behavior

Question
Sydney, my Alexandrine Parakeet, has started displaying funny behavior and not so funny behavior.  He is 13 years old and I have had him for about a year and a half.  He has a pretty good vocabulary and whistles ( drives my dogs nuts! ).  He loves to kiss me and lick my face, he plays with my fingers and wants to hold my pinky, he will use his beak and pound my fingers and kind of rough house play.  When he's doing this his pupils get vey small, he will nod his head up and down and then starts regurgitating food onto my fingers (gross)!  He also gets very disturbed if anyone comes into the area where we are, including my husband.  Does he needs a companion?

Answer
--You're it!  The companion that is.  You're sharing mating behaviors.  He doesn't need company and honestly, you shouldn't bring in another bird unless you want to give up the bond you're forming with him yourself.

It's just better to take it down a couple notches.  When he seems to be getting overly interested (eyes pinning) and the motions to regurgitate begin, back off the play and introduce a challenge, puzzle or learning game.   These birds are ridiculously smart and quite vocal.   They love toys and what seems like simple games to us (tossing a cat ball w/bell inside back and forth) can keep them entertained endlessly.  

 Keep him well socialized too.  Encourage hubby and him to spend their own time together without you in the room.   Introduce him to other people and keep the input coming.

A male with love on his mind can become quite aggressive toward others and this wonderful, loving bird can quickly become a bird that no one wants to handle.

 You're doing the BEST thing by asking first!


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 http://www.4animalcare.org/birds