Raging hormones

[GailC]

I've had Shiva for about two weeks now. Everything is going well and she has settled into her new home and routine.

There is a problem we are having though and I don't know how to curb it. She has became obsessed with my hands, masturbating and regurgitating on a daily basis.

I can be sitting and she will walk over to my hand, hop on and start the humpy dance without me doing anything that I know of to encourage it.

Shiva is around 2 years so I suspect she is hitting puberty. I didn't have this issue with my last conure, he got randy once in awhile but not every day.

What are some things I might try to discourage the behavior? Is there anything I might be doing that inadvertantly is causing this?

I try to only pet her head but she will actually shove herself into my hand or where ever she can find a good spot and pet herself with me. She will even flip onto her back so she can rub her back around on me.

I'm trying to stop the flipping over and the body rubbing on me but it seems thats all she does when I'm close. Either she is in/on her cage or she is trying to rub all over me.

She recently started tapping my fingernails with her beak, this causes regurgitation, its worse when my nails are painted.
I've removed the polish and try my best to keep my nails hidden.

I try to give her things to do but it seems like the more toys she has to tear up, the worse her behavior becomes.

Routine is pretty simple for now, wake up for breakfast around 8 AM, after eating she has alone playtime on her cage. Sometimes she will play with her toys, sometimes she would rather destroy the cardboard that is on top of her cage.
Then we have some one on one time. We sing, dance, play with small foot toys, that sort of things. Eventually she ends up running down my body to rub around. She gets worked up so its back to her cage to work out her frustration.
This goes on most of the day, with lunch and a nap around 1 pm. After dinner, she will beat the heck out of her toys, she gets really cranky at this time and will go to bed soon after, around 5:30pm

 

[bill_e]

Been there. Things I've done. Increase sleep hours. I cover her cage with a black cage cover and make sure she gets at least 12 hours of darkness. Also, she should sleep in a quite room, no TV going.

Reduce high protein foods....more veggies. Having a full belly and lots of energy just tells the body it time to have some fun.

As soon as she starts the behavior put her down. As difficult as it is, cuddling will only make her more crazy.

Warning, keep her off your shoulder during this time. When they're horny that ear is a great place to bite...even if she hadn't in the past.

Remove any toys in her cage which seem to promote regurgitating. That was a major issue with mine, her stainless steel pots and pans got her so worked up even before she came out. Was like night and day when I removed them.

This may last a couple of months, I would reduce the duration of personal time. You can have her out just not on you.

I'm sure others will chime in. obviously the sleep time is the easiest, reducing affection is the most difficult. We still do things we shouldn't but know when enough is enough because having a constantly horny bird is no fun at all (except for the first time they hump your hand

 

[GailC]

Thanks for the tips. I have a new cage coming tomorrow so I'll move her old cage into a spare bedroom for sleeping.
I'm working on a better diet, she has mostly just ate seeds with some apples and broccoli. I did make some birdie bread with a lot of veggies, she is eating it ok.

So far I've not seen any regurgitation towards toys, its always towards my hands, especially my fingernails. When she gets into obsession mode, I put her down and ignore her. If she continues, I'll put her back on her cage.
Not sure what else to do beside move her away from me. Spent a few hours away from home today, she is more settled this evening.

 

[MonicaMc]

Are there any new behaviors she could learn instead of being hormonal? Could she... learn target training? Turn around? Fetch? Drop an item in a container? Or?