Ask Lafeber

Hormonal triggers

Are there places on a pet parrot that you should not pet because it will stimulate their hormones?

Hi Kelcie,

It’s best to limit petting to the head and neck. In the wild, only a bonded mate will be allowed to have contact with the body. So when we pet our birds on the body, this can send the signal that you are the mate and thus trigger hormones. Any touching around the tail, lower back or below the chest are particular “hot spots”. Dr. Lamb discusses this is some of the previous hormone topics. Here is a link to the playlist of those webinars:

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda