- Joined
- 8/11/16
- Messages
- 223
- Real Name
- Jo
I have a 3yo male parrotlet that has become quite phobic. He's a plucker/barber, and may or may not have some brain damage. He has days where he is insanely afraid of everything, even my hands or clothing, even things he has had contact with or has been in the same rooom as since I brought him home. Other days, these things don't bother him, and he carries on in a relatively normal way. He has been like this since he had a bad fall and hit his head on our tile floor. It looked like he had a seizure on the ground. I honestly thought he was a goner. But we're trying to manage his phobias and keep his quality of life up.
I have been trying a lot of positive reinforcement to lessen his fears. I try very hard to make being with me as pleasant as possible, because every time he panics it feels like we take 3 steps backwards. And considering how phobic I have made him in the past, we actually have a lot of trust. I use conditioning, and try to take it at his pace. If he is too uncomfortable, then I let him go back to his cage where he feels safe. I manage his diet, make sure he gets 12 hours of darkness a night, have tried Avicalm to no avail, give him the best diet he will eat, use clicker and target training, have a nice full spectrum UV bulb for him, have warmers and a heat lamp, encourage bathing, implement lots of foraging, see a vet regularly, have him on good quality pellet diet as well, have lots of toys in his cage... There are probably things I'm missing.
We finally got to the point of medicating him because his phobic behavior is now starting to become dangerous to him. The last straw was recently when he suddenly panicked and jumped, badly bruising his beak on a piece of furniture. So now we're doing Hydroxyzine in his water, in the hopes it will help curb his plucking, and maybe reduce his general anxiety. I was hoping we wouldn't need to, but here we are.
I just wanted to know if anyone else out there has a bird as phobic as mine. What did you do to help them? Can you point me to any good resources? I love him so much, and it's hard to know how best to help.
I have been trying a lot of positive reinforcement to lessen his fears. I try very hard to make being with me as pleasant as possible, because every time he panics it feels like we take 3 steps backwards. And considering how phobic I have made him in the past, we actually have a lot of trust. I use conditioning, and try to take it at his pace. If he is too uncomfortable, then I let him go back to his cage where he feels safe. I manage his diet, make sure he gets 12 hours of darkness a night, have tried Avicalm to no avail, give him the best diet he will eat, use clicker and target training, have a nice full spectrum UV bulb for him, have warmers and a heat lamp, encourage bathing, implement lots of foraging, see a vet regularly, have him on good quality pellet diet as well, have lots of toys in his cage... There are probably things I'm missing.
We finally got to the point of medicating him because his phobic behavior is now starting to become dangerous to him. The last straw was recently when he suddenly panicked and jumped, badly bruising his beak on a piece of furniture. So now we're doing Hydroxyzine in his water, in the hopes it will help curb his plucking, and maybe reduce his general anxiety. I was hoping we wouldn't need to, but here we are.
I just wanted to know if anyone else out there has a bird as phobic as mine. What did you do to help them? Can you point me to any good resources? I love him so much, and it's hard to know how best to help.