My Bird is Stressing Out

User Question
I think my parakeet has completley lost his mind. It could be from any

number of new stresses since i've recently moved into a bit of a party

home with 4 roommates and the adjustment must be hard on him.

Basically, he seems to have some kind of bipolar disorder associated with

dice. He goes absolutely nuts for them. vomits all over them, attacks any

hand that takes him away from them, and will play with them for hours. I

noticed when this obsession started that he started biting really hard.

I've tried all sorts of thing with the dice and eventually decided to just

take them away. he was too mean when he had them.

My plan backfired. Now he seems to have the same attachment with my

fingers. Not only does this involve being vomited on several times an

hour, but it also involves being "played with" with just as much ferocity

he did with his dice. I've got scars!! One minute, he'll be grooming and

talking to my fingers, seeming very happy, then all the sudden he chomp

down and won't let go. Literally. I have to shake him off.

What is wrong with my bird?!?

Lisa's Answer
I don't think I'd say at all that your bird is bipolar :) Your bird is simply in love. What you call "vomiting" is regurgitating, that is how a parent bird feeds its young. Birds don't have breasts to nurse with. Instead, they go out, eat food, let it digest in their stomach for a while and then go back to the nest and feed that to their young. Birds often do this same thing for a mate while they are courting. It is the ultimate compliment.

It might be that some of your dice were shiny and the keet saw a reflection in them, and thought they sort of represented another bird friend. Or it might be something else that triggered the love. I suppose we'll never know.

Now that you stole away your parakeet's true love, he changed his affection to you.

Gnawing is a very typical courtship behavior for birds, because the birds live in trees. They have to gnaw their way through the bark and inside of the tree to make a hole in which to live. So your bird is sort of getting confused because there is no real tree around to gnaw on and is using your fingers instead.

Birds definitely get wound up when there is a lot of stress around. I would find a quiet place for the bird to be most of the time. Some playtime is of course nice but there also needs to be quiet time. Birds need a solid 8+ hours of dark, quiet nighttime to sleep in. You might want to consider getting your bird another bird as a friend - it seems he is really lonely and is acting out of that loneliness. Just keep them in separate cages to start with, so they can get used to each other.

Good luck!

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