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Re: Help With Blue Mask Lovebird
Posted by Eleanor on 3/24/07

On 3/24/07, Grace wrote:
> I recently bought a blue mask lovebird from a small
> petshop with lots of happy birds and knowledgeable
> employees about three weeks ago. I took one male home and
> they told me he was about 3 months old, so almost four
> months old now. He had been on pellets for two weeks at
> least when I bought him and he is supposed to be hand
> raised.
>
> The issue is, he is obviously very healthy and he eats
> constantly (which I am very happy about!) but whenever I
> approach the cage, he becomes almost terrified (his
> feathers get sleeker and his eyes get rounder) and he just
> tries to get far away from me. When I'm around and not
> really paying attention to him, he chatters and fluffs up
> and looks really content. The strange thing is, however,
> that I handled him before I bought him, and he seemed more
> tame then than he does now! I think he is stronger now
> because he eats more, and whenever I gently handle and pet
> his head, he just squirms to get away and his first
> reaction is to fly, which wasn't necessarily the case
> before. He never bites me, even though he opens his mouth
> as if he wants to bite me sometimes. He just wants to get
> away from me the moment I handle him. Also, before, he was
> easier to get out of the cage, and now he runs around and
> squawks and really puts up a fight! As if I want to eat
> him. o_O? So I'm a bit confused about this "change" in his
> behavior and am wondering now if he was even handraised? I
> went out of my way to purchase a handraised bird and he
> acts like a parent raised one. =(
>
> So...I'm not sure if it is just a different personality,
> but I once had a lovebird that was also handraised and I
> bought him when he was about four or five months old, and
> he always approached the cage when I would walk by and he
> allowed me to handle him within days of purchasing him.
>
> Does anyone know what the problem might be? I know that
> lovebirds sometimes take a lot of time to bond, but the
> employees told me that he should get used to be quite
> quickly since he was a handfed bird.
>
> I would appreciate any input or suggestions.

Your problem is simple. As a rule, the masked lovebirds are
not good hands on pets like the peachface lovebirds.
They are know to be flighty, aloof and independent.
Not to say all are, but the generalization is pretty accurate.

Posts on this thread, including this one

• Help With Blue Mask Lovebird, 3/24/07, by Grace.
• Re: Help With Blue Mask Lovebird, 3/24/07, by Eleanor.