Teeth licking lorikeet???

[Kirikaze]

Hi, i have a female, 3y/o Rainbow lorikeet she is recently obsessed with licking my teeth?? i gave her pear the other day and she seemed to love it, could it mean she is wanting more of it????

(she is laying eggs (extra info))
or is she just 'preening/bonding' help plz...

 

[Anansi]

Hello, Kirikaze, and welcome to Parrot Forums!

Some birds do get rather determined about getting inside their person's mouth. Likely a mixture of preening, curiosity, and maybe even searching for food. Birds often regurgitate food to feed those they are bonded to, after all.

But all that said, this is a practice that you should never encourage. Birds simply do not have proper defenses against the gram-negative bacteria found in mammalian saliva. This means that a significant enough amount of said bacteria introduced via the mouth, or even less if introduced via bite or puncture wound (by say a biting dog or cat) could prove deadly for your bird. Especially if your birds immune system is compromised somehow, like if she were already in the midst of fighting off another infection.

So never let her take a bite of food after you (unless it's on the unbitten portion, of course),never allow for the possibility that she might be licked by any mammal (heck, probably good practice not to let her get licked by anything. Lol!), and, most pertinently, never let her back inside your mouth. It's cute and silly, but also potentially fatal.

As for the eggs, just in case this is a new experience for you, make sure not to remove the ones she is sitting on until she finally gives up interest. I say this because otherwise there is a good chance that she will seek to replace the lost egg with another. This is not good, as it would draw upon her calcium reserves. Most parrots should only lay a clutch once or twice a year. More than that can become an issue.