tame or not?

[conure keeper]

hey
i'm fostering a 1yr old love bird at the moment who seems to be fairly tame. he comes over to me, its on me, preens me, he also bites quite alot.
so far i haven't made any attempt to handle him, except when i have to catch him to do medication, but no hand taming so far.
what i would like to know is would a tame lovebird show this sort of behavior or are all lovebirds intrested in people when they have no mate?
i have other birds he can mix with but he seems to have chosen me. he can be very sweet but does have this tendancy to attack hands.
thanks

[mayaexquisite]

The fact that the bird is able to physically interact with you, yet bite a lot, could mean that the bird is kinda comfortable with you but still really cautious. Birds always bite for a reason, and it's their way of communicating to you. So the bird may be telling you that he/she doesn't like something. Now what that is, is for you to figure out 'cause we can't see what's going on. It could be a sound, it could be what you're doing, it could be something it finds scary in the room, etc.

Tame lovebirds DEFINITELY can bite. As I said above, it's their way of communicating.

My Mika is fully tame, but will make a certain sound if he doesn't like where I'm preening him. He also kinda "attacks" my hand when I'm about to put a treat in his dish. So I figure that's his way of saying, "Hurry, hurry, hurry!! I want it, I want it, I want it!!"

Kano was a rescue and used to bite me any time I got near him. After years, I feel he's semi-tame but not 100%. He steps up, hangs out on my shoulder, and lets me give him kisses - but he'll still nip at me if I do something he doesn't like and he'll sometimes run away from me.

Just because a lovebird doesn't have a mate doesn't mean it WILL be interested in people. It all depends on if it's tame and how much time daily a human spends with it.

[sweetpeaches]

maya's answer is a good one. yes lovebirds can absolutely be hand-tamed. my lovie i had was a real sweetie. you have to have alot of patience with them but the rewards are worth it. and yes every now and then i'd get an occassional bite.

[conure keeper]

hi
thanks for the replys. i've found out today its not just hands that affend the little lovebird, its all skin. i'm wearing a short armed top today and he been biting my arms and neck as well. he likes my hair, thats good to be preened but the more skin he an get at the more he bites.
might try wearing gloves tomorrow and see if hes okay with them.
he will still sit on my skin and start to preen it but it very quickly goes from preening to chewing then biting.

[becca623]

Does it hurt to be bitten by a lovebird? I know that sounds like a silly question but I used to have 3 that were not tame. They would try to bite me if I had to handle them but it never hurt. I always expected the next bite to be the one but it never happened. Maybe I was just lucky?

[expressmailtome]

Originally Posted by becca623

Does it hurt to be bitten by a lovebird?

They can bite hard if they want to! One of my breeder has drew blood on two occasions (it must have been the way that she grabbed the skin).

Matt

[conure keeper]

yeah, the bites i've had have been worthy of an "OUCH". the hand ones arnt too bad, they just leave a little mark, the ones on soft skin like my neck really sting! looks like i've got little flea bites

[Flappuccino]

Neither of my birds have bitten hard enough to draw blood. I've heard of lovies biting that hard, though.

It seems to me that if he's willing to be on you as much as he is, and isn't grinding down hard enough to draw blood, it may not be vicious in nature. He may just be testing the waters.

I still think you've gotten a good start with him .

[mayaexquisite]

Oh man, Kano used to draw blood at the beginning of our relationship!! I always understood, though, because I could only imagine the kind of life he had before he came to me.

I got really bad bites about a month ago at a pet store too. There were these Australian Cinnamons that said HANDTAME on the sign. So I asked the worker if she's sure they are. She said yes. She stuck her hand in the cage and all h*ll broke loose in there!! That's the obvious sign that they are NOT. As she's grabbing one, I ask her if they even handle them daily. She said they do. BUUUUUUUUUULL!! She hands one to me and I got two bad bites that drew blood. And then I had to ask for a bandaid, even though the worker stood there and saw that I was bleeding.

Anyway, if your baby (btw, does he/she have a name?) isn't biting hard when on your skin, it may not mean that it's afraid of your skin. It could mean that he/she is "testing the waters," like Flap said. I wouldn't get gloves just yet because that may hinder the progress you're making.

[expressmailtome]

Originally Posted by mayaexquisite

I wouldn't get gloves just yet because that may hinder the progress you're making.

I agree with mayaexquisite about the gloves. I have never heard of them making a relationship with a bird better. If you keep trying things like giving special treats (millet maybe) when he is with you he will learn that good things come from you!

Matt