Masturbating

[Maia'sMom]

Okay here goes, Maia gets on my hand, spreads her legs and rubs her vent on my hand. she is 22 months old. I didn't think they reached sexual maturity until almost 3?

there really isn't anything to read about on this topic that I have found. I know you can't stop it, it is a natural thing. I ignore her but I am not sure what to do, as she does it it my hand.

Any thoughts? And is anyone else's bird doing this?

[sweetpeaches]

Do you want me to bring Bailey over? :giggle sorry..i couldn't resist.

Seriously though, I haven't seen Bailey exhibit any behaviors like that yet.
But when he does I'll be asking what to do too! I thot they reached sexual maturity between 2 and 3 years old? Hence...the "terrible twos". If that's the case Maia is not far off.

[Maia'sMom]

She doesn't shut up either. She is making some sort of noise all day long, very vocal. She won't be 2 until 21 February.

[mobetta]

Beth that is exactly what Susie does. We just remove her from our hand and she just goes and does something else, no problem. Susie has been doing this since she was 2 and she is going to be 4 in April. She goes through spells where she tries to do it more than other times.

[jinx1764]

Royal does it as well. He especially loves to try to jump on my hand when I scrubbing something. Mainly we try not to encourage it but not make a big deal about it either. He had phases, especially in the spring, when it's all the time. Bebe used to rub his vent on the plastic end of a climbing rope. If I let him he would do it for hours! I finally removed it and the behavior stopped. I remember reading somewhere that the only time it can be a problem for them is when they're rubbing on something obsessively that might, over time, cause damage to their vent. Otherwise it's not a big deal but not to encourage it.

[JonnyWoo]

Beth, it's funny you mention this..
This morning I had Jeter (my green cheek conure) out for a bit before i put him on his cage with a few foot toys to mess around with so I could go make us some breakfast. Welll, I put him down and was letting him choose which toy he wanted first from my palm. He turned around all excited a of couple times and it almost seemed to happen on accident but he rubbed his vent against part of his cage. He must have liked it because before I knew it, he was going to town on this smooth bar on top of his cage.
I didn't really react at all but I was def surprised, especially considering this lil bugger is only 7 months old! I know they mature alittle earlier than caiques, but man, I was not expecting to see that yet.
Maybe there was something in the air in the Northeast US today...

[Sillypup5]

Kiwi has been humping her toys and sometimes my hand since the day I got her when she was 8 months old. It doesn't have anything to do with reaching maturity, just that they found something to do that feels good.. although being hormonal would make them want to do it MORE.. but just because they're humping things doesn't mean they're ready to nest/breed.. it's just all in fun ;)