Sexual Behaviour

[SunniEddie]

Our Lutino IRN is displaying what we think might be sexual behaviours. We previously had problems with him being agressive with my partner when he was affectionate to anyone and agressive towards me with biting and pinning his eyes...this all seems to have passed and now we seem to be at a new place of issues.

He is very rarely biting now and any little nip is followed by a stern NO and he generally will apologise and start talking to your finger being all sweet. He has developed a "relationship" with my hand, where he gets very frisky with it...only my hand, I don't know if it's because it is more petite and dainty as opposed to my partners masculine hand but we just want some info on what to do etc or just to ignore.

Sunni usually starts by giving my hand kisses and telling it how good it is whilst heart shaping his wings, he then takes a hold of a finger with his foot and dances around my hand wagging his tail around from left to right, body fluffed up and pressed closely to whatever my hand is sitting on. I move it away from him and he lifts his head and hearts his wings and chats away until my hand comes back. He will stop his dance and start to feed my hand then the process starts again.

I will usually put him on his perch if I cannot distract him to stop the behaviour. If my partner puts his hand need mine during his display he will nip me...then he will happily go to my partner and chat away and do his usual talk time and kisses. Any advice, tips etc would be appreciated.

[MissK]

Wow, sounds like he truly looooves your hand!

My male Ringneck will dance for various toys and hold them in his foot, and wave them. He will heart his wings and act with interest for almost anything I offer him, even a tiny seed in my fingers. I think he might, if he were allowed, take his interest further, but I will not permit him to have more interest in my hand. He really loves his toys, though.

Since you ask for advice, I wonder if he might like some foot toys he can dance with, wave around, and possibly feed. It might be alittle better for everyone's relationship if he found a surrogate for your hand.

[ellieelectrons]

Surrogate is a good idea if it works. That reminds me of Sirocoo the Kakapo's training to mate with a croc shoe. Here is some more information:
http://goodbirdinc.blogspot.com.au/2011 ... akapo.html
http://goodbirdinc.blogspot.com.au/2012 ... usual.html

The general train of thought though on a bird that bonds to one person is to have someone else do all of the care of the bird for a time. If that were me, I would find that really hard to implement... so I guess if the redirection doesn't work, you may need to consider this.

Ellie.

[Skyes_crew]

That must be an interesting conversation piece to have your IRN mating with a croc when company is over.

In my house there is no other person to take over the chores and the care of the birds. My husband would rather stick a hot poker in his eye. He's not a bird person at all. So I had to learn ways to deflect behaviors. Thankfully my flock is more interested in their toys and their tree than in me. But, there are times when I hold my female, if someone comes near me, she will nip me and fly away. It's a displaced aggression. Sometimes it's minimal, and other times it can get out of control. I try to minimize the amount of one on one time I spend with her now that we are so close to breeding season here in Hawaii. It's good that you and your partner both handle him. It should keep him from getting too attached to one of you and pair bonding. And you did the right thing I believe by handing him off to your partner when he displayed mating behavior with your hand. I'm not sure where you're located, but if you are in breeding season, or approaching it, it can make them a little frisky lol. Sounds like you've got a good handle on the situation though

[Doodlebug]

My first IRN used to be exactly the same with my hand. As I grew up with him and was not quite a teenager myself I never really knew why he was doing it so I never discouraged it, in fact it was quite nice for the both of us until he started regurgitating on me, then it wasn't so nice!

What problems can arise from this please? And what age do they start showing signs of displaying and sexual behaviour? I don't know if we ought to be flattered or not that our birds want to 'bond' that well with us!

Loo

[InTheAir]

What problems can arise from this please? And what age do they start showing signs of displaying and sexual behaviour? I don't know if we ought to be flattered or not that our birds want to 'bond' that well with us!

Loo

Sexual frustration can lead to aggression, I like the reference I read somewhere about how our equivalent would be a hot date with some petting and then the person you are dating just shuts you down and pretends it was all platonic the whole time. You'd feel weird about that, wouldn't you...

