Greetings.
I'll share some info to understand the situation a bit better.
I bought my lovebird at the end of 2023 (October, I guess) from an awful a breeder, which I didn't know at that moment, who promised that the bird is tamed and friendly.
Unfortunately, the bird was not even close to the description: constant panic-mode and timid. I was and still patient with him, because he indeed made some progress. He doesn't maniacally fly in the cage the moment he sees me approaching the cage anymore, he is less scared of all possible noises that can be heard in the house. He is very curious, in fact, and very polite. He adores my laptop, tablet and phones. He likes to seat on my table lamp just to watch what I'm doing. For some time he even sat on my shoulder just because he could better observe the screen of the laptop. Also, when I'm leaving the room, he starts vocalizing and stops the moment I return back. He just continues to do whatever he was doing before: preening, eating, playing and etc. So, somehow I want to believe, that he partly accepted me eventually.
But he has never allowed me to touch him with hands. Never. He sees my hands as a threat. The moment he sees my hand somewhere around his feet its a pure animal fear and an instant escape attempt with screeching. I never hit him, tried to harm him or anything similar related to wounding or traumatizing him.
I always try to take care of him, buying new toys, allowing to sit almost wherever he wants, I even gave up to him my windowsill and filled it with toys, perches and a made a mini-pool for him to bath. And yet he still is scared of my hands. The biggest progress we've made - touching his beak and he also accepts seeds from my hand. But bare hands - big no.
I don't want to give up on him, because I still believe he can become a good friend. He has never beaten me - if he doesn't like my hand, he gently pecks it or tries to step back, but never biting with force. Not even a physical sign on my hand that he did something to it. Even if he is scared when I'm doing something in the cage, he doesn't bite me or attack, but skittishly observes from the side.
And another problem that recently appeared - he became very, very vocal. These are not basic chirping, loud self-discussions, but just screaming and screeching. At first I thought that he wants me to open the cage so he can go out. But the issue is that even when I let him out, this screaming continues. I figured out that he reacts to other birds outside (crows, magpies and other) and well, of course he doesn't understand that they can't hear him screaming his lungs out. So I started covering his cage with a blanket when he starts screaming - it helps, but the moment I remove it, the cycle begins again.
So after all these explanations, any ideas what to do? I'm thinking about buying a friend for him, but is there a guarantee that the screams won't double? And I won't have two half-wild birds? I can even accept the outcome if they won't like me, but at least I want this screaming to stop, because it becomes unbearable more and more often.
I will be grateful to hear your advice on how to solve my situation.
I thank you in advance for reading this text to the end.
I'll share some info to understand the situation a bit better.
I bought my lovebird at the end of 2023 (October, I guess) from an awful a breeder, which I didn't know at that moment, who promised that the bird is tamed and friendly.
Unfortunately, the bird was not even close to the description: constant panic-mode and timid. I was and still patient with him, because he indeed made some progress. He doesn't maniacally fly in the cage the moment he sees me approaching the cage anymore, he is less scared of all possible noises that can be heard in the house. He is very curious, in fact, and very polite. He adores my laptop, tablet and phones. He likes to seat on my table lamp just to watch what I'm doing. For some time he even sat on my shoulder just because he could better observe the screen of the laptop. Also, when I'm leaving the room, he starts vocalizing and stops the moment I return back. He just continues to do whatever he was doing before: preening, eating, playing and etc. So, somehow I want to believe, that he partly accepted me eventually.
But he has never allowed me to touch him with hands. Never. He sees my hands as a threat. The moment he sees my hand somewhere around his feet its a pure animal fear and an instant escape attempt with screeching. I never hit him, tried to harm him or anything similar related to wounding or traumatizing him.
I always try to take care of him, buying new toys, allowing to sit almost wherever he wants, I even gave up to him my windowsill and filled it with toys, perches and a made a mini-pool for him to bath. And yet he still is scared of my hands. The biggest progress we've made - touching his beak and he also accepts seeds from my hand. But bare hands - big no.
I don't want to give up on him, because I still believe he can become a good friend. He has never beaten me - if he doesn't like my hand, he gently pecks it or tries to step back, but never biting with force. Not even a physical sign on my hand that he did something to it. Even if he is scared when I'm doing something in the cage, he doesn't bite me or attack, but skittishly observes from the side.
And another problem that recently appeared - he became very, very vocal. These are not basic chirping, loud self-discussions, but just screaming and screeching. At first I thought that he wants me to open the cage so he can go out. But the issue is that even when I let him out, this screaming continues. I figured out that he reacts to other birds outside (crows, magpies and other) and well, of course he doesn't understand that they can't hear him screaming his lungs out. So I started covering his cage with a blanket when he starts screaming - it helps, but the moment I remove it, the cycle begins again.
So after all these explanations, any ideas what to do? I'm thinking about buying a friend for him, but is there a guarantee that the screams won't double? And I won't have two half-wild birds? I can even accept the outcome if they won't like me, but at least I want this screaming to stop, because it becomes unbearable more and more often.
I will be grateful to hear your advice on how to solve my situation.
I thank you in advance for reading this text to the end.
