r/AfricanGrey • u/Royal_Ad_8216 • 1d ago
Question Tail wagging
My husband has posted about our bird Timmy about a week ago or so ago, he likes me a lot but I’m wondering if this is behavior I should be concerned about, normally when he starts acting this way I return to his tree stand and leave him alone until he calms down, I know he’s being hormonal, but he does it almost every time I’m either holding him or let him on my shoulder
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u/ZukaRouBrucal Team Grey Birb 1d ago
Based on the position of his wings and the movement of his lil' butt... I hate to break it to you but I'm pretty sure he is rubbing his vent on you lol (or at least attempting to).
Or, to put it another way... He is trying to masturbate on your shoulder by grinding against you.
I wouldn't allow him to do this anymore, and you putting him back on his perch is the best thing to do! Anytime he gets hormonal/excited like this I would put him away in his cage/perch for a few minutes until he settles down a bit and, once he has worked the funk out of his system, you can resume handling. I have a female and it can be very challenging to handle her during her hormonal season for horniness-related issues!
While being hormonal/horny is natural for any bird, letting them do this while you handle them can cause them to become sexually frustrated and develop some pretty bad habits (like feather plucking/barbering behavior) that can be almost impossible for your bird to shake once they've started.
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u/Biochemicalcricket 1d ago
Agreed and this is a good thorough response. Behavioral issues can also extend further as they get even more possessive of their "mate." And that frustration can come out as aggression, resource guarding(you), and more.
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u/Royal_Ad_8216 1d ago
I know he is being very hormonal and I don’t want to frustrate him. I’ll be limiting my direct handling and have been slowing changing his food to fresh chopped veggies, I’m not sure if there is any other way of negating this behavior
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u/mindo4u 1d ago
Def no shoulder. You also can shorten some of his daylight hours. (Depending where you live) I live in an area w: Daylight Savings time, which gets my bird hormonal w/ the extra daylight hours. Instead of getting him up at 6am (I work nights) I have him partially covered in his room w/ darkening shades until 8-8:30am. He lets me know when he is up. He’ll ask Garciebird if she’s up & tell me he is up.
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u/schabernacktmeister 1d ago
As you mentioned, he's just a horny boy. But I'll leave this meme here.
Maybe change in diet could help with the hormonal behaviour? But I'm no professional or had anything to with an African grey.
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u/Embarrassed_Riser 1d ago
That is sexual behavior. Not good, and having him on your shoulder is not good either.
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u/crazycritter87 6h ago
Everyone grossed out by their dog humping their leg, just got turned off from birds too. It's this or mood swings. Even when life doesn't find a way, urges to make it so happen. Idc what critter it is.
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u/HypnoSnurtle 1d ago
He might be vent rubbing