar gets frisky with and regurgitates on. He also over preens his feathers, and in the last year, he has become very noisy, doing a high pitch squeal, which I assume is his contact call.
Recently, the noise has become so insufferable that I've considered getting another parrot as a friend for him, in the hope that it might make him quiet. Do you think this would work, Chris? I'd appreciate any insight. Thanks.

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NO...NO....NO. Simple enough

People make this mistake in one form or another - I see it with Aussie owners on an Eclectus facebook forum, and it drives me crazy. Their answer for any discontentment/hormonal/misbehavior is to recommend getting another bird, as if the cause of EVERYTHING is a lack of a 2nd bird.

We see this belief here as well: you don't get a 2nd bird because your bird needs a friend. YOU are your birds friend. You get a 2nd bird because you have an undying love of birds and can't live without another bird. The first bird is not part of that equation.

How old is your bird?

Thanks for that Chris.
I thought if he had a friend, he might be quiet. His squealing seems to be for attention, and he gets a lot. He even does it when he's in the room with us.
Lately, it's been stressing me out. I've had chest pains and went to the doctor and discovered my blood pressure is up. The doctor said it's probably from stress. My only source of stress is that high pitched squeal that he makes.
Funnily enough, after watching that video, I removed the toy he was humping and now he's squealing more.
I can handle squawking; it's just that squeal. He's almost seven, and he started doing it when he was around five.
Before Oscar, I had a pet cockatoo. I could handle her squawking, but she didn't squawk incessantly like Oscar.
There are times when I've been on the verge of a breakdown. He just won't stop. I've tried all the tricks, like ignoring it and rewarding him when he's quiet, but he just won't stop.

Time to just let yourself go crazy. Start a conversation back with your Parrot! It maybe helpful to use a song as at some point you may find yourself out in public, contact calling. At least with a tone, you can get away with it.

Contact calling is a reality in the Parrot World as they are in near constant communication with each other.

Human expectations and Parrot World reality. Parrot World assure greater success.

Welcome to the World of Crazy Parrot People!

Keatz said:

Thanks for that Chris.
I thought if he had a friend, he might be quiet. His squealing seems to be for attention, and he gets a lot. He even does it when he's in the room with us.
Lately, it's been stressing me out. I've had chest pains and went to the doctor and discovered my blood pressure is up. The doctor said it's probably from stress. My only source of stress is that high pitched squeal that he makes.
Funnily enough, after watching that video, I removed the toy he was humping and now he's squealing more.
I can handle squawking; it's just that squeal. He's almost seven, and he started doing it when he was around five.
Before Oscar, I had a pet cockatoo. I could handle her squawking, but she didn't squawk incessantly like Oscar.
There are times when I've been on the verge of a breakdown. He just won't stop. I've tried all the tricks, like ignoring it and rewarding him when he's quiet, but he just won't stop.

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Is it cyclical in any way, only happening during certain times of the year?

What is his diet like (be specific, including meals and all common treats he gets a lot of daily)?

Just watched this and it's FANTASTIC!! I'm wondering about extrapolating the information to apply to my cockatoos. Being a U2 means Francis is equatorial. He's definitely hypersexual, exhibiting all the behaviors shown in the video. Unfortunately his previous owners, who had him for the first 25 years of his life, didn't know anything about any of this. He was never discouraged from the behavior by his "chosen" human. Now he's "chosen" my husband, and we're trying to deal with him as best we can.

I worry about feather-destructive behavior. It has not come up but I still worry that something will start it. What I'm getting from this video is that we need to be more consistent with discouraging the regurgitating behavior. He doesn't actually regurgitate but the behavior is there nevertheless.

As for the masturbation of inanimate objects, I'm not exactly sure how to deal with that. I've removed all objects that bring that on but he will just rub up against the bars of the cage; sometimes even his food bowl.

Unfortunately I'm fairly certain the only extrapolation here is more a generalitya nd coincidence: breeding behavior has triggers and exacerbators, best to avoid them (no petting, proper daylength, etc). WHEN your bird is hormonal, don't press trigger buttons to make it worse.

This content specifically speaks about physiology for a species who can breed all year, with a polyamorous/polyandrous breeding structure. Neither of those in any way describe an umbrella cockatoo, who breed only once per year and mate for life. So any extrapolations would be specious at best.

Hi, Chris. Since Oscar started doing this loud call two summers ago, it's been constant. Though, now that the days are getting shorter, darker and colder, I think he's settling down a bit. After I removed his toy, he carried on a bit, but he's been good since then.
As well as having had a cockatoo, I used to have smaller parrots too, and I'm used to all types of parrot noises. I realise that Oscar's is a natural noise and is normal to him, but there are times when he does it all day.
In the mornings, he gets sprouts, veggies and a fruit. Around lunch time, I replace is food with more vegetables, rice and a fruit. Some days I give him roast chicken meat or pasta. In the evenings he gets a small amount of seed. As well, I pick milk thistle for him and pull branches off our bottle brush trees and put in his cage, as he seems to enjoy eating the flowers and nuts off them.
He's also a very spoilt parrot. I put him in a flight aviary for part of the day so that he can enjoy some fresh air and sunshine. He expects it because in the mornings, he sits at the back door and squawks to go out.
He spends evenings inside and sleeps inside too. When he's in, he is never in a cage. He has several parrot stands around the house. He even goes on holidays with us. He seems like a very happy parrot, and yet, he keeps squealing.
One thing I did consider is that his incessant squawking is dominance related. The reason I thought of this is because of something I saw on television. On a show one night, I saw a vet visit a couple with a noisy macaw. The vet believed that it was a dominance issue and told the couple that they should never allow the macaw to sit on their shoulders or their heads because as long as it did, it believed that it was the boss of them.
Suffice to say Oscar flies onto our shoulders and heads.
What do you think of this idea, Chris?
Thanks.

Keats, I will respond tomorrow, but I nearly spit out my Zinfandel laughing. Suffice it to say for now your vet is a physiologist, not a behaviorist (perhaps someone will jump in before I get to it tomorrow )

Keatz, I’m a bit late here. My first thought here is that you are reinforcing his screaming. He screams for attention, you come running. Watch what you do when he screams. Heavily reward alternative, pleasant vocalizations, do not react to screams.

To an extent I might allow that his diet is contributory. Make sure you minimize the fruit, Ekkie diet is mainly veggies and grains. Though the fact that you called out rice specifically makes me wonder if he’s getting too much carbs in general - what percent of his meal is made up of rice? And what type of rice?