advice from people whove had young lorikeets!

[ToniZoso]

Franklin does this odd thing with his head, its not a bad thing but im curious what it means, i thought that it might mean hes hungry but he doesnt want to eat when hes doing it lol

so anyways what he does is ill come to the cage and he screetches really loudly and rapidly shakes his head, and he will grab onto my hands or run towards my hands and grab onto them, and then he will just lick them lol, and does it non stop, he can go for ages doing it!

i know its not a bad thing (i think) but ide like to know what he wants from me when he does it!! usually he will just rest upside down in my hand then and continue screeching while i massage his head, and he loves it but why the screeching! and the rapid head movements!

thanks :)

[Alan]

DOes it look like he is trying to eat as he would if he were a baby still in the nest? How old is he?

[ToniZoso]

hmm i think he is about 4 months old, and err i thought that he was trying to eat like that but err when i give him food, he tastes it, even his faves, and then keeps doing it to other places on my hand, hes not even interested in food!

[ToniZoso]

he also fluffs out his feathers and sticks his wings out a little bit too at the same time

[FoxersArtist]

This is a hand feeding response and your new baby is looking for comfort. Comfort food might include mixing some of his nectar to a thicker stew like consistancy and offering some via syringe, or other mushy foods via syringe. Are you weighing him daily? If he is still as young as you say, I would keep a close eye on his weight and if he really screeches a lot, he may be trying to tell you that he isn't eating enough adult food yet during the day and needs at least one comfort feeding per day. If he does not accept any food from a syringe, he likely is just crying for comfort because a lot of things in his life have changed recently.
-Anna

[Rahni]

Yes Alfie did the same thing when he was young, He would fluff up bob his head and start making this 'eeeeeeee' sound, especially after I was scratching his head. He was eating fine by himself but i think it might have also been some sort of comfort/security thing too. He grew out of it a month or so after I got him.

[Ashling]

Just a quick note: Make sure there's nothing toxic on your hands when you let him lick them. You've got a friendly little baby there :D

[neeko143]

Hi. I've handraised over a dozen different kinds of lories/lorikeets. They do come right up to you mouths open shaking their head back and forth up and down and crying and making the high pitched screetch the whole time! Even after they are weaned if they reallllllly love you... they'll do the same head movements for ya!

[ToniZoso]

thanks guys :)

[NoLimitssjca]

I have noticed the hand licking you describe. Mine does it in between the fingers where the hands crease. I'm sure this is similar to the fold of a flower or something like it. I use this to love on him and rub him and ruffle him up a bit. They love to go upside down and wrestle.

I've also noted the screech as beeing "excited". I've noticed it can be good or a warning. It depends on what posturing goes with it.