Hi.

AndrewC

New member
May 31, 2021
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Hi

I’m new to keeping birds and also new to this forum.

I have two lovebirds, bought last year from a pet store. I think I have a male and female but TBH I’m not sure, not that it matters as they seem to be happy together.

In the last few weeks, one of them has started to do this very strange dance, it almost seems to be in pain. But when it’s finished goes back to its normal behaviour.

I have managed to get a couple of videos, links below.

[ame="https://youtu.be/2vSHC-tcXbE"]Strange Lovebird Dance - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://youtu.be/tR9GwqZDRBs"]Rio Dancing - YouTube[/ame]

Has anyone seen this behaviour before, I’m guessing it might be so sort of matting dance ?

Any comments welcome.

Andy
 

Scott

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Welcome aboard Andy, thanks for joining and sharing pair of videos.

Certainly appears to be an attention seeking dance, perhaps driven by mating urge. A huge clue is the rope toy that has hallmarks of a nest. Your lovebirds may perceive it as platform and engage in breeding. Unless you are contemplating offspring and prepared to manage all manner of possibilities should something go wrong*, might be wise to remove.

Another issue is they appear to be chewing the strands, potentially leading to injury or worse from pieces lodging in crop or digestive system if ingested.

*If you consider letting them breed: http://www.parrotforums.com/breeding-raising-parrots/54987-before-i-start-breed.html
 
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saxguy64

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Hello Andrew, and welcome to the forums! Beautiful lovies you have :)

Guess I'll be the one to give you the news, your bird isn't "dancing," he's masturbating. Don't freak about it, it's super common. Some will do it only on occasion, while others never seem to get enough lol. Trick is to do your best not to encourage hormonal behavior.
 
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AndrewC

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May 31, 2021
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Thank you all for the warm welcome.

Is this behaviour specific to a male, as until recently I had thought that Rio was a female. I only started to think she might be a he when this behaviour began.

My other Lovebird, that I thought was a male, shows no interest at all when this is going on.

Anyway, on the advice above I have removed the rope “nest”. Not so much to stop him having fun, but I don’t want him to come to any harm from chewing it.
 

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