Macaw regurgitating

[Dino0122]

Hello, I rescued a Hybrid macaw a week ago, and after the second day she became very close to me and enjoys cuddling with me and allows me to pet her. She eats out of my hand, and screams when I’m not within her vicinity. But she now bops her head and tries to regurgitate on me, and I don’t know what that means and is it healthy?

[Casper's 2nd best friend]

I think she might like you a bit too much :)
Advice will be forthcoming shortly from people with more experience than me.

[Dragonlady2]

Her screaming may have been one of the reasons she was rehomed. When petting her, stick to her head and stay away from her back and wings. Stroking birds in those zones encourages unwanted hormonal behaviour like regurgitating. Occasional regurgitating is not a problem, just when it becomes excessive. As well, make sure she has lots to occupy herself like foraging. Hide treats in boxes, bags etc so that she has to look for them. She sounds like she needs to learn to entertain herself. What do you have in her cage for toys?

[kendrafitz]

Welcome and congrats on your new addition.

Well, your macaw definitely likes you! :)

My GW macaw tries to regurgitate for me all the time. I see it as her way of telling me she loves me and is trying to feed me.

That being said, I NEVER encourage the behavior. As soon as she starts I tell her I’m not hungry and redirect her to something else. She has gotten very sneaky about it and has figured out how to do it without the telltale head bob. So there are times she will grab my finger and if I’m not paying attention she will gift me with chewed up nuts, etc. I always say something like e[Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks] yucky, I don’t want that, thank you.

With cuddling, as already stated, stay away from basically anywhere that isn’t the head/neck. Most other spots are reserved for their mate. So if you start touching those areas they may start trying to mate with you. Which isn’t fun from what I understand. My Rosie doesn’t want me anywhere near her midsection so it is easy for me to follow. I will help her with preening her tail feathers but that’s the only place besides the head/neck I preen.

I can’t help with the screaming. I have the same issue here. [emoji54]


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