Suddenly doesn't want to go into sleep cage

[MyPiOwnsUs]

So after 9 straight years of love-love-loving her sleep cage and jumping into it nightly (sometimes demanding to get into it), Cricket, our ~15-20yo WCP, suddenly refuses to go into it unless we bribe her into it with a treat. And while I know why she won't go into it now (because we've been giving her treats to get into it, so now she demands them), we still have no clue why she suddenly stopped going into it in the first place. She's not fearful of the sleep cage at all (she hangs out on it, sometimes in it, during the day), and nothing inside the cage has changed. She just suddenly started being defiant about it at bedtime, which was so odd because for almost a decade straight, she looked forward to getting into it. She typically loves her routine.

The only thing that coincided with this was that she got sick--with what, we don't know yet (a battery of tests hasn't come up with anything conclusive). She did a round of antibiotics and has been showing good signs of recovery ever since, so the only thing I can think of was that maybe she didn't feel good and wanted the added security of her big cage? She's a rescue and her big cage has always been her safe haven, but she's always loved her sleep cage too, so why the sudden change of heart?

Any thoughts on this? She's not in any danger and I don't mind bribing her into her sleep cage if that's how she wants it now, but I'm curious as to why it all started in the first place.

 

[Zara]

 

[Lodah]

Perhaps it’s just because! They are more perceptive and emotional than we give em credit for!

 

[fashionfobie]

Did anything change around the cage recently? Maybe the new object looks weird/scary at night?

My bird loves his sleeping perch in his cage...his cage is on wheels. Sometimes I roll his cage to access the closet that is behind it. If I don't return the cage back to the exact same location and angle he will sleep on his food dish and even though he looks uncomfy as all heck.. he refuses to climb to his sleeping perch. I have since figured out what was bugging him. So easy to remedy once you understand what is bugging them.

Something to think about

 

[MyPiOwnsUs]

The sleep cage itself and where it is in the bedroom hasn't changed at all. And she has the same towels covering her that she always has (but I will check them for anything out of the ordinary). Another possibility was that she seems to be getting over breeding season (hopefully), and since her sleep cage becomes a bit of a nest for her, maybe she's just "meh" about the sleep cage now that her hormones aren't beckoning her into it (although that's never stopped her before). Funny enough, she's getting a newer, better sleep cage anyway (I don't trust the paint on the old one, and the new one is a powder coated Avian Adventures), so if she has an issue specifically with that old sleep cage, she won't have to deal with it soon anymore anyway.

fasionfobie: Your post reminded me of a Meyer's I used to have who refused to sit on my shoulder if I was wearing this one particular tie-dye shirt. He never had a problem with anything I wore except for that one tie-dye shirt. I'd go to put him on my shoulder and he would lean as farrrrrr away as he could. Took me a moment to realize it was the shirt. Ha! And there's this one sweater that my Pi absolutely can't stand for some reason. She always puffs up and "barks" at me when I wear it. No clue why.

Thanks for your input everyone. I'm still looking for patterns or changes. Again, she's not showing any distress or fear, so it's probably just some little birdie reason that only she knows. Sometimes she just gets "meh" about things, like we all do.

 

[Fuzzy]

Who knows why, but it sounds like it became more reinforcing to stay out rather than go in. You have done absolutely the right thing by upping the reinforcement for going in.