Excessive Masterbating with Bell

[PeachClaws17]

I am new here so please forgive me if I'm blunt and to the point. Yes my Male (9 month old) takes care of business I would say at the least 6 times a day but more like 10-12. He is the first of all of my BeeBee Birrrbs to do this excessively (daily) and I'm concerned he's going to hurt the vent area. I do want to say he gets plenty of attention, he is out of the cage everyday even if just to sit on top and chat with us. He talks, gets some youtube time etc. He's social but can have shy moments which we total respect. Literally tonight I sat just to observe him and he did this 4 times in 1 hour. Ive taken the Bell out and he will grab his swing and rub against the perch. If I remove the swing... he grabs the side bars and... rubs on the perch. Also from the minute we had him he has always been closer with me and done a lot of regurgitating head bobbing for me. Is this normal? Can he hurt himself? How can I curve or correct this behavior???

 

[Inger]

Welcome! Here are a few things that might help:

Make sure he gets 12-14 hours of darkness/sleep daily.
Don’t pet him anywhere but on his head.
Remove any nest boxes, happy huts, dark hiding spaces from his cage and don’t let him hide in your clothes, hair, under the couch, behind the entertainment center-anywhere he might think would be a nice safe place to build a nest.
And it wouldn’t hurt to take him into a Certified Avian Vet. Sometimes they will give hormone shots to curb that behavior-although that may be more for females to keep them from laying eggs. Not sure.

Good luck!


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[greytness]

I'm thinking that he's a little young to already be hormonal. It could be something else causing him to elicit this behavior.

 

[noodles123]

Also, avoid cuddles and provide exercise/foraging opportunities... I personally would remove the bell if you can do so without causing all hell to break loose (perhaps do it while he is away?)- Also, try not to provide attention when this happens (eye contact, commentary, physical)...If you think he cares enough about attention from you or your presence, you could try walking away (but that would only work if he actually cares about your proximity during the act).

 

[EllenD]

I'm thinking that he's a little young to already be hormonal. It could be something else causing him to elicit this behavior.

Nope, at 9 months he is absolutely going through puberty, his first hormonal phase, and this is perfectly normal...Don't remove any toys, perches, swings, etc., because he likes them and because it won't stop him from doing it...This will gradually slow-down and eventually stop, IF you don't have anything in his cage or around him that will encourage his hormones to rage...

-Absolutely NO "Snuggle Huts" or "Happy Huts" or any other types of tents, hammocks, boxes, or anything else that he can get inside of or on top of..No small, dark, warm places.
-No towels, blankets, pillows, or anything else he can get under or into, like bedding, wood chips, shredded newspaper, newspapers in the bottom of his cage he can get underneath, etc. (No nesting materials at all)
-No petting him anywhere but his head
-No warm, moist, mushy foods
-Putting him on a "Natural Light Schedule" will help tremendously..."He wakes-up with the Sun, he goes to bed with the Sun, and he needs to sleep in a room with a window so he can see the Sun changing/light changes...

This is completely normal...Don't remove his swing, put the bell back in his cage. Taking things away from him that he loves could actually cause aggression towards you and others...He'll do it no matter what, and he's not going to hurt himself. Some birds/parrots just do this more than others, some don't do it at all. You just got lucky, lol...This will pass.

Budgies, BeeBee Parrots, Linnies, Bourkes, etc. all go through puberty between 6 months old and a year old, so he's right on-time...

 

[ChristaNL]

Grinn, you are not blunt al all-- parrots and their sexlife make a lot of people nervous, even though it is 'just a part of life'.
We all know the reputation of adolescents...raging hormones and all.

You've been given the most usefull ways of resetting his system for a bit.
(if nothing else: eventually age will slow him down)

Just keep an eye our for possible irritation in the vent-area.
So: no nesting material or opportunities, only patting the 'socially acceptable' bodyparts, plenty of sleep.
Removing the (sex)toys is usually not going to help...he will just find another (even less acceptable) alternative.

(My macaw just reaches back and pulls/claps on her own tailbase, the sounds are making a lot of people blush )

 

[PeachClaws17]

Thank you for all the advice. I will say I'm glad he doesn't use any of the family members as *objects of affection* thankfully. It seems he will do this in the morning once we all start our day. He is near a window but he could probably use more darkness because he is in a very active area of the house. I thought in putting him with more interaction from us he would feel like a part of the flock. I will definitely give him more darkness. We don't have any kind of box or tent in his cage. No mushy foods other then occasional fruits which I take out quickly so they dont get funky or attract flies. It seems like he does this more so after spending time with us or after we give him attention so its done in "happiness". Like "look what I can do" (Stuart - Madtv). We only give head scratches which honestly hes not a fan of so its more of cheek rubs. He also dips his body in his water dish a few times a day too, not sure if that goes along with this or he just like to *clean up after the act.... I read that changing the cage around a bit might help with any repetitive behavior so I think I'm going to do that also. And not a lot of Mirror time ( he gets that when out of the cage ). Again thank you all for responding, I have been worried.

 

[EllenD]

It could be worse, trust me...

I work in the car-business, and when my dealership signed-up to be a Carfax Dealer, the Carfax Rep gave us a bunch of little stuffed "Car Foxes" like in the Carfax commercials on TV...I brought 3 of them home, one for me to keep and the other 2 I gave to each of my dogs to rip apart, as they both love stuffed-animals...Well Kane, my Senegal, has made one of the Car Foxes his *****...It's quite disturbing to see and I've learned it's best to just "let him go..."...Poor, poor Car Fox, all he was trying to do was save people from buying a wrecked car...

 

[PeachClaws17]

I can't stop laughing.
We had a Cat who took over my Homer Simpson's slippers... and though he was selective about who he liked and didn't like... he sure enjoying dragging them out to put on a show for company. Thanksgiving dinner and that little Mug would be scream meowing for my grandparents.