This has to stop! Advise please

[diljaa]

Pixel, my lovie, is driving me mad with his constant humping. I really need help with this, I'm getting concerned that he will hump himself to death.
He really humps non-stop! He stops to eat and then he continues to hump on his rope perch. Taking out the perch doesn't help, then he just humps some other perch. I took out his swing since he was regurgitating on it all the time, and taking out his favourite toys or moving things around doesn't help either. Taking him to a friend's house doesn't work either and he humps in his traveling cage just as well as his regular cage. He humps on his playstand and on his boing. When I take him out all he wants to do is hump my feet. He goes straight for them and when I tell him no he comes running to bite me. I've been trying to keep him occupied, having him in the kitchen with me while chopping veggies and taking him to the shower and hanging with me in my bedroom while I'm folding laundry but he just yells and yells and yells for my boyfriend to come get him so he can go back to humping in his cage. He usually gets 12 hours sleep a night under a dark cover in a quiet room. As a result he's not getting a lot of out of cage time anymore as it just leaves all of us frustrated. It's reached a point where I see him humping and I just get really mad, I don't even know why and I know it's not his fault. This has been going on for soooo long and it seems it's just getting worse.
Any advise is really appriciated!

[hsmoscout]

What he needs is 12 hours of sleep, EVERY NIGHT!! That should get him out of breeding mode!

[diljaa]

Thanks for your reply hsmoscout. He did get 12 hours of sleep for 4 or 5 weeks this summer but it didn't change anything and that's why I started slacking off with it. But your right, I will give him 12 hours sleep every night.
Oh, he also wakes up during the night to hump! Pixel and my boyfriend had gone to sleep the other night and I was staying up late on the computer. I heard Pixel making a racket so I went to check if he had a nightmare or something and there he was just humping away at 2:30 am!

[Lori~D]

Give him 14-16 hours of dark sleep , stop the fresh foods for a week or two (only seeds and pellets). Take out any sleep huts or happy huts and. Replace ALL his toys if possible with only hard toys and perches with smaller diameters. For chewing give him some grass type shredders and thats it for a few months. Add fresh foods only after the humping has stopped. Take him out and put him on an empty stand with only one toy at a time (change it out daily). As soon as he humps tell him no and put him away and ignore him. Ignore any sexual behavior and dont give it any attention (other than putting him away and ignoring him). He will respond to ANY kind of attention be it even just your frustration which may even excite him. Try this for several months and see what happens. Typically breeder birds snap out of breeding behavior at 14 to 16 hours of darkness, no soft foods and no "house".

[diljaa]

Thanks a lot Lori!
The thing is that he doesn't get any fresh food in his cage. He won't tough the stuff. He only tastes it if I'm eating itand even then it's just nibbles. I took away his cozy hut a few weeks back and same goes for any shreddable toys. I never show him that I'm frustrated with him, I've always managed to looked the other way.
Of course the summers here are pretty crazy for a little hormonal birdy, it's bright outside around the clock for most of the summer. It's starting to get dark now around midnight though so maybe it will all be better in a few weeks.
I will take out his rope perch again though and see where that will take us.
What are grass type shredders?
The 14-16 hours a night will be hard since I work 9-5:30 so that means that as soon as I'm home he goes to sleep.

[diljaa]

Oh and he has a cuttle bone which he is just crazy about these days, should I take that out as well?

[diljaa]

Well, took out his rope perch and rearranged his perches and switched out toys (turns out he doesn't have that many hard toys in his toybox, will go shopping tomorrow). As soon as I put him back in he started to regurgitate to his favourite bell toy so I immediatly took it out and got the saddest little puppy look from him. Right now he is banging a toy around and not humping, so far so good!

[cbalvino]

are there any illness's that could be putting him into overdrive?

[diljaa]

Originally Posted by cbalvino

are there any illness's that could be putting him into overdrive?

I did wander about that at one point but I kind of left that thought pretty quickly. He was sick in March and as soon as he recovered the humping started (not to this extent!! just a little here and there) The guy at my birdshop succested that he was just feeling sooo good compared to when he was sick and he was getting better food than he was used to before he got sick since I had to get his weight up afterwards. And it was springtime. Of course he's not gaining any weight now because of the constant humping and he's still underweight.
I read somewhere that lovies are very hormonal around 2 years of age and that fits for Pixel. I got him in January and I was told he was a year old then and I'm thinking this is his first breeding season after he hit puberty he's like a horny teenager, all over the place.
At least I hope he's not acting this way because he's sick!

[Jag]

I'd think that along with the reasons you've already listed, the constant sunlight has GOT to play a part in all this! I think my fids would go NUTS if it was light out all the time! Do you have room darkening blinds or anything? I work night shift, so I have room darkening shades covering bedroom window, plus heavy curtains. Even with all that... I know it's light out, my body knows it, and it makes it hard to get enough sleep. I hope your guy starts acting better soon! I know Rico has been humping on and off (but not to the extent AT ALL that you're dealing with) and it's a little maddening.