Nest building-- how much to allow?

[ems08]

Hi everyone!

My DNA confirmed male Quaker has decided, since he's a year old now, it's time to start building a nest. Since this is such an important part of Quaker-dom in the wild, my question is how much do I allow this vs discourage it?

- He gets 12-13 hours of sleep a night (partially covered cage, so fully dark).
- His sleeping spot is a seagrass mat making a flat surface in a corner of his cage
- No pets other than head scratches
- The only fatty foods (seeds, nut pieces) are training rewards.
- He's not biting or trying to mate with me or any of his toys
- Plenty of play time out of the cage and spends 70% of his waking hours with my mom or I or both of us
- He has plenty of toys in his cage to destroy, make noise, forage from, etc

He's always liked to tear up and play with paper straws and finger traps, but now they all get relocated to his bed and he's started weaving them into the seagrass mat rather than destroying them. He seems very intent on what he is doing and very satisfied by it. He does this every morning and then takes it apart every afternoon, so it's not progressing to a complete nest haha. As far as I can tell it's not hurting anything or negatively impacting him and actually seems like a healthy outlet? But then it also seems like something I maybe shouldn't be supporting (ie stop providing finger traps and paper straws).

Any thoughts or opinions?

 

[Mizzely]

As long as he is eating, drinking, and being a good roommate, I personally wouldn't dissuade him You may have to tear apart his masterpieces if he keeps them every once in a while to clean.

 

[cnyguy]

At this stage, your QP's building isn't a problem. It's possible that he may be like my Quaker parrot Ralph. Ralph isn't especially interested in building an actual nest. He has some thin wooden dowels that he likes to arrange and rearrange inside his cage. Unlike your parrot, Ralph doesn't take his structures apart-- that's my job. When he wants to start over, he squawks for me to pull the sticks apart. He has never become obsessed with building but does spend time at it almost every day. It's really just a good way for him to keep busy.

 

[ems08]

@Mizzely @cnyguy Thank you both! He's definitely spending a good part of his day on it, mostly if I'm in the room but not actively playing or engaged with him. He's eating and drinking fine for sure and still plays with his other toys when I'm not around. I think he's trying to impress me with his nest

I was just second guessing it because of the constant theme to avoid anything that promotes hormonal behaviors. I don't want him to become increasingly frustrated that there's no mate for his nest. I haven't gotten that impression from him at all yet though. He just seems focused and he's definitely using his brain to figure out how to get everything where he wants it!

 

[cnyguy]

Just keep monitoring his behavior and if nest building becomes obsessive or he starts exhibiting more extreme hormonal behavior, then you'll probably need to discourage building. Even when Ralph's hormones have kicked into a higher gear, he's never become an obsessive nest builder and I've been able to let him have fun with his construction projects.