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Conure going crazy

Maskly

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This is my first post on the forum, so I apologize for breaking any rules if I do with this post. I'm new to this whole forum thing.

I have a golden conure, about 10 months old and she does not want to be in her cage. When I put her in there, whether it be at night (around 8-9 pm) or if I am stepping out of the house, she will go absolutely crazy. She will run around the cage (not the perches in the cage, but the floor and walls) chirping, hitting the bar of the cage with her beak, climbing on the cage bars and then sliding down, making so much noise, all because she wants to come out again. She will do this for however long she is there, only stopping to eat and drink. If I even look at the cage she will be on the floor of the cage, right by the door ready to leave. It's coming to that point where I am worried she will injure herself doing these antics and she cannot stay in her cage for any amount of time. Before we would only leave her in her cage when we all are stepping out of the house and take her out of the cage the second we get back. But now she can't stand to be in there for even 5 minutes.

Her cage has plenty of natural wood perches, a flat perch, rope perches, shredding toys, bells, and a giant foraging toy. She doesn't even play with them in the cage but when I take it out of the cage and put it on the roll away perch, she will play with it like there is no tomorrow. Before this happened, she would spend max 1-3 hours in her cage a day, but now she can't even spend 10 minutes. I know she is doing that for attention and because she wants to leave the cage but sometimes she needs to be in her cage for a little while. How do I stop her from doing this? Thank you!
 

ParrotNuts

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I do have a gcc but unfortunately know nothing on your issue. Sorry :thinking:
Maybe @webchirp would know?
 

sunnysmom

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Do you spend time with her when she's in her cage? Often birds associate their cage with their person going away. So I always spend time sitting with my birds while they're in their cages. I try not to just put them in and leave. And that includes bedtime too. I have little night time routines with them so they settle down and go to sleep. Also, when you put her in the cage, do you leave the TV or music or something on for her?
 

Hermesbird

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Im interested about this also, I don't have a Conure but I have a parrotlet and if I put her away and walk away she also goes bananas. But I work from home 8hr 5days a week and she's in my office so along as she sees me everything is cool unless she wants out to play for a bit lol
 

Tiel Feathers

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@sunnysmsm gave some great advice. Also, a loose routine of some sort will help. That way your bird will know when to expect out of cage time. You might have to build up to the desired amount of time you want your bird in the cage. Also, always reward your bird for going back to the cage, and keep all food in the cage. How big is the cage?
 

Maskly

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Do you spend time with her when she's in her cage? Often birds associate their cage with their person going away. So I always spend time sitting with my birds while they're in their cages. I try not to just put them in and leave. And that includes bedtime too. I have little night time routines with them so they settle down and go to sleep. Also, when you put her in the cage, do you leave the TV or music or something on for her?
Hello, yes I spend time with her when she is in her cage. Her cage is in my bedroom so even when she is in her cage, she is still around me as some of my classes are online because of COVID. I still talk to her and spend time with her even when she is in her cage. I'm trying to get her into a nighttime routine, but I am a med student so my nights are already a little crazy. I do either leave on the radio or the TV when I leave. However, when I leave my sister or father takes her out of her cage, when they can and allows her to stay with them because it breaks our hearts to see her go crazy. Thank you for replying!
 

Maskly

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Im interested about this also, I don't have a Conure but I have a parrotlet and if I put her away and walk away she also goes bananas. But I work from home 8hr 5days a week and she's in my office so along as she sees me everything is cool unless she wants out to play for a bit lol
My uncle has a couple of parrots and he said it could be separation anxiety. I've also had 2 other people on another forum say that but I don't know.
 

Maskly

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@sunnysmsm gave some great advice. Also, a loose routine of some sort will help. That way your bird will know when to expect out of cage time. You might have to build up to the desired amount of time you want your bird in the cage. Also, always reward your bird for going back to the cage, and keep all food in the cage. How big is the cage?
I'm trying very hard to get her on a routine, but my days are so different from the previous, that even I don't really have a routine lol. But I am going to try to keep her on a daily routine as that might be the best course of action. I do try to reward her but she doesn't take the treat when she is in her cage. She would stop, grab it, then purposely drop it, then continue to go bananas. I already keep most of the food in the cage because the only time she wants to go back in the cage, is to eat, but then when she finishes, she will continue her normal habit of going crazy. The cage is a decent size. It isn't a flight cage, but still a pretty decent cage. I believe it's about 24"L by 24"W by 40"H not including the legs. Just the actual cage area. It's an HQ dome top cage. Thank you for replying!
 

Hermesbird

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@Maskly Does she show any particular interest in any specific kind of toys or treats? Maybe get more of those kids of toys, and hide some treats or hang veggies in the cage to kind of get her beak going?
 

Maskly

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@Maskly Does she show any particular interest in any specific kind of toys or treats? Maybe get more of those kids of toys, and hide some treats or hang veggies in the cage to kind of get her beak going?
Yes, she loves cardboard toys and softwood toys to destroy. She has a couple of those in the cage plus a foraging toy with her favorite treats (millet, dried papaya, and pecans) inside of it. However, she doesn't play with them in her cage. If I take the toys out of her cage and put them on her play stand in the living room, she will play with them 24/7. I also have some baby rattles, baby plastic balls, bells, etc on the bottom of the cage but she doesn't touch them. She just runs around doing what I said above, in the original post. It's so weird because before this started happening, she would play with them in her cage and not want to leave. But overnight pretty much, she changed. Thank you for replying!
 

Hermesbird

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Others correct me if im wrong, But what if you only kept the toys in there and switched them around. Then maybe shell want to explore the Newly developed cage? Hmm this is interesting
 

Maskly

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Others correct me if im wrong, But what if you only kept the toys in there and switched them around. Then maybe shell want to explore the Newly developed cage? Hmm this is interesting
About 5 days ago, I switched the toys around and moved the perches, but kept her sleeping perch the same. I added new toys, as her old ones were getting old and worn out. I also did that because I thought she didn't like the layout and toys in her cage at the time. But I did that to avail. She hasn't TOUCHED 2 of the toys and still does her antics. I don't know what else to do. She also decided to wake up at 5 AM in the morning and start screeching and banging on the cage bars. She only recently started doing this like 2 days ago.
 
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