Hormonal male feeding water bottle

[superficie]

So, I've got a weird one.

I have a 26 year old male Eclectus that I've had since he was a baby. He's super neurotic but wonderfully social and funny in all the weird Ekkie ways.

He's always been somewhat hormonal, but he is went through a pretty rough chronic hormonal period about 10-15 years ago where he kept trying to feed various toys. I didn't know quite all what we know now, but my guess is that it had to do with our move to the PNW and the extremely long days we have here. He eventually snapped out of it and has been doing well, with only short hormonal periods since.

A few weeks ago, it kicked back in and he's been dead set on feeding his water bottle. There's two problems here: the constant feeding and the constant drinking. He can't seem to distinguish the two, so repeatedly throughout the day, he drinks more than he can handle and starts coughing up water. A few times, this has even left him wheezing for a couple hours. His favorite pastime is taking a small piece of paper or corn husk, soaking it in water, and chewing on it, so his interest in the bottle makes sense.

If I take his bottle, it drastically cuts down on the behavior (he'll still feed the bottle holder on occasion, but less frequently), but I can't exactly leave him without his bottle for long stretches or when I need to leave the house. If I leave the bottle in there, I usually come back to a bird who just choked on water. Weird enough, I gave him a bowl (for the first time in his life) and he choked on water almost immediately. There's a weird correlary there in that he seems to be looking for that 'full crop' feeling or something. Notably, he's also less likely to eat pellets without the bottle (he likes to make mush), so he'll just... not eat.

His food intake and energy levels seem fine otherwise (unless he's just had a rough coughing episode), but I worry about his health if he keeps aspirating himself. I've cut his light down to 8 hours a day, rearranged his cage, and reduced his food down to mostly pellets and veg, but I need to nip this ASAP before he makes himself sick.

I read that in the wild, the presence of a second egg initiates a shift in male hormones. Has anyone tried using fake eggs to turn off the breeding behavior in male Eclectus? Any chance that'd work? Or will it open me up to all new problems? I can try moving his cage, but he won't get the same darkness and quiet he gets now. He's not super keen on 'dad' right now (he's not aggressive, just doesn't want me interfering in his dating), so he's a bit hard to distract with other activities.

Any suggestions?

 

[Tyrion]

 

[superficie]

Following up:
My boy's been up and down, frequently drinking too much and choking, feeding his bottle constantly, etc. Sometimes he's been a little lethargic or wheezy, but snaps out of it in a couple hours. My anxiety has been through the roof, of course, because a lethargic, wheezy bird is always a bad sign! Luckily, it's always been brief.

He's also been in total "reject Dad" mode, wanting nothing to do with me at all. When he's in mating mode, he gets the most obnoxiously shrill squeak and directs it at me (and only me). He suddenly gets very anxious around me, doesn't want me to hold him, etc. He'll always step up for me and he's never, ever aggressive, but he generally just wants me to feed him and leave him alone.

Four days ago, I placed a fake egg in a box on the skirt of his cage, right under the water bottle. He showed little interest, but on the second day he seemed really scared of it. No real change in his behavior otherwise. Yesterday, I added a second egg.

Today, he's still been constantly feeding his water bottle, but the rest of his behavior seems almost normal. His vocalizations are more typical (only a couple of squeaks) and he was back to showing me his hops (another favorite pastime) and jumping off my hand. A bit timid still, but much better.

Of course, I can't be certain that this shift was because of the eggs. Time will tell if this was a one-off or if it ends his hyperfeeding behavior, but I'm really glad to have had a good day. I'll update later!

 

[Elysian]

I'm assuming you have an avian vet for him? Have you talked to them?

The only 'hormonal bird's experience I have is my budgie over feeding toys and bowls.. but its only reflective things. I either remove the toys when it gets bad, or put tape over the shiny bits. His bowls are wrapped in painters tape now.

Is the bottle shiny..?