Pair bonding can lead to defending the perceived mate from potential rivals. It can also lead to biting the perceived mate to warn them to get away from the potential rival.
Ask ellieectrons about the nesting phase, she's had a lot of experience with that in the last couple years. ...
Nila is about 1 year and a month old now and is trying to attract my hand sometimes.
My boyfriend and I have just changed our training and handing because of it.
Dave will now do most of the trick training, as that is what was provoking the dance at my hand. I am not allowed to kiss the bird or put him near my mouth. We will reassess this a couple days to note the progress.
I think he is an early starter though, it is more likely to occur in their second or third year, especially in male birds. I believe females are more likely to mature quicker.

[Doodlebug]

Ahh, thanks Claire I did wonder as Doodlebug is five months and has just started the heart shaped wing thing and also fluffing up and squatting down sometimes? Isn't it early?

Sorry I don't mean to hijack your thread, it's just a very interesting subject.

Loo

[InTheAir]

Actually, I may have got the projected ages wrong. I am sure someone more knowledgeable will chip in soon!

This forum is like my diary, I just searched Nila boy dance and found a post from my boyfriend about boydancing from july.... since the post was by my boyfriend who is always late, I'd say Nila would have started practising it in june or may... at about 7 or 8 months old I think.

How's that for record keeping?

[Skyes_crew]

I think Claire got turned around there The male birds actually mature faster than the females. Males will peak at around 12-15 months and can usually breed that first year. Not that they have any clue what they're doing lol. Females take a bit longer peaking at 15-18 months and will start breeding in their second year. Although some have bred their first year it is not common. I think hamlet may be confused on his status lol. I put him in a mirror and he licks it.

[SunniEddie]

It's good that you and your partner both handle him. It should keep him from getting too attached to one of you and pair bonding. And you did the right thing I believe by handing him off to your partner when he displayed mating behavior with your hand. I'm not sure where you're located, but if you are in breeding season, or approaching it, it can make them a little frisky lol. Sounds like you've got a good handle on the situation though

We do both handle him but this is where the interesting part of his behaviour comes into play. He is over 3 years old and is very strongly bonded with my partner. We had issues earlier this year with displaced aggression towards my partner when he tried to show anyone else affection (including our dog) or when I wanted to show him affection myself. We went through the process of me taking over his care of feeding, water changes and general cage maintenance which has improved our bond a lot but it is still no where near as strong as my partners and his.

He prefers to be held by my partner, carries on like he hasn't seen him all year when he gets home from work and could talk his ear off! He will sqwark when I get home, and at times will mumble a few sentences to me and yet I am the only one he does his mating dance to. He will refuse to step on my hand when I try to put him back on his cage, I literally have to just force my hand underneath him and lift him up and the last 2 days when I go to return him to his cage after an interrupted love dance he refuses to get off! I have had to push him gently off which he doesn't appreciate and generally gives me a little nip because of it.

We only pat his head now as we are aware that too low down on his back stimulates his genitals which we don't want haha he is frisky enough already! He has a tonne of toys which we change over weekly, and 2 perches one of which is very large and made from Australian Black Maple and he adores racing around on it. He has treats which he loves to eat including pine cones filled with a seed mixture and other natural plant shells filled with the same mix. His favourite thing in his cage is his spiral rope which he is always on...he even sleeps on it...and I am sure if we took it away there would be huge problems!

The only real thing he really gets affectionate with other than my hand is his food. He hearts his wings for it, gives it kisses, talks to it...and ironically...he feeds it All before he eats it then drags it around in his cage and eventually leaves it there until we take it away at the end of the day. We really have a very odd little fellow!

[Doodlebug]

He prefers to be held by my partner, carries on like he hasn't seen him all year when he gets home from work and could talk his ear off!

This is exactly how my first IRN was with me when I came home from school. As soon as he saw me through the window he would make such a racket and wouldn't stop til I came to see him. It was so lovely. My five month old doesn't even move when he sees me let alone show any excitement! Hope it will come one day.

Loo