My bird fell in love with a puppet

I have a elephant glove puppet, its grey like my parrot. Since I accidently introduce the puppet to the parrot, the parrot became almost like an angel in my house. He never screams anymore. He did get more aggressive when I come to pet him. But when I wear the elephant on my hand, he lets me pet him with it. He just love the elephant patting him, and he just stands in place let me carrase him with it. I dont know whats going on with my parrot, but he may be in love or something because he thinks the elephant is another parrot. Can anyone give me some input? I put the elephant in the cage, and the parrot went into the cage himself, he would rarely do that when he was alone, and he would always scream on top of his lungs if I left the room or would come back into the house.. He is a quiet bird, just like he should be. Now I always have the elephant standing on the cage or in the cage, cause I'm afraid if I get rid of the elephant, my parrot will die from depression.

Should I maybe get him a real mate, but then I dont know if mine is a boy or a girl, and how would I know?

And all of those who experience the parrot screams, maybe you could find him a grey parrot looking toy, who knows.

Birds are weird about gloves and evidently hand puppets, too. The only time Polita ever bit me hard enough to draw blood was once when I had on a pair of yellow rubber gloves while I was cleaning her cage. She didn't associate the gloves with my hand and went for it. The funny thing was that she didn't even puncture the glove! It seems your bird has the opposite reaction. I'd try to hang on to that elephant, if I were you, and I'd even start looking around for a spare. Although the bird might reject it. I'm a big believer in having a pair of birds, if at all possible. Just so they don't get lonely. After all, they live in a cage, for gosh sakes. What kind of a parrot do you have? With some you can tell the sex by looking at them. If not, has it ever laid an egg? That is a clue, but not conclusive, if it hasn't. If it has, well that is sure enough. The only other way is to have it DNA sexed and that can easily be done. Even if you get a same sex cage mate or a parrot of a different species, it could work out. It all depends on the birds. All birds are unique and we just live and learn with them.

It does sound as if your parrot has a crush on the elephant. You can use this to your advantage. By "training" the elephant on good behavior such as stepping up, and going in to the cage and being quiet, your parrot will learn by watching and seeing that the elephant gets all the praise for doing things correctly.

As far as getting a mate goes it really depends, your bird could reject an other bird in favor of the elephant, or attack the other bird to defend the elephant, or fall in love with the other parrot but the other parrot may not like your bird. While I strongly believe in multi bird households as it is a better environment for the birds, NEVER just get a parrot for your bird. You need to get a parrot because you want another one also, and can handle the extra cleaning and noise, and expense. Plan on them not getting along and if they do than consider it a bonus. Either way an other bird in the room in a separate cage will help keep your guy company, just make sure you want the bird and are willing to bond with it also. As far as the sex of the bird it really does not matter, birds will pair up with same sex or different sex, or different species, it's about a emotional connection not just breeding like other animals. In fact most parrots will take on male/female roles even if they are the same sex. Let us know what you decide to do.

Well for you it has turned out to be a great tool to use to teach your bird good behavior. I agree with the other posts get another bird because you want one. You will get more enjoyment out of your birds this way.